Recently Diagnosed or Relapsed? Stop Looking For a Miracle Cure, and Use Evidence-Based Therapies To Enhance Your Treatment and Prolong Your Remission
Multiple Myeloma an incurable disease, but I have spent the last 25 years in remission using a blend of conventional oncology and evidence-based nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle therapies from peer-reviewed studies that your oncologist probably hasn't told you about.
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Cannabis or Opioids for Myeloma Pain?
Cannabis or opioids for myeloma pain? How does the MM patient know which pain med to use? I think most MM patients will follow their oncologist’s instructions. But the study linked below counters that practice.
I am a long-term MM survivor. The long-term side effect of mine that causes the most pain to me are:
The joint pain in my shoulders is a long-term side effect, meaning that I am not able to make the pain go away. At least not anytime soon. The solution? CBD Salve for my shoulder pain.
The salve isn’t exactly inexpensive, but the jar lasts me a while. I massage my shoulders twice a day- once before I go exercise in the morning and again before bed.
The video below is a little sales-y for me, but this is the product that I use, and the video stresses several of the reasons why I use it, including:
- industrial hemp meaning no THC- I don’t feel tired or sleepy after applying it-
- the salve isn’t greasy-
- It does smell like Ben Gay, but that does not bother me-
CBD CLINIC — Revolutionary Pain Relief
✅ Potential applications
Topical CBD (in salves/creams) is being used or explored in the following contexts:
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Musculoskeletal & joint pain (arthritis, osteoarthritis, etc.)
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Preclinical/animal work: CBD (and topical CBD gel) have shown anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects in rodent models of joint damage. MDPI+4pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov+4vorihealth.com+4
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Human survey/real-world data: In one large online survey of people with arthritis, self-reported pain reduced by ~44% on average after CBD use (though this was not a randomized controlled trial). pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
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Example: Many people apply CBD salves to knees, hips, hands for osteoarthritis or other joint pain.
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Topical pain (skin, local inflammation, sore muscles, minor injuries)
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There is suggestion that topical CBD may modulate local inflammatory pathways and skin-based pain/inflammatory responses. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov+1
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Some case reports: One small case series used a transdermal CBD cream for radicular/neuropathic pain (e.g., from spinal issues) with reported relief. PubMed
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Thus, using a CBD salve on a localized area of pain (e.g., muscle strain, joint surface, superficial nerve irritation) is a plausible application.
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Adjunctive to other pain treatments
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Because systemic pain treatments (like opioids, NSAIDs) often have side-effects, some people use topical CBD as an adjunct (additional) therapy. Some survey data suggests people reduced use of other pain meds after using CBD. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov+1
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In research contexts (e.g., for myeloma-related bone pain or neuropathy), a topical could be considered as part of a multimodal pain-management strategy (though evidence is limited).
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Are you an MM survivor? Do you suffer from joint pain? Email me at David.PeopleBeatingCancer@gmail.com and I will reply to you ASAP.
Hang in there,
David Emerson
- MM Survivor
- MM Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
Cannabis Access Tied to Lower Opioid Use in Patients With Cancer
TOPLINE:
A national claims analysis found that opening medical or recreational cannabis dispensaries was associated with fewer opioid prescriptions and shorter opioid supplies among commercially insured adults with cancer. Medical cannabis dispensary openings were associated with a reduction of 41.07 patients with opioid prescriptions per 10,000, whereas recreational dispensaries were associated with a smaller but significant decrease of 20.63 patients per 10,000, suggesting cannabis may serve as an alternative for managing cancer-related pain.
METHODOLOGY:
- Pain affects more than 65% of patients with advanced cancer, and opioids remain the standard therapy. However, cannabis is increasingly available and may offer analgesic or opioid-sparing effects. Currently, 39 states and Washington, DC, have adopted medical cannabis laws, and 24 states and Washington, DC, have legalized recreational use; however, prior studies have not evaluated the effects of recreational cannabis laws on opioid use in patients with cancer or examined cannabis availability across historically undertreated subgroups.
- To bridge this gap, researchers conducted a cross-sectional analysis of Optum’s deidentified claims database from January 2007 to December 2020, employing a synthetic control method to examine the association between cannabis dispensary openings and opioid dispensing among commercially insured adults (age, 18-64 years) with cancer who had at least 6 months of continuous enrollment.
- Overall, the study population included a mean of 3.05 million patients per year (mean age, 43.7 years; 59.0% women); 3.7% were Asian, 8.0% Black, 9.1% Hispanic, and 74.2% White.
- The outcome measures were the number of patients with opioid prescriptions per 10,000 enrollees with cancer, the quarterly mean days’ supply per prescription, and the quarterly mean number of prescriptions per patient.
TAKEAWAY:
- Medical cannabis dispensary openings were associated with significant reductions in opioid prescriptions, with the rate of patients with cancer receiving opioid prescriptions decreasing by 41.07 per 10,000 (95% CI, -54.78 to -27.36; P < .001).
- Following medical dispensary openings, the quarterly mean days’ supply of opioids decreased by 2.54 days (95% CI, -3.16 to -1.92; P < .001), and the mean number of prescriptions per patient reduced by 0.099 (95% CI, -0.121 to -0.077; P < .001).
- Opening recreational dispensaries was associated with smaller but significant reductions, with prescription rates decreasing by 20.63 per 10,000 (95% CI, -35.35 to -5.91; P = .049), mean daily supply decreasing by 1.09 days (95% CI, -1.72 to -0.46; P = .04), and the mean number of prescriptions per patient decreasing by 0.097 (95% CI, -0.134 to -0.060; P = .01).
- State-level analyses showed that most treated states experienced reductions relative to synthetic controls, and no increases in opioid prescribing were detected after dispensary openings. No consistent heterogeneity in policy effects was observed by age, sex, or race and ethnicity.
IN PRACTICE:
The findings of “this study suggest that cannabis may serve as a substitute for opioids in managing cancer-related pain, underscoring the potential of cannabis policies to impact opioid use,” the authors wrote, emphasizing that “[f]urther research should explore individual-level impacts, the mechanisms underlying these changes, and the long-term effects of cannabis policies on cancer pain management.”
SOURCE:
This study, led by Felipe Lozano-Rojas, PhD, University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, was published online in JAMA Health Forum.
Cannabis or opioids for myeloma pain Cannabis or opioids for myeloma pain Cannabis or opioids for myeloma pain