Oklahoma Biker - The Riders Ragazine November - December 2018 | Page 18

MEDICAL MARIJUANA
Medical marijuana is an
effective tool for mitigating
pain. Finding the right can-
nabis product for your type of
pain can sometimes be time
consuming and difficult. To
make this easier, we will go
through the different types
of pain and the strategies to treat them
more effectively.
There are 3 accepted categories of
pain.
1. Central pain (fibromyalgia)
2. Nociceptive pain
3. Neuropathic Pain
Nociceptive Pain and Cannabinoids
Nociceptive pain is best described as in-
flammatory pain. It is the resulting pain
from tissue damage. The sensation of
pain in this case comes from inflamma-
tory and immune cells that repair tissue
damage. These cells discharge certain
proteins and chemicals that interact with
the brain, giving the sensation of pain.
With this in mind, reducing the sensa-
tion of pain is done by either blocking
the signals themselves or reducing
inflammation. THC, and CBD are used
to target both of these processes re-
sulting in less pain. Human clinical trials
have shown the effectiveness of these
cannabinoids at reducing pain.
Tolerance can become an issue with
THC. To avoid this, it is important to
start low and maintain a good balance
of CBD to THC content. By using higher
doses of CBD to manage pain, THC
oklahoma biker the riders ragazine
content can be kept lower to avoid
developing a tolerance.
A great benefit that comes from
CBD is mood-improvement.
CBD can mitigate anxiety and
stress through serotonin activa-
tion. Anxiety and depression are
side effects of chronic pain. This
makes CBD a valuable tool in managing
nociceptive pain in the long term.
Neuropathic Pain
Neuropathic pain is extremely difficult
to treat because NSAID’s like ibuprofen
and Tylenol are basically useless to
treat it. This type of pain affects about
7 to 10% of the world’s population. In-
stead of resulting from physical damage
to the body, Neuropathic pain comes
from diseases like Multiple Sclerosis,
HIV, Parkinson’s, Lupus, diabetes, and
shingles. Chemotherapy also causes
neuropathic pain.
Cannabis reduces this type of pain
by activating the CB1 receptors in the
brain. This weakens the pain signal that
travels to the brain. As with nociceptive
paint, too much THC can over-activate
the CB1 receptors in the brain leading
to lessened pain relief over time. Bal-
ancing CBD and THC consumption can
help stave off this tolerance
Central Pain
Although there are various terms for
this type of pain, central pain refers to
pain that results from a malfunction in
the nervous system. It can sometimes
be difficult to determine why a patient
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