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Meds Cannabis and Pain
- Thread starter momofthegoons
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- chronic pain mmj neuropathy pain
I don't know that I would go as far as to say that cannabis and opioids are equal in pain management..... I do think it helps immensely but it doesn't take pain away like a narc will. I know @Baron23 will agree on this. Is it a great tool for pain? Yes. But...
Medical marijuana and opioids are “equally efficacious” at mitigating pain intensity in patients with chronic pain, according to a new study in the Journal of Cannabis Research—but cannabis also provided more “holistic” relief, such as by improving sleep, focus and emotional wellbeing.
Researchers said their findings support the hypothesis that medical cannabis (MC) “alleviates pain through holistically altering the pain experience” rather than “only targeting pain intensity.”
“The results of the present study support the hypothesis that the effects of MC on pain experience are more holistic than those of opioids,” their report says. “MC may alleviate pain through affecting a broad range of pain-related experience experiential factors such as relaxation, improved sleep and mood, being able not to react to the pain, as well as a sense of control.”
The nine-person Finnish team, led by Åbo Akademi University psychology professor Jussi Jylkkä, looked at a sample of 201 chronic pain patients, 40 of whom used medical marijuana and 161 of whom used opioids to treat pain. There was some crossover, with about 45 percent of medical marijuana patients reporting also using opioids for their pain and about 4.3 percent of opioid users having used medical cannabis.
Subjects completed retrospective surveys on the “positive and negative phenomenological effects of the medicine,” and researchers then compared scores from the two groups.
“Neither MC nor opioids are first-line treatments for chronic pain, but both are commonly used when other treatments fail to provide sufficient pain relief,” authors note, adding that recreational users of cannabis or opioids, along with people who used the substances to treat conditions other than chronic pain, “were explicitly asked not to partake in the study.”
The researchers concluded from the self-reported data that medical marijuana and opioids “were perceived to be equally efficacious in reducing pain intensity, but MC additionally positively affected broader pain-related factors such as emotion, functionality, and overall sense of wellbeing.”
“Both MC and opioids were perceived to reduce pain intensity equally well,” the study says. Participants said the two treatments “did not differ” in terms of side effects, but they rated the overall effects of medical cannabis as more positive.
The strongest differences between the two groups, the study says, were deeper relaxation, better sleep, improved mood and being able to feel pain without reacting to it, which were more commonly reported in the medical marijuana group.
“In sum, the results lend support to the notion that the psychoactive effects of MC are relevant to its therapeutic effect on pain, in line with suggestions in previous literature,” authors said. “However, by ‘psychoactive’ in this case we do not mean something that produces an altered state of consciousness in the sense of distorting one’s perception of reality and cognitive processes, but instead something that holistically alters consciousness to a more positive direction, or towards ‘normality.'”
Further, they noted, there were “no indications that MC, despite its holistic effects on consciousness, was experienced to distort cognitive processes, but instead was perceived to improve memory, focus, and clarity of thought.”
Researchers said their findings align with past research showing additional benefits for medical cannabis patients using marijuana to treat chronic pain, for example a 2017 study that found medical marijuana users “experienced substantially less depression and anxiety than opioid users.” A separate 2018 study, meanwhile, found that “cannabis did not affect perceived pain intensity, but instead made the pain feel less unpleasant and more tolerable.”
“The use of MC in chronic pain has also been associated with improved physical and social functioning and overall quality of life,” the study says, pointing to research from 2016, 2017 and 2022.
“This previous research thus supports the hypothesis that MC may exert its therapeutic effect on pain through altering the pain experience in a more holistic way than traditional analgesics,” it says. “That is, in addition to having an antinociceptive effect (i.e., removing pain or lessening its intensity), MC may affect the pain experience more broadly, influencing factors such as mood and emotion, pain tolerance, functionality, and overall well-being.”
Notably, authors said the outcomes appeared to be more positive in past studies for patients who consumed whole cannabis flower rather than synthetic THC or isolated cannabinoids. Looking at literature reviews from 2021 and 2022, for example, they noted that “only six of the 20 studies that were included in the review dealt with whole plant-based products, all superior to placebo. By contrast, in both studies, the results concerning isolated and synthetic cannabinoids were mixed.”
“Thus,” they conclude, “the present results contribute to the cumulating evidence that whole-plant cannabis flower may be an effective analgesic.”
A separate study recently found that the so-called “entourage effect” of whole-plant marijuana produces a stronger and longer-lasting psychoactive effect than pure THC.
The Finnish team acknowledged that the narrow availability of marijuana in the country was an obstacle to the research.
