Cronic Pain Is My Life

[420 Motoco]

Understood, I felt this way as well. Food grade alcohol is much less flammable compared to the chemical carriers. If cooked outside in a well ventilated area it is uber safe. Only reason I point this out is for pain taken correctly it doesn't get better. So I keep bugging people, lolol. Some day perhaps and I totally get the affordability part. But what it does in everything it is cheap. Also when it is decarbed there is not a trace of anything except the good meds. What ever route, best regards to your wife's and your's health!

Thank you for your reply 420 motoco.

I showed this link to my wife about a month ago.
She was adamantly resistant to a process involving flammable solvents.

She found a (presumably less concentrated) recipe in H*** T***** Cannabis Cookbook.
I needed to grow a bit more before we can afford to concentrate 2oz of bud.

Thank you again. You are an asset to

 

[budnoob2]

Hi Radogast, I can vouch for the safety and efficacy of following Motoco's links - I have been using Spirytus Vodka as the carrier and making my oil in a screened in porch following the tutorial without incident. I have also made oil in the past using other methods and would not recommend them.

 

[Radogast]

Hi Radogast, I can vouch for the safety and efficacy of following Motoco's links - I have been using Spirytus Vodka as the carrier and making my oil in a screened in porch following the tutorial without incident. I have also made oil in the past using other methods and would not recommend them.

That is a high recommendation budnoob2 !

You and many others have Motoco's back

 

[lightworker33]

My wife with fibromyalgia just got her Dr recommendation 6 months ago. We have grown White Widow and Caramelicious from Amsterdam Marijuana Seeds. When I let the trichomes go to Amber we get some great body effects, enough to know we want high CBD/CBN strains. This grow has yielded good nighttime before bed knock you out pain relief. So far the energetic daytime smoke effects are from the earlier harvest (presumably lower CBD) plants.

If we go to the Cannatonic ACDC strains, is it likely we can find energetic, body pain managing effects?

Can you recommend a reputable seed breeder that ships to the USA? (No clones yet in the local states.)

Ask them to get you dutch passion compassion high cbd 7:7 or cbd kush or cbd skunk haze5:5 and 6:6 cbd
Skunk/haze..
Or get the medical mass from cbd crew or harlequin marle tsu acdc grandaddy grape ape grandaddybpuros white rhino or pineapple kuah.

 

[Radogast]

Ask them to get you dutch passion compassion high cbd 7:7 or cbd kush or cbd skunk haze5:5 and 6:6 cbd
Skunk/haze..
Or get the medical mass from cbd crew or harlequin marle tsu acdc grandaddy grape ape grandaddybpuros white rhino or pineapple kuah.

Thanks I spent an hour looking at CBD crew and the lineage of their growers: Great stuff.

 

[Kingkudzu]

