Waking up in the middle of the night with cramps in your feet and calves may be painful, but imagine spending most of your wakeful hours riddled with pain from far more severe muscle spasms. Millions of people do suffer like this on a daily basis and are now turning in greater numbers to use marijuana against Health disorders
Marijuana has been clinically proven to be an effective anti-inflammatory and, unlike prescription drugs that offer fleeting, if any, relief from the pain of muscle spasms, is not addictive as are so many pharmaceutical alternatives.
Five of the most dreaded afflictions that marijuana helps to counteract are Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson’s Disease, Epilepsy, and musculoskeletal disorders. Let’s take a look at each of these and examine the benefits of using marijuana can help bring relief.
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Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Multiple Sclerosis is another of those invasive and dreaded afflictions that cause:
- Involuntary muscle twitching
- Spasms that “lock” muscles and cause stiffness
- Temporary blindness and blurred vision
Inflammation of the spinal column and the brain is the enemy of MS sufferers. This immune disorder causes the body to involuntarily produce inflammatory immunities, resulting in painful muscle spasms and inflammation in the brain that send conflicting signals to the body. Eventually, this inflammation results in the death of vital brain neurons and causes chemical imbalances to the immune system.
Marijuana has been tried and tested on MS sufferers and shown itself to accelerate their bodies’ immune responses, regulating the functions of their systems, as well as contributing as an effective treatment to the disease itself.
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ALS (also known as Lou Gerig’s Disease)
The brilliant and internationally-acclaimed mathematician, Stephen Hawking, who died in March 2018, suffered from ALS for more than 50 years. He fought a long and brave battle against a disease that creates havoc with the brain cells that control voluntary movement and usually claims the lives of more than 50% of sufferers in less than three years. Apart from muscle spasms, ALS slowly weakens the human system rendering the sufferer incapable of coherent speech and unable to controls limb movements.
While scientists have yet to discover the cause of ALS, it is generally conceded that marijuana assists in the treatment of ALS by reacting with our body’s inbuilt endocannabinoid system.
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Parkinson’s Disease (PD)
Think about Parkinson’s Disease and you think about Michael J. Fox whose acting career was jeopardized when he was diagnosed with this neurodegenerative disorder in 1991. He kept the secret for seven years and since then has not allowed his condition to affect his career. This “Back to the Future” star who underwent spinal surgery this April is also well-known for his dedication in the fight against PD with his Foundation that raises funds to finance research into curing the debilitating illness.
PD causes dopamine-secreting neurons to die, resulting in:
- Tremors and shaking limbs
- Muscle rigidity
- Movement impairment
- Involuntary spasms
- Pain
- Insomnia
Marijuana has afforded PD sufferers a better quality of life. While it doesn’t necessarily control shaking and involuntary spasms, marijuana has been clinically proven as an effective pain-killer, as well as helping patients to cope with the side effects of prescription medications.
In a study undertaken four years ago, PD sufferers displayed significant improvements in the levels of their motor functions within 30 minutes of smoking weed.
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Epilepsy
As with most of these neurological disorders, epilepsy is said to be caused when the brain is affected by chemical disorders and scientists are convinced that our body’s endocannabinoid system will reveal the answers. Marijuana restores some of those imbalances because of its natural CBD (cannabidiol) content and significantly reduces the number of epileptic seizures suffered by people diagnosed with this illness.
To demonstrate the efficacy of marijuana in the treatment of epilepsy, nothing could match the startling workings of the plant than in the documentary series, “Weed”, presented by CNN’s chief medical advisor, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. The six-year-old character in the series, Charlotte, was treated with marijuana oil which reduced her number of seizures from 300 to zero within one week. An effective anticonvulsant, the CBD content in marijuana quells convulsions and quietens the brain to relay communication signals.
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Musculoskeletal disorders
Repeated injury and overused muscles result in musculoskeletal disorders. Sportsmen and women, or people involved in heavy-duty activities such as construction workers, can suffer intense pain when muscles become inflamed after being over-worked or injured. Legs, hips and lower back pain are commonplace in this category.
But it is not only the physically active who can suffer from this disorder. Musculoskeletal disorders can also be a desk-bound injury. Do you find that hard to believe? Well not really if you consider how office-bound workers can strain their hands and wrists, shoulders and necks from hours spent hunched over their desks and computer terminals.
Overused muscles become inflamed, causing painful muscle spasms and marijuana’s acknowledged and powerful anti-inflammatory properties not only bring relief from pain but also reduce inflammation in the affected muscles.
Conclusion
Whether you smoke it, eat it or use it as an oil to rub into an affected area of your body, marijuana will bring relief from pain and act as a powerful anti-inflammatory to reduce swelling in muscles and calm the body’s nervous system.
Sufferers worldwide of more severe motor-neuron disorders such as ALS, Parkinson’s, epilepsy and Multiple Sclerosis, are obtaining relief from their pain and are even enjoying improvements in their mobility because of marijuana.
While previously patients could only obtain medical marijuana from approved dispensaries, legalization of recreational weed in many of America’s states has made access to weed in all its forms available to a far wider consumer base. There can be no doubt about the importance of its role in the medical field and the help it is offering hundreds of thousands of sufferers worldwide.
