I've heard some state it helps for certain types of pain.
Can't say as never tried it & at the time wouldn't.
Then again to each their own & if it helps that's great.
I've seen specials on it for eating & sleeping. As mentioned very expensive.
Would be great if there was something out there with less side effects that really worked on this type of pain. We can hope.
Sammy

OK everyone, I'll come out of the closet and admit that I'm a card-holder for legal medical marijuana in the state of California. I was inspired to try MM after I had a DVT and resulting pulmonary embolism about 3 years ago - the injury and surgery that triggered the DVT/PE, plus taking coumadin for 6 months, made taking all my traditional meds for RA a lot more complicated. I went into remission after my injury and surgery, but the PE triggered a massive flare unlike anything I'd experienced before. I was desperate and decided to try MM as a result.

I'm sure everyone's results will vary, but I did not find MM to ease my pain significantly and, in particular, it definitely didn't help with my inflammation. I tried both the "sleepy" and the "awake" formulations and didn't notice a real difference in how I felt between the two strains. I was told that the THC levels in MM are significantly higher than in the kind many of us might have experimented with in our younger years, but I didn't notice that either.

Bottom line - I still have at least half of both the "bottles" (1/4 oz each, I think, cost about $50 a piece). Honestly, Vicodin is a far better pain reliever for me - and insurance covers it! ;-)

thanks for coming out with your experience, trinaunz. even in today's street marijuana, the levels of THC are significantly higher than in the 60s and 70s. depending on how you use it, you may feel higher or not. most pot that's grown for medicinal purposes is engineered to have specific amounts of THC. i know my stepfather grew his own, additive free with only natural fertilizer/compost, and his plants were HUGE, lush, beautiful, and sticky. he smoked pot nightly to help him sleep and keep him from dreaming; nights he did not smoke, he'd very frequently have vivid flashbacks from being in vietnam. his homegrown was the epitome of smooth kind bud with a nice mellow high. the first time i smoked street marijuana, i almost lost my damn mind.

trinaunz, thank you for sharing your experience. That's what I was looking for. If it doesn't help the pain and inflammation, what's the point?

Emerald, I watched the 43 min video by Dr. Sanjay Gupta this morning. It was inspiring to see a particular strain help 5-year-old Charlotte with her seizures - but that isn't pain and inflammation. Her strain had almost no THC in it, and that was good to see, too. I know Marinol (Rx THC) helps with appetite, but I sure don't need help with that! :) And $600 for Rx Marinol? Yikes!

The Yahoo article basically states there has not been an adequate study yet in patients with rheumatic conditions to know if it can help us. I was a little irked at the fact that TPTB in that article are not inclined to study it in patients with rheumatic conditions because of "the availability of other therapies for managing pain." Ack! Therapies with possible horrendous side effects. I admit, I'm scared to death to take anything that has a possible side effect of lymphoma after nursing my Dad through lymphoma in 2007-8, even though lymphoma has been shown to more often occur in younger males. I have a family history of it. I also see on this forum that the available medications don't always do such a great job with pain, so I wish they'd study MM in patients with inflammatory pain and possibly find a strain that does.

steph, how wonderful your stepfather figured out how to grow his own without chemical crap in it to help with his PTSD! Another inspiring story!

This has certainly been an interesting discussion. :)

Oh! One more thing. It was brought up to me that the biologics and DMARDs can help slow the progression of RA. I certainly don't imagine MM does that, either.

though we have warm weather and the perfect soil (so i've heard) to grow it....and the state needs the revenue, alabama will be about the last to legalize. so, i have HEARD that it does nothing to help the swelling/flare, it does make you hungry and if you eat the wrong things that can actually work against you, it does have a tendency to help dealing with the depression/downer feelings that RA brings along when you are in between flares, an ounce will last an individual (either using the vibro or water pipe) about 10 weeks if you don't waste it. so i've heard, i think, sometimes my short term memory ain't that great.

i tried it in caplet form... not sure which strain. good for sleep in small doses. but i got too high to function and it didn't block pain... just makes you relax and not care as much that you in pain. if you got anxeity might be good.

that's what muscle relaxers do to me Lynn without an e.

a lot less hassle and cost I guess.

Ros

the idea that pot can help lessen situational depression is widely contested. marijuana is a depressant, slowing many of the systems in our bodies. it also interferes with dopamine in the brain. there has been some research done linking marijuana use to psychotic breaks or a trigger to the onset of schizoaffective disorders. pot changes the way that our hippocamus processes and helps store memories, causing long and short term memory issues that do not always reverse.

CBD (cannabidiol) is one of many (50+) active ingredients of the marijuana plant. It can be extracted from the plant so that there is little THC, the ingredient that makes people "high". CBD is an anti-inflammatory. It is legal in the US, not in Canada. I have ordered some and it is arriving this week. I will report back.

THC has next to none anti-inflammatory properties.

Nancy

Nancy, I'm glad to hear CBD is anti-inflammatory! I missed that in Sanjay Gupta's video where they talked about CBD. I'll be looking for your update. Thanks!

Well, I did smoke more than my share of pot, something like forty years ago. Then got tired of it. I would be very interested in an anti-inflammatory that would work in a vaporizer. I have just been taken off anti-inflammatory meds due to my rising blood pressure. Thanks for the info.

Hi Lynne, thank you for starting this thread. Thank you trinaunz, for sharing with us and being so open and honest. A DVT/PE is very serious and life threatening. (My mom has a PE and is on coumadin for life.) Very good discussion amongst very mature folks here. I learned a lot. To be honest I have not really given the idea any thought at all. Hope to hear from you Nancy when you try it. Does it come with directions as to how much and how often trinaunz or Nancy??

I ordered my CBD with a vaporizer. I'll let you know what type of instructions there are when it arrives.

For more information about CBD: http://www.projectcbd.org/

Nancy

Thanks, Nancy. That link is very informative. CBD can be bought with no THC and is recommended for arthritic and inflammatory pain along with many other conditions. I wouldn't mind a bit of THC (sativa strain to lift spirits) in it, but not the sleepy kind that promotes paranoia. Looking forward to your first-hand review.