Medical cannabis

[thesootherfairy]

Anyone else here tried medical cannabis?

I'm currently trying it. I suffer from chronic pain from ankylosing spondylitis with lots of peripheral symptoms.

I tried 9 different anti inflammatory drugs and lot of others for pain.

The clinic I spoke to were really helpful. I got my prescription about a month ago.

It is helping with the joint pain and tendonitis pain and stiffness. I've stopped using other forms of pain relief and I sleep better so feel less tired.

Anyone else?

Obviously I wouldnt want to condone doing anything illegal, but hypothetically speaking it's unlikely that you'd have any problems making a purchase from that shop, get a very small amount & see how you feel. Or you could take advantage of the medical route.
My way of doing things doesnt really seem to line up with the medical ways & I'd think they have to be quite strict about sticking to guidelines and not advise anything which looks too much like recreational use, they prob wont be telling you to roll up a big fat one and blaze away😶

Interesting read [[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/24/nhs-medical-cannabis-patients-private-law-products
In November 2018, it seemed as though the UK had finally caught up when Theresa May’s government changed the law to allow the NHS and private providers to prescribe cannabis-based medical products

a total of 89,239 prescriptions for unlicensed cannabis medicines were issued between November 2018 and July 2022 in England, but fewer than five of these were issued by the NHS.

Here’s the problem: most cannabis-based medicinal products, while no longer being legally prohibited, have still not been granted a licence for use in the UK, meaning that doctors need to apply for specialist funding any time they want to prescribe them, or request their NHS trust to fund them directly.

Yes me too I'm going to order gummies

Anyone who's made their own oil and also bought from the dank bake house, if you used cannabis oil every day at a high dose how many gummies would you say I would need ? One?

@peridito
Thanks for the link seems to me the upshot is the government will only let people have it if some of their wealthy friends can make a lot of money out of it.
Ridiculous because they are trying to restrict something that you can easily grow!
And of course Theresa May's husband makes lots of money out of it doesn't he
Ducking runts the lot of them 🤬

My mum is interesting in this- late 70s, RA and overwhelming pain. Today she couldn’t lift the tea pot to pour tea and when it is bad she can hardly walk. On methotrexate but this has previously lead to liver issues . Only relief for her is steroids but doctors won’t prescribe for more than a few weeks. I am going to pass on the info on this thread about private clinics. My question is - she has a consultant appointment next month - should she talk to him about this idea? She is worried about cannabis interacting with the drugs she is already on.

@Cathpot She could certainly mention it re interactions but my experience of rheumatologists is they have a stock set of drugs they proffer, cheapest first, they're set in their thinking, and might suggest pregabalin or gabapentin as a painkiller it she's not on it already? I know 6 people with RA and they're mostly on methotrexate & steroids and as you say, it's harsh on the liver. One has been moved to Humira, this is a biologic so I'm surprised your mum has not been offered this or another Rx or maybe not suitable for her? (It's expensive). If she does consider MM the consultant at the clinic should know about drug interactions & will see from her summary of care regards medication. I have a connective tissue disease too and they're horrible things so sympathy to your mum. 💐 I have managed to greatly improve some of my inflammatory markers, some to negative by diet, lifestyle and supplements. Has your mum tried any holistic approaches?

@Cathpot
It is probably better for your mum to have an appointment with one of the clinics and talk to their Pain Management Consultant.

The NHS can be very very dismissive of "alternative treatments".
Not all but sometimes.

I actually learned more not just about medical cannabis but my arthritis and pain etc from the Integro pain consultant than I did from the "team" I'm under with NHS.

I also discussed other medication with him in detail. To be fair my NHS pain team were supportive on medical cannabis. They would like to be able to prescribe it.
My GP wasn't supportive. She made all the right noises but I could tell from the notes she made on my medical records that she isn't on board.
I may yet win her over. Since starting MC I've only had one GP appointment (9 months) and I used to have 2 or 3 sometimes 4 GP appointments per month due to pain and issues such as medication side effects.
I've been much better since starting it.

Let's be clear it's not a cure but I has improved my quality of life immensely.

