Chronic pain patients: how do your manage breakthrough pain?

[ChippyMalone]

Last night, I was desperate. Nothing was helping, so at 8:00 I got a ride to the dispensary to see if they could do anything to help me get through the night without suffering any more.

The high cbd topical samples they gave me might have actually helped. I ate an entire indica Cheeba Chew (I normally use 1/4 for sleep if I think that I might have a rough night) and ended up sleeping better than I had in a week or so.

But the real reason I'm posting is that I had a happy accident that resulted in a great way to prepare my supercritical CO2 oil for vaping when I am having the worst breakthrough pain and can't handle any lengthy ritual. I was squirting a dose from a one gram syringe that had about 0.25 grams remaining. I was in a hurry and did not warm the oil up in my hands or place it on a warm spot like the heater vent. So when it finally came out, ALL OF IT SPLURTED out onto the tiny bit of cotton I had placed in the E-nano GonG.

Not knowing what to do, I shoved more cotton in there to absorb the giant oily puddle. Further cleanup of the GonG resulted in producing about a half a cotton ball completely saturated with the oil. I placed this into a little tiny glass jar that kief is sold in, and now I have a perfect 2:1 ration CBD:THC pre-oiled cotton ready to go. I'm definitely going to prepare quarter grams like this from now on instead of monkeying around trying to squirt out a rice sized grain of thick oil each time I need to use it.

 

[CarolKing]

I bought some Rick Simpson Oil at the dispensary. I hide a tiny bit in food a couple hours before bed. It's been helping at night when it's hard to sleep from the pain and anxiety. I would imagine it should last a couple weeks. It cost $40. Cheaper than trying to make it.

 

[ChippyMalone]

I bought some Rick Simpson Oil at the dispensary. I hide a tiny bit in food a couple hours before bed. It's been helping at night when it's hard to sleep from the pain and anxiety. I would imagine it should last a couple weeks. It cost $40. Cheaper than trying to make it.

i really like the effect of a high CBD RSO I was given a 0.3 gram sample of a couple weeks ago. I haven't been back to the place where it is made and tested, but I didn't like the horrible residual solvent taste that definitely was not ethanol.

Im liking the CO2 oil because enough of it is activated that it can be eaten straight and is great for vaping, but I can admit that the RSO does something special that nothing else does.

 

[sickmanfraud]

for breakthrough pain I use my vape.

Usually I try to just use tinctures / edibles (all made by me), but when I am in pain and waiting for the "brownie" to work I vape.

Has anyone here tried the cannabis paste folks are talking about?

I would not buy any paste, but may make it.

 

[ChippyMalone]

Just returned from my friendly local collective garden where I picked up a half gram syringe of special ordered high CBD supercritical CO2 extracted oil. Made from a sativa dominant "Harlequin" strain: 28% THC, 43% CBD, 2% CBG. I feel quite special, because I understand that this batch was specifically made for myself and a few other patients who were in critical need of some special formulated stuff that can't just be had anywhere, even in Western Washington. It was worth the two week wait, as I just finished a nice cotton ball full of it and am going to go take a nap and wait for my sweet wife to come home to me.

 

[sickmanfraud]

I would like to update my answer. In the brief time since I replied I made some new tinctures with coconut oil.

These tinctures work so fast that a sub lingual dose starts to work faster than the vape can warm up.

 

[ChippyMalone]

I would like to update my answer. In the brief time since I replied I made some new tinctures with coconut oil.

These tinctures work so fast that a sub lingual dose starts to work faster than the vape can warm up.

I would be very interested to hear more about your tincture process, just in case you are doing something I don't know about.

I have been experimenting with allowing a caramel to slowly dissolve under my tongue rather than eating it. Pain the last couple weeks has made it to difficult to tell which thing I'm using is helping the most, but I do think that I get more relief from holding the candy in my mouth for as long as I can handle it.

 

[CarolKing]

I think many of us combine our flowers along with some wax or shatter in our vaporizers such as the Enano or the Solo. Often we make a sandwich of herb and wax, the wax in the middle and the flowers on the outside. The flower is usually done before the wax. I just add more flower. I mainly use wax late at night before bed and not every night, only when I feel I need a higher dose of meds. I will use a bubbler as well then I can hit some higher temps.

Mod post: Edited to remove response to manufacturer whose post has been deleted.

