Affliction / Illness: Severe Osteoarthritis, Dercum’s Disease
At the age of 52, I’ve already had both knees totally replaced and my spine fused. After my next five fusions, I will have even more surgeries to look forward to. This is what living with severe osteoarthritis is like.
Dercum’s Disease is a rare disorder that causes multiple benign fatty growths in my body. The disease is progressive and causes me to be in constant pain.
My daily regimen of medication includes: antidepressants, muscle relaxants, anti-tremor medicine, high blood pressure medicine, vitamins, and narcotic painkillers. My prescription for OxyContin is 20 milligrams taken 3 times a day. Even with all of these medications, my pain and muscle spasms still remain relatively uncontrolled.
One medication my physicians cannot currently recommend that I use is cannabis. I find this rather ridiculous since they are all aware cannabis allows me to reduce my intake of the addictive pharmaceuticals that I am prescribed.
All I want to do is live a normal life – will you help me do this by allowing my doctors to recommend medical cannabis?
