Medication for symptoms not condition?

[Jk2833]

Hi wondering if anyone can help please? Has anyone been prescribed Sativex or nabilone for symptoms of MS without a diagnosis? I take morphine and it no longer seems effective Plus GP wants me off it, I don’t want pain patches again and the above meds are too expensive privately. I have spasticity muscle spasms etc particularly in my legs I also have Ehlers Danlos syndrome & epilepsy, these meds would mean I don’t have to take up to 20 tablets a day but that’s if I can get them here in the UK. Scotland ana Wales have no problems they seem with prescribing them.
Thank you in advance 
Jacq

[cyberbarn]

Drugs aren't specific to diseases, they are specific to the parts of the body they affect. A drug may latch onto a specific receptor and block it, but that might have different effects on different people, depending on their condition.

When brand name drugs are tested, they are often tested for efficacy on a particular type of person. It might be people with cancer pain, or people with MS. But it isn't the MS or cancer that the drug is affecting, it is the symptoms of those conditions. But when the drug is licensed it will say 'for us in...' for what ever condition the drug trials were testing.

But because these symptoms can have more than one disease associated with it, doctors can use those drugs for other conditions too, sometimes known as 'off label use'. For example my son take amitriptyline for neuropathic pain (we both have EDS!) but amitriptyline is an antidepressant. However, they figured out at a different dose, a much smaller one, it works on pain.

As I understand it Sativex is for the treatment of spasms in MS. So the thinking will be if it worse for spasms in MS, it may work for spasms in other conditions too. It also works for neuropathic pain, something that is also common in EDS.

But with every drug, no matter how well it works on one person, doesn't mean to say it will work on everyone, so the best thing to do is try it. If the benefits out weight any side effects, then you have found what works for you. If if doesn't work for you, or the side effects out weight the benefits, then talk to the doctor and try something else.

Good luck, I hope it works for you!

[Jedza in reply to cyberbarn]

Your reply to the question also helped me thank you so much fir such a well explained use of morphine and other pain meds! I suffer from chronic pain headaches backache lots of spasms and been on morphine for two years but seems it’s not reliving the pain as when I started taking it any suggestions please as to what I can do. Waiting to go for an appointment with pain management team in Wales but am not sure if it’s a good idea

[cyberbarn in reply to Jedza]

I think the pain management team is a good idea. They can look at the whole picture and figure out what would be best for you.

[cyberbarn in reply to Jedza]

Just to add, if a pain medication like morphine isn't working, then it is time to stop using it and try something else. They have found that for some people and some conditions, morphine and the opioids generally don't work. It isn't that the pain is so bad that the drugs don't work and you need more of the same drug, it is that it isn't the right drug for you. Hopefully the pain clinic can help sort that out.