RA and Illegal Sustances

[zimmie]

Just wondering if anyone uses or did use illegal substances for their RA and what the benefits for them were.

[pat28]

have often wondered about this, but like yourself not brave enough.

[Hidden]

There was an episode of Casualty about five weeks ago which addressed the whole canabis and RA question quite interestingly as a storyline. Like others I thought about it pre diagnosis but pot makes me sick so even worse than MTX and isn't stalling the disease either! X

[Moifoi]

Yep, researched it on you tube and made a lemon drizzle cake when my MTX was stopped suddenly because of high liver enzymes and I couldn't take any pain relief, had a dental abscess from hell too.

Having no knowledge of how much to put in I may have over done it, it made me sick all 3 times that I tried it. Strange thing was that although I had just vomited I wanted to eat immediately afterwards! That's never happened before in my life. And a whole packet of shortbread fingers dipped in yogurt never tasted so good ... Not that I've ever done that before either.

Regarding the pain, it didn't seem to alter that much but it did make me sit for a long time and I didn't mind so much. It seemed to help the stiffness, it also seemed to alter my mindset which was pretty self pitying and shitty at the time. I also slept like a baby, 2 hours in the afternoon and then 8 hours straight through the night when I hadn't slept for days due to the pain.

If it were possibly to get hold of medical cannabinoids I would've definitely tried that, I have no interest in the psycho active effects of it, but after researching it there are loads of people, a lot of them with RA who have had remarkable relief from cannabis and who are being prescribed it legally. Check out you tube for cannabinoid use in rheumatoid arthritis.

Hope there are no police on here

[jeanabelle in reply to Moifoi]

Moifoi, you took too much for your first experiences. You really need to ease your way I to it. Many, many people are sick at the start because of over doing the amounts. You had the 'munchies'. The feeling of 'being at ease with yourself" is the nice part as is the sleeping like a baby. Pity you has such a bad experience....usually once that happens to you it never happens again. Anyhow I'm glad you got some help relief. Jean.

[Hidden]

Ha ha I wondered the same re site cops. On Casualty the senior nurse, Charlie, went on to the RA woman about how pot is so much stronger and purer now that its far more dangerous and induces paranoia, psychosis etc for some. But it transpires she and her husband were growing their own which I found confusing.

I think it should be legally prescribed as pain relief for those with chronic and painful diseases. Interesting that it made you sick too but that you would still take it if it were legalised? It cant be more harmful to users than alcohol is surely? X

[Moifoi in reply to Hidden]

No don't think I'd bother if it were legalised, although I believe it should be, as I said I'm not interested in the psyco active effect at all just in the benefits of pain relief. According to what I have heard and seen whilst researching it it is far less harmful on your body than alcohol.

As for it making me sick, it's supposed to have an anti emetic effect, not the opposite which is why I wondered if I had used too much. Then again it may have been my liver or raging infection that made me sick?

[Moifoi in reply to Moifoi]

Should have said....I would take it if it were medicalised, the prescribed one has the psycho active ingredient removed.

[Hidden in reply to Moifoi]

pity I wd try it if it wasn't

[jeanabelle in reply to Hidden]

You 'mad' thing you!!!!

[cathie in reply to Hidden]

I agree it should be legal. From another life with extensive experience I can report that cannabis helps you relax and thus helps with pain. Queen Victoria used it for childbirth. Getting the munchies and the giggles are well known side effects. I've never tried lemon drizzle cake, we used to crumble it in to those stoned date bars. Seemed appropriate. All this was a long time ago.

[Hidden]

I've not tried it however as I was always brought up to believe that illegal drugs were wrong and not to even consider them!

However when I was in a really bad flare that was lasting for months a few years ago, my dad ( who has always been totally against pot etc) offered to go out and buy me some! He had been talking to someone who regularly used it for there fibromyalgia and just said to me you don't need to smoke it you can just put it in your cup off tea or dad would bake me a cake!

I refused as I certainly didn't want my dad being done for buying drugs for me but scary that seeng me in pain so bad shows how morals totally go out off the window.

[Moifoi in reply to Hidden]

I was also brought up that way, but I reckon that at nearly 63 I could think for myself. You have a wonderful dad who was prepared to do that for you. X

[Hidden in reply to Moifoi]

I sure do x

[jeanabelle in reply to Hidden]

Your Daddyshear was beaki g looking at his wee girl in so much pain.....he loves you and would do anything he could to help you.....real love is what it is. You are a very lucky woman. X

[Hidden in reply to jeanabelle]

I am very lucky Jeanabelle, and know it.

