In the quest for relief from the burdens of cancer treatment, individuals often turn to cannabis, seeking answers amidst the chaos of symptoms.
The lack of pain relief combined with the risk of dangerous side effects, including death, has led to a need for alternative options to help treat chronic pain. Recently, there has been growing interest in the possibility that cannabis may be useful in combination or as a substitute for opioids in people with chronic pain.
Recent evidence suggests that using medical cannabis in combination with opioids to treat chronic pain may provide better treatment of pain and allow for a lower dose of opioids. It is important we find other tools that can be used to help improve the treatment of pain while keeping patients safe.
Despite conflicting evidence, for many patients with chronic pain, the risk of using opioids may be greater than the benefits, especially over long periods of time. It is important that patients wishing to understand the potential benefits and risks of using cannabis in addition to opioids discuss this with their health care provider prior to use.
Recent studies have shown patients using cannabis combined with opioids may be able to use a lower opioid dose or stop using opioids while still getting pain relief. This can help improve a patient's quality of life while also reducing the risk of serious side effects or death associated with opioids.
If you are someone using high doses of opioids and not getting adequate pain relief, or you're experiencing unwanted side effects, speaking to your health care provider about a trial of medical cannabis may be an option. Medical cannabis is not right for everyone, just as other medications may not be right for everyone.
Studies have shown low doses of cannabis may allow for lower doses of opioids to be used, leading to reduced side effects, improved symptoms and improved quality of life. Therefore, the combined use of cannabis and opioids may be a viable option for treating chronic pain in some individuals.
Inhaled cannabis can be useful for managing acute symptoms of chronic pain, but it should be vaporized to avoid respiratory harms associated with smoking. Vaporizing cannabis flower is also cheaper than cannabis oils, as dried flower is the cheapest form of product.
We recently discussed a study in which we found smoking cannabis was popular within a sample of medical cannabis dispensary users. We found smoking cannabis was associated with greater cannabis use and preference for THC-dominant chemovars and was associated with concurrent alcohol use disorder. These findings provided several key insights into risks and harm reduction strategies for people smoking cannabis with a medical intent.
This is the first part of a two-part series on a recent examination of the cannabis-use profiles and risk-factors associated with smoking cannabis in people using cannabis with medical intent. Smoking cannabis is associated with exposure to harmful toxins and therefore is one of the greatest health risks related to cannabis use. This is an important consideration for people using cannabis with a medical intent. Therefore, we examined the differences in those who prefer smoking cannabis to other consumption forms for mental health.Â
In dealing with pain, finding and curing the underlying cause is the most effective approach. However, since the cause can be extremely difficult to identify, patients are sometimes left only with the option of managing their pain. For chronic pain sufferers, it is hard to identify a clear path to relief.
Cannabidiol (CBD) is a component of the plant cannabis with great potential for medical applications because of its proven anti-inflammatory, anti-tumoral, analgesic (pain-relieving), and anxiolytic (anxiety-relieving) properties and its lack of psychological side effects.
Researchers recently identified a signaling pathway in the endocannabinoid system that regulates long-lasting anxiety, a central symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In particular, CB2 - one of the two main endocannabinoid receptors - mediates the response: its activation appears to have an anxiolytic (anxiety reducing) effect while its inhibition an anxiogenic (anxiety inducing) one.
A recent meta-analysis has found that cannabis is an effective treatment for those dealing with chronic pain. Researchers analyzed studies that compared cannabinoid-based therapies to placebos, concluding that those therapies served as an effective replacement or adjunctive therapy for more common pain relievers, such as opioids.
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