Today in my Long Beach medical marijuana (cannabis) office I evaluated a 60 year old man who has been suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome. He explained that he gets a burning sensation in his right hand and also has pain with any type of wrist movement that involves flexing his wrist. The pain is most pronounced in the evenings and at night and it has caused significant problems with sleeping. He has been using cannabis successfully for the past 2 months and wanted to receive a physician recommendation so he can safely access medicine to treat his symptoms.
The hallmarks of carpal tunnel syndrome are pain (burning, tingling, numbness) and inflammation with use of the wrist as a result of compression of the median nerve which is one of the nerves that goes to your hand (specifically the thumb, index, middle and half of the ring finger and the palm next to the thumb) Most commonly it is tied to overuse (repetitive motion) involving the affected wrist. The pain can cause significant discomfort with loss of sleep and also loss of the ability to perform simple tasks pain free. Other causes can be physical abnormalities (bone spurs, tumors, old healing fractures) and some systemic diseases such as diabetes or rheumatoid arthritis.
Typically patients are treated with immobilization (splints) for 2-6 weeks and NSAID’s such as ibuprofen. The main goal is reduce the amount of inflammation. If rest and NSAID’s do not work orthopedic surgeons will sometimes perform corticosteroid injections to reduce inflammation. If that fails then surgery can be recommended.
However, I typically recommend that patients use medical marijuana to help reduce pain, reduce inflammation and improve sleep as an alternative to NSAID’s and sleeping pills at night. If patients work during the day then NSAIDS can be appropriate as it is illegal to drive and use cannabis.
Marijuana is a great medication for sleep. Patients typically only have to use very small amounts of an INDICA strain which is much less psychoactive. Meaning they don’t have to experience the “high” that most patients associate with marijuana use. It can be vaporized 20 minutes prior to lying down. Patients using the vaporization method are NOT exposing themselves to any smoke and there is next to NO SMELL.
The cannabinoids in the plant also act as potent anti-inflammatory agents. Therefore any inflammation of the tendons (attach muscle to bone vs. ligaments which attach bone to bone) will also be reduced thus relieving the patient of their symptoms.
In light of continued studies showing an increase risk of heart attack and stroke in patients who regularly take NSAIDS (such as motrin/ibuprofen/diclofenac) I highly recommend limiting the amount of medications that you take.
If you have any questions about medical marijuana and want to see if you can benefit from it’s medicinal use feel free to give us a call at 877-721-0047 or pre-qualify for free online at www.mcsocal.com
Be blessed,
Dr. Breen
