On the Healing Powers of THC

I have to admit, I’ve wheeled down the THC path a few times before. Yes, I know it’s very difficult to stay on the path when under the influence. Luckily, I’ve solved this problem by only imbibing in bed. I say imbibing, because for me, smoking the stuff is impossible.

In fact, I couldn’t even roll a joint in my able-bodied heyday, much less now with only one functioning hand. So, I only use cannabis oil, which is a treat when added to a half cup of coffee spiked with a smidgen of dark rum. Luverly.

In truth, I haven’t traversed this particular yellow brick road for six months. I was having terrible trigeminal neuralgia attacks at the time, and cannabis oil sent me crashing off the path headlong into a tree. I’ve been keeping my distance ever since.

Then, last weekend, I started up again. I immediately noticed that my claw of a right hand was far more relaxed than usual.

I’m currently allowed to take a 5 mg diazepam capsule every second night, and I’m on a high dose of gabapentin (at 2,700 mg a day), but that wasn’t sufficient to quell the neurogenic pain in my right arm.

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The diazepam eventually stopped my arm from going into spasms, but if I take anymore, my doctor has warned me that I’d be flirting with dementia. Actually, the way he put it, we’d be stepping out! But it wipes out what little physical power I still have.

THC does nothing of the sort, and unlike alcohol, it doesn’t cause me a hangover. I’ve even managed to go a couple of nights without taking diazepam because of it. So, what’s not to like?

Here’s what I can do with my right hand after taking THC, in the form of cannabis oil. (Photo by John Connor)

This is what my right hand can do after I take diazepam, a benzodiazepine. (Photo by John Connor)

This is my right “claw” if I’ve taken no medication. (Photo by John Connor)

OK, I’m well aware that marijuana is no panacea, as fellow Multiple Sclerosis News Today columnist Ed Tobias pointed out in a thoughtful column earlier this year titled “Using Cannabis to Treat Your MS? A Word of Caution.”

As this is my column, I can only cite my own reactions to THC. I stress THC, because — again from my own experience — I found that CBD had no effect on my spasticity, not even a placebo effect. I tried it for months and concluded that it might have other benefits, but not in this area. For me, CBD turned out to be expensive, and worse, it was no fun!

Anyhoo, anything that can help the muscles in my right arm and hand relax a bit is great. As I noted in a previous column, “Introducing My ‘MS Popeye-Spinach Hypothesis,'” the constant tensing up of my right arm has built up a terrific bicep. Yet while it might look good, it is completely useless because my arm can’t straighten.

And I can’t even, in American terms, flip the bird.

Even more upsetting, here in the U.K., our more complex “V sign” is now beyond impossible!

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