My name is Marie and I am a medical marijuana patient.  I am 63 years old and have suffer from severe arthritis in both my hips.  I am mother of 4, grandmother of 10 and live in a small retirement community in southern California. I use medical marijuana twice per day.  Once when I wake [...]

Yesterday in my Long Beach office I tool care of a 31 year old women who was diagnosed with Sjogren Syndrome.    Specifically, she was using medical marijuana to treat joint pain in her hips, knees and shoulders which is very common in this illness.   She stated that for the past three months she [...]

If I had to guess how what percentage of patients come in to use medical marijuana for joint pain it would be close to 70%.   The largest growing population of medical marijuana patients are the baby boomers who are just sick and tired of “popping pills”.     Whether it is Motrin, Naprosyn, Celebrex, [...]

Today in my Irvine office I took care of a 56 year old man who uses medical marijuana to treat his acute attacks of Gouty Arthritis. He has had 4 attacks since my initial evaluation last year and states that he can not take typical doses of NSAIDS (alleve/motrin/indomethicin) because of a history of gastric ulcers (as a result of overuse if NSAIDS). In addition to diet modification, alcohol elimination and regular exercise, this patient can expect to get moderate relief of his pain and inflammation with cannabis alone.

I can’t tell you how many times in the last month when speaking to both my parents where I’ve hung up the phone and said “My Nana/Granny should be using medical marijuana to be more comfortable.” Both of my grandmothers are still alive but both suffer from severe pain secondary to arthritis and degenerative disc disease. One takes morphine 4 times per day and the other is on methadone and a fentanyl patch. Both have horrible constipation and nausea secondary to their pain medications and both have a hard time getting rest at night. I AM SURE THAT MANY OF YOU READING THIS CAN RELATE.

If you are wondering what types of patients come in to see me for a medical marijuana recommendation, here is a list of all the complaints for the patients I had in Irvine today. Most patients are coming in because of pain. They are typically tired of using opiates such as vicodin and oxycontin and want an alternative. Many of my patients are women in their 50′s and 60′s who are willing to try anything to get relief.

Yesterday in my Irvine office I evaluated a 27 year old male for medical marijuana who complained of pain secondary to Behcet’s Disease (Pronounced Bah-shets) He had been using medical marijuana for the past 12 months to reduce the pain as a result of joint disease in his knee’s and ankles and also to help him eat when he gets painful ulcers in the mouth.

An important study just came out in the periodical “Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes” which demonstrated an increased risk of fatal and non-fatal heart attack and stroke for healthy patients who routinely use NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) such as motrin, ibuprofen, diclofenac, voltaren, celebrex, naprosyn, aleve etc. to treat pain. This is a very important study and you those patients who routinely pop motrins or take dicofenac to treat pain need to read. Marijuana has for many years been found to have potent anti-inflammatory effects without any of the increased risks associated with commonly prescribed NSAID’s.

Just yesterday I evaluated a 19 year old male patient who was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. He came in to see me because he had used cannabis in the past to specifically treat the heart burn and joint pain that he suffered on a daily basis. In addition he claimed that when he inhaled cannabis into his lungs using a vaporizer it helped to clear out some of the mucus that patients develop on a regular basis.

As medical director for Medical Cannabis of Southern California I often evaluate patients who suffer from arthritis. Many patients are unaware of the significant anti-inflammatory properties that cannabinoids (the medically active ingredients in the plant) have.