Migraine Headaches and Medical Marijuana

Migraine headaches cannot in anyway be compared to a ‘bad headache’. That’s what you’d wish for while under a siege. The sledgehammer like feel can attack at the back of the neck, between the eyes, the eyes, one side of the head—it has a variety of variations. The location where the Migraines attack does tend to be consistent with the patient, however. Every Friday evening for 15 years Joleen knew that she would have a migraine. It was like clockwork. Nothing could stop it. Nothing could help it. These attacks often happen at regular intervals, without much warning and can totally impede one’s ability to even sit. Typically, any noise, light, or outside stimulation adds to the excruciating pain. Joleen could always tell the start of one when the back of her neck would start to hurt right at the base of her skull in the area called the occipital ridge. She tried aspirin, prescribed drugs, and nothing stopped it once it had started, even though it was in its early stages. She knew she had a matter of minutes before she would not be able to function and needed to get to a safe environment. Since her attacks were consistent in their timing she planned every Friday night at home, alone, in the dark. “Nothing has ever been more debilitating to me! Once it gets you, you are trapped in this tormented state until it decides it’s done. There was more than one occasion that I thought if I could only get to that bottle of pills I’d commit suicide.” And she was dead serious. She spoke to her family about it and said she couldn’t imagine continuing to go through life with such horrific chronic pain. Some people have an ‘aura’ before it begins—a visual disturbance, giving them a few minutes of warning. Migraines can last for hours, and they can last for days. And they can totally ruin a person’s life. Some sufferers are unable to work because of them. Some have lost their marriage because of them. What everyone agrees is they are devastating. Physicians have prescribed such things as sedatives, such as Phenobarbital, and other tranquilizers similar to Valium. Typically these leave a patient sleepy and over sedated, with a grogginess that can extend several days. The Emergency Room distributes Demerol, and recommends up to 3 injections of ergotamine to help control the ferocity of the attack. Those migraine sufferers who have tried medicinal marijuana have noted that if they smoked a little marijuana when their symptoms first began that within minutes the pain was controlled so that the headache did not escalate to a migraine, or abated all together! The effects of marijuana did not cause the sedation or immobility brought on by the prescribed sedatives. Expressions of a sense of well-being were reported without any negative side effects. This has been regaled, by marijuana users, as much more promising than any of the present conventional drugs on the market. One of its greatest attributes for medicinal purposes is its safety level. It has little or no effect on any major physiological abilities. It’s important to note that never has there been any report of it being a possibility of an overdose on marijuana.