“A central limitation of the present survey study pertains to the special status of MC in Finland. Although legal in principle, prescription for MC is very difficult to attain,” the studyexplains, citing recent research that illustrates the trend: “Medical cannabis prescription rates have decreased in Finland from about 370 in 2017 to 240 in 2020 and to around 160 in 2021.”
The new study, “The holistic effects of medical cannabis compared to opioids on pain experience in Finnish patients with chronic pain,” comes as more research examines the possibility of using cannabis, or specific derivatives of the plant, as safer alternatives to opioids in some settings.
For example, another study published this month in the Journal of Dental Research, found that pure CBD could alleviate acute dental pain about as well as an opioid formulacommonly used in dentistry.
“Our results indicate that a single dose of CBD is as potent as current analgesic regimens and can manage emergency dental pain effectively,” the authors wrote in that study, adding that their work appears to be “the first randomized clinical trial testing CBD for managing emergency dental pain” and could eventually lead to FDA approval of CBD for dental pain.
A separate study last month found that letting people buy CBD legally significantly reduced opioid prescription rates, leading to 6.6 percent to 8.1 percent fewer opioid prescriptions.
Another study, published this summer in the journal Cannabis, linked medical marijuana use to lower pain levels and reduced dependence on opioids and other prescription medications. Participants reported reduced pain and anxiety, improved physical and mental functioning, better sleep quality and mood and less reliance on prescription medications, including opioids and benzodiazepines.
Marijuana And Opioids Are ‘Equally Efficacious’ In Reducing Pain, With Cannabis Offering Additional ‘Holistic’ Benefits, Study Shows
Medical marijuana and opioids are “equally efficacious” at mitigating pain intensity in patients with chronic pain, according to a new study in the Journal of Cannabis Research—but cannabis also provided more “holistic” relief, such as by improving sleep, focus and emotional wellbeing.
Researchers said their findings support the hypothesis that medical cannabis (MC) “alleviates pain through holistically altering the pain experience” rather than “only targeting pain intensity.”
“The results of the present study support the hypothesis that the effects of MC on pain experience are more holistic than those of opioids,” their report says. “MC may alleviate pain through affecting a broad range of pain-related experience experiential factors such as relaxation, improved sleep and mood, being able not to react to the pain, as well as a sense of control.”
The nine-person Finnish team, led by Åbo Akademi University psychology professor Jussi Jylkkä, looked at a sample of 201 chronic pain patients, 40 of whom used medical marijuana and 161 of whom used opioids to treat pain. There was some crossover, with about 45 percent of medical marijuana patients reporting also using opioids for their pain and about 4.3 percent of opioid users having used medical cannabis.
Subjects completed retrospective surveys on the “positive and negative phenomenological effects of the medicine,” and researchers then compared scores from the two groups.
“Neither MC nor opioids are first-line treatments for chronic pain, but both are commonly used when other treatments fail to provide sufficient pain relief,” authors note, adding that recreational users of cannabis or opioids, along with people who used the substances to treat conditions other than chronic pain, “were explicitly asked not to partake in the study.”
The researchers concluded from the self-reported data that medical marijuana and opioids “were perceived to be equally efficacious in reducing pain intensity, but MC additionally positively affected broader pain-related factors such as emotion, functionality, and overall sense of wellbeing.”
“Both MC and opioids were perceived to reduce pain intensity equally well,” the study says. Participants said the two treatments “did not differ” in terms of side effects, but they rated the overall effects of medical cannabis as more positive.
The strongest differences between the two groups, the study says, were deeper relaxation, better sleep, improved mood and being able to feel pain without reacting to it, which were more commonly reported in the medical marijuana group.
“In sum, the results lend support to the notion that the psychoactive effects of MC are relevant to its therapeutic effect on pain, in line with suggestions in previous literature,” authors said. “However, by ‘psychoactive’ in this case we do not mean something that produces an altered state of consciousness in the sense of distorting one’s perception of reality and cognitive processes, but instead something that holistically alters consciousness to a more positive direction, or towards ‘normality.'”
Further, they noted, there were “no indications that MC, despite its holistic effects on consciousness, was experienced to distort cognitive processes, but instead was perceived to improve memory, focus, and clarity of thought.”
Researchers said their findings align with past research showing additional benefits for medical cannabis patients using marijuana to treat chronic pain, for example a 2017 study that found medical marijuana users “experienced substantially less depression and anxiety than opioid users.” A separate 2018 study, meanwhile, found that “cannabis did not affect perceived pain intensity, but instead made the pain feel less unpleasant and more tolerable.”
“The use of MC in chronic pain has also been associated with improved physical and social functioning and overall quality of life,” the study says, pointing to research from 2016, 2017 and 2022.
