My father has had a slipped disk in his back for several years now which causes him a lot of pain at times, and he has used cannabis in order to alleviate the pain for a number of years on and off, but he doesnt dare to use it in the day time generally because of the effect it his on his mind, ie, he is basically unable to function because he gets so stoned. He has been given co-codamol from the doctor as medication. Basically im just wondering if anyone can suggest any strains which might be suitable for pain relief, but which will not leave him knocked out on his arse after hes smoked them?

The best method for me is eating cookies. Smoking doesn't really help at all, whereas oral ingestion does help.

i recon you should force him to smoke a shit load of weed in a couple day period, so that he raises his tolerance to it, so when he smokes in the day after that to medicate he feels the effects less in his head but still gets the pain relief. or smokes of low amounts, but regularly all thru the day to keep topped up but not too stoned...

eating it is deffo the best pain relief method tho, but ur gonna get stoned... very stoned

cheers for the replies, had no idea eating it was a good way to use it for that

This cream apparently relieves arthritis sufferers so would maybe be of some help to your father too!

1 PINT OLIVE OIL
2 1/2 oz (65G) BEESWAX
1 1/2 oz (40g) CANNABIS TRIM LEAVES
2 PINTS WATER
ESSENTIAL OIL OF LAVENDER (OPTIONAL)

Ideally cream should be made in slow cooker but can be done in saucepan. However, simmer only, DO NOT BOIL.
Add oil, trim, and water to pan and simmer for 4 hours, stirring every 30 mins.
Allow to cool.
Pour contents of pan through a sieve into a plastic container. Press Cannabis trim with back of spoon in the sieve to force out as much of the oil as possible, then discard trim.
Place container in coldest part of your fridge. After 24 - 48 hours the oil infused with cannabis will solidify, which will allow you to separate the water from the oil. Discard water. If your fridge isn't cold enough can be placed in freezer.
You should now be left with a slightly green olive oil in solid form.
Place the green-tinged solid oil into a saucepan and gently heat. Simmer only, DO NOT BOIL.
When the oil has returned to liquid state, add the beeswax (small pieces will dissolve quicker than one big piece).
Stir until all the wax has dissolved. Add a few drops of essential oil of lavender if you wish for a less 'Canna' aroma.
Pour into suitable containers. Wide-necked jars or margarine tubs are best.
Allow to cool.

Application of the cream twice a day (morning and evening) seems to produce th most favourable results.

I know it sounds like a lot of effort but once you've made a batch I think it will last some time so you don't have to keep making up a load every few weeks.

cheers mulcahy, ill have a word with him see if he likes the idea, sounds like it could be really useful though thanks

Just been having a look on a few sites that I googled. Looks like most strains that are good for medicinal benefits seem to get you pretty wacky unfortunately. 'White Rhino' seems to pop up quite a bit but it also says it's very couch-lock. Haven't been able to find any references of smoking it or eating it without it making you stoned at the same time.
He might have to put up with his prescribed drugs during the day if he doesn't like the feeling of being stoned all day and then come evening sit back and relax with a bifta and giggle away to you've been framed or something



e2a: Just nicked this quote off nig28 - 'Medical Experiment' thread. He's suffering from pain from having spinal surgery:

My first experiment was with an ammount equivalent to the size of a small pea alongside my medication to see how the two would get on in an "L-plate". The effect was I didnt get that stoned but the pain relief was... well strange it didnt ache, it felt some how different probably 50% of the of the original sensation. Anyone else experiance this?
Im going to try a larger "good spliff worth" dose once ive completed this post excuseme if im rambling!

Could help your dad. A pea sized amount sounds tiny but if it relieves 50% of his pain but doesn't get him that stoned then it might be manageable for him.

