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Dear Stoner: Does cannabis help with carpal tunnel syndrome? My wrists and thumbs are killing me, and I’ll try anything.
Rita
Dear Rita: As someone who types for work, I sympathize. One winter, the base of my thumbs started throbbing, and the pain never really went away. If I could sell it as an athletic-related injury, maybe I’d bring it up to friends, but no one wants to hear about thumb pain from a guy who smokes weed for a living. Luckily, cannabis use has helped manage that pain, especially after I added oral CBD oil to the mix.
Jake Holschuh
The carpal tunnel is a thin tube in the wrist containing a nerve that becomes inflamed after continued pressure, causing pain, numbness and tingling. And cannabis consumption, whether done by smoking weed or taking non-intoxicating CBD, has been shown to help fight pain-causing inflammation. Research on CTS and cannabis use is hard to find, but if you’re really suffering and have already tried pharmaceuticals, it’s worth taking a chance on CBD oil and looking more closely at medical marijuana.
Send questions to marijuana@westword.com.
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