“This previous research thus supports the hypothesis that MC may exert its therapeutic effect on pain through altering the pain experience in a more holistic way than traditional analgesics,” it says. “That is, in addition to having an antinociceptive effect (i.e., removing pain or lessening its intensity), MC may affect the pain experience more broadly, influencing factors such as mood and emotion, pain tolerance, functionality, and overall well-being.”
Notably, authors said the outcomes appeared to be more positive in past studies for patients who consumed whole cannabis flower rather than synthetic THC or isolated cannabinoids. Looking at literature reviews from 2021 and 2022, for example, they noted that “only six of the 20 studies that were included in the review dealt with whole plant-based products, all superior to placebo. By contrast, in both studies, the results concerning isolated and synthetic cannabinoids were mixed.”
“Thus,” they conclude, “the present results contribute to the cumulating evidence that whole-plant cannabis flower may be an effective analgesic.”
A separate study recently found that the so-called “entourage effect” of whole-plant marijuana produces a stronger and longer-lasting psychoactive effect than pure THC.
The Finnish team acknowledged that the narrow availability of marijuana in the country was an obstacle to the research.
“A central limitation of the present survey study pertains to the special status of MC in Finland. Although legal in principle, prescription for MC is very difficult to attain,” the studyexplains, citing recent research that illustrates the trend: “Medical cannabis prescription rates have decreased in Finland from about 370 in 2017 to 240 in 2020 and to around 160 in 2021.”
The new study, “The holistic effects of medical cannabis compared to opioids on pain experience in Finnish patients with chronic pain,” comes as more research examines the possibility of using cannabis, or specific derivatives of the plant, as safer alternatives to opioids in some settings.
For example, another study published this month in the Journal of Dental Research, found that pure CBD could alleviate acute dental pain about as well as an opioid formulacommonly used in dentistry.
“Our results indicate that a single dose of CBD is as potent as current analgesic regimens and can manage emergency dental pain effectively,” the authors wrote in that study, adding that their work appears to be “the first randomized clinical trial testing CBD for managing emergency dental pain” and could eventually lead to FDA approval of CBD for dental pain.
A separate study last month found that letting people buy CBD legally significantly reduced opioid prescription rates, leading to 6.6 percent to 8.1 percent fewer opioid prescriptions.
Another study, published this summer in the journal Cannabis, linked medical marijuana use to lower pain levels and reduced dependence on opioids and other prescription medications. Participants reported reduced pain and anxiety, improved physical and mental functioning, better sleep quality and mood and less reliance on prescription medications, including opioids and benzodiazepines.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
Absolutely agree. Cannabis helps a bit. IME, it makes the pain a bit remote but doesn't remove pain like narcs do.
And, IMO, cannabis is far better than getting strung out on narcs even though its a less effective pain reliever. And cannabis potentiates narcs so you can take less and less often and still get the same pain relief.
But yes, narcotics are indeed in another category in terms of pain relief. I had my lumbar fused this past Mar (and I'm doing really well now). Wow, did that hurt for a long period of time. No way to get thru it, IMO, without the narcs but I was glad to get off of them as soon as possible.
I find cannabis to be helpful with neuro/skeletal/muscular pain when trying to sleep.
That was my experience as well. I had hellish Pancreatitis episodes every month for 28 months. The hospital always prescribed more Dilaudid when they released me and cannabis helped me take less Dilaudid with more hours between doses. It helped me sleep and to care less about the pain I was in. Cannabis was an integral part of my pain management for sure but it didn't replace the heavy hitters.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
Dang Miss Squibs….an attack every month for over 2 years!!! You must have been losing your mind.
They come up with any reason for all of that…and of course that’s your personal health info so certainly your prerogative to not share it.
But I can’t imagine monthly attacks for that huge period of time.
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@Baron23
It was a hellish period. I was badly poisoned by contaminated romaine lettuce in 2015. I was one of 80 people that were poisoned within a week or two of eachother. Health Canada traced it back to a company that had accidently side dressed their crop with a compost that was not fully cooked. My liver, kidneys and pancreas were severly damaged. I was told by my doctors that I was fortunate to have survived. I had two operations on my pancreas and spent many, many weeks in the hospital with pancreatis attacks. During this period I rapidly lost way too much weight. My liver recovered as did my kidneys over the course of the first year but my pancreas did not recover and I was rendered an insulin dependant diabetic. It was this poisonig event that prompted me to begin growing my own greens when I had recovered. To this day I'm not comfortable buying greens from a grocer unless they are something I plan to cook. Pancratitis pain is by far the worst pain I've ever endured in my life. I can't even begin to describe it. But it's all over now. I'm relatively well now, though I must watch my diet closely and inject insulin several times a day.
