I’d like to introduce you to my patient, Ron who was kind enough to share his experience with cannabinoid medicine as part of our #CoverCannabis Project.
Prior to initiating cannabinoid therapy, Ron suffered from extreme chronic pain, resulting from football injuries and a serious car accident. He was prescribed physiotherapy and a number of pain medications but saw no improvement. His pain was so severe that he was unable to walk even short distances. He was also chronically drowsy-- a side-effect of his painkillers and the underlying sleep disorder that developed as a result of his chronic pain.
Here is just a short snapshot of my conversation with Ron, which includes an important message for both patients and practitioners alike: It can take some time to see the benefits of cannabinoid therapy, as dosing and titration is highly individualized.
Just like you shouldn’t stop taking an antibiotic before the full course is complete, patients should follow their practitioner’s dosing instructions carefully and not get discouraged if they’re not seeing immediate results. Oftentimes it can take 4-6 weeks to reach your personal therapeutic dose -- but if you give up on therapy within a week or two, you’ll never know how your life could have changed.