THC/CBD Making my Bladder Worse????

[Onthespot]

Hi!
I'm struggling... hoping for some feedback. Currently I use a low dose of Percocet and Gabapentin to get through my days of bladder and pelvic pain. It does not take the pain away, but takes the edge and sharpness off the pain enough that I can function and not be on the couch or in a hot bath.

In my efforts to no longer be dependent on opioids, since I think at some point I won't be able to get them with all the changes in how chronic pain is being treated, I decided to try CBD alone as well as with a small amount of THC added in a sublingual drop.

Oh boy was my bladder pain worse! Felt like fire in my bladder and running down my legs. 33mg of a glycerin based no additives CBD oil with low dose THC. This morning woke up much better, but can still feel some urethral burning and bladder pressure. Decided to try just the CBD 10 mg minus the THC this morning and still getting some burning, slightly better however still there.

I am having a hardtime finding info on how this made my bladder pain worse! Most everything I find talks about the benefits to the bladder and pain. Yes, I know everyone is different... just hoping to hear if anyone else had this problem and if they were able to sort it out and get relief.

I have really hesitated to even try even try this stuff and had high hopes( no pun intended) for relief so that I can discontinue the opioids, but my fear is now with all I have tried over the past 4 1/2 years ( the list is long and expensive) I might be out of luck.

Thoughts, encouragement, ideals, your story, different brand, does how you ingest it matter?

Thank you

[KatrinaE]

Hi,
Sorry to hear about your struggle with pain, this is a hard condition to live with. I am not sure which brand of CBD oil you are using but from what I have been reading they are all different strengths. I am looking into it myself for anxiety and pain. Have you continued using it or have you stopped? You might want to see if there are any interactions with CBD and the pain medication that you are taking. Maybe also reduce dosage and see if that makes a difference. Take care and I hope you get the relief you need
Katrina

[ICNDonna]

I absolutely understand how you are feeling. I am on fulltime opiod medications --- I keep hearing reassurances that the negatives about opiod use doesn't target use for people who take it for pain --- not for a "high" --- but it still is a little upsetting to me to have to take a written prescription to my pharmacy every month, which is required in Oregon.

I have decided that I will continue my meds as long as I need them to live a normal life. In my family, if anyone is on pain meds, each dose is recorded to prevent accidentally taking too many (or too few).

If it ever happens that opiods will not be available, I will deal with it then.

Sending gentle hugs,
Donna

[noey]

Hi! I think how you ingest it might matter. There also can be different effects from different brands and strains. Personally I don't enjoy using any marijuana product in edible forms, whether sublingual drops or gummies, cookies, you name it, I've tried them all and they give me what I've heard called a "body high". I hate body highs. They cause me to have all kinds of bad reactions from vomiting to shivers to dizzy spells to feeling incredibly paranoid and drowsy. My experience has been: I use marijuana daily and have for decades, mostly THC. Smoking flower THC does occasionally seem to kick off a spasm but it is mild, as all of mine are in comparison to what you describe feeling after taking your dose (a dull ache and urgency, every 15 mins or so is standard for me). I stopped smoking flowers about three years ago and now almost exclusively vape, still mostly THC. I've had symptoms since I was young (14) but they have worsened only as I reached middle age (35-40) and despite huge changes like cutting caffeine and alcohol completely out- they don't seem to have worsened because of MJ in any tangible way. I continue to use MJ because it provides more comfort than discomfort, but I am considering trying CBD soon, in case the THC could be causing issues. For me the anti-nausea is vital so I choose not to go off the drug completely. I sort of feel like you should give vaping CBD only a try, but that burning sounds awful and I don't want to steer you into more pain. Feel free to ask any questions about MJ and I'll give any info I can.

[Pillowfight]

I had a similar experience. I tried several different kinds--some that said they had NO THC whatsoever...but my bladder knew the truth, and it hated it. A university study recently found that 70% of CBD products they tested (84 of them) were mislabeled. Meaning they didn't have the concentrations they said they did at all, and 20% had significant amounts of THC (which again, some bladders hate). So possibly you weren't getting what you thought you were...

