Medical Marijuana: A Growing Field   by Sofia Everts

in Health / Alternative Medicine    (submitted 2012-02-13)

With increasing frequency, people hold that medical marijuana is a premier method of pain management for those suffering from debilitating conditions. Pain management is undoubtedly the most common reason that people utilize medical cannabis.

Chronic pain sufferers often choose medical cannabis over traditional prescription drugs, such as morphine, Vicodin, and methadone, because these drugs can be extremely addictive. Also, it is not uncommon for pain sufferers' bodies to become tolerant to standard pain management drugs. The outcome of this is a need for constantly higher dosages of the prescriptions so the drugs do not lose their effect.

Medical marijuana, for many chronic pain patients, is so effective that the sufferer can completely end, or drastically lessen, his or her need for conventional pain management prescriptions. On a rudimentary level, cannabis's function in pain management is to block or severely curb nerve endings' response to any stimulus that triggers pain. Medical cannabis, according to users, is particularly effective at checking pain that results from nerve issues or chronic inflammatory diseases. Medical marijuana also seems to have had success in relieving pain associated with peripheral nerve damage, primarily amputees' phantom limb pain. While there aren't any major studies currently in the works to gauge cannabis' effectiveness at pain management, there are certainly people who swear by cannabis to aid in relieving their pain.

Cannabis, just like traditional opiate-based pain management drugs, inhibits pain receptors. However, it shuts down different pain pathways than conventional pain relievers. Cannabis, as mentioned previously, seems to have an amazing effect when it comes to lessening pain from inflammation and nerve damage. A scenario in which medical marijuana might be highly effective involves a patient who has had a pinched-nerve freed surgically.At first, the patient should experience a marked curtailment in their everyday pain; unfortunately, after a few months, scar tissue will form around the freed nerve, often resulting in a new cycle of chronic pain.

Since cannabis seems to be well-suited at curbing this sort of peripheral nerve pain, it is a good option for people suffering from a myriad of issues.Patients with diabetes, HIV, and multiple sclerosis have all reported a noticeable reduction in peripheral nerve pain after medical marijuana use. Additionally, medical marijuana has purportedly relieved chronic pain caused by cancer.

The use of medical cannabis does raise some legitimate questions. For example, are patients actually experiencing a reduction of pain, or do they simply think they are because they are high? There is undoubtedly a need for further scientific studies on the effects of medical marijuana in order to fully answer these questions. However, right now, it appears that many medical cannabis users are experiencing actual pain alleviation.

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