Root
Grandma Roody
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2012
- Messages
- 1,836
- Reputation
- 0
- Reaction score
- 3,493
- Points
- 0
- Website
- everessencekd.com
- Currently Smoking
- My Genius Pipe!
https://www.hellomd.com/health-well...-off-pain-meds-and-found-relief-with-cannabis
Migraines: How I Got off Pain Meds and Found Relief with Cannabis
By Pamela Hadfield, HelloMD Co Founder
July 2, 2015
Have you ever considered using CBD for chronic pain relief? I didn’t. I never even considered it. Sure, I read some stuff in the news about marijuana’s ‘awesome’ healing properties, but to be honest I always that it was a bunch of BS. I pictured myself smoking a big spliff, getting really paranoid, feeling out of my head and still having a seriously bad migraine. Oh, and going to bed and not sleeping because I am spinning and, did I say it before, so incredibly PARANOID. Not my happy place.
My perception of medical marijuana was way off base. There are multiple different types of cannabinoids within the cannabis plant and CBD (cannabidiol) is almost exclusively used for medical relief. CBD, unlike its twin sister-from-a-different-mister THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), CBD does not get people high or ‘stoned’. Based on a personal friend’s recommendation, I did end up trying CBD for migraine pain relief, and it to my great surprise worked. If this is of interest to you, then you should really read on because this is my story on how I got off Vicodin and started using CBD to manage chronic pain caused by crazy, intense migraines.
My Intense Migraines + Pharmaceuticals
I have had migraine headaches since I was fourteen. Head splitting, painful whoppers that can leave me in bed for days. The first time I had a migraine I was swimming a 100meter race on the high school swim team. I nearly won (almost) but when I got out of the pool I actually fell to the ground. I was struck by migraine lightening that left me blinded, vomiting and out of my skull for the next 12 hours. That was the start of it all.
For the last 25 years or so, it has been much the same although I have learned that hormonal spikes most often cause them in conjunction with stress, diet and lack of exercise. Getting pregnant? A really bad idea if you get hormonal migraines. Several pregnancies later, I found my headaches were as bad, if not worse, than in adolescence. So was my mood. When you feel chronic pain this badly, I believe most people are willing to do just about anything to feel pain relief (I am included in that group). This led me to try out a barrage of drugs to find a ‘cure’ (btw, there isn’t one unless you consider cutting off your head) and/or something that might provide significant pain relief.
BEST CBD STRAINS FOR MIGRAINES
Yoga, pilates and cross fit helped me. Other than drugs, adding more exercise to my weekly routine and a significant change in my diet including dropping gluten and soy helped alleviate the worst kinds of migraines. That is semi code for the migraines that blind you and give you the dreaded-dotted-panic-attack-inducing aura. That said, no matter what changes I have made a migraine still seems to rear its ugly head. Enter migraine management with narcotics and heavy-duty migraine medications such as Imitrex.
For the most part, I have found the migraine meds like Imitrex too debilitating. I end up foggy, drooling and practically comatose in bed, unable to do much, but still with a nagging pain in the gulliver. Vicodin (hydrocodone/acetaminophen) is a combination of the narcotic hydrocodone and non-narcotic pain reliever acetaminophen. On a monthly basis I found that taking Vicodin at the onset of a headache helped to both stop it from getting worse while also giving significant pain relief with minor side effects.
Finding pain relief with Vicodon was fantastic for me but it also had a significant downside. I started snacking Vicodin on a monthly basis — roughly in the neighborhood of 2–8 pills per month. It is important to note that Vicodin is now considered part of the new DEA Schedule II for controlled substances. In August of 2014 the DEA changed the regulations around Vicodin and moved it into the same class as Oxycontin, Percocet and Codeine. As a result, physicians have been far more careful when prescribing Vicodin. Honestly, it’s understandable as the doctors now need to watch their own backs based on the new DEA regulation.
Laws changed around Vicodin due to the fact that some 7 million Americans seem to adore it as well as other prescription meds; they are addicted to them and love to Rush Limbaugh (yes, that’s a gross, fat verb I coined). Fortunately, I never had an issue with Vicodin addiction, but it really bothered me that I was so heavily reliant on a narcotic, it seemed so, well, dependent. It was also far less convenient trying to get a prescription as well.
About a year ago, a friend suggested that I try a CBD mouth spray for my headaches. I was all ears, as she told me that it not only provided pain relief, but she was able to fully function, it did not make her tired, and she found it a more natural way to medicate. It had seriously never occurred to me that people were not necessarily smoking their medicine nor were they getting high.
