Intractable Pain

Chronic pain is one of the most common reasons for using medical cannabis. Many of the individual qualifying conditions are pain conditions and the suggested treatments for these conditions are addressed individually. Other pain conditions are certified under the non-specific “Intractable Pain” diagnoses.

Benefits of Cannabis: Cannabis has been used to treat pain for thousands of years and there is modern evidence that cannabinoids are useful in the treatment of chronic pain. In addition to treating the pain, the associated symptoms of anxiety, depression, nausea, insomnia and poor appetite can be addressed. Cannabis use can decrease the amount of opioid medications for pain control and has none of the toxicity associated with narcotics.

Risks of Cannabis: There are no specific risks in using medical cannabis under this general classification, although the risk of developing cannabis use disorder may be higher.

Types of Chronic Pain
Chronic pain can be classified by the underlying cause of the pain symptoms to guide medical cannabis therapy.

• Chronic Musculoskeletal (CMS): includes low back and neck pain, joint arthritis, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain syndrome, muscle spasms. CMS is usually dull, deep, constant, sharp, tight cramping pain.
• Chronic Post-surgical/Post-traumatic (CPS/T): includes all long standing pain occurring after trauma or surgery and presents with features of both CMS and CNP.
• Chronic Cancer Pain (CCP): the result of the cancer itself or generated by cancer treatment, typically highly variable symptoms depending on cancer and treatment, usually a combination of pain symptoms including CMS and CNP.
• Chronic Neuropathic pain (CNP): pain caused by damage or a disease in the nervous system producing a shooting, burning, electrical, stabbing, “pins and needles” pain.