@CherryRipe1 @thesootherfairy
thank you both for replies. She has tried various diets and seen a functional medicine doctor privately, but nothing has helped. She’s been really set back by covid as well in terms of access to treatment , she lives in a rural area with poor provision so just getting to see anyone is hard. Plus she is very ‘mustn’t grumble’ about everything. Talking about medical cannabis is the most positive I’ve seen her about options- I think it’s because the feeling in her peer group is that it could be what they all are looking for. I’ve sent her the links to samphire and integro and I think she is keen to have an initial consult.

@Cathpot I hope it works out for your mum. As she's retired she can probably make use of medical cannabis during the day. In my line of work I can't use it during the day however I can take it at night which gives me long lasting pain relief and inflammation relief too.
I can get 4 to 6 hours of complete relief with another 8 or so with low pain.

I feel able to do more. I still have autoimmune mediated inflammatory arthritis but I no longer feel like I can't take it anymore. I feel positive. I have good chats and great times with my DC and DH. Work doesn't feel like a grind now. It felt impossible before due to pain and fatigue.

And yes when the medical cannabis wears off naturally pain return. As I said it's not a cure but a massive quality of life improver.

I'm on day 3 of the exact same prescription and regime as you from saphire. My nhs pain team have told my neurologist to prescribe me sativex, but fed up of waiting, and in so much pain with other MS symptoms and spasms, so decided to try this privately.
I really hope it works as am desperate.

It does taste and smell vile. I've also been having food with it as it says so in my instructions. I hope it does work as have bad lungs so not an option for me to vape or smoke it. Haven't felt any effect yet.

I just want to say again to those who are on or looking at the medical route, please take a look at the reddit forums dedicated to this.
@Daimyum , I think the oral version should work for you, it's probably just a matter of getting this dose right, I dont know enough about how the medical people do things to give proper advice
(even though I've used cannabis on and off for over 30 years)

Daimyum I really hope you find it helps you . I'll have had 2 weeks on it this Thurs.. My main observation is feeling a bit out of it and slow.. but not in a good way. I think there might be a very slight improvement in my neck pain .

I'm on day 5 or so of my prescription with Sappire.

The CBD oil I take twice a day doesn't seem to be having much effect on my pain, which is primary reason for prescription, it is slightly improved with general all over fibro pain. It is however helping with headaches and anxiety, neither of which it's prescribed for.

The THC containing oil I take before bedtime, I increased the dose last night as per the clinic's instructions, and I slept for a full 8 hours, for the first time in many months! Result. I just hope that continues as my insomnia has been absolutely crippling for me lately. And the lack of sleep really has a knock on effect on all my other conditions.

So it is probably worthwhile having the prescription for those things alone. I'm hoping it starts to help my pain more, the Dr did suggest it would take a month to build up.

The only side effects I'm having is some heartburn and my limbs feel heavy, and I'm a bit sluggish. But honestly that's less side effects than I have had with any anti-depressent or opiate in comparison.

Thanks again OP for this thread; I finally bit the bullet & received my prescription today from Sapphire. My tolerance is quite high from the edibles I take, ahem. But I'm trying the legal route. & I haven't been taking CBD or THC every day, so this is a good experiment. And I like how it's more CBD & less THC as this is apparently recommended for patients with estrogen-positive breast cancer, like I have. I found the consultation at Sapphire really good & in-depth. I already know THC/CBD works for my own nausea; sleeping etc & I'll be interested to see how it works for pain & other mental health issues when taken every day.

@Thesharkradar I've just joined Reddit to research more .But I'm new to it and wondered if there's a particular sub forum (?is it called that ) I should look at ?
Friend I'm trying to help has autoimmune conditions (AS ,Chrons ) ,he smokes a bit now and says it helps with the pain .He thinks oil and flower stuff wouldn't be high enough in THC to have same effect as a pain reliever as smoking .
Any thoughts gratefully received .

