want some feed-back on this since I know there are cancer survivors on here and others that have lost loved ones to cancer. What is your opinion on legalizing this drug and have you used it, FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES. When Lewis was so ill and had absolutely no appetite, we were told by some friends that marijuana would help him. We asked the oncologist about it and he said research was being done and he could give us a prescription for it, but that no pharmacist would fill it. There were members of our family that knew known users and they acquired some for Lewis and he did try it, it a pipe, cause he was too weak to roll it and I didn't know how. In his case it did nothing, matter of fact he was too weak to keep it lit and wondered at the time what so many seen in it. There is a lot of talk on the TV right now and just wondered what other people's opinions are on the subject.
If there is any merit to this claim, why hasn't it been developed by the drug companies into controlled medicines? If there were something available by prescription that would work on pain without side effects and not addictive, I would be the first to support it. As it is I take a prescription addictive pain medication. I am careful about taking it and my doctor says at the rate I am going I will never be addicted. But there is still that possibility. I don't think I will become addicted to the medication as quickly as I could become addicted to being without pain for several hours. Just the thought of being able to move without pain makes me want to go take one right now. I will wait until this afternoon so that I can have that feeling better time up to bedtime.
my understanding is, and correct me if I'm hearing it wrong, that marijuana is to be used as an appetite enhancer, not a pain killer. I don't ever think I've seen an over-weight drug user, come to think of it. Of course guess there is no way of knowing who uses marijuana and who doesn't unless it's by personal knowledge. Just wondering if anyone has used it for an appetite enhancer for medical reasons and if it worked. As I stated it did not in Lewis' case. It is legalized in several states, according to news reports and now they are trying to legalize it in Kansas. If it does have merit, how will they control it's use on the streets?
While Jim was on chemo, he had no appetite at all. Things went so fast from there that we didn't have time to try anything. I thought that when he finished the chemo that his appetite would come back. He didn't finish the chemo.
Florene, I have read articles and had others claim that marijuana reduces the nausea for Chemo patients, if that is the case then I think it should be available by prescription just as any other narcotic or drug that is helpful. It seems to me that it would be controlled much the same as other pain killers, if you have it in your possession then you have to have it in the container that shows it was prescribed to the person that has it in possession. I watched my brother suffer with chemo and if I had known then that Marijuana might haqve helped I would have found some place to buy it.
Frank
I have heard many people say that marijuana is not habit forming. Whether it is or not, I don't know. Have no personal experience in that field ::) :angel: but do know that a lot of pain killers are very addictive so if that is true, then marijuana would be the pain killer of choice I would think. Don't they now have some sort of pill that they give chemo patients that helps with the nausea? Lewis, as I have stated before, was not a candidate for any kind of treatment so have no experience in that field either.
Yes, there were some pills that were to be taken while on chemo. Jim didn't seem to have much nausea, just no appetite and no desire for much of anything. He didn't even lose much hair. What did happen was that the chemo shut down his kidneys. Because of this and some other problems caused by the chemo, the girls and I decided to stop the chemo. The dialysis only helped for a little while. Old melanoma got him.
Compazine is sometimes given for nausea associated with chemo.
Personally, I would like to see all personality altering substances abolished for good. And that includes my late father-in-law's one time profession. But then without illegal substances to sell what would the criminals turn to for income and recreation. More rape and murder?
From personal experience with people that smoked marijuana, it is a personality altering substance. It might not alter the personality to a more disagreeable or dangerous place as some other drugs can but it does happen. And as far as being addictive, even this Forum is addictive, but then the Forum isn't illegal. Maybe it does have some medicinal value, but there surely are legal medications that can do the same thing. If marijuana is such a great thing for doing what some people claim, why haven't the drug companies jumped on it?
