Cannabis can make patients 'less bothered by pain'

[edgarshade]

BBC News

22 December 2012 Last updated at 01:02

Cannabis makes pain more bearable rather than actually reducing it, a study from the University of Oxford suggests. Using brain imaging, researchers found that the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis reduced activity in a part of the brain linked to emotional aspects of pain. But the effect on the pain experienced varied greatly, they said.

The researchers' findings are published in the journal Pain. The Oxford researchers recruited 12 healthy men to take part in their small study. Participants were given either a 15mg tablet of THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) - the ingredient that is responsible for the high - or a placebo.

The volunteers then had a cream rubbed into the skin of one leg to induce pain, which was either a dummy cream or a cream that contained chilli - which caused a burning and painful sensation. Each participant had four MRI scans which revealed how their brain activity changed when their perception of the pain reduced.

More...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20810603

 

[RedRum OG]

Not really surprising. In my opinion opioids are somewhat like this too, they may actually reduce pain, but IMHO/IME the large majority of the effect is mental

 

[23536]

I actually enjoy feeling chili cream on my skin. Am I the only one? It burns like hell for a few seconds and then it feels peacefully warm for a long time.

With the exception of genitals! As a rule I always piss before chopping an habanero pepper because otherwise I'll forget I chopped it and you can never wash it off your hands thoroughly enough and when you go for a piss you will definitely be ramming your skull through your bathroom walls.

 

[Crankinit]

Not really surprising. In my opinion opioids are somewhat like this too, they may actually reduce pain, but IMHO/IME the large majority of the effect is mental

Yes and no, they can reduce the psychological impact of the pain, but opioids also block it directly, to the point where with the right dose you literally cannot feel it.

 

[sekio]

I have never heard of opioids alone being an effective pain control medication for very long. They lose efficacy in a lot of people, especially if you're not treating the underlying pain. For many all opioids do is reduce the level of pain - the "right dose" to make them feel no pain whatsoever is so high it would cause respiratory failure, nausea, or other untowards effects.

Honestly pain management is a highyl personalized thing, what works well for one may not work at all for another individual. Havingg multiple therapies that work in various different ways (opioids, capsacin, local anethesia, NMDA antagonists, NET inhibitors etc, COX-2 inhibitors, and so on) is almost always going to be a better choiuce than monotherapies (esp. with habit forming drugs).

 

[onetwo]

It's gonna take a lot more than .1 of average bud (which would be about 15mg, yes?) to make any real pain difference.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

With the exception of genitals! As a rule I always piss before chopping an habanero pepper because otherwise I'll forget I chopped it and you can never wash it off your hands thoroughly enough and when you go for a piss you will definitely be ramming your skull through your bathroom walls.

haha

 

[caseface99]

It's gonna take a lot more than .1 of average bud (which would be about 15mg, yes?) to make any real pain difference.

You might be forgetting how high one gets off smoking a couple hits without a tolerance.

 

[Foreigner]

I usually eat a cannabis indica cookie before getting dental work done and it increases my pain tolerance a lot. Dental freezing and opioids don't work on me.