Our lives seem to be on similar trajectories. I am a 100% permanently disabled veteran who has bipolar depression in addition to a cage in my neck from C2 to C4 and a larger cage in lumbar L3 through L6. Knowing the VA's Drs. not exactly confidence inspiring I was with a civilian Dr. for over sixteen years after which I had spent the last six years on 30mg Oxycodone QID/4 times a day, 10 mg Diazepam 3 times a day and 100 microgram Duragesic skin patches every three days. Out of the blue my physician just retired! Nothing but a registered letter and an admonishment that the new Dr. would not take me because "she doesn't like the medicine you're on. Armed with a 30 day supply of meds I searched for a doctor who would take me. I visited or called every pain management and Family Practice drs. in a fifty mile area. No one will take me because they "won't take other surgeons mistakes, don"t accept my insurance or only trat temporary workers comp cases. SO I thought surely the VA would help since I had been a patient for a month 6 or 7 months ago and they not only administered my pain meds, they also gave me a 30 day supply which I made my FP Dr. immediately aware of to prevent ANY confusion. NOW...the Head Ortho Dr. at Montgomery's VA hospital says he "refuses to treat me" and said he didn't have to explain why. I am nearing full blown withdrawal and I am dying here. I want to scream my lungs out, get a news organization interested in what the VA is doing but I cannot walk far and internet and phone are my only tools. I have kept a journal when I was admitted to Tuskegee and its a truly sick read. I have lost nearly 80 lbs in the last 14 months but that's apparently not significant to the VA. I was a career Corpsman/Air crewman (radar, ECM, ECCM) who has been waterboarded and repeatedly slammed into a 2x4 stud in SERE school which was the start of my back. The pain is a 12 and the irony is...I spent a week in Colorado with my cousin and found that certain forms of marijuana totally gave me an appetite while another variety actually decreased the amount of narcotics for break through pain. The down side to that is I am unable to make the move because of my physical condition and see no help in sight. Is there anyone out there with some guidance that might help my situation. I am sick and tired of being made to feel like a criminal because I am habituated to drugs I never asked for, or a botched surgery that the VA refuses to even cover analgesics. THIS IS JUST WRONG FROM ANY PERSPECTIVE! I have done damage in my career that haunts me to this day, and I would never hurt another human again...but even the suicide hotline is a 45 minute wait if you can understand the multiple voice mail selections you must make. Mostly they urge you to call 911. Wow, I almost did from the VA's ER when they denied me meds needed just to be able to walk any distance. Point I am making is that if no one cares enough to even say how sorry they are at the VA, imagine what the civilians ERs treat you. Forget Alabama lawmakers they use the VA fiasco as political fodder and Roby, Sessions and you know who not only voted against an increase in the VA budget, but warned of future increases because "we simply can't afford any additional funding..." These boots will be "in" the ground before I ever go "quietly into that night." My tombstone will read "Joined the wrong side of an unpopular police action and will be forgotten, one each." And as I look at other states at least allowing MMJ to come up for a vote...big pharma takes the WHOLE OFFICE STAFF out to lunch at Montgomery's most elite restaurant. How ethical is that. Wonder why lunch with the Synova drug salesman is more important than my pain issues. Thanks Bickwell...I won't forget your service...or disservice. I cannot take this anymore and this bi&#% session is over. If you doubt my word, try that suicide hotline they beg us to use. Beyond ludicrous as much as the dollar a page to print both my four inch charts which doesn't get even a casual glance because they can hand you off to another entity and go back to playing Candy Crush on their cell phones. For real. I will make it to Colorado if its the last thing I do, it is truly medicine and I cannot live without it!. No I am not rich or the cute daughter of a well connected friend of the Governor so I can't even get considered for a law that would allow any chance to develop a strain that would help me...but that's what the Alabama Legislature did for the poor toddlers who suffer from seizures. I won't give them any encouragement to j them by threatening suicide. No, with my luck I am sure I would be jailed after being arrested for disturbing the peace! Screw it! Semper Fi!

 

[420 Motoco]

Hi Kingkudzu,

First; thank you for your service and Semper Fi Brother (68-72 for me). Your post locked me in and your story/plight is one that sadden's me deeply. My son is an Iraqi vet with sever PTSD. It seems the V.A. has this morphine/opiate's and upstairs meds as a cure all. In fact its nothing more than progressive addictions. I've talked to him quit a bit about suicidal thoughts. I started treating him a year ago with concentrated cannabis oil and it did wonders for pain, depression, anxiety and squared him away in short order. Then he started eating the oil for euphoric and with the opiates dropped his blood pressure to dangerous levels. I had to pull it from him. Now a year latter he is refocused and using it correctly. He is now weaning off his opiates using the oil and doing so easily. I know this doesn't help you what your going through but I thought it a worthy mention and some direction. Alafrick'n bama? Medieval laws down there brother. It may be the hardest thing to do in your life but get to a legal state and get your life back on track brother. You have made it this far. Have you checked any civilian organizations for vets? No local friends that would pack you up and move you? I see so many Vets who have served our country and get tossed to the wayside, it sickens me to no end. Make it to Colorado brother and seek the concentrated oil for your issues. I feel helpless as I'm on the west coast. Stay tough and reach your goal.

