In 2009 I had an accident while snowboarding the left me with a compression fracture in my T4 vertebra or in layman’s terms, a broken back. Doctors did what they could but other than immobilizing my back for 6 weeks there wasn’t much more than a few months of painkillers to let my back heal. I went through physical therapy and while it was helpful in the moment it didn’t seem to provide any log term relief.
Over the next 6 years chronic back pain became a part of my daily life. Every 4-6 weeks there would be a flare up of the muscles around the broken vertebra. These were days of extreme pain and immobility to the point where getting from bed to the bathroom took several screams just to get there. The only way I found to get any relief was from strong doses of Percocet that made me entirely worthless for at least 24 hours. I would wake up the next day do some stretching, get back to life and wait another couple weeks for it to happen again. This became routine over the years and while I did find some relief from Massage or Yoga, the days of extreme anguish were like clockwork.
In 2015 I found CBD and thought it was another scam to pull more money out of my wallet but I was willing to try almost anything at this point so I gave it a try. After a month of 20mg of CBD per day I noticed absolutely nothing so I took a trip without my CBD. Five days into the trip my back started to tighten and on the sixth day I was out of commission without any Percocet. The following morning I made my way to the airport and flew back home in so much pain I was almost in tears. Once I was back in my car, the CBD was there and I took 4 doses, while not expecting anything I figured I couldn’t hurt. By the time I drove an hour home most of my pain was gone and by the time I went to bed it was barely noticeable. This was the day I realized CBD was the real deal.
From this experience I went on to take CBD consistently for the 5 years and while I have learned a lot, there were only 2 agonizing days in the last 5 years. At the beginning I wasn’t feeling any effects because the doses were way too low and benefits present themselves above 100mg/day. On days where I know I’ll be doing something strenuous like rock climbing or mountain biking, I’ll take a double dose and it helps a lot. I have consistently had less stress, less fatigue and more focus since working this into my life.
I highly suggest anyone suffering from chronic back pain to try at least 100mg of CBD every day for a full month. With this you will truly understand the benefits that are possible. It changed my life and I hope it can change yours too.
