DH prescribed medicinal cannabis on private prescription

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Hi, can anyone offer any help or advice, please? DH has suffered from chronic pain for a number of years following a serious RTC. Several years/long term opioids and gabapentin/pregabalin (now no longer taking), amitriptyline (current), capsaicin (tried several times with good results but too painful). Started to suffer from restless legs following detox from opioids taking magnesium to help with some success.

He has recently gone to a private online clinic and has been prescribed THC/CBD in the form of both liquid and flowers. For context he used to be a pot-head and would love cannabis to be legalised but hasn't been a smoker for a good number of years. The private prescriptions are very expensive, along with regular check up consultations (all phone, no face to face appointments). I don't think it has helped the restless legs, his sleep seems far more disturbed, and I'm concerned about the cost. I've asked him to see our GP for a review and to see whether this is available on the NHS as he's already being prescribed, but he refuses as he said the private GP told him it's not. He said that the private GP has access to his medical records so this will all be recorded on his NHS records, does anyone know whether that's correct?

Does anyone have an experience with medical cannabis, and whether it's even worth asking about NHS availability? Thank you so much.

He’s in pain, so if he says it helps leave him to it, this country is so backwards they don’t do it on the nhs yet but hopefully soon!

I took it for 3 months but found it foul and didnt help me at all. However, if he is in pain, I can understand the want to pay any price to have your symptoms eased. I'm obviously not an expert but I don't suppose medically it's any worse than a cocktail of other drugs.

Medical cannabis is basically not available on the NHS. For your DH's symptoms it really isn't worth asking.

My limited experience as a doctor, is that the private clinics will prescribe it to you as long as you have the money.

Sorry, missed your other questions, in my experience, all the private doctors send a letter to the NHSGP practice, so your record is updated, I doubt he would get it prescribed on the NHS though it is just too expensive for them to justify

Hi yes this is correct I am prescribed it too.
It is true that it's all online
Tell him to try sapphire clinic as most affordable
They have just changed name to Curaleaf clinic

I don't think it has helped the restless legs, his sleep seems far more disturbed

This may be due to stopping opioids - how long was he on them and what was he taking? Well done him stopping.
My dh had to take codeine for a few weeks and he felt grim when he stopped and slept badly for some weeks. Apparently tramadol is even worse.

My dh has it on prescription too for ankylosing spondylitis, arthrithis and torn hip labrum. It's expensive yes, I dunno why he doesn't just buy grass himself but hey ho. It really does help his pain.

The gp will be contacted to make them aware yes. They will NOT prescribe it. Little babies that suffer hundreds of seizures a day can't even get it prescribed 😡

My gp (both of ours actually) recommended I give it a try to see if it helped my medical conditions, not for me! my stoner days are definitely passed that's for sure.

It's much better quality from the online clinics. Lab grown and they can specify the levels of thc/cbd really accurately to find you the right level for the health concern you're trying to help

Thanks, that’s where he’s been getting it from.

Yes, the restless legs are definitely due to stopping the opioids; he was taking Oxycodone for about seven years and OxyContin for a year or so. Horrible stuff, and largely due to medical negligence but we won’t go in to that here.

He has recently had a course of Codeine and does think the MC helped him to stop taking that.

They’ve increased the THC a couple of times for DH and he’s been commenting that he actually doesn’t enjoy that side of it, ironically, he doesn’t like feeling stoned all day.

The reason he tried it in the first place was that he tried CBD and it initially really seemed to help, and he didn’t expect so much higher levels of THC.

I twitched like I was having a fit coming off Oxycodone. It's completely weird.

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to reply, I really appreciate having someone to talk to about this.

DH came to me yesterday and said he is going to stop taking it, because they have increased the THC a couple of times and he doesn’t enjoy the feeling of being stoned all day. He has quite a demanding job mentally, and has found he’s been struggling and also feeling really down recently, but we’ve had a huge amount going on including FIL passing away recently. He just wants a reset to find his baseline and we’ll take it from there.

Sorry if I came across as in any way judgy about taking this, I absolutely know it can be great when used for the right things, but in this case I not only think it didn’t really help much, but it also seemed to make other things worse, including our intimacy (which has already suffered hugely due to his injuries and the effects of the opioids).

I hope those of you in pain are getting some relief, it is just so debilitating.

Op that’s brilliant he stopped oxycodone & OxyContin. It can be very hard getting off opioids after long term use.
I am sorry he experienced medical negligence.

I'm prescribed it privately. You have to vape it. You can't put it in a joint.

He shouldn't be feeling stoned all day though. All the clinics do day strains and then night strains - he should ask for a day strain to take the pain away and to make sure he can function. Night strains are to help with sleep etc.

Yes it's costs but that's because our country is backwards and nhs has only prescribed it like 3 times where as over 120000 people get it privately prescribed!

Any questions you have I'm happy to answer if I can.

Coming off those strong opioids after such a long time though will give awful side effects!
Can't believe OxyContin is even still allowed to be prescribed! Such a dangerous drug!

You can absolutely smoke it - when he was prescribed the flowers they initially said he could buy their vape (£££) or just smoke it. He tried smoking it but it smelled (even more) rank, so he just bought a vape off the internet for about £70 - still smells bad but not as much!

I think he's just finishing off what he has, he has now said a couple of times that he's really not feeling any difference to the pain when taking/not taking it.

I hope it helps you, I do know it can be great when it's right x

I so wish it could be prescribed by the NHS. Cannabis is the only thing that gives me peace from my overreactive brain. I vape either flower or oil and it makes such a difference to me. I have a full hour after work where I decompress from the day and just zone out with phone games or a book, oh and do my Duolingo daily lesson.

Legalise, regulate and tax it. The revenue would be huge and county lines would be far less of an issue. Yes, there would likely still be a black market, but much reduced.

I'd be very concerned about the legality of any clinic that told you it was ok to smoke. Smoking flower is illegal, the laws are very clear on this.

That seems very strange that the doctor told him to smoke it in a joint. That's against the law. Prescribed must be vaped?! Even the prescription label says to vape - if I was to be found by the police for instance smoking it - I'd have it confiscated and could end up in trouble as not following the directions.

It would be like someone crushing a tablet and snorting it for instance

My partner's on a private cannabis prescription too, and we had loads of questions at first — especially about dosing and measuring amounts. Found it helpful to read stuff like https://fastbuds.com/news/how-much-is-half-an-ounce-of-weed since we weren’t sure what half an ounce even looked like or how long it might last. Also found connecting with others going through the same really helped calm the nerves.

Hey I use it, it’s around £350 a month for my meds
its More expensive to just pick up tbh,
nhs is blood from a stone , curaleaf I’m with but they are v annoying
releaf meant to be cheapest
rhe doses they prescribe are not supposed to get you high
the titration they suggest v slow and he won’t feel baked , if he was hoping for this he might be sad xxx

I have despairing withdrawal from pain killers
j would ask for a butrans patch if he wants less ups and downs it changed my life xxx