Medical Cannabis?

[lizzziep]

Has anyone tried medical cannabis for pain relief? I have severe arthritis which limits my life quite a lot, my doctor won’t refer me for knee replacement until I lose more weight, and being on Rux has meant more weight gain! Obviously will need to ask haematologist about.

It is quite expensive and also they want to access your medical records to check whether it’s suitable for you, but anything which gives me pain relief would be welcome. I don’t want to go further with enquiries until I’ve checked with Haematology but wondered if anyone else had tried it.

I am trying to lose weight and exercise as much as possible, I do aqua fit and swimming 4 or 5 times a week as walking is extremely painful.

[saltmarsh]

Sorry about the arthritis and the knee issue. I'm 77and pretty active with a fair amount of arthritis. PV diagnosed 5.5 years ago and controlling it with HU. I've had both knees replaced: the second one 2 years ago. I rarely take anything for the arthritis because I'm not keen on nsaids but I do smoke a bit of weed every night and I believe it helps with the inflammation. Unfortunately when your knee reaches the point where a transplant is required, it is in very bad shape so severe pain and restricted movement are common. I fell a couple of times prior to the surgery and that never happened before. And hasn't happened since.

I'm not sure that the marijuana will give you as much relief as you need and I don't want to set unrealistic expectations. For the year preceding the knee surgery I wore a brace and that helped with the walking. (When I fell, I wasn't wearing the brace.) It is important that your platelets be in an acceptable range but otherwise PV didn't impact anything.

I am sorry that you are dealing with this but the surgery will fix it. Make sure to do all the physical therapy after and you will be like a new person. Wishing you the very best

[lizzziep in reply to saltmarsh]

Thank you!

[Spanelmad]

Are you seeing a rheaumatologist? You might need a nsaid to be able to exercise.Keep swimming though as no weight bearing.

[Carol0925]

Good Morning, impo it’s definitely worth trying, I’ve read it has excellent results in many who use it. Do you follow Professor David Nutt? Good luck 🤞 x

[21Rosie]

sorry to hear that you have severe pain Lizzie.

I have O/A extensively….both knees replaced…spinal fusions…..so I’m aware of joint pain. I too thought medical marijuana might be a help. This was not my experience unfortunately. I found it very expensive (tasted ghastly too) for no effect. I know others have found relief but I suspect this is at very high doses. For it to be effective it must contain THC which is a concern for driving legally (in Australia).

Good luck with your decision.

[lizzziep in reply to 21Rosie]

Whether I could drive does concern me, also letting them have access to my medical records.

[hunter5582]

Medical marijuana might help, but i would explore other options first. While medical marijuana can help, it is a psychoactive agent that can impair your ability to do some things like driving. I treat osteoarthritis in the kneed with hyaluronic acid gel injections, most recently using the newer Durolane. It is very effective, restoring me to full function.

Wishing you all the best.

[lizzziep in reply to hunter5582]

Thank you. Apart from it being very expensive, the company want to access your medical records which I’m not really happy about.

[hunter5582 in reply to lizzziep]

Can't say as I blame you, but medical use of marijuana by definition is a medical decision to be made. Some level of sharing medical info is to be expected.

[Wendrew]

I’ve used weed for pain in the past and found it really didn’t alleviate the pain it was just that I didn’t care about it as much. Which was ok too. In fact if you’re trying to lose weight weed will only make you hungry and by then it’s really difficult to make an appropriate food choice

[lizzziep in reply to Wendrew]

Thank you.