 

[hibeam]

I am on the other side of pain hell these days but I am still prone to terrible spasm that goes from the arch of my foot all the way up my leg into my hip. I abort these spasms with magnesium chloride spray known as magnesium oil. I cannot use epsom salt because I have a severe sensitivity to sulfur. When my neck and shoulders are in a bad way I get them massaged with magnesium oil, very generous amounts. This shit can itch like crazy, but a warm wet washrag is the remedy before finally hitting the shower or tub.

edit: Magnesium oil topically is great for anxiety before bedtime. A few squirts in a glass of water is a gentle laxative unlike epsom salt.

 

[ChippyMalone]

I've started today needing a higher dosage, but concentrates are harder to find in Washington due to new laws, and I'm also a cheapskate not willing to pay. But locally grown legal medical trim is abundant right now that all the legal outdoor medical growers have just harvested for the year.
I am boosting my dose by freezing a kief sifting grinder with a gram or so of sugar leaf trim for a couple hours before grinding and shaking with a coin on the screen. This yields enough for a couple big beta Zion or Vapman or E-Nano loads. I'm discarding the ground flower remains into a bin for later cooking. Now I can get a large enough dose quick enough when I need it.

I really like being able to make a quick concentrate that works in all my flower units with a simple mechanical separation method. It has a bit more green bits and orange pistils than a really clean professional kief might (maybe 10%), but that only serves to lighten the load and allow better air flow through during vaporization.

 

[Monsoon]

I tried some cannabis lotion for my muscle pain recently and found it to help quite a bit. I was skeptical but I really noticed a difference especially for acute pain. Only problem is that currently my only source for it charges over $100 for 8oz which I think is ridiculous so I decided to take a crack at making it myself. I just finished my first successful batch of it and it came out really well. Unlike the beeswax salves or ointments, this is just like regular hand lotion and and be rubbed in without having to wipe/wash off after. I used lavender and vanilla in it too so it doesn't even smell like weed at all. Total cost per 8oz bottle is around $2-5 plus the cost of however much weed/hash you put it it so you can make it according to your budget and needs.

I'm starting a new thread for the process within a couple days and will have it linked in my signature.

 

[Jaindoh]

Look into biofeedback and/or CBMT. Mind over matter, it's important.

 

[Quetzalcoatl]

Have you considered making rosin? It's pretty simple to do and the end-result is solventless hash oil that you can dab.

http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/rosin-technique-easy-diy-solventless.17470/

So much easier to make compared to BHO and with none of the dangers of solvents. I find that large dabs of CBD oil help me the most which makes sense because you can inhale a lot more cannabinoids at once compared to any other way. Sometimes I take my pain medication and have some other stuff like lidocaine patches that help but pills take ~30 minutes and patches ~2 hours before anything starts to happen.

 

[ChippyMalone]

@Quetzalcoatl I am interested in rosinrosin,

 

[hibeam]

My pain might be directly due to inflammation, but what triggers the inflammation? Excess muscle tension responds well to long hot showers or baths. Excess histamine responds well to diphenhydramine. I am curious what people here know about histamine and mmj. I do not like pharma lab synth compounds, but Benadryl type meds seem safe for frequent long term use. Enlighten please?

 

[suzanne72]

Hi, coping with pain.... It is a very difficult thing, but at the same time very simple.. I have tried all medication available, including oxycodon and the pain plasters... Nothing had the effect I hoped for... Partly because oxycodon relieved the pain, only I was not able to do anything else than staying home... I felt no pain but threw up the whole time and couldn't concentrate anymore...
I found one thing very helpful.... Mindfulness meditation... It really helped a lot. Pain is pain and you can take a pil for that... But the thoughts about the pain give me the suffering... What if I cannot see my children growing up, what if my children have the same disease etc. That is the suffering!
Nowadays I meditate and when the pain is worse I use the pain as object for meditation... In the US you have the founder of the mindfulness, Jon Kabat Zinn, he and his institute are the best in coping with severe pain! Yes , I still use medication, but mostly cannabis... And cannabis helps me to get space between me and the pain... It softens it a bit , just enough to see true the pain and do the things I want to do....
And meditating with cannabis is also nice... It calms a bit more than without, only you probably will have less concentration...

 

[Spocks_Katra]

I have a rare genetic disorder that attacks my organs due to my body's inability to metabolize a certain cellular compound. One of the symptoms of this disease is excruciating and chronic nerve pain that spreads through my appendages and sometimes runs into my hips. Ive found the only way to even somewhat manage a flare up is with high temp vaping or using concentrates. If anyone has specific temps they've used and had success with pain relief, I am very interested to hear

 

[mikek9]

Do any of you guys who use cannabis for chronic pain also use opioid/narcotic painkillers to manage breakthrough pain?

I primarily use cannabis to manage chronic myofascial pain and severe tmj osteoarthritis with a permanently displaced right tmj disc. It causes intense facial pain through all of my face, severe headaches almost 24/7 in the temporal and occipital regions. Basically I feel like I've been punched in the face by mike Tyson on a day to day basis.

