Neuropathic pain, or the burning and tingling experienced in hands and feet related to trauma and disease precipitated nerve damage has for many persons been inadequately treated by traditional medications such as antiinflammatories, narcotics, amitriptyline, gabapentin, or pregabalin.

Peripheral neuropathy is a significant problem in a number of conditions, including carpal tunnel syndrome, cubital tunnel syndrome, lumbar disc disease with sciatica, chronic diabetes and cardiovascular disease with vascular insufficiency in the lower extremities. It is also a nagging element of many chronic HIV cases.

As such, Ronald J. Ellis, MD, PhD, associate professor of neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, and his colleagues compared medical marijuana to a placebo (fake drug) in 28 patients with HIV-related neuropathic pain that was not adequately controlled by traditional oral pain medications.

The team randomly assigned participants to smoke either medical marijuana (cannabis) or a cigarette that resembled a joint, but did not contain marijuana. The National Institute on Drug Abuse supplied both products.

The participants smoked their material four times a day for five straight days, then abstained for two weeks, and then followed the same experiment again. Each person also continued to take prescribed medications during the trial.

Smoking the marijuana provided much greater neuropathic pain relief than smoking the placebo. Forty-six percent of participants had clinically meaningful pain relief with marijuana compared to 18% with placebo. Pain relief varied from “strong” to “mild to moderate.”

Although it is meritorious that the researchers found exactly what thousands of people are already experiencing daily, there was no control for medication use. Moreover, it would be very interesting know what type of placebo joints generated a credible marijuana fragrance and transient euphoria so as to fool the placebo users.

The findings, which appeared on-line in the August 2008 journal Neuropsychopharmacology, adds to a growing body of evidence that shows that medical marijuana can be a potent painkiller. Alternative delivery methods including vaporization, use in food materials, and extraction of oils for topical application were not discussed.

Tags: health effects of marijuana, marijuana for pain, pain management and marijuana, peripheral neuropathy and marijuana

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 26th, 2009 at 3:27 am and is filed under health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.