Medical Marijuana for My Dad?

My dad is having severe pains in his back, his neck, and in one shoulder. The doctor prescribed him some heavy duty painkillers (I'm not exactly sure), but he already has to take some pills for his heart (he had a heart attack 5 years ago).

Well I listened to a conversation between him and my mom and he was saying how all of those meds are messing with his stomach (you know what I mean).

Do you think medical marijuana could help him in this situation? I've heard it can reduce bad pains.. maybe the doctor would prescribe it because he is having stomach problems?

One more thing I have to say, I know my profile says I live in Canada, but I live in Georgia, in the US. I don't want to put my location on my profile.

I don't think it would be possible to get a prescription but I think it could really help him.

 

No they dont give perscriptions in georgia to my knowledge. I know im going to get flamed for this but it may not be the greatest idea to smoke marijuana if youve had a heart attack. I know im completely pulling this out of my ass but marijuana makes your heart rate increase A LOT, it varies person to person but I know mine beats a lot harder and faster than it normally does, i really enjoy the feeling but I dont think your dad may if it would trigger a hart attack or somthing.

Again, I just pulled that out of my ass, its just an idea.

My grandfather also has a horrible back, he was in a car accident all his neck nerves go tjumbled togethor, when he got them unjumbled they cut his neck muscles and he doesnt have any there anymore. Yes Im serious. He use to take a ton of pain killers indluding doragesic (sp) patches. They had hardcore narcotics in them. He slowly weaned off all the pain killers and now just takes a few methacarbamol a day and asprin. I would definetly expierment and try somthing like that. Just a suggestion.

 

This is why it would be SO much better if it were legal for medical use. I mean, a doctor would know if it was safe for this guys dad to smoke weed for his pain. You don't want to mess with your heart, but you also can't just walk in and ask your doc if you can smoke a bowl for pain. There's no information on this thanks to our D.E.A.th squads, terrorizing sick people. It just pisses me off so much!

 

Yeah..I really think it could help him out in his situation. I don't know about his heart though and I wouldn't want to risk it. Also, he can be randomly drug tested at any time at work.

If anyone is a heart-expert..I know my dad has a stint in his arterey to keep it supported..because it collapsed. I also know that he had around 8 heard attacks in a weekend.

I don't think I would want him to do it, because I can feel the increased pressure in my blood, God only knows what it would do to him..

 

I would'nt let him smoke. Anyone with high blood pressure really should'nt.

 

Does sweet jane raise blood pressure? shit.

 

But, pot would be a much safer alternative to opiates. They destroy your liver, and can cause a serious addiction, specially if taken for a long time. Pot can increase heart rates as well. Opiates do raise blood pressure as well, so I assume that if a doctor prescirbed him something as powerful as a painkkiller, a couple joints for some backpain would not hurt.

Ask him if hes up to test it out, and see how it feels. I always use it for broken stuff. And just give away the vicodin. NO CHEMICALS!

 

Vaporize + no smell.

 

What does this have to do with anyone? If you vape the weed its going to have the same effects on the heart rate and blood pressure. The guy has his own place I doubt the smell matters.

 

I just think that all of those meds that he's on are a lot worse for him than mary jane. He could try it..

but the problem is, my dad has an important job and he can be drug tested at random.. he hadn't been tested in 2 years and one day I asked him to smoke with me.. he said no..and 2 days later he got tested at work. :/ He used to do it a lot when he was younger, so I don't see why he doesn't like it now.. he says it made him 'shy' and 'nervous about himself' but my mom says it's just his personality and pot didn't do it to him, it's just his excuse. Since I've been smoking, I've gotten a more open personality and I don't worry myself with the stupid little things that I used to be paranoid about.

 

haha guess what guys, no one has ever died from weed. neither would your dad.

 

The low down:

Weed doesn't drastically raise blood pressure or increase heart rate as a normal thing. For some people it does, for some it doesn't. If you can feel your heart pounding, you're one of those people. But if he's safe to be on strong narcotics, he's safe to smoke, unless he can feel his heart pounding in which case it's a pretty easy decision.

As far as how much it would help for severe neck and back pain, my dad had the same thing and I don't think that weed alone would probably be enough to ease the pain. As nice as it is for this, it's not nearly as effective as strong narcotics, and he'd probably have to be high off his ass for it to really work well.

That being said, I bet a combination of marijuana with weaker/ lower dose painkillers could maybe work. It would hurt his stomach less, and the weed would ease any stomach problems he still had. (I wouldn't stop any damage to the stomach, just make it feel better.) The less narcotics you can use to stop the pain, the better.

But what it comes down to is this: if he smokes weed regularly for this pain, he could possibly lose his job or of course go to jail. Being an adult with a family to support, worrying about that happening is probably the last thing he wants to do, especially with a heart condition.

Then there's the fact that if you are drug tested on ANY regular basis, even once every few years, and you smoke regularly, you WILL eventually get caught and most likely fired. Neck/back pain usually doesnt go away very fast, so if the weed turns out to work very well he's kind of stuck between having to stop taking a good medicine in a year or two, or losing his job.

But he's already thought of these last two things. Hell, not smoking with you that one time saved him his job. So knowing that there aren't any serious medical dangers to him using it, and that there's a chance it could help, all you can do is offer it to him as medicine and let him weigh the risks for himself.

Oh yea, and be ready to be his dealer for awhile ;-)

P.S. On a related note, for everyone, smoking weed weakens the immune system. Sorry, it's true. You'll notice this if you get a bad cold, if you keep smoking it'll take awhile to get better. If you keep smoking through a lung infection (bronchitis), it can stick around for months and months, basically until you stop smoking. Y'all should really keep that in mind when thinking about smoking weed and getting sick. I kept smoking heavily when I got mono, and it was one of the worst decisions of my bad-decision-filled life.

 

I've seen studies that say the opposite. Thus, studies so far are inconclusive as to effects on the immune system.

Anyways, Koko, you asked why your dad doesn't enjoy smoking weed anymore, and I'd say he has a good reason: his job drug tests, and he has a family to support.

 

Well, of course a lung infection will hang around if you're smoking with it. IDIOT. Stop smoking (or at the very least, cut down), let your lungs heal and then see how you feel.