Nerve pain, also known as neuropathy, is damage to the sensory, motor, or automatic nerves, which leads to constant and disruptive physical pain. While the symptoms vary from person to person, they typically include a burning, stabbing, or tingling sensation to extremities, such as the hands or feet. This complex condition currently affects nearly 20 million people in the United States alone.
When it comes to treating nerve pain, many patients are prescribed a long list of pain relievers, including dangerous painkillers such as opioids. However, most people are unaware that using medical marijuana for nerve pain provides better pain management without the risks.
Here are four reasons to try medical marijuana for nerve pain:
1. It’s Safe
While the use of marijuana is stigmatized, studies now show that long-term use of cannabis for managing pain symptoms is safe. In
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Compared to other options, such as opioids, medical marijuana is safer, more controlled, and overall a healthier option for nerve pain patients.
2. It Works
For anyone suffering from chronic nerve pain who hasn’t found relief in traditional medicine, medical marijuana is the perfect option. Medical marijuana has been shown to provide relief to patients who have otherwise been unresponsive to other forms of treatment. This gives nerve pain sufferers the chance to try a natural form of medicine that has high rates of effectiveness in otherwise unresponsive patients.
Medical marijuana works for treating nerve pain due to its relationship with the body’s endocannabinoid system. Peripheral nerves in the body that detect pain sensations contain cannabinoid receptors—any form of cannabis consumption impacts these receptors. When THC and CBD enter the body, they activate the receptors that regulate the neurotransmitter and central nervous system, which, in turn, manages pain
Medical cannabis has emerged on the scene in the last ten years or so as a true alternative to opioid medications. While research conducted in the early 20th century and the 1990s and early 2000s indicated cannabis could be an effective treatment for pain, few medical professionals really advocated it as an alternative to the opioids they’d always prescribed.
In the article, Three Puffs a Day Helped People With Nerve Pain, Study Finds, the author, Kathleen Doheny says, “three puffs a day of cannabis, better known as marijuana, helps people with chronic nerve pain due to injury or surgery feel less pain and sleep better.”
Marijuana is a pain distracter, the patient can still feel the pain but, marijuana makes it bearable.
Cannabis binds to the cannabinoid receptors, the body’s internal pain relief system. Both medical marijuana and opioids provide pain relief. Both use similar pathways in the body. Both release dopamine in the brain’s reward path, which results in patients feeling the sense of pleasure from taking the medication. However, it’s been noted that taking marijuana instead of opioids may pre-empt the rewarding effects opiates generate, therefore decreasing the patient’s need to reach for that drug.
(Breene, Sophia). Cannabidiol contains pain relieving, anti-inflammatory and antipsychotic properties which makes many doctors believe that medical marijuana, or drugs made from cannabidiol at the very least, can help with “cancer related pains, pain from HIV or AIDS, [and] pain related to multiple sclerosis.” (Nampiaparampil, Devi) Medical marijuana works similar to opioids by binding to receptors in the brain however with medical marijuana THC mimics the natural neurotransmitter anandamide, (Breene, Sophia) a chemical that boost memory and learning, dulls pain, and stimulates appetite, by replacing it and binding itself with another neurotransmitter called dopamine, the chemical that mediated pleasure in the body. (Mandala, Anany). Do to THC’s interruption of the brain's natural processes, and the affects of smoke being inhaled when marijuana is consumed, medical marijuana may not be the alternative people are looking
Medical marijuana has been proven to be a very curable substance. According to Donald Abrams (N.D), as referenced in Kim Ann Zimmermann (2015), “the idea that marijuana may have therapeutic effects is rooted in solid science. Marijuana contains 60 active ingredients known as cannabinoids. The body naturally makes its own form of cannabinoids to modulate pain” .This supports the idea that marijuana can help individuals medically. It can also be helpful for many who need its medical help .Many people will be having the chance to buy and use it if it gets legalized. Marijuana is not in reach of everyone because when individuals want to buy weed they need to get a doctor’s prescription or have an excuse and not everyone can fake an excuse or get a doctors prescription; as a result, many people cannot purchase it except illegally. As long as marijuana is not legalized many individuals won’t be able to use it. Zimmermann (2015) explains that the primary psychoactive cannabinoid in marijuana is THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol. THC is responsible for the psychological effects of marijuana. Moreover, the THC targets cb1 which is located in the brain, nervous system, liver, kidney and lungs the cb1 becomes active most of the time to relive pain (Kim Zimmerman, 2015). Many people call that process of reliving pain as getting “high”. In fact, most of the people who use marijuana use it to feel “high”. Because, when someone
Marijuana has several medicinal benefits that some have accepted and started the study and use of, although many still don't. These include better treatment for causes of peripheral neuropathy , a relatively safer and better alternative to a great many cancer treatments, and also has fewer and less severe side effects of opioids used in medicine. Tests show that medicinal marijuana is more effective than most commonly prescribed treatments for peripheral neuropathy, which includes diabetes, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, and spinal cord injuries. According to the CMCR(Center for Medicinal
Marijuana is a drug that has been used effectively throughout history for medicinal purposes. Due to the effect it exhibits on the endocannabinoid system, it has been shown to provide relief of (a) chronic pain, (b) neuropathic pain and spasticity related to MS, (c) nausea and vomiting, and (d) anorexia related to AIDS wasting. Other research completed by the CMCR and being submitted for publication deals with neuropathic pain related to spinal cord injuries and diabetes (Grant et al., 2010 & Grant et al., 2012). However, much more research is
Many medically ill patients experience agonizing pain everyday that they can not easily control with regular pain medicine, so what’s the next best thing? There have been many recent cases where medical patients have used medical marijuana for therapeutic uses and found that it had slowed the progression of their disease or helped cure it. Medical marijuana has started to become more popular with medical communities and researchers. Medical marijuana can affect many things in a positive way such as financial situations and social aspects, while having benefits on medical illnesses. Medical marijuana that does not contain the THC drug should be legalized in the United States because it would provide therapeutic benefits without making the user feel high.
