.........PAIN POLITICS..........Do you know someone in PAIN?

His ideas were what got rid of my chronic pain.

I also have fibro.

Two things to try:
1. Cranio-Sacral therapy (don't ask me why/how, but it works)
2. Medical Marijuana

I don't know what state you are in, but go to one of the states that have medical marijuana programs.

This is a very short version of my story that led to me starting medical marijuana:

Before I started medical marijuana, I was failing out of high school because I could not get out of bed (even with high levels of pain killer both OTC and narcotic-combined) and just wanted to die because the pain was SOOOOOO bad.

One night, I was in so much pain that my mom took me to the emergency room. They gave me the most pain medication they could, and I was still sobbing.

They said "sorry, can't give you any more pain medication and there is nothing we can do..." So, after being released from the hospital, I went to a very close friend with a cast-iron skillet and asked/told him to hit me over the head with it as hard as he could to knock me out.

I told him that I would write a note and we could video-record it so he could use it as a defense in court if I happened to die.

He told me that he would not do that to me, but he suggested I come with him. He took me to another friend's house and they encouraged me to try marijuana to relieve my pain. I was VERY anti-drug, but I was literally at a choice of killing myself (since they refused to knock me out and the pain was too great to tolerate) or trying a drug that I was drastically opposed to.

It took more than a half an hour for them to convince me, even though I was in such a dire situation, and eventually I chose to try marijuana. I took one hit from a joint and within ten minutes my pain was easing up.

I could still feel my body. I could still feel that I was in pain, but at least it took the edge off the pain enough that I could be glad to be alive again.

Nothing bad happened.

Nothing bad happened to me from having smoked pot, and it had helped me more than any other drug the doctors had EVER given me for any of my medical conditions.

So, I went and did a LOT of research.

I had about thirty pages of research and NONE of it conclusively showed any negative side affect other than legal/social ramifications.

In fact, for the Presidential race, Marijuana Policy Project put out a $20,000 challenge to prove medical marijuana is harmful. No one cashed-in...:

http://www.medicalmarijuanaworks.org/

Anyway, to "wrap-up" my story...I did a LOT of research before perusing medical marijuana in my state. Since I have started the program, my health has improved so much.

I am out of bed-every day!!!

(The pain used to keep me in bed more days than not...I have not had a full day stuck in bed since my last operation...)

I go to school-regularly now.

In the beginning of the story, I mentioned I was failing because of being bed-ridden. Within months of starting the program, I pulled my grades up and ended up graduating as Valedictorian of my high school class.

From there, I went on to college. In college, I continue the medical marijuana program and have been given the honors of the National Dean's List, Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, and other reflections of my academic achievements-while on medical marijuana.

Trust me, the pills that they sell as "prescription narcotics" are far more dangerous than medical marijuana. When I take marijuana, I it stops the pain but leaves my mind relatively clear. When I take a prescription narcotic, I am confused, angry, screwed up, and still in pain....

Now that I have tried marijuana I will not touch the poison they sell with their prescription pads.

As an example of how narcotics are bad, I had a surgery where I was given narcotic pain pills to take once I went home. As soon as I went home, I started using only marijuana to deal with the pain, and I actually recovered faster than I had recovered the past 2 times I had had the same surgery and had used prescription narcotics.

Marijuana actually helped me HEAL faster...I was up and walking within a week instead of it taking months like it had the two times before...

Then, one day I ran out of marijuana. Since the government keeps pain medication, such as marijuana, out of our "drug stores," I was without pain medication and had to rely on the narcotics the doctor had given me.

When I took the pills, I became very violent and could not help but to claw at my skin. The medicine made my whole body feel gross and...

Anyway, I react VERY badly to prescription narcotics and very well to medical marijuana.

Seriously...look into medical marijuana. The following states have programs:
*Alaska
*California
*Colorado
*Hawaii
*Maine
*Maryland
*Montana
*Nevada
*New Mexico
*Oregon
*Rhode Island
*Vermont
*Washington (state)
source: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3391

The only side affects I can think of:
1. Sometimes you cough if you smoke it.
(If the gov would de-regulate it then it would be cheap enough to be able to afford to eat it, but since it's so expensive and it takes more medicine if you eat it than if you smoke it...)

2. Sometimes dry-mouth after having smoked it.
(Water is good for you...worst case scenario it reminds you to drink more water, right?)

3. Absolutely NO driving or operating heavy machinery while under the influence.
(Even if you feel capable, do NOT drive or operate machinery for the same time period you would if you had taken prescription narcotic pain medicine.)

4. Social things.
(Many people will look down on you, so you must be strong enough to look back at them and know that they just don't/can't understand...)

5. Legal problems.
(Even in states that have voted for medical marijuana, the Federal government continues it's tyranny....luckily there is only one candidate-McCain-still in the running that have said they will not end the SWAT team raids of medical marijuana patient's homes...)

On a related subject, help defeat the Real Id-RFID. Email RFIDpetition@gmail.com to help ensure that our medical records are not part of our identification.

Hope that helps,
Rochelle

yeah...it took me 3 months to find a doctor willing to sign my paperwork, even though it has protections in place to protect the doctor from the DEA...

Basically, in my state, a doctor needs to sign that I have "one of the following conditions..." and specify which problem I have. It says right on the paperwork that it is NOT a prescription, yet it took me 3 months of pain trying to find a doctor willing to risk it...