Bhubaneswar: All of us have experienced pain from injuries and illnesses. However, people suffering from severe chronic pain have learned that their choices in terms of medicines are limited.
However, marijuana may be an alternative for chronic pain relief. Studies have proved that Marijuana works on some of the same areas of the brain as opioids–those that perceive pain. The active ingredients may help cancer-related pain. They can also be helpful in some pain related to multiple sclerosis and in HIV and AIDS.
Prescription opioids are absorbed into our blood vessels. Once in the vessels of the brain, transporters help these compounds to travel to their target cells where they bind to specific receptors. That binding leads to pain relief and other positive feelings.
But the brain picks up the increased binding of these receptors. After a few weeks, it starts to remove opioid receptors to lower the signal and decrease receptor binding to where it was before. The opioids are in the blood, but they’re not affecting the brain as much as they did before. That means the same dose of medication has less of an effect and more is needed to treat the same pain. This phenomenon is called tolerance.
Marijuana may be safer than opioid use in the short-term. The addition of marijuana is effectively replacing opioids for some people or it might also be boosting the pain relief patients get on the same dose of pain killers.
It’s important to remember that marijuana has side effects as well. It can slow thinking and decrease motivation. There’s also some evidence suggesting it causes permanent changes in the brain, especially in younger users. Smoking cannabis may carry similar risks to smoking tobacco when it comes to lung damage and may also contribute to heart disease.
Some of its side effects can be helpful, though. It increases your appetite, which is useful for patients who are extremely ill, don’t have an appetite and may have lost a lot of weight as a result. Unlike opioids, marijuana treats nausea, a common side effect of cancer treatments.
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