There is Hope,
Is Medical Cannabis a viable option for helping people through the withdrawal symptoms of opioid dependency? There are many patients all across the state of Florida who use opioids to manage their pain, but opioids were never intended for long term pain management. It has only been used this way in the last 10 years. In 2008 the united states prescribed 80 million opioids, Florida alone prescribed 90 BILLION. Yes, billion. The DEA recently added an addendum to the standard of care for prescribers, it reads: any patient receiving opioid medication must be given a prescription for Narcan (Nalaxone). This medication is used when an opioid user overdoses, Narcan must be auto injected directly into the chest by a loved one or caregiver. Clinically, this stuff is recognized as dangerous. So it's no secret were dealing with a real issue here. But, how to proceed, thats the million dollar question. The two popular options for getting off these extremely addictive medications are Suboxone or Methadone, and both of these work on the receptors in similar ways, so not only do you have to detox off of these as well, but they are highly addictive due to the dependency of the receptor chemical productions.
We have a new option.
At MedClub we have been experimenting hand in hand with our patients to find the best method of ingesting cannabis and CBD to relieve pain and deal with the same issues without the need for addictive, harmful, life threatening medications. The results have been mostly positive so far, since you cannot actually overdose physiologically on marijuana the risk factor is very low. Our first trial patient was taking 20mg of oxycodone every six hours for back pain, we started her on a regiment of 0.01mL of THC/CBD distillate which is an oral concentrated form of cannabis. This method has been very effective so far, she was instructed to taper her dosage of oxycodone each week by 25%. So by the end of the month she was taking almost no oxycodone and her withdrawal symptoms were very minor. She has continued this into months two, three, and four. The medical marijuana has proven effective at managing her pain, and had the advantage of lowering her blood pressure set point.
The Brain: The Receptors.
The brain and the opioid receptors play a huge role in all of this. When you take opioids for an extended period of time the risks are not only sparking the addictive human nature, but scientifically starting a physiological phenomena which causes the body to experience more pain when those receptors aren't fed with the normal dosage of autologues opioids it is accustomed to. In short, the patient will "think" he or she is suffers from more pain then they actually have. We only know this because time and time again the chemically dependent patient is in pain while taking these medications daily but then after a month or two without them, after the post acute withdrawal cycle is over, they are still in some pain from the original injury or cause, but not nearly as much as before. This is where cannabis really comes into play.
How well does Medical Marijuana Treat Pain?
Everyone has seen the videos of epileptics, speech impairment sufferers, trigeminal neuralgia patients, and scores of other conditions be miraculously made functional by simply ingesting a small dose of Marijuana. But what about pain?. Well pain is tricky, and very personal. The endo-cannabinoid system is different in each human so the response to Delta9THC, THCV,CBN, and CBD both A and B (all compounds present in marijuana) is vastly different. Parkinson's patients will notice a decrease in overall pain and tremors, arthritis patients see a steep drop in pain, atrophy and increase in movement and liquidity of joint tension. People who suffer from back pain derived from disk issues or pinched nerves will notice relaxed muscles and decreased systemic inflammation, which usually brings some overall relief to the core problem. people who are post surgery patients have good luck with Medical Cannabis usually 50/50 mixes of THC/CBD in the form of a topical cream or balm. Many of our patients with high blood pressure who take medical marijuana in capsule or oil form before bed find their resting blood pressure in the morning much more regular. Our chemotherapy and radiation patients enjoy an increased appetite and decreased nausea, not to mention elevated mood and concentration. Overall our findings have been good. Is this a miracle plant? hardly; it is a medicinal herb with healing qualitys specific to each patient and illness. When prescribed and used properly it can have great benefits for many people but is a medicine and therefore must be respected as such.
In the coming weeks we will be making a playlist of YouTubevideos and adding them to our functional health channel here in Palm Beach, Florida. If you are interested in obtaining your card please call our office to make an appointment, Our phone number is listed below. We are always available to answer questions and guide patients through the entire process.
Our Clinic: 561-214-3323 or 1-(833)-FL-GREEN
Special thanks to all the support from the Kevin, Virginia, and Jason Show and 97.9WRMF