Best wishes

Our lives seem to be on similar trajectories. I am a 100% permanently disabled veteran who has bipolar depression in addition to a cage in my neck from C2 to C4 and a larger cage in lumbar L3 through L6. Knowing the VA's Drs. not exactly confidence inspiring I was with a civilian Dr. for over sixteen years after which I had spent the last six years on 30mg Oxycodone QID/4 times a day, 10 mg Diazepam 3 times a day and 100 microgram Duragesic skin patches every three days. Out of the blue my physician just retired! Nothing but a registered letter and an admonishment that the new Dr. would not take me because "she doesn't like the medicine you're on. Armed with a 30 day supply of meds I searched for a doctor who would take me. I visited or called every pain management and Family Practice drs. in a fifty mile area. No one will take me because they "won't take other surgeons mistakes, don"t accept my insurance or only trat temporary workers comp cases. SO I thought surely the VA would help since I had been a patient for a month 6 or 7 months ago and they not only administered my pain meds, they also gave me a 30 day supply which I made my FP Dr. immediately aware of to prevent ANY confusion. NOW...the Head Ortho Dr. at Montgomery's VA hospital says he "refuses to treat me" and said he didn't have to explain why. I am nearing full blown withdrawal and I am dying here. I want to scream my lungs out, get a news organization interested in what the VA is doing but I cannot walk far and internet and phone are my only tools. I have kept a journal when I was admitted to Tuskegee and its a truly sick read. I have lost nearly 80 lbs in the last 14 months but that's apparently not significant to the VA. I was a career Corpsman/Air crewman (radar, ECM, ECCM) who has been waterboarded and repeatedly slammed into a 2x4 stud in SERE school which was the start of my back. The pain is a 12 and the irony is...I spent a week in Colorado with my cousin and found that certain forms of marijuana totally gave me an appetite while another variety actually decreased the amount of narcotics for break through pain. The down side to that is I am unable to make the move because of my physical condition and see no help in sight. Is there anyone out there with some guidance that might help my situation. I am sick and tired of being made to feel like a criminal because I am habituated to drugs I never asked for, or a botched surgery that the VA refuses to even cover analgesics. THIS IS JUST WRONG FROM ANY PERSPECTIVE! I have done damage in my career that haunts me to this day, and I would never hurt another human again...but even the suicide hotline is a 45 minute wait if you can understand the multiple voice mail selections you must make. Mostly they urge you to call 911. Wow, I almost did from the VA's ER when they denied me meds needed just to be able to walk any distance. Point I am making is that if no one cares enough to even say how sorry they are at the VA, imagine what the civilians ERs treat you. Forget Alabama lawmakers they use the VA fiasco as political fodder and Roby, Sessions and you know who not only voted against an increase in the VA budget, but warned of future increases because "we simply can't afford any additional funding..." These boots will be "in" the ground before I ever go "quietly into that night." My tombstone will read "Joined the wrong side of an unpopular police action and will be forgotten, one each." And as I look at other states at least allowing MMJ to come up for a vote...big pharma takes the WHOLE OFFICE STAFF out to lunch at Montgomery's most elite restaurant. How ethical is that. Wonder why lunch with the Synova drug salesman is more important than my pain issues. Thanks Bickwell...I won't forget your service...or disservice. I cannot take this anymore and this bi&#% session is over. If you doubt my word, try that suicide hotline they beg us to use. Beyond ludicrous as much as the dollar a page to print both my four inch charts which doesn't get even a casual glance because they can hand you off to another entity and go back to playing Candy Crush on their cell phones. For real. I will make it to Colorado if its the last thing I do, it is truly medicine and I cannot live without it!. No I am not rich or the cute daughter of a well connected friend of the Governor so I can't even get considered for a law that would allow any chance to develop a strain that would help me...but that's what the Alabama Legislature did for the poor toddlers who suffer from seizures. I won't give them any encouragement to j them by threatening suicide. No, with my luck I am sure I would be jailed after being arrested for disturbing the peace! Screw it! Semper Fi!

 

[Kingkudzu]

I cannot THANK my 420 brothers in and out of arms for all the help, positive thoughts, strain info and just all around could tell they were shooting straight and actually understood. Past bed time and the Xanax that shouil work better if it were a strong oil or indica dominant (?) decided to work. Generics!! Just thank you all SO MUCH and I will save and digest all the good tips and suggestions. I will make it to Colorado one way or another and live as green and modestly as this 'ol broke down gyrene can. I can see the average grower will have some excellent guidance whe I finally do make it. If only the 'ol FEMA trailer would make it!?!?! Nahhhhhh! LOL Blessings Fairways and Following Seas!! Semper Fi!

 

[Kingkudzu]

I cannot THANK my 420 brothers in and out of arms for all the help, positive thoughts, strain info and just all around could tell they were shooting straight and actually understood. Past bed time and the Xanax that shouil work better if it were a strong oil or indica dominant (?) Just thank you all SO MUCH and I will save and digest all the good tips and suggestions. I will make it to Colorado one way or another and ;ive as green and modestly as this 'ol broke down gyrene can. I can see the average grower will have some excellent guidance whe I finally do make it. If only thr 'ol FEMA trailer would make it!?!?! Nahhhhhh! LOL Blessings and Following Seas!! Semper Fi!

