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   Medical Marijauna safety for pain patients September 1, 2012 at 4:17 am

   I want to share my story here, because I am a pain patient since 1999 after being hit by a large truck owned by a prominent company. My life has not been the same. I live in pain everyday. I am a Licensed Practical Nurse and had had to rely on prescription medications just to get through my daily routine. I was able to decrease my use of pharmacy drugs by adding Marijauna into my med regimen. However in recent years The medical society has abandoned pain patients, as a result of over prescribed phamaceutical drugs which are very addictive, due reliance on the derivative med to get you out of pain. No one who is a lay person knows what goes insides these medications besides opiates. However until Medical Doctors came under scrutiny they would prescribe medications to hundreds of thousands of patients. As it is today the very same physicians has shifted the blame and use of pharmaceutical drug use on it patients to protect their own licenses. Patients who now seek pain relief are being bashed with and labeled as “MED SEEKERS DRUG ADDICTS” anyone who has used Marijauna as an adjunct to decrease their phamaceutical drug use is kicked outside and left to suffer in pain. The point in that leaves hundreds of thousands of patients in pain. The option they have come with is even worst medical care, for instance they are referring these patients to pain clinicians the medications that are being used are not medications that targets pain. They’v decided to use off based medications, such as Anti-depressants, and Anti-convulsants which are for as they sound like the are, these medications are used to treat depression, and seizures. Now I can talk about my personal experience, and I am going to express myself as a Nurse. I was sent to the pain clinic thinking oh okay they are becoming more systematic on dealing with pain, until I experienced the terrible side effects f pain clinic medications. Namely they started me on a anti-depressant called Cymbalta I took what the Dr. prescribed and I was not able to walk. it sedated me for 3 days even after that I had symptoms of a hangover feeling. I went back to the pain clinic. The Medical Doctor then prescribed me a pill named Lyrica which is an anti-convulsant. I took Lyrica and compared to Cymbalta it was better, because it did not make me fallout, but it did make me tired and sleepy, which I was not comfortable with, but the Doctor said drink coffee, so I ended up drinking almost a pot of coffee a day. Not only that my prescription cost me $126.00 a month. I had felt that it helped to decrease my pain until in began to turn into a nightmare, as the months went on the side effect did out weight the benefits. I was told to expect some weight gain, but I had more then just weight gain in fact this weight gain was not just weight gain, it was WATER weight gain. I began to swell up first it was my fingers, and face. The Doctor told me that was normal, so I continued the medication. I noticed as time went on I could not fit into my clothes. I went back to Doctor and every time I made mention of these side effects he stated they were normal expectations, by now my complaint are my feet,legs,hands, and face are swollen. However still the Doctor increased the medication, because it had stopped affecting my pain, and i felt terrible, not just from my pain but from the medication itself. After about 6 months I had gained 40lbs. I continued with the Doctors advise to take Lyrica it was now costing me $176.00 per month. I was taking a bath and I noticed these little sores on my legs, both legs were swollen down throughout my ankles,and feet. But I want to trust my Doctor and as a Nurse take my Doctor’s advice. I continue taking the medication. I went to visit my daughter one day and she said “mom your feet are swollen and puffy” I was wearing a pair of flats. I explained to her it was my medication, and she said “mom you don’t look the same. I think this medication is messing you up”, and for the first time it became my reality that yes it was hurting me more then it was helping me. I began to think like a Nurse at that point, it dawned on me that I was experiencing this weight gain as a result of it interfering with other parts of my body, specifically my heart, and or circulatory system. It had impacted my mindset I was getting slower, and I was not as active as I had been. I did a edema check on my feet by pressing my finger into my skin to see if it left and indentation and it did I had what is called “PITTING EDEMA” meaning that I was having water retention. I had been taking this medication and it was slowly killing me, but my Doctor would not acknowledge these side effect other then expected side effects. I made an educated decision to stop the medication, however the symptoms I was having did not subside for another 3-4 months. Someday’s where better then others my feet would go down, and if i sat for a long period my feet would swell right back up. I would lift my legs up on pillows, and it would get better, but overall it took 3-4 months before my body went out of shock from the Lyrica. I stopped going to the Doctor, and I had to do something for my pain so I began to use marijauna to support my pain which has been helpful, but not fully. Some days are better then others. I report this off to my Primary Care Phycisian, and she took an attitude as if i was “MED SEEKING” not that she said it , but as a Nurse I knew what it was she was doing. She avoided my symptoms and sent me back to the pain clinic. Well it took me awhile to go back, and when I did it was because my pain signals were about and 8, on a scale of 1-10 the pain clinic Doctor tried to prescribe more Lyrica even though i had told him all I had been through. I refused, so he suggested I go back to my Primary Care Physician he said he would suggest I take a couple of Hydrocodone, but said the pain clinic does not write prescriptions for narcotics. he then said he would send my Doctor a note. 2 days later I did go back to my PCP, but this time I decided to arm myself with a tape recorder and boy am I happy I did. I explained to her what the pain clinic said she said she had not received any notes. She then began to tell me I had tested positive for marijauna, and that was her excuse that she could not help me. i began to ask her questions about drug interactions, and she began to get upset. I state as a patient i am asking does marijauna interact with these pain medications? she said she did not know, but then said no they don’t. I said so why are you going to use marijauna as a reason to deny me pain medications, whe you know I am in pain ? She begin to state that the medical board has made changes in how we Doctors treat patients. And then she began to say she did not have the experience to treat chronic pain, she then began to go over my chief complaints list,and come to find out she had missed some of the reasons I had come to her in pain (1) I had been in an accident where i injured my back (2) I had come to her for a chronic neck injury that i had been taking pain medications for life. I told her one of the reason I’d come to you was I had been in an automobile accident that I have an Attorney following. The following excuse was she did not feel COMFORTABLE about prescribing narcotics, and she accused me of threatening her with my Attorney, at which point she said I was pushing her to give me narcotics, that I was “MED SEEKING”. At which point I told her you don’t feel comfortable because you want to protect your own license, so tell me the truth. you are trying t blame me for trying other options to help myself get off narcotics, and decrease my dependency, but yet you claim I am MED SEEKING to protect yourself. I went that far in conversation due I knew I was recording us. She jumped up and said I can’t follow you as your Doctor you you threaten me and then try to push me hard for drugs. She open the door and let me out the exam room, and said she was calling in a prescription for other reason I had come, and states she was writing a script for Naprosyn and I left. She later called me to say what prescriptions she had called in at which point I told her. I had taped our conversation, as I was talking to her she kept saying “WHAT DID YOU SAY WHAT DID YOU SAY” Doctors don’t expect patients to stand up to them they feel they have a magic pen and can say what they want about you, but I stood up for myself, and the reason I had smoked marijauna to help myself. Because they only care about themselves they were willing to hurt me to cover up their mistakes of over medicating patients.

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