Well, it tends to be Indica that makes you go into couch-magnet mode, so it might be worth finding out what the best medicative strain of Sativa is. Based on my own experiences, I wouldn't expect Sativa to have the better medicinal effects, but even if he just gets some pain relief, and yet stays functional, it has got to be a worth looking at?

very surprising but i actually know folks that SWEAR by sativa for pain relief!! But unfortunatley its back to the old chestnut that different strains medicinal value can vary wildly from one person to another, you just got to try one after the other till you find the one that ticks your boxes.

e2a: i personaly find that canna isnt really effective as a 'painkiller' as such, i find it helps to distract my mind from the pain and forget it to a degree

My father used to suffer slipped discs fairly regularly, he had two or three that were prone to slipping, He used to have them massaged back into place by a chiropractor. My father didnt smoke weed, but he was using painkillers and anti inflammatories. But the chiropractor always used to get him back on his feet. I think your father must have a more severe case, as mine didnt live daily with the pain of a slipped disc, only when it slipped, and if he could see a chiropractor soon enough it would cost him hardly any time off work. I dont know what it cost him to the chiropractor though... Best of luck to your old man, I really hope you find a solution, it cant be nice living with such pain.

Peace

Thanks for all the nice replies everyone, ill tell him what iv found out
cheers
weedboy

you need to experiment cookies, yogurht, chocolate, all recipes seem to work, once found to be the best way of ingestion.

Better to ingest, with some fat ie butter, when digesting the metabolites in the liver release a higher rate of thc

some medi users like a sativa/indica hybrid to get the full on body stone with the neural high to function.

White rhino, sweet tooth, california orange, etc.

These are all grades which are not high in THC but are higher in the other cannabinoids that relieve pain.

These strains vary in ratio of sativa:indica, so do your research to find out which one is which. Generally, sativa is a head high and indica is a body high. However, the head high grades can cause confusion and the body high grades can cause EXTREME lethargy depending on the THC conent. But these grades i mentioned, as i said before, are low in THC and are not known or renowned for causing a major high or stoned effect.
I have heard from many friends that a lot of growers prefer to grow a grade like this together with the high THC grades because they do not like to constantly smoke the highest grade. , i know one thing though, if i were brave enough to risk growing (i have to give credit to those who do because you need a fat set of balls if it isn't legal in your country, especially in some countries in the world) then i would be growing the highest grades all the way because i can handle it. My THC resistance levels are so ridiculously high it isn't even funny because it costs me a freaking fortune to get bonged these days...
I wish i lived somewhere where it isn't illegal to grow... might migrate one day; maybe that's the only answer unless people in the UK wake up and vote Lib Dem so we can all grow loads of weed without breaking the law...
I just don't get why we cannot have our soft medication legally instead of the shitty fucking heroin based bullshit the government allow doctors to prescribe.
One problem is that many people still need to wake up and get an education because many people STILL haven't yet realised the FACT that medicines such as codeine are MORPHINE meds. They STILL do not know that morphine is more cracked out than heroin even is and they STILL do not know the following process:

* OPIUM POPPY ---> OPIUM MILK oxidized and becomes black OPIUM OIL ---> DIA-MORPHINE (ie. HEROIN) ---> MORPHINE!!!

That's right, morphine is FURTHER down the line than heroin and makes opium look as innocent as chives, thyme, marjoram, etc!!!

This is what our UK wonderfully logical GOVERNMENT prescribes us... a more INSANE version of HEROIN direct from your local GP, and yet they have made cannabis ILLEGAL even for medical usage and a criminal offence to even possess let alone grow in the UK...
Well, doesn't surprise me really, since they openly tolerate and even condone one of the MOST FILTHY and IMPURE of all drugs on the entire planet, ie. alcohol, that ENTIRELY stands side by side in the category of heroin, crack, cocaine, amphetamines, etc. in REALITY whether you like that view or not (i'll no doubt get loads of bloody pissheads jumping all over me and other biased drinkers who delve occasionally for this factual observation just because they feel they MUST defend their drug of choice so they don't feel like a junky for using that drug... ahhh... the sadness of self-justification that causes people to reject the truth usually out of ignorange and/or arrogance/pride)!!!

