I’ve been squirting a few drops of cannabidiol (CBD) oil under my tongue, several times per day, and my pain levels are generally down. What a relief. Clearly it’s helping. It’s very minimally psychoactive and not uncomfortably, and not in a disruptive manner; the side-effect is generally greater when I don’t have food in my stomach.

Keep in mind that smoking is literally the single worst thing you can do to your body to increase disease progression in those of us with MS. Smoking is a more common way to get CBD:THC into your body. In my opinion, oils and tinctures are so much more convenient and dosage precise, anyway. When I leave the house, I carry a small (1 dram) dropper vial of tincture in my pocket. It’s convenient, discrete and simple, and it gives me more confidence away from home because I have a tool that can help get me out of a pain crises. It does usually take 10-15 minutes to take effect, however.

I’m going to keep up this CBD oil regimen for two more days, then I’m going to switch to a mixture that’s 2:1, CBD:THC. The latter will definitely have more of a psychoactive side effect, especially at higher doses, so I’ll keep them low. After all, I’m only trying to lower pain in an otherwise non-disruptive way, not experiment recreationally; in the latter case, I’d probably apt for no CBD at all, but CBD is the more therapeutic of the two complimentary cannabinoids. The general consensus is that adding a little THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) increases the pain-relieving aspect of the drug. I’ll test this out for four days and compare.

I should note that I’ve had a prescription for MMJ for a year now, so none of this is new to me. What’s different is that I’m in a much more controlled environment now. I’m going to put my forced isolation and controlled daily routine to some good use and come to some more specific conclusions about controlling pain with MMJ, including dose and mixture.

UPDATE:

I went outside today for the first time in a week. I took 50 yard walk to check my mailbox, and it seemed like my walking is ever so slightly improved. It’s difficult to tell. There’s still an inability to control my knee during part of its normal range of motion, but it seems to be slightly improved. I’ll definitely be watching this closely.