I was going to stay out of the marijuana topic, but maybe I can answer a few questions. Marijuana is a very complicated thing, medically speaking. In many people it does stimulate appetite, in some it does help nausea. It absolutely does help lower intraocular pressure in the eyes of glaucoma patients. Because it has not been regulated, street "weed" is very inconsistent in it's strength. What could be helpful in one person could be an overdose in another. It is commonly not pure, and can be contaminated by bacteria, heavy metals and other bad stuff. Doctors insist they can perscribe other legal drugs that can do all the things marijuana can do. It can cause lung cancer just like tobacco can. Marijuana is not physically addicting like heroin. The psychoactive ingredient, THC, can be a mild painkiller, and causes euphoria, but commonly causes short term memory loss and can cause squamous cell carcinomas. On the street it is called a "gateway drug", because it can keep very bad company. Often, young people are introduced to marijuana first and then led down the path to more dangerous and seductive drugs. If a person is suffering from cancer effects, anguishing family members want to try anything that might improve quality of life. Who cares if the person becomes addicted to a painkiller? Research goes on, but at this point I doubt it will become legal in most states, wth the possible exception of glaucoma patients.
Diane, thank you for getting into this discussion. You have given a view of the professional (semi anyhow) view on the subject. I know so little about "street" drugs (sheltered life in a small town) and since there is so much discussion on the tv about trying to legalize it in Kansas, I was just curious since the subject was brought up during Lewis' illness. I want to know if anyone had tried it for MEDICAL reasons, if it worked, and also peoples thinking about whether it should be legalized for MEDICAL purposes. I can't help but think that the "side" effects from prolonged use would out-weigh the benefits. Maybe I'm wrong and maybe I'm just being old fashioned.
I can tell you that the side effects can sometimes negate the benefits. I had my first shot for bursitis a couple of months ago or maybe longer. I don't remember what the shot was, but I think it was one of those things that athletes use. My shoulder stopped hurting but the following week I was not my sweet, soft spoken, easy to get along with self. Now anybody that knows me knows that I am just a nice person that never says a harsh word to anybody. But that following week I got bitchy, critical, hard to get along with and in a very foul mood. I didn't even like myself. It wore off. I don't know if I want to go through that again to ease the pain in a joint. I guess I could stay out of the joint, couldn't I, Diane?
You were probably given a steroid, but sometimes old fashioned gold salts are given. Was the moon full? ;D
Seriously, if you really think the drug caused the mood swing, please tell your doctor. He (she?) may be able to explain it or give you something else. If you suddenly grow hair on your chest, it was too strong! ;D ;D
Wilma, please note I didn't jump on that "joint" potential...I am trying to behave.
More on the marijuana subject. The docs I knew that had been involved in clinical studies were very reluctant to talk about it because of the medical politics involved. The people I know who might have used it sure didn't talk about it. We had "made arrangements,'' shall we say, when my mother in law was very ill, but we had a good doctor who went right to morphine. My mom's doc was the same way. With no pain the appetite was better too. Some docs really don't do good pain management for fear of creating an addict or reducing respiratory rates too low. It can be safely managed if they just would work at it a little.
There has always been a lot of buzz about marijuana for MS patients, but I think it's probably just buzz. (No pun intended.) I don't know that any of the benefits outweigh the risks, with the possible exception of glaucoma (as Diane said) which seems to me to be a logical "Yes" until and unless they find a more conventional drug that does the same thing. For my own part, I have a hard enough time with side-effects from prescribed medications, and always have, that I never had any desire to try any of the recreational species.
That said, the simple difference between a street drug and a medicinal drug is the doctor's prescription and FDA approval. Neither of those things are a guarantee that 1) the drug is good for what ails you or 2) the drug is safe to take. I am of the opinion that we have become a drugged society, with way too may people taking way to many drugs, socially driven by the big pharmaceutical companies. Prescription drugs are abused with some regularity and societal mores have more to do with what drugs are acceptable than does the FDA. In point of fact, the details of how most of the more popular prescription drugs work are largely unknown.
Drugs are a crap-shoot. I take the bare minimum.
Diane, are you approving my using a controlled substance to treat my arthritis pain? My doctor gives me a new prescription any time I ask for it and says he has no worry about me becoming addicted. It works for me better than any arthritis medication I have tried. I believe that pain creates pain and trying to bear it causes more problems than it prevents.
