Background
Chronic pain is pain that is considered to last longer than six months. Chronic pain can be mild to excruciating, and episodic or continuous ("Community," n.d.). With chronic pain, the pain may remain active in the nervous system for months or years (Ratini, 2004). A recent study estimated that 31 percent of the adult United States population suffers from chronic pain, most commonly lower back or osteoarthritic pain (Bostwick, 2014). Chronic idiopathic (i.e. non-cancer related) pain is a significant public health concern, characterized by considerable emotional distress and impairment of social and occupational functioning (Zvolensky, 2011). This distress and impairment leave many adults feeling helpless and on the search for a treatment that will manage the pain.
In recent years, many patients who experience chronic pain have turned to cannabinoids as way for pain management. Cannabis (also called marijuana)—from the plant Cannabis Sativa—for analgesic use is that the drug has been used both therapeutically and recreationally for thousands of years. Cannabis is used recreationally because of the euphoria that it produces (Campbell, 2007). Research focused on marijuana has increasingly indicated important connections to pain experience, including the use for the management of pain-related symptoms and medical illness. Cannabinoids can offer analgesic effects for pain related to medical disease, like cancer. It also can be useful for managing migraine pain. Lastly, marijuana has frequently been employed to manage pain-related symptoms, including nausea and vomiting (Zvolensky, 2011). Other medications used for pain management vary depending on the severity of pain by the patient; these medications include Advil, I...
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...e patient; therefore showing its effectiveness in pain management. Smoked marijuana showed a subjective improvement of symptoms compared to a smoked false marijuana cigarette. With a single dose of cannabis, the best that can be achieved is nociceptive pain that is equivalent to a single dose of codeine 60 milligrams. In conclusion, cannabinoids are a modestly effective and safe treatment option for chronic non-cancer pain. On the other hand, there is room for more randomized controlled studies of cannabis, as well as pharmaceutical research and development based upon new understandings. Some of the effects that cannabinoids had on patients with chronic pain could be in part to underlying aspects of the patients life; therefore more comparative research to traditional pain medications could be made to enhance the results of the other studies that have been made.
A. Chronic pain signifies a developing public health issue of huge magnitudes, mainly in view of aging populations in developed countries (Russo).
Chronic pain is a long term condition, which means it cannot be cured, but the symptoms may be controlled by therapies and medications (Saxon and Lillyman, 2011). When pain is considered chronic, it lasts longer than the expected healing period and there may not be a clear cause (Kraaimaat and Evers, 2003).
Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) is a musculoskeletal illness (which causes chronic pain) and a chronic fatigue disorder. It can also change sleep patterns and cause the following: digestive disorders, chronic headaches, painful menstrual periods, temperature sensitivity, morning stiffness, numbness or tingling of extremities, and even cognitive memory problems. The name fibromyalgia comes from "fibro" in Latin meaning tissue, "my" in Greek meaning muscle, and "algia" (also Greek) meaning pain.(source 5)
" Chronic Pain (CP) statistics astounding according to The Institute of medicine approximately 100 million adults suffer from chronic pain which is more than heart disease, diabetes, and cancer combined."(IOM Relieving Pain in America 2011, p. 1)
While cannabis still has its own risks, it’s overall a much safer option to treat chronic pain. Plus, when patients take the correct strain and dose, it doesn’t get them high. Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the non-psychoactive elements of cannabis that balances out THC—the psychoactive component. Many strains are meant to help relieve pain as well as improve mental clarity so patients can go about their daily lives. Compared to recreational users, patients need miniscule amounts of medical cannabis to obtain relief.
chronic pain could be handled at the bedside with no need to await a doctor's
Pain is something most people want to get rid of. It would be shocking if a person would want pain or create their own pain. Sounds outrageous, right? The millions of Americans suffering with diseases and conditions, from chronic pain to cancer, all want their pain to simply disappear. But, most people are aware that some treatment options and pharmaceuticals don’t always work. As a result, they are forced to live with their conditions or diseases for long amounts of time, sometimes even leading to their death. Other times, treatment options and pharmaceuticals that don’t medically have any pain-relieving or curing effect do work. In turn, patients who suffered with cancer or post-tooth extraction pain are relieved with nothing but a
Chronic illness or chronic condition is a long lasting or persistent disease or condition in a person’s health. A chronic illness can affect anyone’s life at any time. A person’s life can be affected greatly in many ways by a chronic illness. A person may be affected physically, their independence may be taken away, they may feel tired and/or in pain due to a chronic illness they may be suffering from. Financial problems may occur due to the high medical costs treating the chronic illness, someone could lose their, job, their appearance may be affected, and a person may experience confusion. If a chronic illness unexpectedly approaches someone’s life, a person may feel overwhelmingly confused. This confusion may come, because they don’t understand why they now have this illness. This confusion is primarily seen in children. Since chronic illness affects lives so greatly, a person may start to feel anger, stress, or anxiety because of the interruption of the chronic illness in a person’s life.