Some days however my pain is just too much for cannabis to handle on its own or I'll be in a situation where cannabis use isn't appropriate so I'll take prescription pain meds.

I am a Canadian medical cannabis patient.

Look into biofeedback and/or CBMT. Mind over matter, it's important.

The pain clinic I attend has recommended me for biofeedback. I am curious to see how well it works.

 

[suzanne72]

Do any of you guys who use cannabis for chronic pain also use opioid/narcotic painkillers to manage breakthrough pain?

I primarily use cannabis to manage chronic myofascial pain and severe tmj osteoarthritis with a permanently displaced right tmj disc. It causes intense facial pain through all of my face, severe headaches almost 24/7 in the temporal and occipital regions. Basically I feel like I've been punched in the face by mike Tyson on a day to day basis.

Some days however my pain is just too much for cannabis to handle on its own or I'll be in a situation where cannabis use isn't appropriate so I'll take prescription pain meds.

I am a Canadian medical cannabis patient.



The pain clinic I attend has recommended me for biofeedback. I am curious to see how well it works.

You could also try to use cannabis facial cream, it might work..

 

[CarolKing]

When all else fails try acupuncture. Your insurance might cover it. My insurance covered mine. I have feet and back pain due to arthritis. It helped me, I went for a couple of years off and on.

 

[ataxian]

How do you use cannabis to manage pain while managing to stay active, positive? Right now, I'm just getting really discouraged.

I have a neurological autoimmune disease call SCA.
My day are OK and others WOW?

Like you I reduced my medication and eliminated others.
I go heavy SATIVA when I wake up.
During the day GIRL SCOUT COOKIES at a low temperature.
At night a strong INDICA (I have GRANDDADDY PURPLE) at night or before bed. High temperature puts me OUT!

I watch a lot of comedy as well.

Looks like my last nugget of GSC!

 

[Spocks_Katra]

had a terrible flare up since last weekend, finally coming out of it, thank goodness for vaping and DABS, the only way to somewhat make me comfortable, Im heavily considering moving to CO in the next year so I can have access to all types of mmj that may work better, and the mountain air is better suited for me

 

[Mirimi]

Do any of you guys who use cannabis for chronic pain also use opioid/narcotic painkillers to manage breakthrough pain?

I primarily use cannabis to manage chronic myofascial pain and severe tmj osteoarthritis with a permanently displaced right tmj disc. It causes intense facial pain through all of my face, severe headaches almost 24/7 in the temporal and occipital regions. Basically I feel like I've been punched in the face by mike Tyson on a day to day basis.

Some days however my pain is just too much for cannabis to handle on its own or I'll be in a situation where cannabis use isn't appropriate so I'll take prescription pain meds.

I am a Canadian medical cannabis patient.

I also have CMP. Cannabis is great for the dull background pain, however when it gets too sharp, I resort to opiates.

 

[Spocks_Katra]

I find opiates are not as helpful as MJ in the midst of a flareup, I can take 2 pills and it takes an hour to set in, then after the 2nd hour they completely wear off. MJ lasts much longer for me at least, I have nerve pain from a genetic disorder

 

[Quetzalcoatl]

I find opiates are not as helpful as MJ in the midst of a flareup, I can take 2 pills and it takes an hour to set in, then after the 2nd hour they completely wear off. MJ lasts much longer for me at least, I have nerve pain from a genetic disorder

Nerve pain is a bit different. The only nerve pain I have is from all the scars from my surgeries, they'll suddenly really really hurt and I can't do anything to it because even a gentle breeze blowing on them will trigger pain. I did find out that lidocaine patches are the only thing that helps. I have talked to an acquaintance about his nerve pain (from diabetes) and he shared the same sentiment about opiate painkillers not working and cannabis being better in general for it. Most my other pain is musculoskeletal pain (connective tissue, tearing tendons, joints going out of their sockets, etc), and for that opiates are basically the best thing. Hitting the receptors to turn the pain off works a lot better than cannabinoids do... which is why I try not to take them too much. Cannabis does help with the pain but it's just not on the same level and oddly enough sometimes it seems to make me focus on it more. Though with high CBD strains I can take half or sometimes less of what I would normally take in a day. Some days are easy enough that I won't take any, and I make sure to take a weekend off them every month. Breakthrough pain management involves taking a nice dab that starts working in a minute and some pain medication that starts working in half an hour. Insurance decided I don't need lidocaine patches anymore but I do have a small stash still so I will put those on wherever it hurts the most.