Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Narcotic Contract and Marijuana Use

Hello all!

I haven't been around in a few months. I have been busy moving home to Texas and becoming a college graduate (yay!)

Since I recently graduated, and was home with old friends, we decided to smoke a little pot to celebrate. Now, let me explain. I had been on around 30-60 mg of oxycodone a day (I'm 23), along with a big coctail of other perscription drugs. I moved from Washington, where medical marijuana is legal, and had been thinking about trying it for medical purposes. Also, due to the meds I can't have more than half a drink without hugging the toilet for four or more hours.

So I know that smoking wasn't my best idea, but come on.. I'm not perfect, who is?

Well, I got set up for a pain management visit, and saw an awesome doctor. He talked about reducing my medication, etc. Also, he had some good fresh ideas and was very knowledgeable about AS. At the end of the appointment he told me that in order to prescribe narcotics to me, I had to sign a narcotic contract.

This narcotic contract is unlike anything else I've ever seen. The details go a little like this. I must take a drug test, and I will be randomly drug tested as long as he writes these prescriptions. I must use the EXACT same pharmacy each time I refill. I can't go more than 30 days without being seen. I think that's about it.

So at this point I fessed up and told him what I'd done. He was very polite, and told me to make an appointment for four weeks later and we could try then. However, I was about to go without any narcotics for those four weeks. I was on a regular oxycontin schedule at this point.

Well, after getting home and freaking out and crying, I thought about how much I want to be off of this medicine anyway. So now I've been off of all narcotics for weeks!! I'm so proud of myself! I feel so much better, and the pain isn't that bad. Well, not that bad because I got the idea to go on and use MJ to help it. Also, I haven't had a flare.

So here's my current situation. I prefer smoking a little to taking a ton of pain killers any day. However, I would NEVER smoke before work, or before driving, etc. Therefore I would need a small stash of narcotics incase I start having terrible pains at work.

I have discovered that if I smoke once at night, then the next day I don't have much pain until night time again. I read some information about marijuana and inflammation, and I've found that it can supress the immune system. That's not good for healthy people, but good for freaks like me.

I'm considering coming clean with my new rhuemy on my first visit and asking her advice. I still can see the pain management doctor for drugs and treatment other than narcotics without needing to drug test. I just need a doctor to give me an "in case of emergency" stash.

Ordinarily, I'd say that I should go only with the legal stuff and forget about stupid MJ. However, I feel like a whole new person. I feel clean, and have more energy. My skin is so much better, my digestive health is so much better. I'm also working out 3-4 times a week, which does a lot too.

Also, there's no such thing as overdosing on MJ. It's also not physically addicting. Oxycontin... not the case.

I'm interested to see what your point of view is. Has anyone else signed this kind of contract? I understand why he has it... people turn into crazy junkies with pain killers. Also, we live in a country (USA) that doctors have to cover their every move because they can get sued. However, I hate that even medical marijuana use is demonized so much that I would be denied medicine and forced to go "cold turkey." I'm mad at the system... not the doctor.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

I haven't heard of a contract before. I haven't tried marijuana for AS before. I have heard that it helps even in small doses. I think you will find some good info on this subject here. Have you ever been to an oxygen bar? That helps.

Craig

that's interesting. thanks for sharing it.

i'm not sure what my point of view is and can see why you aren't sure what you want to do either.

when i'm in a lot of pain, i think i'd do just about anything to get out of it.

i've asked a doctor or two for a prescription for an "emergency stash" of a pain reliever for those worst of times and was turned down, that was demoralizing. i wouldn't ask if i didn't feel desperate.

i do realize that i could probably get someone at a pain clinic to prescribe a pain drug, but there is a part of me that would rather find a way to get rid of the inflammation and thus the pain that way instead.

so far, i haven't used any narcotics. i did have a physiatrist when i lived in another state prescribe one. but the pharmacy wouldn't fill it because i was out of state when i needed it. so i just took my muscle relaxants, tylenol, and laid on ice, and tried not to move. but that pain pill would have been nice.

i haven't tried MJ, but when i hear people describe it the way you do, it sure is tempting. i think if i had easy access to it, it sure would have been tempting at some point. if it ever became legal, i wonder if i would try it then?

right now, i'm trying to get LDN prescribed. its not illegal, but is off label, and even that is turning into a battle, though i'm hopeful that i'm making some headway.

don't have any answers, but good thought-provoking question,

You have entered a whole new world. ten states have medical marijuana, 13 have decriminalized it to some degree. Some states prosecute it heavily. Nanogram standards are low, you can be charged with driving with a measurable amount of metoblite (DUI) thirty days after you smoke it. Many Officers make their name busting metoblite drivers. I think at sometime in the future they will have to prove you are high(under the influence) at the time you are stopped. Utah hits you for 1100 dollars if you have a pipe or papers along with small amount of MJ. One neighbor state hits you for 100 dollars big difference. This is one hot topic in law enforcement circles, legalize or not? Guess time will tell.
Darrel.

