hero4u2b said:
There are numorous narcotic analgesics on the market today and many Doctors are somewhat hesitent to perscribe them in fear of creating addiction but I will tell you that if I was in severe pain even thou I am in recovery from addiction to things like this.. I would be the first in line at the pain clinic.. Not everyone becomes addicted to narcotics. only if taken for long periods of time and around the clock.. Addicts like to medicate like that but not everyone does that and that is where narcotics can be very helpfull.. I had all of my teeth ( porclen crowns ) all of them done back 7 or so years ago over a period of 3 months and I was in pain but it wasnt so severe that non narcotic drugs like ultram didnt help me.. Both my Doctor ( GP) and my Dentist know I am in recovery and cannot take things like controlled substances but If I am in pain.. pain that makes me miserable.. I would find someone to write me what I needed.. and then if I was in irretractable pain such as cancer ect I would choose a narcotic with a higher ceiling and long half life such as methadone. in smaller dose's . Just my opinion Hero
Since we are talking about non MJ alternatives I will pass on to you my experiences with my brother. First most all the opiates (Loritabs, Oxycontin, Dilaudid, etc..) are addictive by nature. Another word for addictive is tolerance. Your body builds tolerance to the drug and processes it easier overtime requiring ever increasing dosages. It's the nature of the beast. I had only one honest doctor in the lot that gave us the hard answer we needed to hear given that. That is at times all you can do is manage the pain to a tolerable level and in those times the only thing you can do to completely eliminate pain is anesthesia (think Michael Jackson) which is not advisable. The most important thing is that over continued use the benefits of opiates are on a downward sliding scale and the negative side effects are always upward rising so that in the end the negatives far outweigh the positives. Our experience confirmed this. Anyhow, it's a viscious cycle that I would only recommend for someone with a terminal illness. For something long term such as arthritis I think you may run the course with opiates and be left with nothing but misery.
With that I will go through the rounds of what we did. The docs first prescribed Loritabs (hydrocodone). My brother quickly became addicted to those. At the end of the day he was taking 16 pills a day and still feeling miserable plus the side effects. That was over a four month period. After that we began using MJ and for a time we were completely off the pain meds. As the cancer progressed, however, in the last few months had to have the pain meds. He was prescribed dilaudid (hydromorphone) which is very powerful and addictive stuff. He hasn't had time to form an addiction but also the combined use of MJ and opiate seemed to keep the addiction of opiate at bay. Later we tried a new opiate, nucynta, which is as powerful as dilaudid but with a longer half life. My brother liked that the best but as I said the MJ seemed to help a ton (not only with the pain but with the opiate side effects).
For the arthritis specific pain, because it is more long term I would limit my use of opiates and really avoid altogether if possible. I would aggressively fight with things such as MJ and natural remedies for as long as I could manage. If you believe anything about an alkaline diet, I would look into that to control the progression of the arthritis. The theory behind it is that an overly acid forming diet results in the body pulling minerals and other essentials from all parts of the body to buffer the acid and maintain a very tight PH range of 7.35 to 7.45. This means calcium from the bones, etc.. resutling in most of the degenerative diseases such as arthritis, gout, cancer, etc... For my brother once he was diagnosed we completely changed his diet (to the extent I could get him to) and it substantially improved his overall well being. We used things such as ginger tea, more alkalizing foods, etc... The first thing we noticed was complete elimination of his chronic heartburn which was the likely cause of his cancer in the first place. Hey, if PH is important for MJ, why wouldn't it be important for humans?
Anyhow, there is no love lost btn me and the pharmas and has been my experience that once in their grasp it becomes a downward spiral resulting in an ever shifting potpourri of pills. Currently, my brother is in the hospital and I fight this everday. He gets dilaudid for pain, Adavan for sleep and then they tried to give him a stimulant to counter the Adavan. This is after getting C-diff (a hospital born stomach virus) because of their overuse of anti-biotics. I lost it at that point, fired one doctor, dropped the Adavan and the stimulant, and he is currently only on the dilaudid for pain and doing fine.
Finally, I'm not certain this is the right topic for general indoor growing forum but it is an important topic anyhow. If wrong place, I'm sorry to all.
Unfortunately, the arthritis is so bad, this 50 yr old is contemplating the end...anything I can do to help her ease the pain would be awesome!
