Exiting Opioids: Six Months Of Freedom

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24 Years Of Pharmaceutical Pain Medicine Comes To An End - Cannabinoid Replacement Therapy

In early January of this year, I noticed something my doctors had not – new laws that would hit California and the nation in regards to how insurance companies cover opioids. Over the decades of using very strong pharmaceuticals for pain management, I felt that I was in a good place as I’d gone down such a brutal path in the past but now was only taking a low dose of hydrocodone, 40 milligrams a day. In my mind that was just a tad of opioids with some Tylenol. I figured it would be easy to quit even with a plethora of pain management and cancer diagnostics that would have allowed my doctor to keep on prescribing. But, there was an added bonus that I had to inform my doctor of – the necessity to co-prescribe Narcan with an opioid as well as the necessity to do monthly requests to the insurance company and get authorizations every month. I was ahead of the game and there was a specific reason. I became Genevieve’s daddy, as most know, a few years back. In order for that to happen, tragedy struck first – that was a decade ago with the loss of her biological father and included opioids. With that said, there’s no way I was going to bring home a filled prescription of Narcan and have it sitting in the house to spike PTSD in Gen’s mom, my fiance, every day. I knew there was no way around this law and despite my own doctor’s insistence that we continue to treat me with pharmaceuticals as she was concerned my quality of life would diminish without them, I decided that weaning wasn’t an option and the pills had to leave my daily ritual immediately.

Looking back I could have gone a tad easier on myself, but peering over my shoulder at the past 24 years of strong medications life was never easy. It was just numbed. I have a strong will and huge reason to live, a child’s life counts on me daily and that’s not a God complex – it’s more of a duty given by a higher power. Genevieve, in her journey to freedom with cannabinoid medicine, has never been ‘saved by me’, it’s always been the other way around. I was very wrong in my thinking that Norco 10mg Hyrdrocone was a low dose, every day I think about how people overdose and die on prescribed dosages of that very medication. Statistics are very real in that more people perish to a prescribed dose than by overdosing on pharmaceuticals. I needed to stay alive and for a very good reason, if not for me, for Genevieve. The pretty brutal physical withdrawal was just as bad as that of Oxycodone, which I quit in 2017. But what I didn’t expect was the protracted withdrawal that’s often referred to as PAWS. It’s the body and brain getting used to functioning without the pharmaceuticals and causes quite a bit of anxiety, depression, and lack of sleep. PTSD gets spiked by it as the seizures the withdrawal caused slowly dissipate into history. It was no walk in the park as I expected, but then again my brain’s chemistry has changed and my body was so used to the quick ability to shut out the pain. Cannabinoid Medicine has been the lifeguard in this journey to freedom.

Six months later I look back at this journey and consider every outcome if I would not have quit the opioids on my own. Daily talking to patients that have been cut off by doctors who need to learn quickly about how cannabinoid medicine can work for them is an eye-opener. My own routine, or as some say protocol, literally changes by the day as I use what’s needed vs. what’s planned to be taken. This goes against the grain of research that’s been done in the little office up in the front of our home that one can generally find me in – but it’s what works. Too much THC at night tends to make me wake up very medicated and at first, I wanted to change that and be fully alert so I’d use CBD right away in the morning. Then I found that I’d be too alert and would need double the dose of THC I’d normally take in order for it to be effective. So, by using myself and a couple of friends that also got caught up in the pharma and addiction crisis, I was able to come up with various different protocols that will work for people that have developed a drug dependence. I’ve also discovered the necessity to customize almost every protocol out there – and not just with cannabinoid replacement therapy. Over and over I find that patients are gaining different results when using protocols they gained from another instead of creating by their own bodies needs. This is something we can accomplish as adults but is much harder when treating a child. Kids like Genevieve can’t tell you how they’re feeling – or can they? Paying close attention is much easier without a diet that includes opioids – so nowadays I’m able to see much closer what really works for her and when. Once again – in treating severe autism and epilepsy with her the protocol can not be a rock-solid daily regimen as she has different needs at different times. She’s the reason for the season – without Genevieve in my life, I’d still be taking those addictive pills that have killed a dozen people in the U.S. alone while I typed this article.

What I’ve found? Of course, there are multitudes of formulations and protocols in which one could use them to replace pharmaceuticals with cannabinoid medicine, but it’s important to look at those two words and not distinguish them by anyone cannabinoid or terpene profile. There are no magic ratios that are one size fits all. But one thing is for sure – THC and CBD are not the only two answers. CBN has been the ‘go-to’ cannabinoid for years in treating compassion patients – especially Genevieve, and terpenes are the Holy Grail of cannabis oils. Genevieve and I both thrive from higher THC strains used in infusions that allow THC to convert a tad into CBN – it’s been very hard to get the type of concentrated oils reasonably that the house once used and needs in the current California market. When I met Genbug she was a compassionate patient and the program gave away everything – something that’s now historic in our state. We get by using that homemade infusion with bottom buds, and when available add extracted oils to it – especially for Gen at night so we can get some sleep. One thing that’s been a continuum for the entire family has been that cannabis-infused MCT oil. We give so much of it away locally but are careful to stay within the Max amount. An infusion is not a concentrate unless you infuse it with a concentrate by gaining pressed rosin and infusing it into MCT. We’ve been able to treat just about everything in the house with that combo if the infusion alone isn’t strong enough – especially when adding topical CBD applications and other ingested THC, CBD, and other cannabinoids. On most days I’ll start off by using that infusion along with some CBD so I get up and go – Cannabidiol has always had that effect on me. But I am careful not to use too much ingested or I’ll need a lot more inhaled and especially ingested THC and CBN to offset it. It’s all a balancing act that every patient needs to learn. For many, I teach them that “THC is the gas, CBD is the breaks” so when they’re medicating with THC they keep CBD on hand to slow things down a tad if they get over medicated.

One thing I never expected, in the beginning, was that topical CBD or CBD at all for that matter was going to play such a huge role in pain management as it does. Having multiple cannabinoids ingested at decent strengths along with a good topical in action does the trick. My hopes are these products become more available to consumers that have a limited income. Many of the products I try I can’t afford to buy – which is one reason I don’t sell them. There’s a huge number of people that need to get off of the medications they’re on. We have the ability to help them and as a community that’s created an industry out of something that’s been so taboo in the past, it’s an opportunity to shine. One thing for sure – we need more light shining in that manner. Please consider patients as well as profits if you’re in business.

Thank you to all that support others on their journey to health!