Cannabis Toxicity and Muscle Injury

[custard]

wondering if anyone knows anything about this:

for the past year or so, i've had a muscle injury: torn rotator cuff on both shoulders. during the summer i saw a physiotherapist, and over time did exercises as my muscles healed. a few weeks ago, my condition suddenly got much worse, to the point where i was in chronic pain that was so severe at night i couldn't sleep until i was prescribed narcotics. since then i've had a cortisone injection and am (hopefully) on the mend.. but i'm trying to figure out why it got so bad out of nowhere, when i had already healed significantly and regained some strength.

the only obvious lifestyle change that occurred when my shoulders got really bad was smoking pot every night before bed. i moved into a new house on sept 1, and one of my roomies is a very generous pothead so i fell back into the habit. it was a stressful month and i slept worse than usual (insomniac) but stress and sleeplessness are not new experiences for me..

so, to cut to the chase already, does anyone know anything about cannabis toxicity and certain muscle groups? my physiotherapist said toxins have a tendency to hang around longer in certain muscles such as shoulders and hips. i know weed can be a powerful medicine for some, but anyone think it could have damaged my body and exacerbated things in this case?

 

[harmacologist]

Highly unlikely that cannabis is the direct cause of that sort of pain. Cannabis is essentially non-toxic in normal consumption levels in humans.

Simply stress and poor sleep could be the cause.

 

[custard]

yeah, i thought it was a bit extreme when my physiotherapist told me cut out weed and alcohol completely for 2 months. good to have a second opinion.

maybe it is as simple as stress and sleeplessness. i've never experienced such severe physical pain due to what is largely psychological. perhaps i didn't give the mind-body connection enough credit..

 

[Mafioso]

there probably are other toxins that are inhaled in the smoke from the plant matter, but i don't think it would cause severe increase in pain.

i have a friend who was in a car accident and is a pretty heavy smoker but he says sometimes if he doesn't have muscle relaxers he'd rather not smoke. something about being really stoned when he's in pain makes it worse for him. from the way he explained it, it sounded like he became somewhat paranoid about his injury or became more mentally focused on his injury and made it harder to cope with.

if it is linked with your cannabis use, i highly doubt it is of a physical nature, but that is just my opinion. if the pain persist it might not be a bad idea to seek a second opinion from another doctor.

 

[Foreigner]

wondering if anyone knows anything about this:

for the past year or so, i've had a muscle injury: torn rotator cuff on both shoulders. during the summer i saw a physiotherapist, and over time did exercises as my muscles healed. a few weeks ago, my condition suddenly got much worse, to the point where i was in chronic pain that was so severe at night i couldn't sleep until i was prescribed narcotics. since then i've had a cortisone injection and am (hopefully) on the mend.. but i'm trying to figure out why it got so bad out of nowhere, when i had already healed significantly and regained some strength.

the only obvious lifestyle change that occurred when my shoulders got really bad was smoking pot every night before bed. i moved into a new house on sept 1, and one of my roomies is a very generous pothead so i fell back into the habit. it was a stressful month and i slept worse than usual (insomniac) but stress and sleeplessness are not new experiences for me..

so, to cut to the chase already, does anyone know anything about cannabis toxicity and certain muscle groups? my physiotherapist said toxins have a tendency to hang around longer in certain muscles such as shoulders and hips. i know weed can be a powerful medicine for some, but anyone think it could have damaged my body and exacerbated things in this case?

Everything in the body is interconnected.

Smoking anything places a burden on the immune, lymphatic and liver systems to clear things out, which means opportunity costs for parts of the body that are already in recovery. You're only as strong as your weakest link, after all.

Bottom line... if you find smoking makes it worse, then maybe stop smoking. You don't need a scientific explanation to react to what you already know is true.