My chronic pain was genuinely not something that crept up on me. For my actual situation, it was like someone flipped a switch. Within the period of a few weeks, I could hardly make my way out of bed. This was well before I was able to learn about medical marijuana. The health workers tried several weird ways to help with the near continuous inflammation as well as pain I was experiencing primarily in my joints. But roughly six weeks or so, it appeared that I was just given the chronic pain diagnosis. That wasn’t something that I was even willing to accept. The constant inflammation fighting meds along with a growing dependence on pain meds forced me to think about going a different route. And I did my research. I decided that while I may not get cured, I had to do everything that I could to manage my situation so I could have a life. Part of that change was figuring out how to get a medical marijuana card. There were a huge amount of studies proving that cannabis products could certainly help myself and others deal with chronic pain. So, along with a full on lifestyle change including diet, exercise, rest as well as meditation, I began using medical marijuana. The results have been genuinely encouraging. I’m almost completely off the pain meds as well as have had the inflammatory meds reduced by a good amount. Yet, I’m moving better, sleeping better as well as living again. A majority of the credit has to go to medical cannabis as well as the team at the legal weed shop. I’m going to carry on with doing what I can to improve as well as have my chronic pain get even more manageable. I’m just fortunate that I live in such a place where medical marijuana can be part of that effort.