Alternative Methods Of Pain Treatment And Management Essay

Neuropathic pain is the result of injury. “Neuropathic pain can occur as the result of such conditions as shingles, cancer, phantom limb pain, the phenomenon known as entrapment neuropath” (The Gazette). People with pain go see a doctor and they get subscribe to pain killers. However Pain killers can be very dangerous. For instance on can get addicted to pain killers by taking them for a long period of time. Using pain killers can be damage to your system and by the time you don’t need them anymore the body will still want them.

Medical marijuana, also known as cannabis, is a controversial topic because many find it beneficial as others find the usage to be recreational. Throughout the years, medical marijuana has gone through periods of times in which it was legal and illegal. Over the years laws have been developed in order to try and regulate the usage of the drug. Studies have shown many the benefits of treating diseases and symptoms. Today it is used in treatment with many different diseases and disorders such as cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder, and multiple sclerosis. As medical marijuana has different species and uses of the product, it is important to depict where the drug can be used for treatment. The usage of this drug enables patients to have a more positive and livable outcome with treatments.

In the United States, marijuana for medical purposes has gained more prevalence in current political discourse than in previous years. Marijuana, also known as cannabis, is a flowering plant that originally came from South and Central Asia. For centuries, the cannabis plant has been used for many natural products such as seed oils, seed, fiber that is used to make hemp products and contains over four hundred chemicals, some of which have an antibiotic like effect (Nordqvist, 2013). Studies have shown that two of the chemicals, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Cannabidiol (CBD), have a positive effect on humans for mild to moderate painkilling effects and sedative effects (Nordqvist, 2013). The purpose of this paper is

Marijuana has survived the passing of time and still helps the sick today. The advanced stages of treatment for patients with Cancer, AIDS and other diseases often include, terrible nausea, vomiting, and different types of pain. Patients have reported much relief from

Chronic pain is a tremendous public health problem, and a costly one. As health care advances and the need for palliative care rises, patients and health care providers are constantly investigating alternative methods of pain treatment and management. Questioning and challenging traditional health policies and practices has created a curiosity in the use of cannabis as an alternative option to standard opioids, for the management of chronic pain. Cannabis, is a leafy green plant consisting of buds and leaves of the cannabis sativa forma indica plants. Marijuana has been used in holistic solutions for hundreds of years; it has also been especially prevalent among terminally ill patients, who have been reported using it to alleviate symptoms like chronic pain, nausea and depression.

In 2014, approximately 47,000 Americans died from the overdose of drugs. The fact that Americas drug problem has gotten this out of hand is alarming, but when taking a closer look at these numbers, it becomes clear that many of these Americans are not dying from illegal drugs like cocaine, meth, heroin, or marijuana. Instead, legal opioid painkillers were the biggest cause of overdose, resulting in approximately 14,000 deaths in 2014. In the 1990s, doctors began treating chronic pain as a serious issue, prescribing large amounts of opioid painkillers, and by 2012 doctors wrote 259 million prescriptions for painkillers. Opioid painkillers are highly addictive drugs that bind to receptors in the brain, reducing pain messaging to the nervous system. When scientists began to realize the harmful and addicting effects of painkillers, prescriptions were pulled back, causing users to turn to another opioid: heroin. The painkiller addiction problem became so serious that the Obama Administration has put 1.1 billion dollars into funding addiction education, prevention, and treatment; however, when doctors eliminated painkillers, they need an alternative to treating chronic pain. In order to suffice, doctors have looked at another controversial issue: medical marijuana. Studies have shown that cannabis can help treat chronic pain in most cases, and unlike opioids, marijuana isn’t linked to deadly overdoses. However, opposers are worried about marijuana’s harmful effects on the brain

There is a huge need for alternative ways to provide comfort for patients that have adverse

When it comes to pain, everyone experiences pain differently. Pain is not just one dimensional, it is multidimensional. Some might experience pain better than others and some might experience pain worse than others. There are many different factors that one might have that make them respond to pain a certain way. Some these factors include genetics, age, gender, religion, previous experiences, patients perceptions, and expectations. Just to name a few.

