Crippling battle with pain
Search for endometriosis relief
IMAGINE razor-edged vines of scar tissue ripping their way through your insides, reaching your heart and lungs and binding organs to each other with chewing gum-like membranes.
Imagine feeling dead inside because of the leaden agony that is so widespread you can’t actually describe it.
And now imagine being told it was in your head and then discovering the only relief that did not come with hideous side effects was laughably expensive or illegal.
Welcome to living with endometriosis.
The condition, that statistically is likely to affect more than 14,000 women in the greater Cairns area, is still a relative mystery but researchers in Australia, Canada and New Zealand now want to hear from sufferers aged between 18 and 55 who have turned to cannabis for pain relief during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Endometriosis causes tissue that is normally found in the uterus to grow on organs throughout the body, causing severe and crippling pain and extremely heavy bleeding.
RESEARCH has shown that cannabis has proven the most effective pain relief from endometriosis during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Dr Mike Armour and Justin Sinclair said patients were still hesitant to use the herb.
The pair have found that cost remains a “major barrier” for patients considering medicinal cannabis, despite their concern about the long-term effects of opioids.
“Many are affected financially by having to work part-time or on reduced hours,” Dr Armour said.
That hesitation is compounded by the current drug-drive testing regime. “Police test for the presence of cannabis, they don’t test for impairment,” pharmacologist Justin Sinclair said.
Trinity Park resident, ‘Kate’, 40, is a chronic endo sufferer.
“The pain starts in the lower belly, then moves to the ribcage and I have trouble breathing,” Kate said. “I have trouble seeing as the pain ramps up to an eight out of ten on the ‘I am almost dead’ scale.”
Her first real relief from the pain came when a kindly acquaintance baked Kate medicated brownies.
“The next 24 hours turned a conservative ex-professional into a born-again hippy,” she said.
“If I could start again with this medicine I know the surgery count would have been lower, if non-existent.
“The years of pain, tears, not eating, not living when all along a herb has the ability to provide pain relief, not pain misdirection.”
Dr Mike Armour and Justin Sinclair at the University of Western Sydney are seeking survey participants in order to shape clinical trials.
“It is important to replicate what is going on in the community,” Dr Armour said.
Their research has already found that one in 10 sufferers have turned to medicinal cannabis.
Participants can find the survey at https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/nicm/research/research_projects
To read more about the endometriosis and the medicinal cannabis survey, visit www.cairnspost.com.au