Looking For Alternative Ways to Deal With Pain

November 21st, 2009 by Dr. Julian Reindhurst

For almost 2.5 million people, daily aching, stiff cramping muscles is just a regular way of life when living with Multiple Sclerosis. Another 15 million people with spinal chord injuries must cope daily with similar pains as those with MS, but also limited movement which takes away the sleep these patients need.

Several conventional medications are available to help mitigate some of the discomfort, yet they rarely provide the patient with total relief. These conventional drugs often times cause weakness, make the patient constantly sleepy, and has side effects that many of the patients find intolerable such as constant constipation.

Given this outlook, it is not hard to understand why some people with multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injuries have sought relief through marijuana as it has shown to reduce pain and muscle spasms.

Patients of spinal chord injuries and MS also said they valued the drug because it relieved nausea or helped them sleep. A’82 study of people with spinal cord injuries, found that 21 of 43 of the case studies reported that marijuana lessened muscle spasticity (a condition in which muscles tense reflexively and resist stretching), while nearly every participant in a’97 survey of 112 regular marijuana users with multiple sclerosis replied that the drug lessened both pain and spasticity.

This study is not intended to show that all people who suffer from MS find relief simply those who use marijuana do.

Animal research demonstrates that marijuana reduces muscle spasticity. Spasms are theorized to occur in areas of the brain that manage movement, including various areas that have abundant cannabinoid receptors.

One such experiment showed that when rodents receive small doses of cannabinoids they become more active, yet when they receive higher doses they are less active

Many marijuana users also note that the drug affects movement, making their bodies sway and their hands unsteady.

It’s still unknown how the compounds of the cannabinoids create this effect. With all of the findings that suggest the plant has anecdotal properties, clinical research remains largely untested.

Very few reports are helpful because they are limited in the amount of people and in general hard to find.

Still, the lack of good universally effective medicine for muscle spasticity is a compelling reason to continue exploring cannonaded drugs in the clinic.

For three decades, Dr. Julian Reindhurst has studies the medicinal benefits of marijuana. He currently has a blog that gives the historical perspective of how nirvana seeds benefited other ancient civilizations. He also has a website site that looks at the medicinal benefits of the nirvana seeds.