It was a hellish period. I was badly poisoned by contaminated romaine lettuce in 2015. I was one of 80 people that were poisoned within a week or two of eachother. Health Canada traced it back to a company that had accidently side dressed their crop with a compost that was not fully cooked. My liver, kidneys and pancreas were severly damaged. I was told by my doctors that I was fortunate to have survived. I had two operations on my pancreas and spent many, many weeks in the hospital with pancreatis attacks. During this period I rapidly lost way too much weight. My liver recovered as did my kidneys over the course of the first year but my pancreas did not recover and I was rendered an insulin dependant diabetic. It was this poisonig event that prompted me to begin growing my own greens when I had recovered. To this day I'm not comfortable buying greens from a grocer unless they are something I plan to cook. Pancratitis pain is by far the worst pain I've ever endured in my life. I can't even begin to describe it. But it's all over now. I'm relatively well now, though I must watch my diet closely and inject insulin several times a day.
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Green Kiwi
Well-Known Member
, I really hope ,the Insulin stuff will be less needed in future
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Medical Marijuana Helps People With Arthritis And Other Rheumatic Conditions Reduce Use Of Opioids And Other Medications, Study Shows
New research on the use of medical marijuana among people with rheumatic conditions such as arthritis finds that more than 6 in 10 patients who used medical cannabis reported substituting it for other medications, including NSAIDs, opioids, sleep aids and muscle relaxants. Most patients further said that the use of marijuana allowed them to reduce or stop using those medications entirely.
“The primary reasons for substitution were fewer adverse effects, better symptom management, and concerns about withdrawal symptoms,” says the study, published this month by the American College of Rheumatology. “Substitution was associated with THC use and significantly higher symptom improvements (including pain, sleep, anxiety, and joint stiffness) than nonsubstitution.”
The findings, say authors at the University of Michigan Medical School, McGill University and the University of Buffalo, “suggest that an appreciable number of people with rheumatic diseases substitute medications with [medical cannabis] for symptom management.”
Data for the study came from an online, anonymous survey of adult residents of the United States and Canada, which was advertised on social media and through email contact lists of the Arthritis Foundation and Arthritis Society Canada. Of 1,727 completed surveys, 763 respondents said they currently used cannabis, while 655 said they’d never used marijuana and 268 said they’d used but since discontinued. Researchers analyzed responses of only those who said they were current cannabis users.
“Among 763 participants, 62.5% reported substituting MC products for medications, including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (54.7%), opioids (48.6%), sleep aids (29.6%), and muscle relaxants (25.2%),” the report says.
Among cannabis users, about two-thirds “reported a diagnosis of an inflammatory rheumatic disease, and a similar number reported concomitant conditions, such as fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, and mechanical spinal pain.”
Researchers noted that among respondents who used marijuana, “inhalation was the most common method of administration, with all the attendant risks of respiratory disease and aggravation of an inflammatory condition. However, given the immediate pharmacokinetic effect of inhaled MC, this administration method may be most satisfactory for people seeking rapid symptom relief, especially for pain.”
They also noted that THC-containing products were the most commonly used, writing that it’s “plausible that some individuals may require cannabis products containing at least some THC for effective pain management, a point that should be explored in future studies.”
Another finding was that “more than half of participants in this survey were using [medical cannabis] at least daily, with those substituting more likely to be using regularly.”
“This pattern of use,” authors wrote, “supports the notion of daily continuous symptoms that need continuous management.”
The study notes that so far, “only a handful of observational studies have investigated MC use among people with rheumatic conditions, a group that may have unique challenges owing to age, substantial use of concomitant medications, and high symptom burden.”
Nevertheless, more and more research suggests that some patients with a variety of conditions use medical marijuana as a substitute for other medications.
A recent study in the Journal of Nurse Practitioners, for example, found that medical marijuana was associated with reduced prescription drug use and improved well-being and symptom intensity among adults with anxiety, depression, insomnia and chronic pain.
“Prescription medication use decreased significantly after medical cannabis use,” that report said. “Health characteristics and symptom intensity improved significantly after medical cannabis use.”
A separate study of more than 500 military veterans published last year found that more than 90 percent who used medical marijuana said it improved their quality of life. Many also reported used cannabis as an alternative to over-the-counter and prescription medications.
Other research published this year found that older people who use medical marijuana “experience considerable improvement in health and well-being” and that access to cannabis moderately reduced opioid prescriptions—a result indicated by several other studies in recent years.
And earlier this summer, a new federally funded study found that marijuana helps people with substance misuse disorders stay off opioids or reduce their use, maintain treatment and manage withdrawal symptoms.
Anecdotally, pet owners have also been using cannabinoids for years to treat rheumatic conditions like osteoarthritis in dogs.
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