The CBD sublingual spray brand that I use - all with different CBD to THC ratios CBD is the magical ingredient in cannabis
CBD and THC are two of the most prevalent compounds in in cannabis. There are over 60 other compounds that also make up the cannabis plant. THC is the psychoactive component and is what gets people high, which for some people is great. CBD on the other hand is non-psycho active and does not affect our CB1 brain receptors in the same way as THC. Both THC and CBD do have many of the same medical advantages but each person reacts differently. For me THC is like kryptonite, my system simply cannot handle it, I short circuit.
I was never much into chemistry, but the difference with CBD from THC is that the honeycomb is open CBD is now finally coming into the limelight due to its remarkable properties. It has anti seizure properties, pain relieving properties, anticancer properties, it may prevent diabetic neuropathy, it is hailed as a nerve protector, reduces nausea & vomiting, suppresses seizures, combats anxiety, alleviates inflammation in the body, and the list goes on and on. This is me screaming from the top of my work desk, IT ALSO STOPPED THE PAIN CAUSED BY MY MIGRAINES with zero gnarly side effects!
TOP 6 WAYS TO CONSUME CBD
Another interesting thing to note about CBD is its unique ability to work in conjunction with THC. CBD is able to stop the negative effects that may be felt from ingesting too much THC. In effect, CBD can reduce any overly intense psycho activity caused by THC i.e., your little brother smokes too much weed and locks himself in the broom closet, you give him CBD. It is like Freeze Miser meeting Heat Miser and Mother Nature stopping the argument so Christmas can go on (excuse the cult TV special cultural reference). As a result you will see many products that use ratios of 1:1 CBD to THC, or always greater CBD to THC ratios. The ratio of THC to CBD is very important based on the relief you want to feel and your tolerance for the psycho activity inherent to THC. All that said, I will leave the topic of ratios and dosage for another posting. If you are like me, and have a highly negative sensitivity to THC, talk to your doctor as well as a reputable dispensary before buying and trying any new product. Here are some basic dosage guidelines. If you are in the San Francisco area, I highly recommend visiting The Apothecarium as their staff is friendly and very knowledgeable and can readily help with recommendations.
So to wrap it up, if CBD worked for me, it may also work for you. This story is one of the reasons we started HelloMD. We saw there was a great need for people to gain access to medical cards so they might be able to purchase medical marijuana legally. We advocate for people to try medicinal marijuana for medical needs whether they be small or large, because in our opinion it offers a viable, relatively safe medical alternative to Big Pharma.
Migraines: How I Got off Pain Meds and Found Relief with Cannabis
By Pamela Hadfield, HelloMD Co Founder
July 2, 2015
Have you ever considered using CBD for chronic pain relief? I didn’t. I never even considered it. Sure, I read some stuff in the news about marijuana’s ‘awesome’ healing properties, but to be honest I always that it was a bunch of BS. I pictured myself smoking a big spliff, getting really paranoid, feeling out of my head and still having a seriously bad migraine. Oh, and going to bed and not sleeping because I am spinning and, did I say it before, so incredibly PARANOID. Not my happy place.
My perception of medical marijuana was way off base. There are multiple different types of cannabinoids within the cannabis plant and CBD (cannabidiol) is almost exclusively used for medical relief. CBD, unlike its twin sister-from-a-different-mister THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), CBD does not get people high or ‘stoned’. Based on a personal friend’s recommendation, I did end up trying CBD for migraine pain relief, and it to my great surprise worked. If this is of interest to you, then you should really read on because this is my story on how I got off Vicodin and started using CBD to manage chronic pain caused by crazy, intense migraines.
My Intense Migraines + Pharmaceuticals
I have had migraine headaches since I was fourteen. Head splitting, painful whoppers that can leave me in bed for days. The first time I had a migraine I was swimming a 100meter race on the high school swim team. I nearly won (almost) but when I got out of the pool I actually fell to the ground. I was struck by migraine lightening that left me blinded, vomiting and out of my skull for the next 12 hours. That was the start of it all.
For the last 25 years or so, it has been much the same although I have learned that hormonal spikes most often cause them in conjunction with stress, diet and lack of exercise. Getting pregnant? A really bad idea if you get hormonal migraines. Several pregnancies later, I found my headaches were as bad, if not worse, than in adolescence. So was my mood. When you feel chronic pain this badly, I believe most people are willing to do just about anything to feel pain relief (I am included in that group). This led me to try out a barrage of drugs to find a ‘cure’ (btw, there isn’t one unless you consider cutting off your head) and/or something that might provide significant pain relief.
