What is the Point of Pointless Pain

I've been thinking about pain lately.  Not emotional pain.  Not, damn I stubbed my toe pain.  But the agonizing compound fracture type of pain.  I find that level of pain not only useless overkill but piss poor engineering on someone's part.

Yes yes, I know, pain is an important part of the bodies function to protect itself.  Lay your hand on the stove burner, yep that hurts and if you are smart you jerk your hand away.  Cut your finger with a knife, sure enough that hurts too go get a band aid.  But at some point pain just becomes excessive and a waste of our body's energy.

Seriously, think about it.  Mountain climber guy falls off of a cliff leaving him with one jagged edge of his tibia is sticking out the back of his calf.  Now mountain climber guy can look down and assess the situation visually.  "Holy crap that hurts and that bone shouldn't be doing that."  But you see, he can't assess the situation visually as he is writhing in absolute complete agony.  I ask what is the point in that level of pain.

In my case I know I'm in the battle of a lifetime with the Effing Evil Empire.  Lately the E³ has been on the march and the battle rages in my various bone metastasis.  These battles are painful.  No not painful, at times they are take your breath away, whimper like a babe, mewl like a kitten painful.  Why?  Why not tone it down by at least half.  By half would at least cut out the mewling.  I know I have mets. I would know if they just hurt.  I don't need a direct take your breath away shot of pain to tell me something is amiss in my body when a shot across the bow would work just as well.

I appreciate the need for pain.  I really do.  Obviously the doctors do to or they wouldn't have this cute little chart in every room:

TEN WORST PAIN IMAGINABLE!  Hell we don't need that.  That's just stupid.  I propose that five becomes the new ten and there is no pain over five.  Anything over five is just really useless to mountain climber guy, cancer person, birthing women and anyone else with owies, boo boos, and compound fractures.

Don't even get me started on tooth aches!

Talk to you later.

Cannabis, Medicine and FECO Oh My!

I’m no doctor, expert or stoner.  This post is purely based upon my experiences with Medical Marijuana and offered as a reality reference only.

I can’t help but notice in reading the various FB threads and news feeds devoted to the medical virtues of Cannabis how confusing it all seems to be.  This is because, whether proponents want to admit it or not, modern Cannabis is a pharmacology in its infancy populated by many desperate people seeking miracle answers.

I wouldn’t be totally transparent if I didn’t mention I’m a proponent of Cannabis, especially for medical purposes.  I would also be remiss if I didn’t [as I’ve mentioned in previous posts] say that my goal isn’t to get high…I can’t stand being pot-high.  I would also be remiss in not saying I believe through reading testimonials etc. I’ve come to the conclusion that Cannabis is my W.M.D when it comes to beating the Effing Evil Empire.

Now that my “credentials” and disclaimer are out of the way, I can say that medical marijuana plays an important role in my fight against the Effing Evil Empire with the down side that I hate to be pot-high.  That said, I thought I’d throw out a few of my experiences for those of you newly fighting the Empire and those of you that may have misconceptions about the medical Marijuana market place.

The first thing to realize, a lid is a lid is a lid and it is a measurement that only over-fifties will recognize and it, a lid, no longer exists.  Good thing there are no seeds in a bag anymore because there are no more album covers left to help you with the culling process.   Ironically, the second thing to realize, the current dispensary entrepreneurs are mostly over fifty, so their marketing is stuck in the 60s and 70s.

Thus, the name of the dispensaries and medicine, seem for the most part to carry names that harken back to the mid-sixties and would send any “newbie” back into the arms of Big Pharma.  Don’t let it!  Just because your nearest dispensary is named something like “Holy Crap I’m Really Baked” doesn't mean there aren't caring and informative people tending the store.  Also, get used to the Jamaican flag and Bob Marley. Like I said, many dispensaries are stuck in the past.  Rule of thumb, just like your doctor, if you don’t like your dispensary find a new one.

As for the medicine.  Each and every strain has a medicinal purpose and you get to make an informed choice either through Internet resources or informed “bud tenders.”  What you won’t be able to get away from, for now, are the names of the medicine.  Just smile as you read: Obama, Strawberry Kush, Skunk Wallow, Diesel Spill, Crotch Haze, Ear Wash, Couch Lock, etc.  Okay I made most of those names up, but each strain offers a very specific remedy for very specific side effects if not specific cures.

The big gun in fighting the Effing Evil Empire is Cannabis Oil or FECO [Full Extract Cannabis Oil].  People argue hard and long about how to make it, how much CBN, THC, etc. etc. (bullshit ad nauseam) should be in your oil.  Whether to follow Rich Simpson's plan.  Suffice it to say, a room divided no matter how educated the room thinks it is.

Simply put, Cannabis Oil is made in a few steps.  Place the bud/flower in a solvent, heat the concoction without blowing your house up then evaporate the solvent off and you are left with a potent oil.

Importantly, if you are the FECO consumer [FECO being Full Extraction Cannabis Oil] you need to be concerned about the solvent.  Many of the oils use solvents such as Naptha.  Really?  Do you want that in your body?  Choose oils that use Everclear or food-grade alcohol.  I started with the Naptha version and was poisoned the whole time.

Then there is the alphabet soup….THC, THCA, CBN, Decarboxilation [or some spelling of same].  No one knows what the right combo is.  Get the medicine in you and adjust accordingly.  Simple.  Worst case, won’t cure you, but will make you more comfortable.  No one has ever, ever OD’d from Marijuana!

If you don’t like the side effects of Cannabis there are a couple of things you can do that work famously.  Depending on the strain you choose you may or may not experience a huge case of anxiety.  Simple solution, glass of orange juice…’nuf said.

Or, switch your strain, Indica and Sativa and hybrids there of have distinctly different effect on each distinctive one of us.  Whatever works for you.  Simple!

If you don’t want to get high, two simple solutions.  The first, an easily attainable amino acid from any vitamin aisle, Citacoline.  If that’s not good enough then make your own suppositories with coconut oil.  These are what work for me.

Cannabis oil, or FECO as It’s being called now, benefits many of us - patients and care-givers alike.  Don’t let the infancy, schools of thought and ignorance of the product, steer you away from such an effective tool in the fight against cancer.

Talk to you later.