Chronic Pain is one of the qualify conditions in Oregon that allows you to obtain your medical marijuana card. If you think medical marijuana might be right to help with your chronic pain, then feel free to apply online here. Marijuana has been used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years and finally it is legal for patients to use. Join the thousands of patients who can improve they quality of life and assist them with the alignments associated with chronic pain.
How can Medical Marijuana help you with your Chronic Pain?
Severe pain or chronic pain is one of two types of pain, the other one being acute pain. Chronic pain usually lasts for more than 3 months. It sets in gradually and the quality and character of the pain change over time. Chronic pain usually involves deep body structures; therefore it is hard to pinpoint where exactly it originates and how to describe it. The underlying cause is primarily targeted, but if this is futile, management of the long-term effects of chronic pain is initiated.
Chronic pain in family members severely hampers personal relationships and daily routine tasks. This often leads to emotional and financial burdens, and caregiver burnout. More than half of patients suffering from severe pain become depressed, and a number resort to suicide.
Two general causes of severe pain exist. Chronic cancer pain is suffered by almost two thirds of advanced cancer patients. The pain is caused by the cancer itself. Bone cancer is the most painful type of cancer pain. Other causes of pain are tumor compressing the nerve or invading the tissue. With terminal cancer, opioids like morphine have been used to manage the excruciating pain but oftentimes, this seems not enough. Chronic noncancer pain was formerly labeled as chronic nonmalignant pain to contrast it with cancer pain. However, pain experts and pain sufferers believe that all kinds of pain are malignant, hence the newer term. Chronic noncancer pain is most often experienced by older adults, those aged 65 years and above. Rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, osteoporosis, sickle cell anemia, and chronic headaches are the most common sources of chronic pain. Neuropathic pain is classified under chronic noncancer pain and results from some form of nerve injury including cases such as trigeminal neuralgia and postherpetic neuralgia. This type of pain is often described as stabbing, burning, and “pins and needles”.
Two major sources of pain, whether acute or chronic, have been identified—nociceptive and neuropathic. Under nociceptive pain are somatic pain, which involves the skin and bone and muscle tissues, and visceral pain, which includes organs and linings of body cavities. Somatic pain is characterized as sharp, burning, dull, cramping, and aching. Visceral pain is pain that appears splitting, stabbing, sharp, diffused cramping, and is poorly localized. Neuropathic pain involves nerve fibers, the spinal cord, and the central nervous system. The type of pain associated with this is burning, shock like, sharp, and painful numbness. This is also poorly localized.
Medications have been the gold standard method of pain control. This includes opioids (known before as narcotics). Common opioids are morphine, codeine, hydromorphone, fentanyl, tramadol, oxycodone, and meperidine. These opioids work by blocking the release and action of neurotransmitters in the spinal cord. Side effects include nausea and vomiting, constipation, respiratory depression, and confusion and sedation.
Non-pharmacological interventions include cognitive-behavioral measures such as distraction, imagery, relaxation techniques, hypnosis, and acupuncture. The use of essential oils to help relax the patient is also an alternative in pain management.
Patients must be advised to consult their primary care providers to determine what works best for them.