A multiple sclerosis sufferer who was in pain so excruciating she wanted to chop off her legs with a chainsaw says cannabis has changed her life.
Alexandra Fisher was diagnosed with MS in 2014 and had to quit her job as a part-time athletic trainer that year because of her ordeal.
The 51-year-old, from Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, was confined to a wheelchair after taking medication prescribed by the NHS to ease her chronic pain.
But after being dosed with medicinal cannabis in 2021, Ms Fisher claims she can now walk her dog again.
She is also less dependent on her chair and has felt a huge improvement in her mental well-being.
Alexandra Fisher, 51, was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 1995 and multiple sclerosis in 2014
But after being prescribed medicinal cannabis in 2021, she claims she can now walk her dog (pictured), is less reliant on her chair and has felt a huge improvement in her mental well-being
She was forced to give up her job as a part-time sports coach earlier this year and was confined to a wheelchair after a series of NHS treatments proved unable to relieve her chronic pain
Ms Fisher, who was also diagnosed with fibromyalgia in the 1990s, said: “My pain is finally something I can keep at a constant annoying nagging instead of saying, ‘Oh my god, my legs are on fire.’
Her pain still climbs to an eight or nine out of ten when she does “too much” – but claims she now averages around four, which she describes as “bearable”.
She said: “It doesn’t make me want to break my legs in half or chop my legs off with a chainsaw, which I’ve threatened to do on many occasions.”
Unlike recreational cannabis sold on the streets, medicinal cannabis is grown and processed to pharmaceutical standards.
Certain species are legal in the UK following a landmark decision in 2018 , but very few patients were able to secure a prescription. Doctors are reluctant to prescribe it to the NHS.
Medicinal cannabis usually comes as an oil or spray containing either cannabidiol (CBD) or tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
THC is the psychoactive element of cannabis that causes the “high,” although some formulations of medicinal cannabis contain both CBD and THC.
In 2014, Ms. Fisher, who lives with her partner and stepdaughter, received approval for an experimental cannabis spray called Sativex because of her MS.
However, her local NHS trust was not among the 39 in the UK prescribing and funding the treatment – which costs a whopping £500 a month if prescribed privately.
But in 2021, Ms Fisher, who is back working as a grants administrator at a local school, received a private prescription for 30g of medicinal cannabis from the Lyphe Clinic on Harley Street.
It costs just £150 a month, which is a saving of £4,200 a year compared to Sativex.
She uses an e-cigarette-like vaporizer to ingest the medicinal cannabis instead of smoking it – which doctors advise against.
Before taking cannabis, Ms Fisher had tried medications such as gabapentin, pregabalin, diazepam and tramadol – but none of them relieved her of the pain.
Ms Fisher added: “I can go to concerts again and not just exist in four walls.
“What cannabis has given me back is the ability to participate in life again, albeit part-time.”
Medical cannabis has been legalized in the UK after parents of two boys with severe epilepsy campaigned for its legalization.
Billy Caldwell’s mother was forced to break the law by importing THC-rich cannabis oil to try to reduce her son’s seizures, while Alfie Dingley’s mother temporarily moved to Holland to access it.
In June it was revealed that around 9,000 patients in the UK have now been prescribed medicinal cannabis, mostly from private providers, for conditions including chronic pain, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Users believe that smoking or inhaling vaporized cannabis can help relieve symptoms, but experts say clinical evidence is lacking.
Discussion about this post