My experience of Cannabis on Nerve pain / Neuropathic pain

[Jamie01]

We have private dispensaries here also. It’s still hard to know who you are supporting g etc. It’s like anything else I guess. I recently learned who owns one of the real big above board cubensis grow ops here. Huge operation and I was disgusted with the ownership. Terrible rich business family hated here by most with no prior connection to any of this. Welcome to business.

I digress. I’m ranting now about nothing and derailing this thread.

 

[TransistorBass]

Yes, somehow it tightens the gut, and one needs to be aware of it. Having a balanced diet with enough fiber makes bowel movements easier. I feel the best right after rue cleanses everything from the intestines or when fasting. It's related for sure.

One needs to find the right movements. Like the usual sun salutations tend to flare up the issues for me. I tried to push through a few times and needed to take a break from all exercises for a while after. Even biking was a chore until I adjusted the saddle angle to fit my body.

No issue with actual bowel movement, I’m happy to talk about quite a lot of stuff in public but I’m going to stop here in this case.

My Yoga is always pain free which is kinda frustrating when a lovely session can cause me issues 24-48 hours later.
Exact same time period for when I’ve had a heavy day at work (most days involve very heavy things) lifting and moving between 20-50kg from floor to shoulder height. Can sometimes move a few thousand KG in a day by hand.

 

[Jamie01]

Well I took 200mg of gabapentin last night and it didn’t help much. Same as last time I tried it I just felt weird and dizzy and woke up with a headache.

So I let it run out of my system and today tried backing off my celebrex dose down to normal since this is not related to the AS..stopped Tylenol and tried a pinch of ketamine(maybe 15mg) nasally with a whack of CBD vaped and oral. That has honestly been the most relief and I could lay there feeling really nice and happy and listen to kirtan in a sunny window, and even walk around much better.

 

[Voidmatrix]

god damn L-5

Do you get the electrocution zapping down your leg into the foot as well Void? It goes crazy at night to the point where I feel like a truck has crushed my foot or something.

No, I don't get nerve pain like that. It feels like there's so much tension that it's imploding on itself. I do get pain down the leg, but it's not a normal nerve pain.

One love

 

[Jamie01]

I’m still having entirely sleepless nights where the pain seems to increase to the point where I’m just in agony for hours…then in the morning it subsided enough so I can feel relaxed in certain positions.

I can move and walk around more now in the day but only very short bursts.

It has been 21 days now and the nerve psin at least seems to have moved back up to mostly above the knee with less often zaps down into the foot. Now though my right SI joint up into my lower back just aches and aches. The pain is less intense, less electric nerve pinching and more aching. Is that normal? I’m so tired of Google and I don’t feel I’ve gotten enough medical care. I don’t have a family doctor so that’s why. My rheumatologist referred me elsewhere since it’s mechanical but it’s going to take weeks to see anyone else who will do more than just give me gabapentin.

Is it normal for the back and hip to just ache relentlessly even after this long as the nerve pain recedes? Internet says at like 2 weeks I should start going on walks etc…that’s not happening for me at week 3 even and my rheumatologist says don’t do physio until week 6. I’m not asking for medical advice just like how long this took in reality for other people to feel okay enough to like… even wash a dish?

 

[TransistorBass]

Not that what I'm going to write is medical advice but what worked for me when all down my right leg felt so bad during sciatica was.....

Pain was, Hip, Back, Down leg and into my Groin.

If it's spasms and shooting pain down the leg, as with sciatica, the main thing was getting Diazepam from the Doctor, this relaxes muscles and stops / limits the spasms, this needs to be taken with other pain killers to ease the pain. The Diazepam allows your body to relax and you can start to slowly introduce some back stretches (basically very simple Yoga all done on the floor).

Don't push anything to far, it can take a couple of weeks for things to settle, but keep moving. And I find when getting out of bed if I do some high knee lifts straight after getting out of bed it helps ease me into moving and getting dressed.

As I say, this is what works for me, and the biggest take-away is KEEP MOVING.

I can tell you the exact moves I use each night before bed if you wish?

 

[Jamie01]

Yes please Transistor any advice on how to make this more comfortable is appreciated

 

[Jamie01]

I actually have a few mg of Xanax I keep around for anxiety but don’t use, and thought about trying it since gabapentin seems to do absolutely nothing. Diazepam would be ideal but it’s really hard here to get even a few days prescribed. They seem to throw gabapentin at everything. I asked for a muscle relaxant and they said “oh no that won’t help for nerve pain”…

 

[TransistorBass]

the last time I had a flare up I had a couple of Tablets in the cupboard from 3 years ago, I told the doc this and said I need some more and they prescribed (UK), but as you say they are very reluctant to prescribe these things. Truth is I usually only need to take 5mg a couple of times a day for a couple of days and it lets things calm down and I can get moving again.

What I do religiously, every night before bed is:

Do at least 3 slow breaths in each position apart from the Windscreen wiper.

Lay flat on back on floor, bring knees to chest and allow the back to relax, maybe rock side to side to massage out the lower back.

From this tucked position extend one leg out straight and keep the other leg held tucked, swap to other leg.

Bring knees together so your heels are by your butt cheeks, windscreen-wiper the legs to the left then to the right with a held breath at each side, releasing the breath when the knees are vertical before going the other way.

Reclined Pigeon, bring your knees together and cross 1 foot over 1 knee, grasp around the back of the upright leg and gently stretch keeping your shoulders relaxed and as flat to the floor as possible, swap and do other leg.

Mini Cobra pose / Sphinx Pose, laying flat on stomach, elbows kinda under shoulders and push up so you look like the Sphinx, go easy on this one as it could be easy to nip something so trust your body and only go to what feels comfortable for you.

Wide legged child’s pose, think of looking like a frog, harder to describe this one I might have to look for a picture. Keep neck and spine inline, wiggle side to side gently to ease into it.

Cat-Cow, on all fours, hands under shoulders and knees under hips, drop the belly and look up, switch round and pull the belly in and arch the back upwards and gaze between your knees.

Always listen to your body, if anything nips or hurts ease back, and remember these things aren’t instant fixes they are things to add into your daily routine.
I’ll happily admit that if I wasn’t doing these things every day I think I would be in a pretty bad situation.

 

[TransistorBass]

Once you are starting to ease off later on.

There may be a reason to slowly strengthen your core and muscles that support your hips.
Things like; Planking, Side Planks (doing each side), Single Leg Bridge Pose (doing both legs).
When first starting these don’t be surprised if you can’t hold the positions very long, but you will soon get better.