Cannabis and Fibromyalgia/Chronic pain

[sceadufaux]

I have had fibromyalgia for well over 4 years now, toke up once every month or so, and it works wonders compared to Rx drugs for pain... And it kills me every time I hear my parents put cannabis in a bad light. They're not bad people, but I don't think they could handle knowing their daughter smoked the herb. I'm 18, and in my second year of college, great grades, don't smoke cigarettes or drink that much alcohol, but I think my dad might know.

I want to ask what my doc thinks about it (she's the holistic type, and VERY SMART) but what of she says it's bad? I know she can't legally tell me mom, and I wouldn't know how to bring it up...

[mrdevious]

Interesting, you're in the same boat I am (almost). I've had chronic neurological pain through my back, neck, arms, and legs for over 4 years as well. I'd just like to advise you not to make the same mistake I did. that being, I started smoking every day for the pain relief, and after a while it stoppped working, then eventaully started increasing the pain quite significantly and I had to stop. I went off for 6 weeks and it didn't change a thing. So just to let you know, don't depent on it as a regular medication, or you may lose its benefits for good.

On another note, I've discovered that the pain is largely due to emotional state. I don't mean as in "it's all in your head", I mean if something even slightly irritates me I'll suddenly get horrible pains somewhere or other in my body. I've recently learned, after quitting weed, that pain can be supressed through mental effort. When I feel myself getting stressed even in the slightest, I bring my mind back to a state that I achieve (more in-depth) during meditation, which immediately stops the pain from increasing and actaully decreases it if it hasn't become to bad at the moment. I advise you to learn meditation, and once you have mastered it after a long time of practice, learn to bring your mind back to this state when needed. A usefull step in training your mind in doing this is to learn awareness. For example, when walking down the street focus all your awareness on your surroundings to the point where you percieve everything, and have no attention on your self whatsoever. This won't bring about the meditative state, but it will help train your brain to achieve it easier. The state itself is something you can only understand through meditative experience. Also, try to breath much deaper and slower whenever you can, it's very soothing to the nervous system.

Best of luck to you friend.