Neuropathic Pain Decreased With Medical Marijuana Resarch Shows
Studies have shown that medical marijuana can reduce the problem that happen when someone has what is known as chronic pain syndrome which is when a burning sensation occurs and a simple touch can feel like pain.
This condition is unaffected by drugs in the aspirin family and fairly resistant to stronger analgesics such as opiates.
In a 2007 case study on neuropathic pain was done on patients that had HIV related infections; they had 50 patients smoke marijuana cigarettes 3 times a day or a medical marijuana cigarettes from which active ingredients had been extracted.
They then had the patients rate their pain on a scale ranging from “no pain” to “worst pain imaginable.”
The results revealed a 34% reduction in ratings of pain in the medical marijuana group compared with 17% in the placebo group over five days of research and published in the journal Neurology.
Additional research concluded that 44 patients found that medical marijuana alleviated neuropathic pain arising from a variety of conditions, including spinal cord injury and diabetes and was published in June in the Journal of Pain.
The study was conducted by having the participants smoke medical marijuana on a set schedule of the first two puffs, three puffs an hour later, followed by four puffs an hour after that — and the product from a single cigarette containing either 0%, 3.5%, or 7% THC.
Prior to smoking medical marijuana, the average pain rating was a 55 on a 100-point scale and decreased by 46% in both treatment groups and by 27% in the placebo group one hour after the last inhale.
Analgesic drugs are often tested against experimentally induced pain. These studies have been conducted for medical marijuana as well.
One such example of this is when 15 healthy volunteers received skin injections with capsaicin as was published in 2007 in the journal Anesthesiology.
capsaicin is the compound behind that fiery spice in chile peppers; and then the participants smoked different strength medical marijuana cigarettes.
The medium dose, with a 4% THC concentration, lessened the burning pain.
The studies all concluded that smoked marijuana can bring relief to sufferers of neuropathic pain comparable to other analgesic drugs.
It’s not a cure, It’s like other pain medicines, you have to keep taking it to continue to get the positive effects.
