You may be asking yourself what is peripheral neuropathy or neuropathic pain?    Simply it is pain that originates from damage to the nerves themselves.   Contrast that with pain as a result of damage to a muscle or ligament.   In the latter the pain transmission travels through the nerves to the brain and relaying signals back to the muscle.    In cases of neuropathy it is actual damage to the nerve that is causing the pain.

Patients can describe tingling, burning, electric “like” pain.  They can also experience sensory changes.    Typically, patients are treated with anti-depressants and anti-epileptic drugs such as neurontin (gabapentin) but only with limited success.   They come to me complaining of various side effects.  In addition, their chronic pain makes it difficult to sleep and enjoy like on a day to day basis.

Neuropathic pain can happen from a number of different reasons.   One of the most common is cause by high circulating blood sugars seen in patients with Diabetes.   These sugars bind to the nerves and alter various proteins resulting a damage.  Also, diabetes affects the small blood vessels that supply the nerves.   When the blood flow is limited there is less oxygen to the nerves and they die off.     The #2 and #3 reasons patients develop neuropathy is HIV infection and medication induced (many chemotherapy agents cause neuropathy).

There have been numerous studies that show medical marijuana’s efficacy.  If you google “Center for Medical Cannabis Research, UCSD” it will link to 14 completed studies showing the efficacy of medical marijuana.    Many of those studies demonstrated the positive benefit of using marijuana for neuropathic pain.

When patients follow up with me after using medical marijuana they report:

1. Decrease dependance on other pain meds.

2. Improved sleep.  Many times they sleep through the night “for the first time in years”.

3. Improved Mood.  They now have hope and have a better outlook on their lives.  Finally something that gave them some relief!

4. Improved appetite.

It has been very rewarding taking care of patients with neuropathic pain.   Traditional medicine has not given enough credit to cannabis as a treatment for this disease.   As more and more patients use this my hope is that more doctors will here their success stories.

Be blessed,

Dr. Breen

Transverse Myelitis is a disease that affects the spinal cord.   MRI’s demonstrate lesions in the spinal cord which cause pain in the areas of the body affected by the nerve root (or brach of nerves that leave that segment of the spinal cord).

There are many reasons that patients can develop injuries to their spinal cord.   The most common are a decrease of blood flow (acutel or chronic) which causes the affected area of the spinal cord to die.  Patients can also have inflammatory disorders such a SLE (lupus), Sjogrens Syndrome, Behcets Syndrome, Sarcoidosis, and other auto immune diseases that cause inflammation and damage to the spinal cord.  Patients can also have infections that damage the spinal cord.  Examples are epstein barr virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus, mycoplasma, influenza, measles, varicella,rubeola and mumps.    Herpes Simplex Virus and  herpes zoster (shingles) can also cause an acute infectious myelitis.

Regardless of the cause of the spinal cord damage, most patients experience sever pain and difficulties sleeping as a result.   This is where medical marijuana comes into play.   There has been plenty of research demonstrating marijuana’s ability to reduce pain associated with damage to the nerves (neuropathic pain).  Patients with HIV and Diabetic neuropathy have been studied at the UCSD Medical Cannabis Research Center.  All showed dramatic improvement in patients symptoms.

What my 61 year old patient was telling me about “getting my best night’s sleep in as long as I can remember” is fairly common.   I never want to set patients up for disappointment and tell them it will work for sure but I am always confident in cannabis’ ability to produce a sound nights sleep.   In addition it should also decrease the amount of other pain medications that patients require.  LESS VICODIN, LESS MOTRIN and LESS NEURONTIN etc.   This is a very good thing.

If you suffer from chronic pain or transverse myelitis and would like to speak to a doctor about using medical marijuana feel free to contact me anytime by calling 877-721-0047 or through our website at www.mcsocal.com

Be blessed,

Dr. Breen

Typically diabetic neuropathy starts by affecting the peripheral nerves to patients feet and legs.  They can experience sharp pain when walking, decrease sensitivity to temperature, tingling, numbness and eventually when the nerves because completely destroyed no feeling at all.  I once took care of an elderly women with severe diabetic neuropathy who fractured her ankle to the point where her tibia was protruding directly through her skin.  Basically it snapped in half.  Amazingly she felt NO PAIN because her nerves were destroyed.

Many patients get put on medications such as gabapentin (neurontin), narcotics like vicodin and even anti-depressants such as amitryptiline.    Most patients report very little relief in their pain but also have unwanted side effects.   They report a significant reduction in their pain with even small doses of cannabis.   They can use it as often as they need without any fear of overdose, addiction or end organ damage.  They also can medicate using a digital vaporizer which makes it odorless and smoke free!

If you would like more information on cannabis and chronic neuropathic pain or would like a consultation please give us a call at 877-721-0047.  Dr. Breen has offices in Irvine and Long Beach California.

Many treatment options for neuropathic pain range from medications to nerve blocks to TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation).  Because patients with neuropathic pain typically do not respond well to opiates (Percocet, Vicodin, Hydrocodone) there are other classes of drugs that are typically used.   Anticonvulsants such a gabapentin (neurontin), anti-depressants such as amitriptyline and corticosteroids such as prednisone are just three of many different drugs that patients typically try.  Most patients experience limited relief with this approach.  It is extremely important that the psychological effects of chronic pain are also addressed.

Many patients are unaware of the clinical research supporting the use of cannabis (marijuana) to treat neuropathic pain.  The Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at the UCSD has completed three clinical research studies demonstrating the efficacy of cannabis in treating neuropathic pain.  In the first study by Dr. Donald Abrams (Cannabis for treatment of HIV associated peripheral neuropathy) demonstrated that cannabis reduced daily pain by 34% vs 17% with placebo.  52% of patients using cannabis experienced a 30% reduction in pain compared to 24% in the placebo group.   For more clinical trials please visit the CMCR website at www.cmcr.ucsd.edu

In addition to cannabis’s analgesic (pain reduction) properties it also can improve patients mood from its euphoric properties.   This is an extremely important component in the overall care of pain patients.  Cannabis also has a safety profile which is unprecedented when compared to other treatment modalities.   It is a fact that there has never been one documented overdose from using cannabis.  In addition it does not cause a physical addiction like many other pharmaceuticals.  It will improve a patients appetite, assist with falling and staying asleep and eliminate the nausea often caused by opiate analgesics.   Once patients are educated on the safety and efficacy of marijuana (cannabis) they will be more likely to give it a try.  In the majority of cases the benefits of trying it clearly outweigh the risks.

Lastly, patients do not have to smoke to get the immediate benefits of cannabis.  Vaporization is way to inhale cannabis without producing any smoke.  It is essentially smoke free.

For more information on how to determine if you may benefit from the medicinal use of cannabis please visit our website at www.mcsocal.com and pre-qualify for free online.  To schedule an appointment to meet with Dr. Breen simply call 877-721-0047.  We have three convenient office locations in Southern California (Long Beach, Irvine and Encinitas)

Western medicine has found many challenges in treating this type of pain and often patients with neuropathic pain have given up on ever living a pain free life.   They typically have concominant depression as a result of the daily pain that they suffer from.