Cannabis for Chronic Pain by Rav Ivker

Author:Rav Ivker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Touchstone

Patient Stories—Migraine

Jason P. is a forty-two-year-old IT manager who has been getting migraines since the age of five. Prior to moving to Colorado, he lived in Texas where he was prescribed a number of medications (including Imitrex), none of which was effective. Over-the-counter ibuprofen worked best but still didn’t prevent him from being temporarily incapacitated while he was working. He’d have to turn off the lights in his office and lie down on the floor for an hour or more before resuming work in a somewhat compromised state, still dealing with the headache.

I first saw him shortly after he moved to Colorado, and I recommended MMJ. At that time the migraines were occurring at least once a week, always triggered by stress. He did not have auras; his first warning of an impending migraine was a tension headache that usually began in the back of his neck at the base of his skull. I instructed him to vaporize a sativa as soon as possible after the tension headache began, and this proved highly effective for preventing the onset of the migraine.

I recently saw Jason for his fourth annual renewal of his MMJ license. The migraines are no longer a significant problem for him. They occur approximately once a month, but are never incapacitating. He’s able to prevent them by vaporizing a sativa, usually Durban Poison (a 70:30/S:I strain), as soon as he feels the headache starting.

On this last office visit, Jason mentioned a significant change he’s made. He now vaporizes an indica on a daily basis after work. This not only helps him relax, but also the mild psychoactive effect has given him more clarity on how self-critical he is (he was raised by a highly critical mother), and “it helps me to not be so hard on myself.” He frequently repeats (to himself) the affirmation I’m always doing the best I can, and overall he believes this is helping him also to be a better and more forgiving parent for his three young children.

• • •

Debbie P. is a thirty-three-year-old chemist working for a pharmaceutical company and is currently engaged in developing an anticancer drug. She’s been plagued with migraine headaches since age fifteen, and until she began using MMJ, about four years ago, she’d been taking Imitrex (Sumatriptan) to relieve the migraines.

At that time, her headaches occurred two to three times a week, usually late afternoon, toward the end of her workday, and almost never on the weekends. They were incapacitating. She would have to leave work immediately and take an Imitrex. The drug made her too drowsy and the pain was too debilitating to continue working.

After her first visit in 2012, I suggested Debbie take Butterbur Extra on a daily basis, which she did for about six months. This reduced both the frequency and intensity of the headaches. At the same time I also recommended that she repeat the affirmation I’m always doing the best I can, whenever she heard her inner critic questioning a decision or telling her she’d made a mistake.

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