Health Pain

Ask A Doctor – CBD For MS, Cancer, And Nerve Regeneration

cbd cells
Written by Dr. Leah Zachar

Nerve pain is associated with several different disorders and injuries, and can cause sufferers an undue amount of pain and discomfort, often to debilitating levels. Though different situations require different long term healing solutions, CBD is quickly becoming known as a safe way of treating different kinds of nerve pain.

Multiple sclerosis and parotid cancer

Question: I have MS as well as nerve damage from parotid cancer removal back in 2002. My questions are general. I am just wondering, with the nerve pain from the cancer, and muscle pain & weakness from the MS, what are a couple recommendations you’d have in helping these two diseases?

Answer: Multiple sclerosis is a disabling disease of the brain and spinal cord. It presents differently in each patient. There is no one “classic” pain in MS, but it can be divided into some general groups. Most (but not all) of the pain is directly due to the disease itself, which is when the myelin that covers the nerve fibers dissolves, ultimately causing neuropathic pain. Neuropathic pain is very hard to treat because the nerve is raw. CBD is an agent which binds to certain receptors in the spine which then decreases spinal (neuropathic) pain. Parotid cancer causes a completely different type of pain. I would need to understand you in greater detail to give you a thorough answer i.e., perform a full history and physical – something your PMD has probably done. That said, CBD can most certainly reduce the pain you have, but it cannot eliminate the cause of the pain if indeed it arises from an expanding malignancy.

Nerve regeneration

Question: Do nerves ever heal from nerve damage (injury) Does the pain ever get better if it is from damaged nerves?

Answer: Nerves will regenerate at the rate of 1 inch per month. Sensation can be regained even after long periods of denervation. The pain can improve, but patience, in this case becomes truly a virtue. A confounding factor seen in nerve injuries of the back are that though the nerve may eventually heal, because the muscles of the back have been weakened by months to years of disuse, the back muscles become strained/sprained easily. Each injury causes pain, and the cycle of pain from muscle reinjury can be continuous unless the muscles themselves become strengthened – through physical therapy and exercise.

Chiropractor and nerve release

Question: What do you think of chiropractic as far as releasing nerves that can be pressed and which can cause the organs to slowly malfunction. How would CBD work with that?

Answer: I do not have an expertise in chiropractic medicine. However, if a nerve is pressing on a blood vessel that prevents appropriate delivery of oxygen to the visceral organ, and the nerve strangulation is released, that is a good thing. Whether or not a chiropractor can benefit you depends on the chiropractor’s expertise and the specific problem to be addressed. CBD can benefit the patient during this process because CBD decreases the central transmission of pain. In other words, though the cause of the pain may still be present, the person’s “feeling” of the pain diminishes.

Overall, nerve pain can come from many different issues, which require their own treatment solutions. CBD is a new front-runner for dealing with pain, and can often accommodate the needs arising from many of these different situations.

Dose: Click HERE for the General CBD Dose Guidelines.

Disclaimer:
This website and the accompanying articles are made available by the publisher only for educational purposes and as well, in order to supply you with general information. It is not intended to provide medical advice to your medical questions or individual circumstances. You acknowledge that neither your reading of, nor posting on this site establishes a physician-patient relationship between you and the website publisher or consulting physician, or any of the physicians with whom the host is affiliated. This website should not be used as a substitute for seeking competent medical advice from a licensed professional. Readers of this information should not act upon any information contained on this website without seeking counsel from your personal physician.

Have anything to add? Your voice matters! Join the conversation and contribute your insights and ideas below.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

About the author

Dr. Leah Zachar

Dr. Leah Zachar, M.D. is a physician who worked for nearly thirty years in Internal Medicine.
She currently is a scientific adviser to CBD Testers. Dr. Zachar believes that there is much that medical cannabis, and cannabidiol in particular can offer to traditional medicine.