 

[Kingkudzu]

"Knowing your strains for medicinal purposes is a must if your serious about your health. Finding what is right for you and your makeup is important. Grow them, mother them and clone them so when you do find them you have exactly what you need." Imagine the thousands and thousands of variations through terpenoid combinations that increase ie allow blood/brain barrier migration (Myrcene)
to increase to >70% with a terpenoid 'ride along' a decarboxylate that increases subjective 'happiness.' Just sayin the THC/CBD/CBDN etc is a fascinating puzzle that holds symptom or perhaps even a cure for any number of affective disorders, for the chuk a block diagnosis that neuroscience is. One mans poison is another man's mead, as long as a Drug Salesman was involved> Someday, Colorado someday... Peace with All

 

[2strikes]

First time poster. So many of these stories mirror my own life. The Australian government seems to suddenly recocognise the pliht of so many. Along with other issues of health I have suffered chronic pain for decades. The Oxycontin is adequate but having hit a dose of 360mg daily I have nowhere else to go. Certain strains of pot help but the government seems happy to supply me with opiates and treat the inevitable side effects. I say to the Government "PLEASE HELP." I can't continue to live like this!

 

[Aku420]

I am also a chronic pain patient. Nothing as severe as above in the form of injury but long term opiate patient nonetheless. I am very hopeful that I can use cannabis medically after decades of recreational use and a 10 year hiatus. While I am utterly sick and tired of dealing with narcotics (Doctors, the pharm laws, pharmacists, the side effects, social stigma of being a long term opiate patient, responsibility and liability, and on and on) I also want to say how lucky I am to have access to these medications as without them I would have no life.
I am posting because I want to stress the differences between addiction, psychological and physical dependency, recreational use and abuse. While I will suffer severe and excruciating withdrawal symptoms if my meds were abruptly cut off, I am not addicted to opiates. If you don't understand that or disagree, please please do some research on the modern definition of the horrible disease of addiction and what it means to merely be physically dependent because they are two very separate and different things.
Pain management Doctors and clinics drug test patients to be certain they are taking the prescribed medicines in the prescribed amounts while not taking other drugs that would potentiate the euphoric effects. Some do not even check for cannabis as it is looked at by some as similar or less harmful than alcohol when taking strong narcotics. I know I have smoked and pissed for my Doctor and nothing was mentioned. My advice after such a long search for a sympathetic Doctor is to ask as many questions up front as possible. Find out the Doctors philosophy on prescribing what meds work for you and if you want or are going to smoke, how they feel about cannabis. Rest assured this does not go for cocaine or other recreational use drugs but there are some Dr's that are OK with MJ.
I am an advocate of knowing what works with your body and doing it because we are the only ones that know what we need to not just get by but to live a quality life that we all deserve, regardless of anyone telling me I am breaking the law or not. Let me take a razor blade down the back of your leg and make you walk on thumbtacks all day, then tell me about the "laws" of the geographical area in which I reside.

</rant>

 

[mel123]

This is my first post on this thread/site. Forgive any ignorance on my part please!

21yrs. Ago I was diagnosed w/advanced breast cancer. I was 43yrs. Old. After a mastectomy w/ lymphnode dysection (3)nodes positive, I had 6 mos. Chemo. yes, I'm 21 yrs. Cancer free, which is considered a cure! THANK YOU G-D! That being said, I went from acute surgical pain to moderate-severe chronic pain. I saw and still do see very competent Chronic Pain Specialists. I was taking 60 mg. Methedone (4) times a day, plus Oxy for break thru pain, low/high doses Gabapentin, Cymbalta, and. Plethora of sleeping pills/anti- anxiety, meds, etc. About 10 yrs. Ago I voluntarily over a planned period with my Dr. Cut the methedone down by 50%. I now take 100mg. Methedone a day, and Norco for break thru pain. Because I already had irritable bowel, after 20 yrs. Of narcotics I now have very severe irritable bowel with severe constipation. Even though I take Linzess, which helps, I have in essence traded one chronic pain issue, for another. For 2 years I have had 2 different very respectable Pain Specialists suggest mmj, as I live in Calif. 2 yrs. Ago, I began my quest to see if I could get off the narcotics in exchange for mmj. Unfortunately todate, I have not found any strain that touches the nerve pain. It's very helpful for sleep, nervous issues due to pain, and GI problems. But then I ran into a mmj cost issue at the dispensaries! I have finally found a grower I'm working with, so I'm hoping the quality & cost will improve. I don't respond to most mmj. Probably from all the yrs. Of and still on narcotics! When you have the kind of pain that takes away everything in your life that brought you joy, happiness and fulfillment, it's very very hard! I can empathize and identify w/ everyone...

