Cannabis oil gives mother hope after years crippled by back pain
FOR 13 years she suffered pain so severe that she spent most nights lying awake in tears.
Brenda Davidson’s sciatica caused agony in her back, hip and leg – and strong painkillers did nothing to ease her symptoms.
But Mrs Davidson has now found relief from an unlikely source – cannabis. Her symptoms virtually disappeared after taking drops of oil derived from cannabis plants.
Cannabis is the most widelyused illegal drug in Britain, linked with hallucinations and anxiety.
But Mrs Davidson says she is almost pain-free since taking a legally-available cannabis oil which contains no tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – the psychoactive compound that causes a high.
‘It is as if the pain has been switched off like a light,’ she said.
The treatment has not yet been approved for use on the NHS, but is legally available online.
Two days after taking her first drop of oil eight weeks ago, Mrs Davidson, 55, said she could not believe the difference it made.
The mother-of-three, originally from Kirkwall, Orkney, was on holiday in Italy 13 years ago when she began to feel pains that turned out to be the onset of sciatica.
The condition is caused by problems with the sciatic nerve which runs from the pelvis to the feet.
Mrs Davidson said: ‘I just took painkillers, and went to see the doctor when I got back home.
‘Again they gave me painkillers, and I got an X-ray but nothing showed up. It got to the point that I could no longer walk the dog. I would be in so much pain and just come home crying my eyes out.
‘I have been on different painkillers over the years and they put me through physiotherapy but it did not really help.’
As a former cafeteria assistant, Mrs Davidson was on her feet for long periods – and was often reduced to tears by the pain. She suffered sleep deprivation and was unable to walk very far.
She began taking the drops after recommendations from friends.
At first she was sceptical, but thought she would try it, and ordered a 10ml bottle of cannabis drops online for £54 – enough for six to eight weeks of treatment.
Mrs Davidson added: ‘I remember it was a Saturday that it first arrived at my home, so I tried it, then again on the Sunday, but it wasn’t until the Monday, at work, that I thought, “I can’t believe this, I am not in any pain”.’
Mrs Davidson’s conventional painkillers include paracetamol and anti-inflammatory drugs. But she plans to stop taking them once she is confident the cannabis oil will continue to work.
She and her husband Raymond, 47, an offshore worker, recently moved to Nairn, Moray. Mrs Davidson added: ‘I am now enjoying walking again and I am hoping to be able to get back to the gym.
‘If it does start to niggle a bit by tea-time I just take another drop and it’s fine again – I really did not think it would work, but it has.
‘The NHS should definitely look into providing it on prescription.’
Cannabis oil is not approved by the Scottish Medicines Consortium for use on the NHS in Scotland. However, patients can make special requests for any medicine not approved by the SMC.
‘I did not think it would work’