Comment by munk-a | Hacker News Reader

Comment by munk-a | Hacker News Reader

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As someone married to someone with chronic pain... Opioid pain killers tend to be ineffective anyways - they will provide a window of pain killing that is longer than other substances (when taken within safe limits) on the order of months but their efficacy is not unlimited and even being willing to heavily addict yourself to Oxy is likely going to cease helping your pain after half a year. This is part of the cause of this epidemic, people were _entirely falsely_ prescribed an ineffective medication that has heavy side effects.

My spouse managed to get a medical supply of mj and that has helped her get back into life, given her pain source is from arthritis and a few other issues it'll probably never be a thing she'll be without but the few studies out there on mj have a positive view of long term pain treatment on it.

Chronic pain is a very serious condition that can ruin lives, it is extremely disgusting to see what has happened with Oxy and heavier penalties are needed.

> This is part of the cause of this epidemic, people were _entirely falsely_ prescribed an ineffective medication that has heavy side effects.

It really depends. Opiates work for some people, with some conditions. People should have the choice, just like with MJ. For me, one opiate worked, and another didn't (and made things worse. it was Oxycontin, incidentally, haven't taken it in many years).

Also, people with chronic pain take opiate breaks for the reasons of tolerance you describe.

And yes, I've heard MJ works for many people (I've never tried it for my conditions, since it's still not legal where I live. Also, I tried it a couple of times in college and hated how it made me feel, no way I could work on MJ). But I'm very happy it works for your spouse and that she's able to obtain it. Chronic pain is brutal. If MJ is ever legalized where I live I might try it just to see if it works.

There are many varieties of cannabis. Having a bad experience with one is not a reason to eschew in favor of opiates. you didn't eschew opiates because you had one bad variety.

No way I could work without.

If mj is legalized I'd suggest you give it another go, the strains you'd smoke to get high cause my wife's pain to heighten while as more cbd heavy strains help reduce it from her life - it's not critical to avoid thc entirely (and it may help the cbd act - research isn't in here but pure cbd oil products are less effective than a mix for a lot of people).

And yea, Canada is nice like that.

> It really depends.

In the past, throwing opioids at chronic pain patients and calling it a day was par for the course.

Now, there's a level of awareness that not only are opioids not very good for managing chronic pain all of the time, they can even make pain sensitivity worse in the long-run.

Criminalizing pain patients is disgusting, but I'm hoping we can reach an equilibrium where those who have chronic pain are able to seek adequate treatment and opioids aren't the first line of treatment or overprescribed.

As someone with family members suffering from chronic pain, I know several people who have switched to MMJ or CBD supplements with great success. One of them took pain killers for decades and hasn't needed them in years because of CBD.

CBD won't affect you cognitively, if you have the time, money and your doctor thinks it's a good idea, it wouldn't hurt to give it a go.

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