Medicinal cannabis

[Scarlett]

I was reading about the medicinal cannabis which is now available to those with MS- as a spray under the tongue, it helps with pain without getting you high or having to smoke. I have had no luck with any pain relief for my arthritis (can't take anti inflams cos of colitis and triptylines make me feel drunk and woozy- can't possibly teach kids like that). How can I get to try this version of medicial cannabis? Is there anywhere I can buy it online?
Thanks !

[bednobs]

you'd be surprised at the costs of other medication probably!
i think the problem is that there are much cheaper, clinically proven pain killers for arthritis pain. Have you tried morphine? or buprenorphine patches? both of those worked really well for my arthritis pain

[Scarlett]

No Bednobs, that sounds interesting. Did you get any side effects? I've only been given co-codamol/amitriptyline- no effect and too much effect!

[jno]

sounds like there are still other (legal) avenues your doctor can try, Scarlett - good luck

[Eve]

Have you seen a rhumatologist to help with the arthritis, from what I remember it's tied to your ulcerative colitis? They may be able to help with other drugs and treatment?

[Scarlett]

Hi Jenna, yes but the rheumatologist was really horrible! He said that the blood test didn't show that my problems were rheumatoid, and suggested that it was Fibromyalgia, and discharged me. But I know that my joint pain i linked with colitis (flare -ups etc) and my joints are deteriorating more as time goes on. The fact that I have pain in my elbow and wrists too shows it is a general joint inflanmmation. MRI shows inflammation in both ankles and arthritis in both knees.

[bednobs]

i din't have any side effects with either - i had mst (slow release morphine tablets) when codiene wasn't strong enough. then i moved onto the patches cause it suited my lifestyle better (with the mst i had to take them 12 hrs apart to get even coverage, but often up for 2 8 o clocks or 2 10 oclocks in a day. the patches evened things out

[Wordist]

You could ask your GP to refer you to a pain clinic, where you will learn what is available and suitable for your problem.

[bednobs]

fibro pain is really hard to shift

[Eve]

I thought the arthritis linked to IBD was seronegative though rather than showing up for RA. My rhumo referred me to gastro when I first went as they thought there might be a connection with me and they have been checking for Crohns etc...

If it is fibro then yes the pain is hard to shift. I have it, they have down as secondary to the arthritis. I have codydramol for pain generally (would struggle to sleep without it a lot) and they referred me to physio who are doing a course of accupuncture. I'm 3 sessions in and feel so much more relaxed afterwards and it seems some of the muscle pain is easier and doesn't take so long to get back to not quite so agonising (if that makes sense?) which is good.

I found amitriptilyne hard - would struggle to get up and going in the mornings (and I'm an early bird work wise) and ended up sleeping through my alarm and such.

They suggested putting me back on something for the fibro like that but because I have dry eye and mouth problems they said no amitriptilyne again as it would make that worse. They suggested fluoxetine but that made me feel really sick previously so they said citalopram was ok, same kind of drug and effect. I'd been on it before and got on great with it so back on that now. Yes, it is used as an antidepressant (as are the others I've mentioned) but the idea was to help with getting better sleep while sleeping (more restful) which can be an issue with fibro (I know I can sleep and sleep and sleep and still feel utterly exhausted) and I guess it helps you not care about the pain as much.

[Scarlett]

Hi Jenna, that's interesting what you say about the arthritis linked to IBD was seronegative though rather than showing up for RA. I don't know what this means- does it mean that my problem is not likely to show up in a blood test? Is it osteoarthritis rather than the inflammatory type, if linked to ulcerative colitis? Hope you see this!