Cannabis helped me avoid neck surgery
I injured my neck several decades ago in a surfing mishap. 10+ years later I started to lose neck mobility and then developed pain radiating down the left arm along with significant weakness to the point that I lost a significant amount of muscleand could no longer paddle into waves.
Symptoms continued to worsen and pain became severe. I ultimately had an MRI that showed a ruptured disc along with vertebrate degeneration. I saw a good Neurosurgeon and surgery was offered, but would require quite a bit of Rehab and about 3 months without enjoying my very active lifestyle. Yikes!
After some research I decided to give medical cannabis a try. I am cannabis naive so I had to start with low doses of a 1:1 tincture of THC:CBD taken at bedtime along with pure CBD during the day.
After slowly working up to 10 mg each of the 1:1 tincture my pain quickly dropped into the mild range with many days of no neck pain at all! The uncomfortable pins and needles sensation in my left arm has completely gone away and surgery is no longer something I am considering.
It has now been over 2 years since I started this treatment. I am sleeping very restfully and I am getting strength and muscle back in my left arm. I do not feel groggy or “high” during the day. I have actually had no side effects with treatment and was able to quit taking Gabapentin (a nerve pain medication) and anti-inflammatory medication (which have multiple side effects). I don’t have to take anything for pain other than cannabis.
The results from using medical cannabis has far exceeded my expectations and I could not be happier. If someone told me I would do this well after starting medical cannabis, I would never have believed them.
KB