Anyway, why don't the poncy, snotty government just WAKE UP and STOP prescribing us with DANGEROUS & ADDICTIVE drugs that DO cause FATAL overdoses and adverse reactions and instead just let us have the herb for the ill who need it???
When will they stop with their double standards on the alcohol/cannabis issue???

The sooner they make it legal then the sooner decent and law abiding citizens will be able to grow their own medication and without being branded as criminals or drug addicts. They should at least allow ill people to grow a certain amount of plants per year or something...
They could just give everybody who claims income support or incapacity benefit or who has a disabled badge a free license to grow, but "oh no! not a chance!" say the snotty gits sipping on their HIGHLY INTOXICATING brandy and whatnot...

Well... poor old folk like me who are too simple and not willing to take the risk of being put in prison (i have a wife and a number of children to think about and take care of so cannot afford to take such risks) are butt-f*cked by these sly b*stards with the wonderful choices that follow:

* Break the law and become a criminal and run the risk of a criminal record and prison.

* Go to the doctor for filthy MORPHINE pills or whatever other disgusting "legal" sh*t they prescribe for your problem and so you either become a bloody prescription junky for life or end up lobotomized by pills or whatever.

* Live in pain and suffering.

Thanks for the WONDERFUL and INCREDIBLY LOGICAL choice you leave us, you SELFISH B*STARDS!!!

I have to live in f*cking pain due to you arseh*les who run things!

Just for the record, you are talking utter crap about Morphine.
Heroin is much more potent than Morphine.
I wake up to pain every day, generally after a fitful night of pain filled sleep. If it were not for Morphine, I doubt I could enjoy half the quality of life I now have. Cannabis is of no use at all for me, as a painkiller.
Used correctly for pain, Morphine and the other opioids are a godsend for those of us who live with chronic pain. In my experience itt does not render me lobotomised, neither am I chasing the next hit like a junkie. It simply dulls down pain, thankfully.

When it comes to Cannabis, for many of us THC is the more useful cannabinoid. I find so-called "Indica" strains far from helpful. They do nothing to relieve my pains, and amplify any depression that I may be going through.
Sativa's however, lift the mind and mood, and free me from being overly focused on the pain that is going on. Plus they potentiate the Morphine I'm using, allowing me to use smaller doses.
Hybrids give the best of Sativa without the manic edge. For me, they are the way to go in terms of pain management. And for some of us, "Management" is as good as it gets.

You know very little about pharmaceutical analgesia - yet you scream invective against all and sundry in the medical world? Hmmmm.

Some of us are profoundly grateful for the many doctors, nurses and specialists who enable us to cope with circumstances that would otherwise overwhem us. As well as being thankful for the drugs they give us that actually do work, and relieve our pain.

How did you know, was it this line?

How did you guess?
I wouldn't mind, but Morphine is comparatively speaking one of the safest drugs on the planet.
And as anyone with a Chronic Pain condition will know, its not as if it Doctors were dishing out Morphine pills like Smarties! You need to be in some serious difficulties to be prescribed Morphine, and it normally requires a trip to a Pain Management consultant who will try out loads of other things first.
And I really do wish folks would stop saying that cannabis is an analgesic that can replace Morphine. Utter tripe. It is no doubt a very good analgesic for some people and certain conditions. But it is a million miles away from being a general purpose analgesic on the same level as the higher Opioids.

Coming back on topic - I hope that cannabis will do the trick for the "slipped disc". Certainly it is better eaten than smoked when used as a pain medication. All the discs in my neck and upper back are compeletly shagged, dried and crumbling away (my lower back is the same, but then so much bone has been removed I'm not sure if I have any lumbar discs left!). The pain can be excruciating, so I have very real sympathy for weedboy's father. He may find it better to take any pain relieving meds he has been prescribed first, then try a bit of eaten cannabis on top of them. But start with extremely small doses, because eating cannabis can be a very heavy experience. Hopefully, alongside his conventional meds, it will help him relax and rest at least. If he's lucky (and let's hope for this), he might find that eating a wee bit each day keeps everything nice and calm.

