CBD Oil

[reaps]

I have RA and this causes a lot of pain in my wrists, elbows and ankles. At present I am on 20mg of Methotrexate. Would CBD oil help alleviate some of the pain.

[Lolabridge]

Hello reaps and welcome - it seems you're new to this site.

I have not found CBD oil helps me at all. I find that Voltarol gel (available from your local pharmacy) applied to joints helps a bit if the pain is caused primarily by osteoarthritis but not if it's RA causing the pain, inflammation and swelling.

As you have pain in your joints you should let your rheumy team know as it may mean you have active RA and your medication needs tweaking or another medication needs to be added. That pain could be causing irreversible damage which must be stopped as soon as possible. You probably also know that RA affects more than just your joints so could be doing damage elsewhere. Your RA needs to be got under proper control and the pain is a warning that it isn't at the moment.

I have a Rheumatology patient helpline number and email address for my hospital team where I can send messages to the specialist nurses asking for help. If you do too then I suggest you phone/send a message to them asking for help or advice. Most of us are finding that these days if we don't contact them to ask for help/advice our Rheumy teams assume we are ok and don't contact us.

I hope you can get the help you need to get your pain and RA under control quickly. Good luck.

[Hidden]

I did a lot of reading and research before taking it at a therapeutic dose intended for pain management for several weeks, and found CBD did nothing positive for me, not even in terms of sleep, which is one of the things advocates say it’s also great for. For something decent quality at ‘proper’ pain management doses it costs quite a bit of money, and I also didn’t like the way it made me feel generally - although it didn’t contain anything illegal, it made me feel too chilled out and lethargic in a way that unpleasantly reminded me of the few joints I smoked as a naughty boy in the early noughties. Increasingly, studies are showing that for systemic pain (like inflammatory pain from RD) you need the currently prohibited cannabidinoids like THC for effective pain relief. All of the cannabis based medications licensed for pain relief, like sativex for MS, contain the psychoactive elements that are not allowed in CBD oil. Where CBD can seem to be helpful for some is if the pain is musculoskeletal rather than systemic: it has muscle relaxant properties that may benefit pain arising from msk conditions.

I’m not anti CBD by any stretch, and I’m sure you’ll probably get at least a couple of replies from people that use it and have found benefit, but I would agree with Lolabridge that pain indicates your disease is not currently under control, so that’s an issue that needs addressing. If you’ve not long had a dose increase, or only been on mtx a short while, an alternative in the interim would be to ask your rheum about the possibility of a short course of steroids. I’d also say that CBD is known to interact with some medications, so is one that needs to be run by a medical professional of some description before being tried.

[reaps in reply to Hidden]

Thank you both for your reply. May not be for me then.

[Angjoplin]

I use a cbd cream before bed and it really makes my aches feel better. It could be the massage, it could be the cbd, it could just be psychological. I have a shop near me that is really good and not awfully expensive. If you want to try it out look for a local shop with good reviews. Be wary of spending £70 for a bottle of drops. You can buy products a lot cheaper.

[Runrig01]

As others have mentioned CBD is known to interact with many meds, as it needs the same enzyme to metabolise as over 50% of meds use. Thus can result in inadequate levels or toxic levels of some meds. One example is blood thinners can end up making the blood too thin, risking internal bleeds as well as bruising easily. Here is a list of meds that cbd interacts with, quite frightening.

bnf.nice.org.uk/interaction...

[Happy5]

I have RA ob 20mg MTX too tried it ( bought from very reputable company) I didn't find it made any difference to relieving my pain. May do for you who knows eh?

[Tourk]

I have a damaged spine along with ra, taking cbd oil does help, but not where near as effective as using the whole plant. For ra a cream of cbd oil rubbed on the effected areas seems to work better than ingesting it. Not all cbd oils are the same, the profit to be made encourages a lot fake oil to be sold. Only get it from a reliable source, not ebay.

I've not personally experienced a problem but this may explain why so many people find it does nothing. Of course we are all different and effected differently by treatments. My attitude is give it a try if it helps great, if not try something else.

For my hands I find hot wax helps, but its a hassle to do. I only use it as a last resort.

As always talk to your doctor and see what they recommend.

[medway-lady]

I tried it on Shingles nerve pain and within minutes I could taste it! it was vile and I'd not ingested it just rubbed it on the tail of my spine area. It made no difference at all except was hugely expensive. I passed the tub to my friend who used it on her OA knee and said it worked. So who knows it might be in the mind or not ? lol

[Queensferry]

Hello Reaps, I have tried CBD oil but sadly the product bought from herbalist did nothing for my pain. I had read some positive reports about others who had tried it and thought it helped. I am sure higher concentrations may be beneficial but sadly cannot access without a prescription.

[Tracy-NRAS]

As most of the advice says do contact your Rheumatology Team. Please also remember that the CBD products that are legal in the UK are classed as food supplements, but many products out there aren't properly authorised so you actually have no idea what it might contain. Do seek your Rheumatology teams guidance please.

[RAexperiences]

I went into a cannabis shop to enquire about cbd oil for pain. The woman told me for it to be truly effective for pain, one has to take as much thc (the psychoactive part) as is tolerated to work. She stated to get any real pain relief from cbd alone would be very costly as it would require a lot of it. So I stated “basically you need to be stoned enough that you don’t feel your pain?” To which she answered yes. I didn’t bother then. I bought CBD oil recently to ingest but couldn’t stand the taste. Now that i think of it i tried it years ago in a cream (with other herbs I’m assuming) and found it helpful for my back pain. I actually find CryoDerm cold therapy roll on really great for fast/lasting pain relief. I have bottles of it all over the house! I believe it’s available at wallmart in the USA. Can’t remember where I got mine but it is available on line…might have been amazon..

[Chic31]

Hi reaps. This is my first time posting here, i normally read posts but do not respond, but as someone who has gained great relief from cbd oil, i felt i should share my experience.

I have severe RA and currently on 15mg of methotrexate injection. I'm a great believer in natural remedies and have been using cbd oil since 2018 and would highly recommend it. I tried a few different companies before finding one that worked for me. I use a company based in Switzerland cibdol.com and use the 20% (2000mg) oil. They have a lot of positive reviews on trust pilot

I have stopped it twice to check it was actually helping (never again) and all my symptoms started to return ie fatigue, severe pain/stiffness in feet, ankles, knees, fingers, wrists, elbows and frozen shoulders. I'm also in my menopause and my hot flushes returned with a vengeance. Needless to say, I will never stop taking again.

I recently plucked up the courage and stopped my methotrexate for the time to see if the cbd would work on it's own as I'd been suffering with itchy spots and and continued thinning hair. 4 weeks on and spots have disappeared but RA symptoms have started to return with a vengeance, so as of this week I'm not happy to be back on methotrexate, with a short course of prednisolone to tide me over until the methotrexate kicks in.

My long term plan is to eventually try the higher dose cbd oil and try coming off methotrexate again.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

[reaps]

Thank you. Hopefully all goes well.

[Abigail_Shaw]

CBD oil is one of the most effective natural remedies for pain. It is a non-psychoactive extract that is derived from cannabis, which medical research has shown to be helpful in a number of ways, especially in the treatment of chronic pain. It can also improve mood and alleviate symptoms of depression, but it is important to mention that this is a natural remedy, and not a prescription drug or an over-the-counter medicine. It is also important to mention that CBD oil will not get you high. You can look into this and other natural remedies that can help you reduce your RA pain. tokecannabis.com/stcatharin...