Pain Management in California USA

We in the sunny state of California have options for ongoing pain management. The law is that we can EITHER use prescription pain relievers, such as Percocet, Fentenyl patches, Vicodin, etc., OR we can use medical marijuana.

My doctors have written the necessary scripts and have recommended that I give the medical marijuana a shot and see if it helps. OK ... I guess I am up for anything.

In my mis-spent youth I tried the natural weed on one or two occasions - went right to sleep. Peaceful and lovely sleep full of remarkable dreams, but sleep none the less. So I chose to use alcohol - drank at least two lifetime quota of alcohol in only 30 years! So no more alcohol.

I bit the bullet and went to a shop in The Castro of San Francisco. Very nice young man behind the counter. I told him I would buy something IF he did not treat me like a 17 year old in his first "tobacco" shop. He laughed and we had a fine time. That was in January.

It is now April - you can tell how anxious I was to try medical marijuana. Well, yesterday I contacted a medical dispensory here in my county - nice guys. Over the course of the day, I sent him a scan of my prescription and made arrangements for a delivery - no store - only delivery. A nice guy came all the way up to my home on the edge of the world, took my $40.00 and gave me several grams of medical marijuana - the sort they recommended for me. How naive am I? I was not aware there were varieties of medical marijuana with different properties. "Silver Haze" is way different from "Grape Ape" - or so they say.

So last night, after dinner, my evening headache came on. I usually grin and bear it and head for a quiet dark room. If I take a pain pill at night, it keeps me up to all hours. Well, I thought, let's take this very attractive bong for a whirl and see what happens.

I was asleep within 15 minutes. It was 7:15 PM. Slept well, nice dreams, but asleep none the less.

OK, Thursday morning. No where to go, nothing important happening. Let's try taking LESS. Time will tell if that was a good idea. I could go for a nap but I refuse to sleep my life away.

Still, I have to admit, the medical marijuana does indeed handle my pain remarkably well. Again, user error is the problem here. Time will tell if I can learn the skills almost every 18 year old has mastered. Sheesh - migraines are not for sissies, are they?

Next stop - getting insurance to pay for it! LOL

I am fascinated by migraineurs smoking medical marijuana. The reason being, smoke is a trigger for me. (yeah....after 16 years of smoking tobacco....I finally clued in!).

I know they have created a tablet containing the working part of marijuana (called Marinol, I believe). I am guessing it doesn't do the job since folks are still smoking the stuff.

I tried pot a handful of times in my misspent youth. It almost instantaneously slowed me down from 78 RPMs right past normal (45RPMs) to 33 and a third. It was divine!

I didn't have the passion to seek the stuff out so those few times were it for me. I think I can understand what you have described. I hope it continues working for you.

The indicas tend to knock a person out. Ask for a sativa variety - they tend to be more "up" but can also produce anxiety. A hybrid more on the sativa end of things might do it. A bit of indica phenotype to supress the anxiety but mostly sativa to keep you awake. And, of course, do as you said - try titrating: use a tiny amount, wait 5-10 minutes, and repeat until you reach the required pain relief.

I don't think there is a law in CA about using pain drugs AND medical marijuana. It's probably just your pain doctor's rules.

BTW - with me, if I use small amounts on a regular basis, say every evening at bedtime, two things happen: the side effects lesson or go away, and it starts acting as a preventative. YMMV.

No way will they ever pass that law in Minnesota I'm sure, unless the whole US does. I would be willing to give it a try. It seems a heck of a lot healthier than what I take (DHE). I will not stop taking that of course because it is my miracle drug. But if something like Marijuana could do the same trick, I would rather use that.

We have a referendum on November's ballot in California to start regulating and selling marijuana for recreational use and taxing the heck out of it. Interesting idea - public, state sponsored sale and taxation of California's leading agricultural product (or in the top five at any rate). There is a LOT of marijuana grown here - everywhere. quite amazing to me.

I tried marijuana two weeks ago and it worked pretty well. Like Richard, I use it at night. I just took a couple of hits and then put it out. I'm not sure if it is legal here in NSW, but everyone I speak to seems to think it is legal to grow a couple of plants in the yard, as long as they are not too big. It may be illegal but the police are not inclined to arrest you unless they feel like it.

I'm from the land of greens.

Your advice in seeking out more sativa/less inari, or a more balanced combo (just typo'd that as bombo) is sage advice...lol no puns intended.

I live surrounded by the stuff, in a country/ province that supports it's use more then it does legal cigarettes.

Alas, I have never had any positive response from it, though I shall ask my pain specialist what he thinks.

I think I'd have little to no brain functioning on it.

My sister, however, seems to think I'd be a much more enjoyable of a person if I'd smoke it.

Does Massachusetts do the medical marijuana thing?

Richard wrote:We have a referendum on November's ballot in California to start regulating and selling marijuana for recreational use and taxing the heck out of it. Interesting idea - public, state sponsored sale and taxation of California's leading agricultural product (or in the top five at any rate). There is a LOT of marijuana grown here - everywhere. quite amazing to me.

Interesting Richard. I hadn't heard of that referendum until now, but I'm glad to hear it. I've tried it several times for my case, but I always found it didn't do much to alleviate the migraine so much as change my outlook towards it. So if migraines start to particularly upset me because of how much time I've wasted trying to prevent or get rid of the attacks, I find that smoking for a few nights each week until it goes away works extremely well. Then I won't need it again for another year or so.

Keep us informed, because I definitely think it's a good option for several aspects of people with migraines and I hope that referendum passes.

