Quote Originally Posted by feefigreenthumb
Anyone else notice that the early harvest stuff can exacerbate arthritic pain? I have intermittent pains from some hairline fractures and arthritic pain throughout my body. Please excuse the ignorance on the exact medical descriptions here, but my observations are valid. I've had strains like Jilly Bean and an early harvest Sweet Tooth that brings out the pain in the joints of my hands on days when they are not hurting. True Blue, or DJ's Blueberry and anything displaying the qualities of Afghan genetics seems to always kill the pain when at least mostly cloudy. This includes the usual joint pains from repetitive motion and those occasional 'knots' in the neck and shoulder area. In addition, after sitting at a computer for an extended period of time, my neck and back tense or lock up. The True Blue especially causes this effect that feels like the loosening of a knot of muscles, restoring freedom of movement and washing away the pain. However, when taking the True Blue super early, say 30-50% cloudy trichomes, the relief/kick is just not there.

I have noticed the pain relief qualities seem to go hand in hand with what I'm told are Indicas and especially strains of Afghan heritage. In addition, they seem to accompany the calming effects, while the Sativa dominant strains can stress me out, give me a headache, make me excitable, paranoid or just plain annoying. I have an OG Kush cutting, supposedly one of a few Sativa dom Kushes (leaves agree). At 30-50% cloudy, it's a range between 'a little harsh' to 'mildly stoned'. Fully cloudy is 'very stoned', I couldn't say actual pain relief, but you're too involved in what you're doing to care too much. Maybe I can tell you how amber is on that one, one day...

Worth mentioning is that some of the best pain relief I have received is from tiny Afghan buds with lots of thick stems (Denver MMCs: Afghooey, Afghan, Afghanica). Not visually appealing (equals cheaper), but excellent pain relief.
I had the same issue a number of years ago after a broken leg. I couldn't smoke early to mid mature herb for 2 months, it increased the pain quite a bit. Back then I didn't know and just assumed(probably correctly)that it increased my sense of touch. It certainly lies true for hearing. Years later my Uncle was terminally ill and tired of codeine etc. I gave him some late harvest, and he reported it worked well for pain relief.