The Physiological Effects of Marijuana Marijuana derives from the dried leaves and flower of the hemp plant Cannabis sativa; for thousands of years, physicians regarded marijuana as a useful pharmaceutical agent that could be used to treat a number of different disorders. In the 19th century, physicians in the United States and Europe used marijuana as an analgesic, as a treatment for migraine headaches, and as an anticonvulsant (Grinspoon & Bakalar, 1993, 1995). In 1938, a physician used marijuana (hashish) to completely control the terror and excitement of a patient who had contracted rabies (Elliot, 1992, p. 600).
Marijuana has a long medical history, ranging from its anecdotal use in ancient times, through medical prescribing in the 19th and early 20th centuries to modern. "The first record of cannabis as a medicine can be found in the oldest Chinese pharmacopeia, Shen Nag Ben Cao Jing, written in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 AD to 220 AD). It was indicated for rheumatic pain, malaria, constipation, and disorders of the female reproductive system" (Greenwell, 2012, Vol. 26 Issue 1). Pain is one of the most common reasons that medical cannabis is recommended. "Scientists have long known that tetrahydracannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana, is an effective pain killer" (Mcdonagh, 2003). Studies of medical marijuana show significant improvement in various types of pain. "Marijuana appears to exert its pain relieving effects by acting on certain sites in the brain and spinal nerves. These specific sites are called cannabinoid receptors. The cannabinoid compound connects to these receptors, much like two puzzle pieces fitting together. Once, joined, the receptor alters the way the brain cell or nerve cell functions. This alteration of function changes the way the cell perceives painful stimulus, often reducing the intensity of pain that is interpreted by the brain" (Greenwell, 2012, Vol. 26 Issue 1). "The effect that cannabinoid compounds have on the cannabinoid receptors (CB1 and CB2) found in the brain can create varying pharmacologic responses based on formulation and patient characteristics" (Borgelt, Franson, & Nussbaum, 2013). Several small clinical studies have confirmed the usefulness of THC, which at doses of 15 to 20mg was found to be comparable to 60 to 120mg pharmaceutical painkillers. But which form of pain manag...
Kalant, Harold. “Medicinal Use of Cannabis: History and Current States.” Pain Research and Management 6.2 (2001): 80-94. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.
Chronic Pain is described as a long lasting pain that people experience beyond a normal healing time (Hasenbring, Rusu & Turk, 2012). This time is usually up to three or six months prior to an incident (Hasenbring, Rusu & Turk, 2012). Chronic back pain can include common diagnosis of muscle spasms, back strain, or myofasical syndrome (Weiner & Nordin, 2010). There are three different types of chronic back pain; simple musculoskeletal back pain, spinal nerve root pain and serious spinal pathology (Jackson & Simpson, 2006). (Hasenbring, 2012)
Medically, marijuana has proven to be a productive drug. Studies show marijuana has helped dealing with “pain, muscle spasms, seizure disorders and nausea from cancer chemotherapy.” (Weir) Scientist believes these benefits come from a chemical compound in marijuana called cannabidiol. This chemical is not the active chemical that gives marijuana users the mind-altering effects. With the unce...
Degenhardt, L, & Hall, W.D. (2008). The Adverse Effects of Cannabinoids: Implication for use of Medical Marijuana. Canadian Medical Association, 178,1-2.
"There is much pain that is quite noiseless; and that make human agonies are often a mere whisper in the of hurrying existence. There are glances of hatred that stab and raise no cry of murder; robberies that leave man of woman for ever beggared of peace and joy, yet kept secret by the sufferer-committed to no sound except that of low moans in the night, seen in no writing except that made on the face by the slow months of suppressed anguish and early morning tears. Many an inherited sorrow that has marred a life has been breathed into no human ear." George Eliot (1819-80), English novelist,editor. Felis Holt, the Radical, Introduction (1866).What is pain? In the American Heritage Dictionary, pain is referred to as "an unpleasant sensation occurring in varying degrees of severity as a consequence of injury, disease, or emotional disorder." The word is rooted in Middle English, from an Old French piene, from Latin poena, meaning "penalty or pain", and from Greek pointe, meaning "penalty." Pain is a very realistic problem that many individuals face daily.