Until a work accident landed me in the hospital with damaged vertebrae, I had never experienced serious health problems.
The only other time I was admitted into the hospital overnight was during a bad bout of food poisoning during the first year of college. But after I recovered enough to be released, I had an uphill battle ahead of me with severe chronic pain. At times the pain was so severe that I wondered if I would be trapped in a living, waking nightmare for the rest of my life. After seeing a close friend die from opiate overdose, I was reluctant to use prescription painkillers. Luckily my brother had just recently moved back to our hometown after being in California for many years. He got a medical marijuana card in our state within a few weeks of coming back and urged me to get one myself. He told me that cannabis could give me some of the desperately needed relief to get some of my life back again. I took his advice and made an appointment with his medical marijuana physician. This man was extremely helpful and knowledgeable about the plant and its many effects. He told me that I need to try something called “ratio” products. He said that the ratio marijuana oil has 50% CBD in it and 50% THC. The combination of the two cannabinoids is a powerhouse for pain relief for many patients, so he told me to give it a shot. I kept my expectations at bay, but I was pleasantly surprised with the effects of the ratio marijuana oil. I felt a strong sense of physical relief that was comparable to the best medication available.