chronic pain part
last year i was diagnosed with fibromyalgia after a couple years of nasty suffering. every day was an exercise in constant burning, stinging, stabbing throbbing pain. i decided to try some cannabis tincture and made some up steeping it for 30 days. i made 3 different batches depending on a bud/leaf ratio and to decarb or not decard. the best was a 50/50 leaf-bud ration that was decarbed first.
the tincture worked very well and id say took away about 85% of the daily pain. i took 2T 4 times a day and sometimes a bit more at bed time if needed. this i did for about a year and it helped a great deal and i was quite pleased. being new to cannabis i was not sure of strength or potency or strains, i was just experimenting with what i had. the plant material i had was indica and i found it relaxing. i never experienced any high or buzz using the tincture.
here is the cancer part--
last month i was diagnosed with breast cancer, stage one, the tumor was small at 11mm. my surgery was scheduled for about 3 weeks away from then. they were going to remove the tumor and also get some lymph nodes to check for spreading. as you can imagine, it was scary as hell.
i determined to use cannabis to treat myself up until surgery and see what happened. there was not much time until my surgery date of 9/10 but i did my best. i knew about the oil but decided to go with the paste recipe because for me, having vision problems, i felt making the paste would be easier and it was.
the direction for dosage on the paste is to start off with an amount the size of a pea and then work up to 2.5gms a day to fight cancer. i knew the oil was to be worked up to 1 gm a day for 90 days---i dont know how the dose of 2.5gm was arrived at--testing? studies? i dont know---i do not know why the amount seemed too low to me. i am no chemist but i decided to slowly increase my intake as high as possible without the usual side affects and see what happens.
so for 3 weeks before my surgery i added the paste and slowly increase my dosage, working up to 8 capsules a day--about 8 gms as each capsule weighted 1 gm.
2 good things happened.
1) at 8 capsules a day i no longer needed tincture for the fibro pain. it totally disappeared. not a hint or twinge or nerve pain. fantastic!
2) the day of surgery they took extra sonograms of tumor and it had shrunk. from 11 to 8mm. instead of having to cut out a section the size of my fist (that they had warned me was going to happen) then ended up only cutting out the size of a walnut. super fantastic!!!!
i wad totally impressed and yes thankful that my breast was not cut up badly. the doctors knew i had been taking cannabis and did not want to talk about it as a possible treatment for later (i am in CO and it is all legal)--they were pushing radiation course of 3 weeks straight for after surgery. . they advised me to stop taking any cannabis a week before surgery just in case. but i did not i stopped the morning of surgery and when i got home started it right up again and found this out--
3) i hardly needed any pain pills after day 2
the first and second day i took the pain pills cause i needed them. the morning of day 3 after surgery i stopped the pain pills and took my 8 cannabis pills throughout the day. i found i did not need the pain pills. i would pop some extra strength tylenol a couple times a day if needed, but it is not often. i do take one and a half at bedtime because it is still hard to get comfortable trying to sleep--laying down makes a sore and tender breast hurt.
my pathology report came back clean, i have good clean margins and no caner spread to lymphs. im going to continue with the 8gm of cannabis paste a day because it gets rid of the fibro pain and obviously affected my tumor. i am wondering if i need to increase it to fight off any potential return of cancer. they say without radiation my chances are 30% it will return and only 20% or less with radiation. i still am not going to take the radiation. but i am wondering if i should increase my dose.
so that is my chronic pain / cancer / cannabis story
last year i was diagnosed with fibromyalgia after a couple years of nasty suffering. every day was an exercise in constant burning, stinging, stabbing throbbing pain. i decided to try some cannabis tincture and made some up steeping it for 30 days. i made 3 different batches depending on a bud/leaf ratio and to decarb or not decard. the best was a 50/50 leaf-bud ration that was decarbed first.
the tincture worked very well and id say took away about 85% of the daily pain. i took 2T 4 times a day and sometimes a bit more at bed time if needed. this i did for about a year and it helped a great deal and i was quite pleased. being new to cannabis i was not sure of strength or potency or strains, i was just experimenting with what i had. the plant material i had was indica and i found it relaxing. i never experienced any high or buzz using the tincture.
here is the cancer part--
last month i was diagnosed with breast cancer, stage one, the tumor was small at 11mm. my surgery was scheduled for about 3 weeks away from then. they were going to remove the tumor and also get some lymph nodes to check for spreading. as you can imagine, it was scary as hell.
i determined to use cannabis to treat myself up until surgery and see what happened. there was not much time until my surgery date of 9/10 but i did my best. i knew about the oil but decided to go with the paste recipe because for me, having vision problems, i felt making the paste would be easier and it was.
the direction for dosage on the paste is to start off with an amount the size of a pea and then work up to 2.5gms a day to fight cancer. i knew the oil was to be worked up to 1 gm a day for 90 days---i dont know how the dose of 2.5gm was arrived at--testing? studies? i dont know---i do not know why the amount seemed too low to me. i am no chemist but i decided to slowly increase my intake as high as possible without the usual side affects and see what happens.
so for 3 weeks before my surgery i added the paste and slowly increase my dosage, working up to 8 capsules a day--about 8 gms as each capsule weighted 1 gm.
2 good things happened.
1) at 8 capsules a day i no longer needed tincture for the fibro pain. it totally disappeared. not a hint or twinge or nerve pain. fantastic!
2) the day of surgery they took extra sonograms of tumor and it had shrunk. from 11 to 8mm. instead of having to cut out a section the size of my fist (that they had warned me was going to happen) then ended up only cutting out the size of a walnut. super fantastic!!!!
i wad totally impressed and yes thankful that my breast was not cut up badly. the doctors knew i had been taking cannabis and did not want to talk about it as a possible treatment for later (i am in CO and it is all legal)--they were pushing radiation course of 3 weeks straight for after surgery. . they advised me to stop taking any cannabis a week before surgery just in case. but i did not i stopped the morning of surgery and when i got home started it right up again and found this out--
3) i hardly needed any pain pills after day 2
the first and second day i took the pain pills cause i needed them. the morning of day 3 after surgery i stopped the pain pills and took my 8 cannabis pills throughout the day. i found i did not need the pain pills. i would pop some extra strength tylenol a couple times a day if needed, but it is not often. i do take one and a half at bedtime because it is still hard to get comfortable trying to sleep--laying down makes a sore and tender breast hurt.
my pathology report came back clean, i have good clean margins and no caner spread to lymphs. im going to continue with the 8gm of cannabis paste a day because it gets rid of the fibro pain and obviously affected my tumor. i am wondering if i need to increase it to fight off any potential return of cancer. they say without radiation my chances are 30% it will return and only 20% or less with radiation. i still am not going to take the radiation. but i am wondering if i should increase my dose.
so that is my chronic pain / cancer / cannabis story