I use pot over ANY pain killers, muscle relaxant. Both my GP & Rheumy know & I have been doing it for around 3 years.

We have de-criminalised its use here ie we have trafficable amounts, illegal - non trafficable amount or personal use amount, legal. If youre not an idiot & use safely & discreetly it can give great refief & its only illegal if you get caught im jk - it does work.

hope youre all well

Congrats on finishing college!!!! What did you graduate in?

I'm on a synthetic cannabinoid, nabilone. But I'm finding it absolutely brutal, as far as the stoned feeling side effects go. I'm on 0.25 mg/day, but my doc prescribed 4mg/day. I'm pretty sure 4mg might kill me. At 2mg I was nearly unconscious and my bf thought I had overdosed. Even at the low dose I still hate it, but it's the only thing that keeps me from vomiting all day, every day (not sure why I'm sick all the time, but the neurologist says it's no big deal). Nabilone is supposed to work really well for pain though (at the right dose), so if the medical marijuana route falls through, there's always that to try. Unfortunately I have no experience with the real deal, so I can't give you a comparison.
The narcotic contract is an interesting one - I'm sure it's cut down on narcotic abuse.
Good job in dropping the pain meds - I've been on morphine for 6 months now, and I'm scared to see what will happen if I try to get off.

Hey hi, I'm most interested in this sentence;

I have discovered that if I smoke once at night, then the next day I don't have much pain until night time again.

well, ditto. I smoke every night. A single hit. And I find exactly the same to be true. And I hated all the muscle relaxants and other pain killers I've been given over the years. You just end up feeling so unhealthy all the time, and never really free from the pain anyway.

The contract sounds totally CYA to me. Which is nuts, because I've been given so many painkillers for other-than-arthritis reasons (from the dentist and the dermatologist) that I never even took. If I wanted to be irresponsible (or if I had desperate levels of pain) it would be easy to go around this one doctor. But I guess that doesn't matter if he's not responsible for it.
huh.

Anyway, 'welcome back' from down here in Houston. And congrats on school!
CC

[Megan I hope you kick the nausea soon ]

Hi there and contratulations!!!

That contract sounds awful, but with all the publicity and such, it's understandable why they might want to cover their butts in this way.

Like you, I tripped over the medical benefits of MJ. Been using it nightly for 8 years now. My GP had prescribed a muscle relaxant just before my dx, because I was having massive muscle spasms in my left torso in the middle of the night. That presription med left me stoned for 14 hours. I took it at 11 at night, woke up the next morning and couldn't walk a straight line. Had to go to work anyway, but could barely function, no matter how much coffee and food I had. It was after 1 in the afternoon before my head cleared sufficiently that I could work. I never took another of these pills and have used MJ for this ever since, because like you, I noticed the benefits after smoking with a friend during this same period of time.

I've created my own regime for it. I usually start around 9 in the evening and build it up to the point when my shoulders come down from around my ears. Then I maintain it there until I go to bed. I wake up in the morning, have my coffee and I'm fine. I can think straight, I can walk a straight line and it's all good. Also, I find that it helps my pain levels in the evening - especially when the Remicade is wearing off. More often than not, I don't need any Celebrex and if I do, then I'm in a truly bad way. I have a vaporizer, which means that I'm not inhaling smoke. They're a little expensive, but much healthier than a pipe. And I'm looking into other ways of taking it that don't involve inhaling anything.

I'm trying to get on the medicinal list here, but my doctors don't hold out much hope because I'm on Remicade. I guess we're not supposed to need pain killers when on a biologic or some fool thing.

Good luck with it.

Warm hugs,

Hmm... a vaporizer might be something to try out. I also don't like the side effects of smoking, but I hear that digesting it makes the drug completely different. I'm liking my narcotic free body so much, I think I'm going to stay off of them. This might not be the answer for everyone, but at least there's another option.

I researched the link between marijuana and inflammation a little and came up with some good information. I suggest that anyone who wants to try it, research how to use it, and how it works, ahead of time. I think Texas will one of the last states to legalize it. If only the public was better educated on the benefits of its medical use, perhaps we could move forward. Hopefully some good studies can come out of parts of the world that are more MJ friendly.... like our good friends in Canada.

Thanks for the feedback. The more I think about this narcotic contract, I see more than the marijuana issue. I just don't want these pills to run my life for the next sixty years. Just getting the time off work for drug tests and visits, not to mention traveling and needing medication. I think I've made my decision.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070607171120.htm

This article talks about the anti-inflammatory properties of marijuana. This is one of many that are out there. Perhaps there's something to this... I always thought it would be used strictly to supress pain and tension, not actually reduce inflammation.