 

[420 Motoco]

Chronic pain users: Cannabis concentrated oil blended with a high CBD strain with a high THC. Ratio is as an example; 1 part cbd to 1 part THC. Chronic pain is easily manage. Grain of rice in the a.m. with a 1/2 grain of rice as a booster after lunch. As pure of Indica as you can get for sleep. The concentrated oil lets you easily ween off the man-made meds.

 

[Aku420]

Motoco, take offense if you want none meant- it is not NEARLY as easy as your 3 line post to find something that lets you live when you have serious hardcore chronic pain. Hell, its not even easy to fix your dose of narcotics right to be able to live. I have serious doubts that cannabis will even touch the pain I have but as mel says, it may help some of the symptoms. Certainly it will help one not think about being in pain all day as well as help get me to sleep. As far as completely taking care of my pain with THC and CBD? Ain't no way in hell, sorry. I like to think about it sometimes, just smoke weed and not have to take pain meds, reality is that will never happen. I smoked everyday for a looong time and I never came across anything that would touch what I have goin' on.
Put it this way- if you were going in for surgery would you be OK with just some kind of CBD THC combination before hand or would you want anesthesia with opiates waiting for you after? If you've ever had surgery there is only 1 answer to that. Point is, there are people walking around with surgical amounts of pain everyday. Weed may not help/fix everyone but I sure wish it was legal so that I could at least try and supplement some cannabis for pain meds. Oh and I remember pooping whenever I smoked, that would help alot now.
Sorry man, its just your post really minimizes the amount of trials and tribulations, downright fucking Sisyphean effort it took to find a Doctor and be able to stabilize everyday life and not go broke doing it. Chronic pain is NOT NEARLY EASILY FUCKING MANAGED.
Hang in there Mel! You'll find a plateau that works eventually, godspeed in doing so.

 

[420 Motoco]

Aku420,

I am not taking any offense. I guess I could of made the post longer and hope you don't take offense. I could sit here and talk opiates all day and make it a paragraph. I treat many people with pain management. I also wasn't talking about smoking weed as for me it never did nothing for pain. Your assuming something your apparently never tried as I was referring to cannabis concentrated oil taken properly. My Son has chronic pain from service in Iraq, using opiates for 12 years. He bitched about them and he defended them, almost lost his wife and family over them not to mention multiple suicides.

Your response was a normal response who have chronic pain. Its not your fault as this is the bs meds the medical system has in place. Keep in mind this is an awareness forum and the three sentence post you ragged on was exactly that 'awareness' because I guess I get sick and tired of reading about your pain management when there is a better alternative. You know, the one you where judging and have never tried. By the way; one can ween off the opiates with cannabis concentrated oil also and very easily.

So lets hear how you have no access to it, its BS and all the other crap while addicted on opiates. One final mention; my post wasn't about your trails and tribulations and how long you have been suffering from chronic pain, it was to give awareness so to give you a clue their are options. That being said is why it my OP was only a few sentences long as people on the opiates is the hardest to reach and the fastest to rant. So in response please take no offense, I know its the meds talking.

Motoco, take offense if you want none meant- it is not NEARLY as easy as your 3 line post to find something that lets you live when you have serious hardcore chronic pain. Hell, its not even easy to fix your dose of narcotics right to be able to live. I have serious doubts that cannabis will even touch the pain I have but as mel says, it may help some of the symptoms. Certainly it will help one not think about being in pain all day as well as help get me to sleep. As far as completely taking care of my pain with THC and CBD? Ain't no way in hell, sorry. I like to think about it sometimes, just smoke weed and not have to take pain meds, reality is that will never happen. I smoked everyday for a looong time and I never came across anything that would touch what I have goin' on.
Put it this way- if you were going in for surgery would you be OK with just some kind of CBD THC combination before hand or would you want anesthesia with opiates waiting for you after? If you've ever had surgery there is only 1 answer to that. Point is, there are people walking around with surgical amounts of pain everyday. Weed may not help/fix everyone but I sure wish it was legal so that I could at least try and supplement some cannabis for pain meds. Oh and I remember pooping whenever I smoked, that would help alot now.
Sorry man, its just your post really minimizes the amount of trials and tribulations, downright fucking Sisyphean effort it took to find a Doctor and be able to stabilize everyday life and not go broke doing it. Chronic pain is NOT NEARLY EASILY FUCKING MANAGED.
Hang in there Mel! You'll find a plateau that works eventually, godspeed in doing so.

