Budtender Stories: CBD for Chronic Knee Pain

Hello Canna peeps! I’m Canna Guy and I have been using cannabis for its general health benefits since I was a very young man. Today, I would like to share my experience using CBD for chronic knee pain and offer some guidance to help you find out if CBD is right for you. 

I’ll share my experience with chronic pain, CBD, dosing for best effects and different types of delivery methods. 

The Healthy Roots “Deep Roots” tinctures, R&R Medicinal Gummies, Vital Body’s Muscle and Joint Relief Cream and the Healthy Roots Muscle Rub are all products I recommend.

I first tried a CBD tincture back in 2015 when medical cannabis was just starting to enter the mainstream. I had suffered from knee pain since 2005, diagnosed with chronic fatigue and repetitive motion pain.

Unfortunately, I’m allergic to NSAIDS (non steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines) so I can’t take Ibuprofen. At first, I tried to change my lifestyle to cope with the pain. I started using custom knee braces to help alleviate it, which were helpful when used properly. If you’re experiencing similar knee issues, I recommend starting there. 

After 6-7 years my knees became progressively worse. I got to a point where I was in so much pain I was sometimes bed ridden. I stopped dancing and going out to clubs because the pain had become unbearable.

So, I started physical therapy. I was prescribed muscle relaxers and mild pain medication (which helped me cope) but the underlying condition was essentially untreatable, with the exception of steroids or surgery. Each day it was getting worse and I often had to miss work.

The first time I took a larger dose of full spectrum CBD (50mg), I consumed it along with my pain medication. I was surprised when it felt like I had doubled my dose of pain meds. I felt over medicated. Lesson learned, I lowered my doses of prescription pain medication the next time I took CBD and got much better results. 

At the time, the CBD tincture I needed was far too new and expensive to use on a daily basis, so I occasionally relented to standard RX options. Eventually, I became disabled, could barely work 4 days a week and lost interest in extracurricular activities. I’d opt to stay in bed rather than embarrass myself at work when I knew I couldn’t physically do the job.

Initially, I did what most people would do, which was “power through it” or make myself go to work even though I could barely cope with the pain. 

When CBD became more accessible, I started taking it daily. 

I was living in West Seattle and started going to the local dispensary, Canna West Seattle, where I’m now employed. One trick I learned early on was to wake up 1-2 hours before I had to get out of bed and take a dose of CBD. This really helped me get going when I needed to. It also helped with the nausea caused by my other medications. 

I’ve learned the one important thing about getting started with CBD is finding the right dose. This took a few days to work out. In my experience, the best thing to do was to start with small micro doses of 5-10 mg every couple of hours, paying close attention to its effects and efficacy. For best results you should take CBD every day. CBD builds up in your system gradually before it really starts to work for the whole body, which could take about a week. 

I take CBD via a tincture twice a day. Once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Lately, I have been taking Healthy Roots 1000mg “Deep Roots” natural unflavored CBD tincture. I really like it due to its light taste, along with no unnecessary ingredients (coconut oil and full spectrum CBD oil). It has also been helping with anxiety from PTSD. 

There are many ways to ingest CBD. There are also other great cannabinoids which I will go into more detail about, including my personal favorite ways to ingest CBD in my future blogs here at Canna! 

Thanks for checking out this new feature CBD for Chronic Knee Pain in our new Budtender Stories series. We hope this can help you the “Canna-Consumer” make informed decisions about cannabis for wellness or recreation. Keep a look out for product reviews and information on other cannabinoids like CBG, CBN and THC. Have an excellent day!