Few can even imagine what a spinal cord injury might feel like. The severity of these injuries can be incomprehensible for anyone except those who have them. Injuries to the spinal cord can be bad. Really bad. They can and do paralyze. Frequently too. Some depend heavily on others for even the most basic care. Most now want to know the best marijuana delivery San Jose offers. Why now?
Spinal Cord Injuries Explained
The human body can withstand much trauma. It heals well in most cases. However, spinal cord injuries are often among the most physically damaging. Some are so severe that paralysis occurs, sometimes temporarily, sometimes not. There is no feeling, no function, no strength below the site of injury. Many people suffer these injuries every year. Many, many people.
Breaking a leg or an arm is minor compared to the spinal cord. Perhaps inconvenient and painful, they eventually heal. Life goes on. A break in the spine is not so easy. Life is seldom ever the same again. The spinal cord plays a fundamental role in the central nervous system. It is a major player, coordinating and controlling physical movement by transmitting between brain and body.
A fracture here will weaken this function. A break can sever communication completely below the injury site and result in paralysis, or it can block this transmission partially and only allow some messages through. Exact location matters too. Generally, the higher the injury, the worse the damage. If at the neck, paralysis is total, whereas if at the base, arms remain functional.
Quadriplegia is the term for paralysis below the neck from cervical injury. There is no use of arms or legs. If injured at a thoracic vertebra, the patient is paraplegic. This means paralysis from the torso down. There are other problems too. Pain can be insane. Insomnia too. There are muscle spasms, bedsores, and so many other complications and worries. Fortunately, there is good news:
· Powerfully Analgesic
Cannabis is a potent painkiller. Everybody who uses it knows this fact. Chronic, severe pain follows spinal cord injuries wherever they go, sometimes for months, often years, even forever for some. Pain is both real and phantom, and it can devastate quality of life. Simple tasks become impossible, like daily chores, for example. Cannabis is famously analgesic. It can certainly help patients.
Studies show how cannabinoids work to activate specific receptors in the body, most notably endocannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 in the central nervous system. The area most harmed by injury. As the U.S. National Library of Medicine explains, cannabis influences pain perception, thereby relieving it. It numbs. Patients start forgetting about it, a very significant finding.
· Notably Neuroprotective
Early activation of CB1 and CB2 receptors invokes the exact protective response needed for recovery. For spinal cord injuries, this discovery is huge. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, it triggers a crucial neuroprotective response. If there is even partial recovery of the spinal cord, recovery can be immense. It could be the difference between some movement and none.
· Recognizably Antispasmodic
Spasticity is among the most common issues afflicting those with paralysis. This is the result of constant interruption of communication between nerves. Messages never reach the brain’s reflex control room. While the spinal cord does moderate reaction, the brain is even better at it. Disrupted signals like these cause an overactive muscle response. Spasticity can be mild. Or violent.
Physically dangerous, some of these episodes can terrify. However, thanks to many studies, we know the antispasmodic effects of cannabis well. According to the British Journal of Psychiatry, an entry in The Lancet from 1890 shows Dr. J. Reynolds already then referencing its antispasmodic value. More studies suggest as many as 70 percent of patients find immeasurable relief from weed.
· Famously Sedative
Everybody knows how weed can put you to sleep. Insomnia and related issues are common after spinal cord injury. Pain, worry, spasms, stress, and more keep sufferers awake all night. Sleep apnea is a real risk. As the American Association of Sleep Medicine explains, around 77 percent of these patients find breathing tricky when sleeping, while a whopping 92 percent sleep very badly.
Other risk factors exist too. Anxiety. Hypertension. Heart failure. Insufficient sleep further weakens an already compromised immune system, a serious issue for spinal injuries. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, some cannabinoids are ideal for this, like tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which makes it easier to fall asleep quickly, for much longer, and of much better quality.
Then, cannabis causes couchlock. Some Indica strains are notorious for this. Frankly, they make perfect tranquilizers. What is more, various studies show cannabis lengthening Stage 4 sleep, which is REM sleep, the very deepest part of the sleep cycle. As such, weed proves extremely effective for treating a myriad of sleep issues. In fact, it regulates sleep cycles, maintaining healthy patterns.
· Wonderfully Mobile
One of the biggest issues with spinal injuries is loss of motor function. It affects most patients in some way or another, some worse than others. For some, damage can be permanent. However, a study in the U.S. National Library of Medicine shows cannabidiol, or CBD, making rats with similar injuries a lot more mobile. Clearly, it boosts locomotor function and lowers injury severity. While these findings hint at enormous promise, similar studies are not even in clinical trials yet. Even so, they indicate huge potential for therapeutic treatment of spinal cord lesions, along with motor sensory and movement in those severely injured. What is clear, throughout all studies, is that cannabinoid treatment is most effective the earlier it starts.