My dad refused pain meds the day after his back surgery, and is only taking pain meds at night now that he's home. But the herniated disk had affected his right leg, and it was so painful, that now that it's not, I guess the incision site seems like small potatoes? I don't know. I've called dibs on whatever Percoset he doesn't use, for emergencies.

When I was having really bad back pain, I snagged a few of my dad's percoset and oxy-somethings. Both of which made me feel crappy as hell while barely affecting the back pain.

For me, the solution ended up being whisky and large amounts of dollar store aspirin, alone or in combination. And maybe a heat pad.

Point being, you don't know what will work, and controlled narcotics aren't always the most effective. But you should have the freedom to find that out for sure.

Oh, but that reminds me. Is anyone aware of weed being used to slow the growth of cancer? Is this a new thing? People in his support group are telling my father he should be using medical marijuana for his prostate cancer.

(He's starting radiation soon, and if it were for symptom relief I've got no issue. But what he's hearing is more like it will actually affect the cancer. If that's the case I haven't heard about it but he is looking for advice. )

I have not heard that, brenda. It seems unlikely, but I'm not really up on anything but the symptom relief.

That's my reaction, but before I tell him it's bs I want to do due diligence. He's doing the traditional treatment regardless so it's not like he's in danger of deciding to go with the woo instead.

(When MA finally gets around to instituting its medical marijuana law, I'm planning to see if I can try it, it sounds as though a small dose of THC might be an effective intervention for my fibromyalgia, because opiods are not a good solution. I don't need a firehose, I need something like a dry ice fire extinguisher.)

When we were in California, we drove past a medical marijuana storefront called Herban Legand. Durr hurr hurr. But I really wanted some pot for my insomnia. Stupid Ohio.

My dad refused pain meds the day after his back surgery, and is only taking pain meds at night now that he's home. But the herniated disk had affected his right leg, and it was so painful, that now that it's not, I guess the incision site seems like small potatoes? I don't know.

True story: when I had my back surgery, I was 100% pain-free when I woke up in recovery, because the when they removed the herniated disc material, there wasn't anything pressing on the sciatic nerve. So I didn't need pain meds.

Except for the part where I had been taking the maximum prescribed dose of percocet around the clock for 6 weeks and then stopped abruptly, kicking my junkie ass into withdrawal. Shakes, sweats, insomnia, other horrible symptoms. Good times.

It might make him more mellow during the treatment period? I can't imagine that it actually affects the cancer itself.

When I was having really bad back pain, I snagged a few of my dad's percoset and oxy-somethings. Both of which made me feel crappy as hell while barely affecting the back pain.

Oxycodone made me feel horribly fuzzy and off balance when I took it after my wisdom teeth removal, and when I switched to ibuprofin after 4 days I didn't notice much difference in pain relief except that the latter didn't wear off as fast. I don't think I'm cut out to be a junkie.

Oxycodone made me feel horribly fuzzy and off balance

Which for some people is apparently the selling point. I don't understand that. I got really drunk just once in college, and I really hated the way the wallpaper vibrated. Sure, everything was funny, and I was oh so witty (yeah), but I couldn't focus on things. I couldn't trust the universe, and that wigged me way, way out.

Except for the part where I had been taking the maximum prescribed dose of percocet around the clock for 6 weeks and then stopped abruptly, kicking my junkie ass into withdrawal.

For whatever reason, he is loath to take an aspirin usually. So he hadn't been taking anything prior to surgery. No idea how I'm related to him.

It wasn't fun fuzzy like after a few glasses of wine, it was like the feeling you have with a fairly high fever from a flu. Not something I'd want to seek out.