Post by joeernest1 on Jul 28, 2020 5:15:14 GMT -8
I am 45 years old woman and I suffer from chronic pain due to a deformity in my neck that I was born with and will not ever go away....surgery is out of the question. I also have fibromyalgia, a herniated disc, degenerative disc disease, some arthritis, bipolar disease (I wonder how much of this is actually related to the pain), ADD. (I think I got them all.) =)
I have suffered with chronic pain for all of my adult life. Even as a child I suffered with a dull, achy pain in my legs and also neck/back pain. My mom, who is a retired nurse, thought I might have lupus and took me to a couple of specialists. Apparently I did not have it (thankfully) but I now believe it was due to my neck and possibly fibromyalgia. The doc told her that it was probably just "growing pains!" Nobody knew about my neck until after I got pregnant with my second child and the back/neck pain got worse. I went to a chiropractor and he freaked out after he took my x-ray. He asked me if I had had a recent car accident or something. Then he showed me the x-ray. I almost fell down! It's really bad! I eventually went to a neurosurgeon and they found out that I was born with an extra-half of vertebrae. That was over 20 years ago. Since then a few of the vertebrae are fusing and it's just causing more and more pain.
I have been taking pain pills daily for over 5 years now. I would go to the doc every so often when the pain got really bad. Then I had a doc who told me it was time to see a pain specialist. I take up to three 10/325 vicodin as needed for pain every day (99% of the time I take all three). At first they tried me on all kinds of things. Cymbalta (didn't even touch it!)...neurontin (made me want to kill myself!!!)...percocet (gave me really bad rebound pain and made me nauseated)...ultram (which I had to stop due to my bipolar meds)...even methadone (which was also horrible!). The only thing that has helped is vicodin and that makes me constipated and extremely fatigued at times. Sometimes even nauseated. It doesn't really get rid of the pain...it just makes it somewhat tolerable. I don't want to have to keep taking it. Lord only knows what it's doing to my liver!
They have given me trigger point injections (only made it worse), botox in my neck which gave me a migraine-like headache for 2 months (I was told it was just my imagination!!!!), epidural injections (only made it worse), etc. I had a severe pain-reaction to the last epidural injection they gave me (I always have a reaction but this was really really bad) and this doc told me to never let anyone give me injections again because I have a bad reaction to them. Yet the next time I go the other doc wants to give me an injection!!! I've been seeing these particular docs every month for over 3 years now! Come on!
I know for a fact that marijuana helps relieve the pain. It also relaxes the knotted up muscles I get on my neck and back. Just about anything I do causes me pain. I can't fold laundry without being in pain for the next two days. Forget about vacuuming...even though I have to do it. Standing to make dinner can be really hard. Especially washing the dishes afterward. I can turn my head to look at something and BAM....pain for the next 3 days! I go to the doc for a monthly visit and they touch my trigger points and again...pain for the next 2 days. Marijuana will help relax my body. And alleviate pain. The only negative thing I can say about it is the fact that I have to be scared of getting caught smoking it/having it!!!
I believe medical marijuana should be legalized every where. I think it's my God-given right as a human being to be able to have a decent quality of life...as pain free as possible! And if I decide that marijuana is my best bet...then let me do it! I'm not asking to get drunk and drive and possibly harming others. I'm asking to give me my right to help relieve my pain and stress as much as possible.