Hi Perdito👋😁
https://www.reddit.com/r/ukmedicalcannabis/
Here's one^
if you type 'medical cannabis UK' into the search box you will find others
What your friend said... if the THC concentration is lower in a product then you can use more of it so that you get the amount of thc you need, perhaps what hemeans is if you use the oral form of cannabis it doesn't work as quickly as when you smoke it?

When consumed orally the liver converts THC into a different cannabinoid which is longer acting and has slightly different effects compared to THC which is absorbed through the lungs. For me edible cannabinoids are quite a different sort of animal compared to smoked or vaped, it's all a bit of a rabbit hole I find👀

I stopped taking it yesterday. It just makes me feel dulled, unable to think straight, totally exhausted, headachy and gives me slight palpitations. The night time dose made my mouth so dry I kept waking up for a drink. I took it for 12 days but I’m getting no benefit in terms of pain relief, insomnia or muscle spasms .

I would also feel really shit if I used edible cannabis in the daytime, the methods used by these clinics make no sense to me at all.
I take a very carefully measured and calibrated dose at night that I know won't be still affecting me in the morning, for me it guarantees a good night's sleep and it's a relaxing and enjoyable evening.
I can't say I've ever felt any pain relief from cannabis, but I don't have any chronic pain issues so I can't speak to that.

So glad I found this post! So my Mum is 74 and has asked me to find out about medical cannabis for her and she's fed up of living in pain now, she has arthritis in her hips and spine and a curvature of the spine, she's in agony day in and day out and walks basically bent in half. The pain clinic have told her that there's nothing further they can do.

So what can she do with regards to cannabis? She vapes so could she get something to put in her vape?

I would also feel really shit if I used edible cannabis in the daytime, the methods used by these clinics make no sense to me at all.
I take a very carefully measured and calibrated dose at night that I know won't be still affecting me in the morning, for me it guarantees a good night's sleep and it's a relaxing and enjoyable evening.
I can't say I've ever felt any pain relief from cannabis, but I don't have any chronic pain issues so I can't speak to that.

Well Saphirres prescription certainly didn’t work for me. I can’t get my words out, left my purse on the shop counter yesterday and my friends said I look exhausted and that I’m not talking like myself (I do feel I have to concentrate to have a sensible conversation). No way would I dare drive either. Really disappointed but at least I’ve tried.

@noimaginationforausername go & find Sapphire online and start making an appointment for her. You’ll have to sneak through some medical records, they ask for summary care records from NHS, but all I could get via the app was a list of my meds but I had a bunch of letters from my hospital consultant. This was all enough. Then she’ll have a consultation via Zoom with a doctor from Sapphire. It’s private medicine so they’re moonlighting; mine was an excellent consultant from Guys & St Thomas. Yes, she can get an NHS approved vape and vape cannabis from the clinic in there. It has to be an NHS vape! I didn’t do the vape as have lung issues but the oil.

sorry it didn’t work for you @Posyapocalypse - everyone’s different. I already know cannabis product work well for me so felt good about taking the leap to Sapphire to stay on right side of law.

*send through!!! Not sneak them through @noimaginationforausername

there are lots of clinics they are all linked up thread I think but I thought Sapphire were really good. She will get reduced prices if she takes part in research which is just an online survey once in a while. I think the research is really important as there just isn’t enough of yet for it to be prescribed more commonly.

@Posyapocalypse
The THC will soon be out of your system and you'll be back to normal.
I dont know if vaping is an option for you but used this way it wears off much more quickly and doesnt build up in your system in the way that edible cannabis can.
I only ever use it in the evenings, that's why I'm very strict about my edible dose, I dont want to feel weird and not fully functional the next day.
I want to stress this isnt like a hangover that you'd get from drinking too much, alcohol is toxic to the body (relative to it's capacity to intoxicate) that's not the case with cannabis.

Thanks so much @mowly77 going to have a look tomorrow and get started for her, can't bear seeing her in pain and everyone fobbing her off.

Thesharkradar. I'm feeling far better now thanks as I've not had any since about 5pm yesterday. Nearly back to normal. I don't think I dare try any other way of taking it for a while anyhow . And certainly don't think day time use is for me at all