It breaks my heart that my family had to see me suffer so badly as I always try my best to hide my pain but its not always possible to hide as I'm sure you know xx

[tilstongal]

Well without giving too much away when I mentioned that I thought cannabis may be good for pain to my Dr. She said oh yes it's brilliant at mopping up pain- much better than morphine! Not that I've tried it of course.

[earthwitch]

Its worth asking your GP about the legal version (sativex). Doesn't work for everyone, and some doctors aren't keen on prescribing, but it is available. You'd probably only get it if you'd tried other things and still had residual pain that wasn't being dealt with, but I guess it really depends on the doctor.

[Moifoi]

Another funny thing about it was that I got it from a most unlikely respectable source who thought that 'scoring dope' for a pensioner was hilarious, she can't see or speak to me these days without laughing her t*ts off as she puts it.

[jeanabelle in reply to Moifoi]

Brilliant.....that was me " the groovy granny".....

[Dogrose]

I just need to go into the centre of town and breathe deep, it always smells of skunk (even in the middle of the day) !

Cannabis makes me really paranoid, I swear I can hear the angry mob coming for me with torches and pitchforks! I'm not normally a paranoid type at all, so wouldn't want to try it myself, unless the medical version has the stuff taken out that makes you paranoid? XXX

[jeanabelle]

I am going to admit right out that I did for nearly a year. I "smoked some weed". I did smoke before I was diagnosed recreationally, had done for many years, I was a bit of a hippy back in the day. Anyhow I was only starting to get bad with rheumatoid disease and I looked to see if it would help.

As the disease got worse, I wasn't on any medication before diagnosis, just the smoke. The pain got so bad and my GP then sent me to see the Rhuematologist for the first time. I continued to smoke, I noticed that the smoke wasn't really helping. By that time I had my second visit with rheumy and he put me on methatraxate, which didn't work. Put me on sulfasalzine, still smoking, pain betting worse, doc put me on list for biologicals. By this time I couldn't hold a joint never mink smoke one!!! I didn't smoke again after that. On Thursday past I started another drug, Abatacept. It is only two days and I 'think' I can feel a difference.....do you know what I mean, I feel something, a bit more energy, I can open my left hand......getting there, I hope. As for the smoke, haven't had one in nearly two years. From personal experience it didn't do me any good. That's not to say it doesn't help some people in chronic pain.

A good friend of mine has MS. Believe me he is not the type of man you would ever expect to smoke a joint but he does and he feels no shame or guilt for doing it as he says it allows him to do things that other drugs don't. So my conclusion is that it does interact in certain ways with different conditions. It has been known for a very long time that it help elevate MS symptoms and it is given as a medication around the world for this condition. I'll leave you to your own conclusions. My experience with soft drugs is that if you have a propensity to addiction you will become addicted no matter what your drug of choice is.we have all abused things we shouldn't.

Millions of people around the world enjoy a smoke with no more effects than a half bottle of good red wine. In fact people who smoke are adversed to fighting, shouting or anything g like that, you will never get them fighting amoung themselves or with anyone else......the same can't be said for consuming alcohol, can it? Pills, tabs taken with alcohol and the like are a very different story altogether, they are seriously dangerous and addictive. We all know this from reading the papers everyday.

Befor I finish......I wan to make it clear that I am not condoning the widespread use of drugs. I worked for four years as a night supervisor in an addiction centre and know first hand what drugs of all kinds can do to people. I took a smoke now and then, that's my history. I can hold my hand up and say that it never harmed me in any way. I'm not saying you should do it, it is a personal choice. As for pain relief for rheumatoid disease, it didn't help me so I stopped using it. Hope that helps a bit anyhow. Jean.

[cathie]

It should be legal shouldnt it. You do take a risk, buying uncontrolled substances. Which is why I wouldnt any more. And you dont need to smoke it - bad for health -

[zimmie]

Some varied answers and i thank you all for sharing. I guess we all know that the constant taking of pills to ease the pain can really get on your nerves after a while plus the side effects can be quite serious to some people. Both my doc and consultant had different views on it although doc who i saw few yrs ago said whatever works for you but not advocating it. Consultant was totally taken aback when i said i was thinking about it said i should really consider the affects on my mind and body to which i pointed out my body hurts like billy be jesus and my mind has totally lost it because of the RA.

[nottsexsportfanatic]

My nan had a road accident years ago which left her with spinal damage. Her spine is basically disintegrating so she uses it to ease her pain as the codeine/morphine aggravated her stomach so badly that she just needed more and more meds. She has even had an off duty magistrate turn a blind eye when she explained her situation when in the chemists one day.

However I was put off trying when my dog went loopy (paranoid, hyper and crying whilst at same time wagging her tail with excitement) and got munchies just cause neighbours were smoking so much (smell was horrendous as it seeped tthrough the walls). Everyone at worked laughed but it really did affect her badly - my poor doggy.