Of course I'm approving it. Your doctor knows you and if he doesn't think you have an addictive nature, then I don't either. Pain does release chemicals that aren't good for the body. Pain control is very important. When possible, fix the thing that is causing the pain. If that can't be done, then control the pain. There isn't a drug in the world that is really good for you, vitamins and minerals excepted for now. If pain control can give person a more normal and satisfying life, then I'm all for it. Of course there are other things that sometimes help. Electrical stimulation, a nice warm bath and the forum may help too. Or I could hang a lead weight on your ear. That would distract you so much you wouldn't notice anything else...or how about a genuine Teresa massage?
Lewis' oncologist was at KU Med Ctr. in KC - when he decided he wanted to come home and not long after than his surgeon started him on morphine shots. Our daughter, Kelly, the nurse, administered those. Of Course it got to the point that the shots weren't doing their job, so last step is the hospital and constant drip, drug induced coma........
And hopefully a dignified and peaceful end. I'm so sorry. No Hospice?
The one sure thing that I have found will make a broken arm feel better is a broken leg. ;D
And I'm with Diane on pain control. Pain itself is almost certainly worse for you than the drugs they use to keep it down.
A lead weight from the ear? I might try that. How heavy? 5 lbs-10 lbs. How much does it take to take the mind off the arthritis pain?
Really, you have made me feel much better about my choice of treatment. I will continue to do as much as I can and fight the pain with a pain relief that works. Thank you people.
Quote from: Wilma on August 16, 2007, 08:01:07 PM
A lead weight from the ear? I might try that. How heavy? 5 lbs-10 lbs. How much does it take to take the mind off the arthritis pain?
Really, you have made me feel much better about my choice of treatment. I will continue to do as much as I can and fight the pain with a pain relief that works. Thank you people.
Wilma, do you want to borrow a pair of my earrings? ;D
Flo, thanks for the offer, but I don't have pierced ears. A nice pair of screw-ons might work. I could screw them really tight.
I tried the "Wackey Tabackky" a few times when I was younger..
The first time all I did was laugh..then I got the munchies.. then I went to sleep.
Ok .. I thought that wasn't too bad.. so I tried it again.
I laughed ..(constantly at nothing) then I sat and stared at the wall or the tv that had no sound.. (I can't remember).
then I got sick and dizzy and sick and more sick, and threw up and went to sleep.
Hated it.. said I would never smoke it again..
Then someone had muffins made with it.
sooooooooooo.. I was 20 yrs old and dumb..and I tried it again.
Laughed and laughed some more( don't know why it does that to you) and then got soooo nausea's and sick that I wanted to puke.. which I did.. and that was it for me... :P
I hate it!
I can smell the stuff 10 miles away too.
I understand the creating an appetite things.. but to help with nausea.. I don't understand that part.
Lots of people I know that smoked it would get sick afterwards..
Especially women were more prone to getting kinda sick to their stomach...
It wasn't bad weed either... it was fresh , pure and no chemicals added.
I think it is a "mental" habit forming drug. I really don't think the body craves it like cigarettes..but I am sure everyone is different.
I KNOW that it affects your reaction time.. your thinking( you don't think when you use it) and you have no drive or ambition.
It also generally takes away sexual performance.
That is all I know about it.
Do I want it legalized?
No!
Mainly because I don't want to meet someone on the road who is driving and all high and spaced out..( even if they WOULD BE only driving their car 15 miles an hour and thinking that they were going 150.. ) LOL
People have enough legalized vices to have to try to deal with.. legalizing MJ would be "not good".
Medical reasons?
Yeah.. legal or not...... I don't care if it is a pure spoon full of cocaine.. IF it will help someone's pain and the doctors say it will.. then by golly get them some.
Here's what i want to do if I ever get in such pain that I can't stand it. I want morphine. I want morphine. I want morphine. I don't care if I get addicted. I don't want to be in pain.
Do I want marijuana legalized? Only for medical purposes. Many of my inmates have told me they love smoking marijuana. Most of them are in prison for selling drugs. I have asked them if they will stay away from marijuana and 50% say, no. We will probably see them back in prison, but for most of them I have about one year to get them to change their way of thinking.
I don't know if this will help or not, but it may interest some of you.
I wish we could get nitrous oxide passed for the EMTs to use on the ambulance. Some states allow it and it's a real blessing for people in pain.