Pot May Ease Nerve Pain, Study Shows

New research on "medical marijuana" shows that smoking pot may ease nerve pain at the expense of certain mental skills.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis report that news in the June edition of The Journal of Pain.

They studied 38 adults with nerve pain (neuropathic pain) who had smoked pot in the past but abstained from smoking marijuana for 30 days before the study.

Participants visited the researchers' lab three times, where they smoked a marijuana cigarette made for research purposes, under the National Institute of Drug Abuse's supervision.

During the sessions, which were held at least three days apart, participants either smoked a pot cigarette containing a high dose of THC (marijuana's active ingredient), a lower dose of THC, or no THC.

Participants got specific instructions about when to light up, inhale, and exhale. They were supervised as they smoked and for two hours after that, and then taken home.

Before and after smoking their assigned cigarette, participants rated their pain. Their pain ratings dropped more after smoking the THC cigarettes than the placebo cigarette lacking THC. The higher dose and lower THC doses had comparable effects, which began to wear off an hour or two after they stopped smoking.

But participants had no change in their pain sensitivity to light touch or heat after smoking any of the cigarettes, the study shows.

Participants also took tests of mental skills including memory and coordination before and after each smoking session. Their scores, many of which were low to begin with, showed the steepest decline after smoking the high-dose THC cigarette, followed by the low-dose THC cigarette.

Researcher Barth Wilsey, MD, and colleagues aren't recommending medical marijuana for everyone with nerve pain.

They urge "caution in the prescribing of medical marijuana for neuropathic pain," especially in light of the mental impact, and also in young patients, as pot use in adolescence "increases the risk of later schizophrenia -like psychoses, especially in genetically susceptible individuals."
Pot May Ease Nerve Pain, Study Shows, Patients Report Less Neuropathic Pain After Smoking Marijuana Cigarettes - CBS News

Have a good one!:jointsmile:

is there anything pot doesnt do??? I'm in love with MJ

Lol at 'mental skills'... they should do a study next comparing the relative drop in mental skills from smoking pot as compared to an equally effective painkilling dose of traditionl opiate painkillers. I'll bet it's way worse. Also I'd like to know what exactly the 'mental skills' were that were tested. Did it have to do strictly with memory or with creative problem-solving? Different tasks would definitely produce different results. While stoned, I think a smoker would have an easier time writing an essay than, say, playing 'memory' lol.
We already knew that it was effective against degenerative nerve diseases triggered by illness (MS) or injury (Phantom pains).

I can speak from experience .
A heavy Indica does more for me than 3200 mg of Neurotin per day .
Crispi :stoned:

Wow Crispi thats huge nuerotin .
I lost my right leg and was on about a 150mg..complete brain separation and it made me aggressive.
So Indica is the way to fly for Phantom pains??


My heart goes out to you ....the pain you gone through very few people know..
hang in their brother.

WFO

I can't even begin to think about how many different pills I'd have to take if I didn't smoke. Its absurd that some doctors would rather prescribe me an opiate, anti-inflamitory, anti-epileptic, antiemetic, sleeping pill, mood stabilizer, anti-depressant, and anti-anxiety than just recomend that I smoke weed.

I was on the max daily amount of Neurotin and it did nothing. Felt like a placebo to me. But with current meds, 3 narks im on gives me a 5 to 7 on the pain scale. But im a 30 year smoker, who realized after a spinal cord injury in 85 that MJ helps. Now at night i use MMJ and my rating on the scale goes to a 1 or 2 and sometimes just goes away for the night. This lets me sleep at least 7 to 8 hours each night.


:rasta: