Medical Marijuana use for post-op symptoms

[thebirdsanc]

Hi All -  I had my surgery to remove my AN last week, so still dealing with all the major symptoms (dizziness/wobbliness, tracking, pain, awful tinnitus).  Lost the hearing in my left ear too.  I'm on my final day of tapering off of the decadron which I know has messed with my sleep, but am still having a lot of trouble/discomfort/pain, especially at night.  I have been taking tylenol, and my doctor said it's ok to switch to advil, but they also have me on valium and oxycodone.  I don't want to use pharmaceutical narcotics as a crutch as I've seen many people in my area get addicted (even pass away). 

I know this may sound counterintuitive depending on your own opinions of medical marijuana (MMJ), but I have been a MMJ patient in MA for 2 years and user of marijuana for 13 years and had always found using MMJ had offered great relief of my pre-op symptoms (head pain, tinnitus, sleep/anxiety).  I'd like to start using that again instead of relying on pills, but obviously do not want to start smoking right away, I feel like a drunken sailor as it is, stumbling all over myself, the last thing I want to do is feel intoxicated, or have it contribute to any post-operative complications.  However, I am really trying to push myself through PT exercises and get all my senses back prior to ski season, so I'm experiencing quite a bit of pain that has led to sleep loss. 

I was wondering if anyone here has had any experience using MMJ to cope with post-op symptoms and if you had any advice or recommendations for using.

Thanks

[ccooper]

I had pretty bad headaches after my surgery and lots of neck/shoulder pain. I'm very anti pharmaceuticals and so I thought I'd give CBD oil a try. Prior I was not a MMJ user. Honestly, the oil did nothing for me ingested. I'm going to get some of the topical CBD oil for when I neck starts to hurt. I have recently thought about inhaled. I'd imagine a Dr might tell you to wait some time after surgery to let your brain heal. I didn't try any until about three months out. But I think trying many forms of alternative treatments is a good thing. I also do acupuncture which has helped a lot. Best of luck. I'd be curious how you do on it and what strain.

[thebirdsanc]

Alright so I tried it this morning for the first time.  Woke up with a splitting headache and shooting pains on the left side of my head, as I normally do when I get up in the morning.  My doctor's office refuses to fill more oxycodone, which is probably a good thing, so I got a CBD oil cartridge (250ML o-pen, strain Cannatonic, 7% THC, 35% CBD) from my dispensary yesterday. I walked to starbucks and got a big iced coffee and took a couple puffs from the pen as I walked home.  It definitely helped for about an hour or two.  Pain was not as noticeable and I was more comfortable, not high/baked feeling.  It's been about 3 hours since I vaped, and am getting pretty tired, kind of a stony feeling, but as far as temporary relief goes, I think it worked for me.

[Gr8fulDad]

I had retrosigmoid surgery 6 months ago.  While my headaches have subsided, I found the only thing that helped them when I had them was marijuana.

I did not use a high CBD/low THC strain.  I used a high THC and low CBD strain.  Yes, you do get baked...but it was the only thing that made the headaches manageable, other than narcotics which I'm not a fan of taking.