As I mentioned in another post, another thing to remember is that there are two different kinds of CBD. Hemp-derived CBD and marijuana-derived. Hemp-derived CBD is extremely low in THC to begin with. You may want to give that kind a shot. Any variety that has THC in it, even traces, may cause problems. I suspect this is because so much is made with sativa blends or hybrids that have plenty of sativa in them, and sativa strains are considered "stimulating"...so bladders that are sensitive to stimulants are going to feel that. I know for others the THC is beneficial, but for some of us it's just the opposite.

I take hemp-derived pure CBD or CBD isolate. When I first started taking it a few months ago I noticed it made me feel somewhat relaxed, but that's about all as far as physical effects. Nothing like a real body high and definitely not a head high. These days I don't notice much at all. But holy cow has it stopped my monthly hormone flares; what a godsend that has been. Now I only have to worry about food triggers and the pelvic floor, and even those have gotten easier since I'm not getting triggered literally the time. It's also allowed me to stop taking Lexapro, Tramadol and Elmiron for the most part.

[my2boys99]

Pillowfight, I was thinking about trying CBD oil (no or very little THC). You say it has helped you. Do you mind sharing where you get it from? How do we know if it's safe, etc?

Thanks,
Jane

[Pillowfight]

I use Charlotte's Web; you can order from their website. They are considered the best in the industry and it was originally formulated for children, so they are strict about quality. They have all their tests available on their website too. I'm not sure what your safety concerns are...it's got CBD and a little coconut oil and that's it.

[bugaboo]

Hello! I started trying CBD from a licensed provider several months ago and had the same experience. At the time we didn't suspect interstitial cystitis was definitely the cause of my problems so I had lots of chocolate/cocoa in my diet, but no other caffeine whatsoever. As it turns out CBD oil affects the pathway in your body that metabolizes caffeine and makes it stay in your system longer, I removed all sources of caffeine from my diet and after a few days I was able to take the CBD oil without exasperating my symptoms, so if you have any caffeine at all in your diet maybe that could be contributing?

[ICNDonna]

Hello! I started trying CBD from a licensed provider several months ago and had the same experience. At the time we didn't suspect interstitial cystitis was definitely the cause of my problems so I had lots of chocolate/cocoa in my diet, but no other caffeine whatsoever. As it turns out CBD oil affects the pathway in your body that metabolizes caffeine and makes it stay in your system longer, I removed all sources of caffeine from my diet and after a few days I was able to take the CBD oil without exasperating my symptoms, so if you have any caffeine at all in your diet maybe that could be contributing?

First I'd like to say to the IC Network family.

And .... it's not unusual for caffeine to be a bladder irritant, especially to an IC bladder .... it can cause frequency even in a healthy bladder.

Donna

[Rosary girl]

As I have a lot of anxiety and I know when I'm really tense I have a way of tightening up my inner core and exerting pressure on my poor bladder - creating urge frequency.
When I get realize what I'm doing and try to get hold of my emotions/tension I can slowly "belly breathe" my way out of it but it will come back in a nanosecond if my attention lapses and I start "bearing down" again.
I thought medical marijuana in some form might help the overall anxiety but, sadly, it made it much worse. Within minutes of vaping or having a part of a gummy - urge frequency returned and took hours to go away.
I thought the gummies would be easier to control but there is something in the ingredients of THC or CBD that goes right to my anxiety core and ratchets up that inner muscle tension. Ugh!
I spent almost $400.00 on getting the license to use MM in my state AND buy the MM supplies.
I learned a bitter lesson - never again!

[Pillowfight]

It's the THC. Remove that from the equation and see what happens! I had the same experience; I blew $80 on a medical card a few years before they made it completely legal here and was disappointed with my initial results. I had just about given up and then my husband gave me a pure hemp CBD oil he got and it changed everything.