I hope it passes also, although I don't know if I could handle it. I'm sure it would be great help for a lot of people with all sorts of health problems and healthier than what they are taking now.

The referendum is for recreational marijuana ... it basically gives the state control over the huge marijuana industry like the state controls alcohol sales and distribution - zoning laws, taxation, etc. My only fear is that California will need a HUGE number of new law enforcement officers to stop "bootlegging" of marijuana.

We now have medical marijuana. Really interesting industry that has built up around it ... LOTS of "dispensories" in the cities. I live in very conservative, farm country ... yet an internet search connected me with a "dispensory" that delivers to your door - no store, only delivery. And the guys have it down pat as a lucrative business. They charge about 20% to 50% more than your friendly neighborhood drug dealer ... but the product is in a nice silver bag, clearly labeled as medical marijuana for medical use only ... makes me feel a little less like a teenage druggie. LOL

I think I have proper dosage down ... but I am not comfortable with the pain relief ... I would not dream of driving or using machinery while using this pain relief. It is still real new to me and I can feel my reaction time slowed. So no driving! But I can obtain satisfactory pain relief AND go to bed at a decent hour. Nice.

We just passed a Med Marijuana law in NJ in January. It is so strict you almost have to be almost dying to qualify. You certainly can't get it for migraines right now, even if it is the only think that works for you and you are incapacitated without it - that's me. Hopefully they will eventually add severe/chronic pain to the qualifying disorders. And you can only get it from state controlled Alternative Treatment Centers. The strictness is in reaction to California's system.

California's is wide open. Your doctor can recommend it for anything he thinks it will help with. And there is a huge industry behind it with few restrictions on who can sell it - although that is starting to tighten up.

I've seen a number of articles saying that the current growers and dispensary operators are very uneasy about the legalization for recreational users. It seems likely to pass and they are afraid allowing commercial growers will destroy the northern Californian boutique marijuana industry.

California is very different from New Jersey :-)

As someone originally from NJ, I am at least happy that they're doing SOMETHING with medical marijuana, even if it doesn't affect the migraine community yet. It's a big step in the right direction.

Try taking only one hit of the marijuana. And marijuana and caffeine is a divine combination.

Anyway, I refuse to go to pain management doctors, because the ONLY thing that helps my migraines is marijuana. In fact, if I smoke during an aura I can abort the migraine almost 100% of the time. It angers and frustrates me that I cannot obtain it legally where I live, because at least for my migraines it is a miracle.

Good for you jwar. You have to do what works with you--not what somebody else decides. Our bodies are all so different and respond so differently, it is so unfair that doctors and laws can keep from us what works. Of course, it is abusers and uneducated drug takers that ruin it for the rest of us. There has to be some guidelines in place, but not so black and white. I know people that are actually "normal" only when they smoke marijuana. There is a glitch in their brain (probably similar to our migraine dilemma), that causes everything from bipolar, depression, ADD, etc. A small amount of pot totally changes this. They don't get the side ffects that someone without these problems get. It just makes them better able to function.

There are a heck of a lot more problems caused under the influence of alcohol than there is pot. The main problem with pot is the illegal use of its sell which causes a whole slew of problems.

BTW - I am not and never was a pot smoker. I just like common sense.

I totally agree. It continues to baffle me that things like cigarettes (which cause lung cancer not only in users, but those unfortunate enough to have to regularly sit next to them) and alcohol (which can cause obvious total impairment) are legal and marijuana is not. Or at the very least, that marijuana is illegal for people with medical conditions that it helps to treat. Hopefully someday soon this will change.

Forgot all about the cigarettes. I've know people also that have been denied narcotics when they are in severe pain but can stop at the corner store and buy cigarettes that are more addicting and harmful than just about anything out there.

It took years of effort by many of us to get even this minimal law passed. I'm am now so burned out on politics that I get a rash every time I hear the word "senate committee hearing". I'm barely joking. Never again.

I only got involved because I saw the effect the drug had on friends with MS, back when I was told I had MS. I couldn't believe they wouldn't allow such an effective drug for people with serious diseases like that.

It's my understanding that there is a bill for medical marijuana pending here in Illinois, but they don't think it's going to pass.

I would so love it for the anti-nausea properties.

I used it in HS and College but, at that time in my life I wanted something that would make me hyper and rowdy, i.e. booze, rather than something that was calm and sedating.

I'm old now, I WANT calm and sedating!

One thing you can do to make it more likely that a medical marijuana bill will pass is to testify about your medical condition and how cannabis helps. I did this back when I thought migraines were my main problems. We made a video tape of various people testifying and gave it to the Health subcommittee working on the bill. The committee members said it made a big difference and were, surprisingly to me, particularly taken by how severe migraines could be and how cannabis could help. They actually had migraines on the original condition list but it later on got taken off in the other legislative house. Even so, the testimony helped in the other house.

Find out what activist group is working on this in your state and ask to testify. It can even be done anonymously if you need to. You can contact people at cmmnj.org or leave a message here to find out more information about how to go about it.

It can be a lot of work, especially if you are extremely sick, but I think it is worth it.

Our governor is dead set against it and vowed it would never pass here. But he is probably going to be leaving office for bigger things--like running for President?

We need Jessie Ventura back as our governor, LOL. I'm sure he was for it in, his time

My friend's daughter--age 21--gets it legally in her state. It is delivered to her door, and there is no charge.

It works better than anything she has ever tried, and she has tried just about everything for intractable head pain.

Cheryl

Anna's mom--you took the words right out of my mouth--won't be happening here anytime soon.

Charlotte - I hear ya, I would rather be sedated now than staying up all night all lit up!