Marijuana Benefits MS Patients as Other Remedies Fail
Source: Bloomberg.com
Marijuana, taken in pill or spray form, helps ease certain multiple sclerosis symptoms, while about a dozen other alternative remedies offer no benefit, according to a report by U.S. neurologists.
Not enough research exists to say if smoking the drug helps in MS, according to the report.
The pill or oral spray form of marijuana may help reduce stiffness and involuntary spasms, pain from those symptoms and frequent urination, though it doesn’t help reduce tremors, the study published today in the journal Neurology found. The results form the basis of new guidelines from the American Academy of Neurology on use of alternative therapies in MS.
The guidelines are the first by the academy to say which complementary treatments appear to work the best and which don’t for patients with multiple sclerosis, said lead author Vijayshree Yadav, an assistant professor in neurology at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. Many MS patients use alternative therapies along with standard drugs to treat their symptoms.
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-24/marijuana-benefits-ms-patients-as-other-remedies-fail.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
Folks with this type of MS have nothing to look forward except getting progressively worse. The attacks no longer come, you just get s l o w l y worse.
If marijuana can help patients, esp. those with primary progressive MS (for which there is no treatment) you'd think the medical community would embrace this alternative being there are few if any treatments for those with PPMS, as the immune suppressing drugs are of no use in such cases of this particular type of multiple sclerosis.
At least it may offer relief with some of the symptoms and improve the quality of life for those afflicted with this curse of a disease for which the cause remains unknown.
There are studies out there that show that marijuana may very well slow and even perhaps halt the progression of this horrible illness! I'd suspect others with such a DX will take any little bit of help they can get when dealing with such a grim reality.
Thanks for posting this.
& recommend.
She has an option. With this illness you need every option one can get. I feel sad for her but she is not alone however. I see many like this on other message boards re: MS and marijuana. 
By the time they figured out what was wrong with me, it was too late. I was already at that stage some 20 years after the symptoms began. For all I know I could have been born w/it as my mother, her grandmother and god only knows who else had it in my family (mother was adopted).
I have no options really either. I find medical marijuana does help but the prices are out the door and most people w/this illness don't have a whole lot of extra $$$ floating around.
It is rather infuriating to me really. I've noted that these "dispensaries" charge as much as $350.00 an oz. Who has money like that when you are living in poverty, the reality which most people with MS face -- broke as hell most of us all of the time. *sigh*
I wish they'd legalize it and make is accessible for those that really can find help from it for whatever problem they may have that is helped by it.
It doesn't cure MS but it might help a whole lot with depression, another thing that goes with MS being it is a brain disease (they have figured out that much anyway).
Sorry to read about your friend. I'm not that far gone yet and hope I never get to be that far gone yet as I'll likely get tossed into a nursing home. 
Ugly disease this crap is -- few real options for anyone w/it IMO. I've seen it all over the years, believe me. They still have no idea what it is much less how to treat and/or cure it.
Sure they have their $75,000.00 drugs which may help one out of every three persons with this illness. And the help is that you'll have seven rather than ten attacks. Big damn deal is what I have to say about that!
Well, duh...