I would also highly recommend he try some very basic yoga, especially yoga exercises for breathing, balance and posture. Sounds stupid, but works better than you would think if you keep at it. Posture is vital in spinal pain management, trust me.

Ingesting it does seem to be the most effective way of giving relief. I suffer from Behcet's Syndrome, which sounds like nothing after reading what Arnold has to put up with (sorry to hear what you go through, you seem to have a good attitude towards dealing with it btw). The two main symptoms that I find weed helps with are Arthritis and Meningoencephalitis (which has something to do with the membrane that protects the brain and spinal cord).

There's a few things worth mentioning (only from my own experience, don't take as gospel). Firstly, all prescribed drugs actually work better than cannabis. What I mean is, if you were not to take any of your painkilling drugs and rely solely on cannabis, chances are you would be in absolute agony and wouldn't be able to cope on a daily basis. When using cannabis I have found that it's not an alternative, but something extra to take on top of your prescribed medication, something that takes the edge off slightly, relaxes and calms your body and mind.

This brings me on to my second point. For me (I stress only me, I don't know about other people) it doesn't actually offer any pain relief. It does however seem to compliment my other prescribed drugs by relaxing my body even further and also psychologically keeping me up-beat and generally happy. And that's not because I'm stoned out of my face and numb to emotion. It seems to help to make you look at things positively all the time. You think to yourself "I'm not a pillar of health, but so what." There's people in the world that live in such bad conditions that they'd kill to be in my place if all they had to put up with was a medical condition.

Thirdly, and more importantly in relation to this threads original question (sorry, as usual have gone off on a bit of a tangent) I don't think your father will be able to use cannabis without getting high. It doesn't matter whether you bake it, smoke it, fry it, BBQ it, vape it, your gonna get high. His best bet is to start off with maybe not much in a spliff/cookie and see what the effects are. He might be able to find a happy medium where he gets the pain relief he requires but can also function during the day.

I don't know whether your father works or not but there's another thing to consider if he does plan on smoking through the day and still go to work (unless he's his own boss!) My boss pulled me aside a few months ago and commented that every time I came back from my lunch break he could smell "wacky backy" on me. He knows about my illness and I think that's why he didn't pursue anything further but he did warn me just to be wary of other people, especially if we had visitors from head office in the the building. Basically, what I mean is it's still (I say still as I'm clinging on to the hope that in my lifetime I'll legally be able to cultivate it) an illegal drug which many people naive on the subject will still class the same as someone with a smack addiction and treat you like a criminal. This could lead to losing your job which would be a nightmare to anyone but especially to a father with a family to support.

Someone earlier mentioned White Rhino. This is my personal favourite as well but unlike what the guy below said about it not being high in THC, it gets you completely whacked!! I don't know it's THC content but I've smoked a fair few strains and this seemed one of the most potent. It's pretty much a 50/50 indica/sativa cross I think (don't quote me!) so you get both the body and cerebral effects which is a winner in my books. It doesn't make you feel on edge at all but you still get a nice uplifting high. It does however give me severe couch-lock after I've smoked a few biftas and I often find myself sitting comfortably somehow almost leaning sideways at a 90 degree angle, which just isn't natural (but feels so good )

Anyhow, you've got a few decent and different opinions on here on what people recommend. I hope you can figure something out for your Dad as any kind of pain isn't good, no matter where or how much/little it hurts.

Fingers crossed


Stinky

Dutch Passion's Flo - Nice uplifting and motivating smoke.

Orange bud - Nice clear, happy high - avgerage potency.

Dutch Passion's Master Kush - relaxing body smoke but clear head - not too strong at all.

If growing is out of the question like it is for a lot of people, It might be worth trying to score some actual weed from African/Jamaican/Rasta source, rather than a skunk.

This sort of weed is a more uplifting and a lot less of a debilitating smoke in general.

Hope you get something sorted out that works!

All the best mate.