The people that I do know that abuse pain medication also smoke marijuana. I do think it can improve other medical conditions. My mother suffers from Parkinson's disease. We have researched the use of medical marijuana for treatment of the tremors and shakes that come along with the disease, and it has been proven to help. There was a significant improvement in muscle rigidity, pain, and tremors associated with Parkinson's disease when subjects were tested in an experiment in Israel (McCall, 2014). She now knows that this can be an alternative to her treatment if her other medications do not
More states are passing laws that allow people to use medical marijuana. What does it treat, and who can and should use it? Pain is one of the main reasons individuals ask for a prescribed medication, from chronic headaches, disease like cancer, or a long-term condition, like glaucoma or nerve pain medications are usually prescribed to insure relief. If you live in a state where medical marijuana is legal and your doctor thinks medical marijuana would help, you’ll get a “marijuana card.” You will also be put on a list that allows you to buy marijuana from an authorized seller, called a dispensary. Your local doctor may also prescribe medical marijuana to treat the following: Muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis, Nausea from cancer chemotherapy,
Medical marijuana is a much healthier alternative to narcotics in most cases for the use of pain in treatments such as epilepsy, nausea relief, multiple sclerosis, post-traumatic stress disorder, and cancer. Two of the main cannabinoids in medical marijuana are: delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidoil (CBD). CBD is the compound that has significant medical benefits and the fact that CBD-rich cannabis is non-psychoactive or less psychoactive than THC-dominant strains, makes it an awesome option for people in search of relief from: inflammation, pain, anxiety, seizures, spasms, and many other conditions as well. On the other hand, the two most
(2009) studied the effects of Sativex on those who did not find relief from typical routes of pain management, the idea that cannabinoids might have more use as a secondary method of pain management was also addressed in the article Is there a need for weed? The role of cannabinoids in managing neuropathic pain. The article cites a study of 26 MS patients who were unresponsive to other pain treatments, found “significantly better pain relief” (p.12) by using sublingual cannabis extract. However, in analyzing a study with a larger number of participants, Is there a need for weed? The role of cannabinoids in managing neuropathic pain found that there was no marked improvement of pain levels over the placebo group, however they did note some objective improvement (such as
Chronic pain is intense suffering/agony that can persist between weeks to years. Currently, there are an estimated more than 3 million cases of chronic pain in the United States each year. That is where the Marijuana comes into play. An article on the JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association states the following for Marijuana being used for chronic pain as well as other medical problems,”Aside from nausea and appetite stimulation, indications for which there are 2 FDA-approved cannabinoids (dronabinol and nabilone), chronic pain, neuropathic pain, and spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis are the indications for medical marijuana supported by high-quality evidence”(Hill). As usual, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t state the drawbacks to using Marijuana to treat chronic pain. The same article states,”Medical marijuana and cannabinoids have significant potential health risks, such as addiction and worsening of psychiatric illnesses such as some anxiety disorders, mood disorders, psychotic disorders, and substance use disorders”(Hill). Currently, there are no ways to combatant these side
"Various forms of medicinal cannabis have provided mostly positive responses for patients with different types of pain: Neuropathic, chronic, postoperative, and that related to fibromyalgia, rhematoid arthritis, mutiple sclerosis and cancer" (Borgelt, Franson, & Nussbaum, 2013). In a study outlined in the article The Pharmacologic and Clinical Effects of Medical Cannabis, which evaluated smoked cannabis compared to placebo, significant improvements in pain were observed. The study included 56 patients and used cigarettes wtih varying THC contents. In general, a higher THC content (up to 9.4%) appears to be more effective for pain relief (Borgelt, Franson, & Nussbaum, 2013).