BEST CBD STRAINS FOR MIGRAINES
Yoga, pilates and cross fit helped me. Other than drugs, adding more exercise to my weekly routine and a significant change in my diet including dropping gluten and soy helped alleviate the worst kinds of migraines. That is semi code for the migraines that blind you and give you the dreaded-dotted-panic-attack-inducing aura. That said, no matter what changes I have made a migraine still seems to rear its ugly head. Enter migraine management with narcotics and heavy-duty migraine medications such as Imitrex.
For the most part, I have found the migraine meds like Imitrex too debilitating. I end up foggy, drooling and practically comatose in bed, unable to do much, but still with a nagging pain in the gulliver. Vicodin (hydrocodone/acetaminophen) is a combination of the narcotic hydrocodone and non-narcotic pain reliever acetaminophen. On a monthly basis I found that taking Vicodin at the onset of a headache helped to both stop it from getting worse while also giving significant pain relief with minor side effects.
Finding pain relief with Vicodon was fantastic for me but it also had a significant downside. I started snacking Vicodin on a monthly basis — roughly in the neighborhood of 2–8 pills per month. It is important to note that Vicodin is now considered part of the new DEA Schedule II for controlled substances. In August of 2014 the DEA changed the regulations around Vicodin and moved it into the same class as Oxycontin, Percocet and Codeine. As a result, physicians have been far more careful when prescribing Vicodin. Honestly, it’s understandable as the doctors now need to watch their own backs based on the new DEA regulation.
Laws changed around Vicodin due to the fact that some 7 million Americans seem to adore it as well as other prescription meds; they are addicted to them and love to Rush Limbaugh (yes, that’s a gross, fat verb I coined). Fortunately, I never had an issue with Vicodin addiction, but it really bothered me that I was so heavily reliant on a narcotic, it seemed so, well, dependent. It was also far less convenient trying to get a prescription as well.
About a year ago, a friend suggested that I try a CBD mouth spray for my headaches. I was all ears, as she told me that it not only provided pain relief, but she was able to fully function, it did not make her tired, and she found it a more natural way to medicate. It had seriously never occurred to me that people were not necessarily smoking their medicine nor were they getting high.
The CBD sublingual spray brand that I use - all with different CBD to THC ratios CBD is the magical ingredient in cannabis
CBD and THC are two of the most prevalent compounds in in cannabis. There are over 60 other compounds that also make up the cannabis plant. THC is the psychoactive component and is what gets people high, which for some people is great. CBD on the other hand is non-psycho active and does not affect our CB1 brain receptors in the same way as THC. Both THC and CBD do have many of the same medical advantages but each person reacts differently. For me THC is like kryptonite, my system simply cannot handle it, I short circuit.
I was never much into chemistry, but the difference with CBD from THC is that the honeycomb is open CBD is now finally coming into the limelight due to its remarkable properties. It has anti seizure properties, pain relieving properties, anticancer properties, it may prevent diabetic neuropathy, it is hailed as a nerve protector, reduces nausea & vomiting, suppresses seizures, combats anxiety, alleviates inflammation in the body, and the list goes on and on. This is me screaming from the top of my work desk, IT ALSO STOPPED THE PAIN CAUSED BY MY MIGRAINES with zero gnarly side effects!
TOP 6 WAYS TO CONSUME CBD
Another interesting thing to note about CBD is its unique ability to work in conjunction with THC. CBD is able to stop the negative effects that may be felt from ingesting too much THC. In effect, CBD can reduce any overly intense psycho activity caused by THC i.e., your little brother smokes too much weed and locks himself in the broom closet, you give him CBD. It is like Freeze Miser meeting Heat Miser and Mother Nature stopping the argument so Christmas can go on (excuse the cult TV special cultural reference). As a result you will see many products that use ratios of 1:1 CBD to THC, or always greater CBD to THC ratios. The ratio of THC to CBD is very important based on the relief you want to feel and your tolerance for the psycho activity inherent to THC. All that said, I will leave the topic of ratios and dosage for another posting. If you are like me, and have a highly negative sensitivity to THC, talk to your doctor as well as a reputable dispensary before buying and trying any new product. Here are some basic dosage guidelines. If you are in the San Francisco area, I highly recommend visiting The Apothecarium as their staff is friendly and very knowledgeable and can readily help with recommendations.
So to wrap it up, if CBD worked for me, it may also work for you. This story is one of the reasons we started HelloMD. We saw there was a great need for people to gain access to medical cards so they might be able to purchase medical marijuana legally. We advocate for people to try medicinal marijuana for medical needs whether they be small or large, because in our opinion it offers a viable, relatively safe medical alternative to Big Pharma.
