Medical marijuana seen to have dramatic effect on symptom relief

[G_j]

Jan Hefler, Inquirer Staff Writer
Last updated: Sunday, May 4, 2014, 1:08 AM

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. - Before buying cannabis at South Jersey's only medical-marijuana dispensary, patients must circle one of six animated faces that stare out from a clipboard.

The row of smiling, wincing, frowning, and sobbing cartoon faces is being used to rank the degree of pain that patients experience due to cancer, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and several other conditions the state deems treatable by cannabis.

When the patients return to the Compassionate Care Foundation dispensary in Egg Harbor Township for a refill, they again are handed the Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale so that the effect of the marijuana can be assessed.

The results so far are "absolutely dramatic," said Suzanne Miller, a researcher with a Ph.D. who sits on the dispensary's board of trustees. Miller is also a professor and the director of behavioral medicine at Fox Chase Cancer Center/Temple Health in Philadelphia. About 80 percent of the 145 CCF patients who completed the rankings at least twice over the last two months have charted significant improvement, she said.

Still being collected and analyzed, the data show that on average, most patients are reporting their pain levels decreased by 30 to 50 percent, Miller said. "You usually see smaller results, about 10 percent, or 20 percent," she said.


Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20140504_Medical_marijuana_seen_to_have_dramatic_effect_on_symptom_relief.html#Dz1PChydfPSLfTL5.99

[mopinko]

1. i was having small seizures, and didnt know it.

well, i did kinda know it, but the docs just shrugged.
see, the seizures were happening during rem sleep. i figured this out when my anxiety level was really high for quite a while, and well, it's good for that, too.

but all the sudden, i could sleep. i had great, long technicolor dreams, instead of apnea nightmares. nightmares that sometimes left me shook all day. i wake up ready for the day, instead of wishing the world would go away.

i feel like i have someone else's body. someone ten years younger than i was my last birthday.

yeah. like that.

[otherone]

2. cool

glad that you are feeling better.

[mopinko]

4. that

and a little peace and low stress go a long way.

[otherone]

5. No doubt my friend

No doubt at all. .

[RainDog]

3. when I tried it for migraines

The head pain and the nausea went away 15 seconds later. It astonished me how well it worked. Better than imitrex, and no side effects.

Usually, I would have to throw up over and over again and just pace the floor with pain until I fell asleep from exhaustion and then felt a pain hang over the next day. None of that with marijuana.