 

[Aku420]

PMed you.

 

[painkills2]

I know where Aku420 is coming from, and I would make an additional, more personal comparison:

If you've ever had a toothache, usually the pain will force you to see a dentist. But imagine having a toothache in every tooth, constantly, every minute of every day -- and no doctor or dentist is able to help (even after you've spent every last penny on currently available standard and alternative treatments). And while you can spend an awful lot of money trying to treat chronic pain, it can reach levels that are only interrupted with opioids -- bringing life-saving, but unfortunately short-lived, relief.

Because you can package pain meds any way you want -- short-acting, long-acting, extended-release -- and you can add a host of other medications (usually off-label) to a treatment regimen. But no single drug, or combinations, will provide constant relief from constant pain. As far as I am able to understand it, that's not possible... the brain doesn't work that way.

Before I tried medical cannabis, I was on a regimen just like mel123's, but I never had access to cannabis as a supplement with medication therapy. If I had, I would have been better able to control the dosage of the drugs that made a dent in the pain, making increases in a slower and more incremental fashion. Instead (and eventually), I think my tolerance levels overcame the efficacy of the drugs. While it's true that pain patients build up tolerances that may protect them from large doses of opioids, there comes a point when that protection can no longer be maintained.

I don't know how tolerance levels will work with cannabis -- but I know that you can discontinue use for a day or so and decrease your tolerance levels. And there's not a level of the drug that will cause a fatal overdose.

I think I made the right decision to free myself from all the prescription drugs before I moved and joined a medical cannabis program in a different state. (Well, I couldn't have done it budget-wise if I hadn't stopped paying for one treatment before I moved on to another, but I'm glad I did.) I think it allowed the plant to do more and be more -- just like it was an army fighting a war. And maybe the hydrocodone, the muscle relaxers, and the anti-anxiety drugs were not actually working on my side of this war.

I think it's important to note that no one should have to suffer through sudden withdrawal, especially through lack of access. In fact, it is not recommended that you do so, but that's what happens to pain patients every day (including me). The only thing that got me through it was knowing that bud was on the other side. After 10 years on heavy prescription drugs, I spent two weeks in hell, and a year without anything stronger than aspirin and allergy pills. And now I'm in New Mexico, it's fall, and although nothing is perfect here -- I have no regrets.

And one day, when I connect with the right grower (hopefully in Colorado), I will be able to afford a cannabis regimen that is more focused on the long-term, similar to the one 420 Motoco loves to talk about. And if it works for me, I will probably create and send him a special meme with roses. (Along with a note that says something like, "Life is short. Scratch here and sniff the buds.")

Sorry so long, but just one last thought: Pain patients need to be aware and recognize when treatments stop working. Because what I have found, after over 25 years of suffering from constant pain, is that nothing lasts forever (except the pain). In fact, nothing good lasts very long at all. A peanut-butter brownie, a great strain, sex... all just momentary pleasures. I'm afraid that chronic pain patients will have to look at relief in the same way.

 

[420 Motoco]

painkills, I would be happy to sniff the buds Brother! Your post is well written with great points and since we have meant I have nothing but respect for you and your mission to help others. I think of you often and the suffering you go through. Besides, you haven't cussed me out yet, lol. No way on Gods green earth would I talk crap to you brother, I speak the gospel about the concentrate. It works everytime.

 

[sketcher]

I know this is an old thread but just wanted to say that pain docs are required to run blood tests to make sure you are taking what is prescribed (as opposed to selling it) and also to make sure you are not taking anything else they have not prescribed whether that be prescribed pain meds from another Dr or illegal drugs such as marijuana. These Dr's will typically make their patients sign a contract agreeing not to get and pain meds form other Drs and not to use illegal drugs and the contract states they will fire you as a patient if you violate any of these conditions.

These are things Dr's do to be in compliance with federal drug laws and to cover themselves and in no way indicate that their patients are abusers or seekers or addicts.

I felt bad when I read the Op's post and then the first reply assumed he was an addict. No, he was not an addict. He found that weed helped him and used it which caused him to lose his Dr and get shut off cold turkey from treatment. He found another Dr and the same thing happened again.

He is not an abuser or addict and it is unfortunate that people who seek treatments for severe and chronic pain are often victimized (usually unintentionally) by being automatically labelled as addicts.