Chronic pain is intense suffering/agony that can persist between weeks to years. Currently, there are an estimated more than 3 million cases of chronic pain in the United States each year. That is where the Marijuana comes into play. An article on the JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association states the following for Marijuana being used for chronic pain as well as other medical problems,”Aside from nausea and appetite stimulation, indications for which there are 2 FDA-approved cannabinoids (dronabinol and nabilone), chronic pain, neuropathic pain, and spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis are the indications for medical marijuana supported by high-quality evidence”(Hill). As usual, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t state the drawbacks to using Marijuana to treat chronic pain. The same article states,”Medical marijuana and cannabinoids have significant potential health risks, such as addiction and worsening of psychiatric illnesses such as some anxiety disorders, mood disorders, psychotic disorders, and substance use disorders”(Hill). Currently, there are no ways to combatant these side

There are so many diseases that can and can’t be curable. However, there are medications that can help ease the pain from different conditions. There is one medication that can be prescribed for pain is medical marijuana. Even though it’s illegal in some states, but marijuana has become the most profitable and healing vital substance. Medical marijuana, also refer to as medical cannabis, is a good herbal therapy according to health practitioners("Medical marijuana for pain and depression"). Medical marijuana has been around for centuries. Physicians back then used medical marijuana for illnesses and disorders("Medical marijuana for pain and depression"). This is used mostly for the GI System disorders (gastrointestinal

The use of cannabis toward medicine should not be shocking to anyone, since it has been around for centuries. As a matter of fact, it has been under medicinal aid for an estimated 5,000 years. Western medicine truly grasped marijuana’s medicinal abilities in the 1850’s. Infact, doctors documented over one hundred papers about how marijuana helped numerous disorders, such as nausea, glaucoma, movement disorders, pain relief, depression, and anxiety. It also helps cancer patients and those with HIV or Aids. Currently, many American patients have access to marijuana use so that they can have effective treatments for their illnesses. Medical marijuana use is achievable because

"Various forms of medicinal cannabis have provided mostly positive responses for patients with different types of pain: Neuropathic, chronic, postoperative, and that related to fibromyalgia, rhematoid arthritis, mutiple sclerosis and cancer" (Borgelt, Franson, & Nussbaum, 2013). In a study outlined in the article The Pharmacologic and Clinical Effects of Medical Cannabis, which evaluated smoked cannabis compared to placebo, significant improvements in pain were observed. The study included 56 patients and used cigarettes wtih varying THC contents. In general, a higher THC content (up to 9.4%) appears to be more effective for pain relief (Borgelt, Franson, & Nussbaum, 2013).

Marijuana is a drug that divides people. Some people claim it as the wonder drug of the '90s, capable of relieving the symptoms of many serious illnesses. Others curse the day the cannabis plant was ever discovered. From pain relief to stimulating the appetites of patients on chemotherapy, marijuana seems to have plenty going for it as a medicine. The legalization of marijuana is a large controversy in many parts of the world today, but the obvious negative effects that the drug induces has kept it from being legalized. Many researchers have a strong positive attitude towards marijuana. It has been said that the drug is “worth investigating and even providing as a medicine for pain relief, severe

Despite all the advances erupting from therapeutic research, current treatments for pain management remain inadequate. The efficacies of modern pain therapies are challenged by “adverse tolerability profiles, unfavourable side effects, concerns with long-tern use and potential for misuse or abuse” (Carven & Roberts, 2013). While the major analgesic medicines on the market today include “narcotic (opioids) and non-narcotic analgesics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and heat therapy” (Carven & Roberts, 2013), engineered biologics are emerging as a promising approach to reconcile various inadequacies of existing pain therapies, since they can be manufactured with capacities such as target specificity to minimize unnecessary, adverse reactivity.

It is hard to imagine the day-to-day pain that a cancer patient endures, but one can imagine that any type of relief would be invited from the victim and their families. These poor individuals suffer throughout the day, and unfortunately are in so much discomfort that attempting to live an ordinary life is virtually impossible. Providing people in these conditions with something that will help is almost a no brainer to people looking from the outside in. This is where marijuana can be an effective substitute for the treatments they are already taking. On this drug, many of those going through unbearable pain can function, and begin to appreciate life as they might have before the pain began.