A little backstory, and then my question:
I live in Colorado. In early 2000 I started getting a chronic pain in my head. It got worse and more frequent until it was there almost all the time. I spent the next few years going to different specialists. I had X-rays and CAT scans that didn't show a definite cause. I had sinus surgery because the doctor thought perhaps my nasal passages were too small. I had my wisdom teeth removed because the dentist said those could be causing it. Prescription pain meds were largely ineffective, and had nasty side effects.
I got divorced in 2003 and lost the health insurance I had through my wife (I'm self employed). I simply couldn't afford to keep going to doctors all the time, especially when they didn't seem to be helping, so I gritted my teeth and tried to get through it the best I could, hoping it would get better in time. It didn't, and 6 years later I'm still dealing with it every day. I have bouts of deep depression from having to live like this.
Last weekend someone told me that medical marijuana should almost definitely help me. I'd heard about medical marijuana, but I was under the mistaken impression that you had to be terminally ill (cancer or aids) in order to get any. I started doing research on it, and now I'm starting to have hope that my life can be good again. I have a couple of questions before I get my hopes up too high, though.
1. I've never taken an illegal drug in my life, so I can't truthfully tell a doctor "I've tried marijuana and it's the only thing that works for me." Is that going to hurt my ability to get a recommendation?
2. My medical records will definitely show that I've been to a doctor for this chronic pain on numerous occasions, BUT, like I said, my medical records stop in 2003. Could I be denied a recommendation because my records aren't recent enough?
