Hey does anyone have any input or advice on the use of medical marijuana for unmanageable RSD/CRPS or other chronic pain complexes not helped by all else??
Does anyone know if its helpful or their experience?
I know in a few states including california, its legal to smoke pot if the patient's doctor feels its necessary and writes a special medical marijuana prescription.


*admin edit*

-Jamie

Hi Jamie I myself don't know forsure if medical marijuana helps for you condition but one of the people at my pain mngt clinic got a perscription for it and swears by it he has reginal pain syndrome. He can smoke it but also has spray with T H C in it. He was taking morphine and now does not need it hope I was of some help good luck let me know if you try it and how it works I would like to myself for chronic pain. Toni

Do a search on this site for medical marijuana. There's been a few recent threads on the subject pertaining to RSD.

Hello, I have CRPS in my left arm and have functionality of the hand since last June. I do live in Canada and have a medical Cannabis license for treatment of my CRPS. It does help with my Nausea substantially as well it helps with the constant tremors in my hand. I do use it for pain management but it is not sufficient except for short duration break through pain.
It may not work for everyone but it has definitely benefited myself.

Cheers
Colin

These are the drugs I have tried. Percocet, Ultram, Opanna, Dilaudid, Oxycodone, Savella, Morphine, Lyrica, Neurontin, Doxepin, Nortripyline (plus more that I can't remember). Not one or combination of them took my pain away at all. They did take my brain away, foggy, stuttering when trying to form a sentence let alone think of a simple word, could not function, made me more depressed plus the thoughts of what damage they were doing to my body. I researched medical marijuana and decided to give it a try. First I tried smoking then bought a vaporizer (takes toxins out, less harmful than smoking, doesn't make my bedroom smell ( 2-3 puffs before going to bed). Then I tried the butter, I made a batch of brownies. Takes about 20 min to kick in but who cares. On days when pain was so bad I would have a piece of toast with a smear of the butter. I've tried lots of other products (edibles). The one that has saved my life is called the Bhang bar. It is a chocolate bar that comes in different flavors. I break off a piece (1 inch) and about 20 min later I start to feel so much better. It totally takes away my stress that causes anexiety that makes me feel like Im gonna explode, then my heart starts racing, plus the depression. For me its lasts about 3-4 hours. Im a different person (almost normal except for the RSD pain) my pain is still there but its like "I don't care" and not in a "stoner" kind of way, more of a I am at peace with myself kind of way. I can do chores singing, tell jokes, make people laugh, I tell my husband it makes me feel fluffy. A sense of well being, calmness and peace goes thru my body. It helps me make it thru another day. I hated having to take prescription drugs every 4 hrs 3 times a day. With the chocolate I take it only when I need to. I am in control. With any substance it is trial and error. I have finally found the ONLY drug that helps me deal with this horrible life. Everything with me is, I want to be in control, I have to know what is going into my body and what it is doing to me, I hate taking pills period except my vitamins. 2 or 3 puffs right before going to bed helps me with the pain of my legs/feet touching the sheets or bed. It has helped me with the "electrical shocks" I used to have them so many times a day or worse at night. I only have maybe 3 or 4 per day. The marijuana helps calm me, makes me a happier person, takes my stress away which helps me live another day with this HORRIBLE beast. I still take 2 Norco in the morning (they give me energy, not make me sleepy or take the pain away) then at night I take 1 Trazodone. I've tried many sleeping aids but a pharmacist told me this was less scary to be on for long periods of time. God knows I have tried to NOT take a sleeping pill. I had to face it, I can't sleep without help the pain is like someone injected my legs/feet with HOT thick gel lined with shards of glass. I still freak out and cry everyday. But for me the medical marijuana has saved my life.
omg, I could have just said "Yes I eat a chocolate marijuana bar" lol
Good luck and try to bring happiness back into your life, it will help your pain.

I have type 2 CRPS in my dominant arm, it sucks. My Nerve and Pain specialist suggested I try medicinal marijuana however was unable to provide me with information on dose and strains :/ and I find the "try it and see" approach very unscientific (to put it kindly). I'm also (prior to a month ago) VERY unfamiliar with "pot" in general, fortunately for you this meant that I take excellent notes with every experience to compare and contrast.

As you know any medical advice should be cleared with your medical professionals FIRST. I'm just here to tell you of my personal experiences, not to dispense advice.

As with another commenter above when I'm actually "stonned" it really doesn't do much for the pain itself so much as not making me care. Being that I dislike the feeling of that experience I've found a plan that works best for me. I find that taking a half dose of an edible 30 min before bed will not only not get me "high" (when awake) but I'll also avoid the "munchies". Now here's the fascinating part. The next morning I will not only NOT be high but I will also have pain relief comparable to that of a nerve block! Now unfortunately this only lasts a few hours, and when the pain comes back life sucks again. But as you know a few hours of pain relief with NO side effects is HUGE.

Now here's the part that chaps my hide, I've found a few articles about medical marijuana treating neuropathic pain... and I'm wondering maybe, just MAYBE it has a beneficial effect on the sympathetic nervous system for this condition. As in, instead of treating the symptoms could it be a real treatment?? As it stands the medications that I'm prescribed are anti-seizure and recently medicinal marijuana has made BIG waves in treating seizure disorders. Of course this is all speculation made by a patent who is NOT a medical professional and should be taken as such.

Good Luck!

Welcome to NeuroTalk:

Here is a current thread on our PN forum that explains the strains of MJ that are not euphoric, but do help with pain:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread203096.html

Sadly here in the UK we can't even try the darned stuff....and some days I'd really like to....

I don't want to smoke. I don't want to get high. But I do want to try the active part of the cannabis plant that has been proven to be beneficial for neuropathic disorders - the cannabinoids. It is perfectly possible to isolate these, and there is a particular strain of cannabis that is very high in the cannabinoids and low in THC (the bit that gets you high), but sadly the people who have grown this strain and supply it for those with the medical backing to get it, also grow vastly more quantities of the high-THC strains loved by pot-heads who give this amazing drug such a bad name and are the reason it is banned in so many countries. It is also the reason it is almost impossible to get research funding to explore its potential and actually come up with a proper drug to help folk like us with chronic neuropathic pain.

In the UK the only legal route is a drug called Sativex. It is so bound up in red tape and laws that it's almost impossible to get it prescribed, and it's mostly only prescribed for MS sufferers. Ironically, you are meant to go through the whole gamut of other, far more horrific, drugs like morphine before you can be officially classed as having 'tried everything else' and then be given it. Also ironically, if you should get the stuff, Sativex isn't even that good... The pharma company that make it have isolated certain bits of cannabis, because if they just included cannabis in the med they wouldn't be able to patent it and make a truck-load of cash. Sadly, they haven't isolated much of the useful neuropathic part...

The whole thing makes me mad. Cannabis was a known useful medicinal drug long LONG before some young folk realised that it got them nicely stoned, and it became associated with the negative social effects of lots of young people smoking enough pot to just drop out of society and not give two hoots about anything except exploring different ways of smoking the stuff... It's time it was claimed back for medicine - and the high-THC strains should be the illegal thing, NOT the plant itself.

Making cannabis illegal, and vilifying it, have not controlled it's use as a recreational drug. If anything, that's just made it 'cool'. All it's done is remove a rare and useful medicinal drug from the reach of those who need it. Of course it's not a panacea for all ills, and might not be perfect, but properly researched and used it could be a powerful weapon for sufferers. Because let's be honest, there's very little that actually does help us out there right now.

We are light years away from making cannabis legal here, simply because where it has been legalised in the US and other countries, the general social effect is negative. Towns tend to end up with cannabis bars and cannabis shops, and groups of mainly young people sitting about smoking the stuff like mad, not working and generally not contributing anything positive to society. I know I'm generalising, and not everyone who smokes pot is like that, but unfortunately that is largely the reality.

Other prescription drugs are abused by drug-users, it should be perfectly possible to allow medical marijuana usage, and still have it illegal to steal it, sell it, or use it recreationally, as they have with some prescription drugs.

Oh, for some common sense somewhere in government and medicine...

This post took me blinking ages to do, and has used up my sitting time nicely Time to lie down again now and wish I had a drug that worked...

Bram.

I know for fact there is a legal form of medical marijuana on pill called Marinol,I heard has some similar effects but is less stronger ,also is a control drug level 3 ,still prescription needed but legal In the USA,not sure if available in other countiries,I actually came to know one of the chemist professors who helped to create the compound form.
He added the marinol has similar effects but not 100% as the real cannabis,only bad side effect he found on the pill was weight gain,but did help with the insomnia,he is a rsd patient in remission!he still doesn't know how that happened !neither his drs.
Ask your physician about it,I'm sure your pain management dr know the effects the pros and cons.
Good luck to all from Jesika .
Ps,I did not tried ,I was a pharmacy tech,that's why I know for sure the drug exist,also,many patients that suffer of terminal cancer,leukemia or aids had it,I dispensed myself,that's why I came to know the use for the specific medication.

It only caused me to not care about the pain so much. It was a definite mood altering thing though. I could be seriously mad, and take a couple of puffs......and all the anger went away in a puff of smoke so to speak LOL!!