Pain is a widespread health condition in older patients. Misconceptions about aging and pain are a major cause of their undertreatment. That severely affects their daily activities, cognition, strength, physical and mental health, social function, and overall quality of life.
The common causes of pain among the elderly include:
- Arthritis
- Cancer and its treatment
- Fibromyalgia
- Heart issues
- Bowel diseases
- Past injuries
This leads to harmful symptoms including depression, anxiety, impaired mobility, sleep disturbances, fatigue, and increased mortality. Medical experts prescribe numerous conventional medications (opioids, painkillers, NSAIDs, etc.) to help older patients manage their pain.
But these medicines are only partially effective and usually limited by their unwelcomed side effects. Moreover, the risk of such drug side effects is higher in older adults, and they are twice as likely as other adults to suffer consequences due to it.
This is because as patients age, their organs responsible for breaking down the medicines become weaker, hence decreasing the absorption of the drugs. The drugs thus stay longer in their systems, increasing the likelihood of side effects.
To avoid such unpleasant scenarios, Ayurvedic doctors today recommend using Vijaya, a vital herb with effective and holistic action on alleviating pain.
Let us see how consuming Vijaya can provide relief from pain to older patients.
The Efficacy of Cannabis-Based Medicine in Relieving Pain
A growing number of elderly patients are using cannabis-based medicine to help manage their health conditions, with pain being one of the most prominent reasons. Over 61% of the patients using Vijaya started consuming this herb after the age of 60!
The reason why older patients are increasingly relying on Vijaya to manage their pain is because of the quick and effective action it has on the condition. It achieves this by directly stimulating the body’s Endocannabinoid System (ECS).
The ECS is one of the key biological systems in the body that regulates numerous crucial bodily functions such as metabolism, homeostasis, immune function, etc. One of such processes that it controls is pain signaling and perception.
It has CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptors spread all across the body. The CB1 type receptors are highly concentrated in the central nervous system (CNS), i.e., the spinal cord and the brain. Whereas the CB2 receptors are densely populated in the body’s immune cells.
The chemical compounds responsible for Vijaya’s therapeutic properties are its cannabinoids. When consumed, these go inside the system and bind with the ECS’s CB1 receptors in the brain areas responsible for processing pain. As a result, Vijaya regulates and decreases the sense of pain in older patients.
Managing the Pain Causes
Vijaya is known to help the elderly manage their pain and the causes behind it. As mentioned above, the ECS’s cannabinoid receptors are spread all around the body. By activating those receptors in various bodily organs, the herb effectively alleviates numerous pain-inducing health conditions.
A study conducted in Germany found out that cannabis-based medicine shows strong anti-inflammatory properties by activating the CB2 receptors in the body’s immune system. By binding with these receptors, Vijaya improves immune cell function and decreases the production of inflammation-causing cytokine cells.
It reduces inflammation in the body, which in turn reduces arthritis pain in patients, which is one of the major causes of pain among the elderly.
Another major cause of pain in the elderly is fibromyalgia, a condition characterized by chronic pain in the muscular and skeletal systems. A recent study evaluated Vijaya’s effects on this condition.
In it, all the fibromyalgia patients reported significant improvements in all the parameters of their condition! Moreover, over 50% of them stopped consuming other medications.
Today, a growing number of older patients suffer from pain caused by cancer and its diagnoses. Misleading pain evaluation and dangerous treatment side effects discourage patients from continuing their treatment, leading to adverse impacts on their quality of life.
Studies have shown that consuming Vijaya effectively alleviates the chronic and neuropathic pain caused by cancer. The herb’s cannabinoids also help slow the growth and reduce the spread of cancer cells, which further contributes to pain relief.
Sometimes, the inflammation of cancer cells press on the nerves and damage them. It can even happen due to a swollen tissue caused by a surgical injury. Vijaya takes care of this as well through its potent anti-inflammatory properties.
A Holistic Approach
A recent Canadian study was conducted on adults aged over 65 years, using Vijaya for pain management. Over 72% of them reported significant improvements in their pain levels. Besides that, over 64% reported improvements in their sleep quality, over 52% showed better moods, and more than 35% reduced their consumption of opioids.
By affecting the cannabinoid receptors in the brain, the herb further helps alleviate conditions like stress and anxiety. It shows that Vijaya helps relieve pain in older patients and improves their other aspects of health and well-being.
Furthermore, an Israeli study showed that Vijaya does not show any harmful side effects on health among the older patients using the herb to manage their pain.
Conventional pain medications in wide prescription today exhibit adverse side effects like constipation, anxiety, nausea, gut complications, respiratory issues, risk of addiction, sleep disturbances, etc.
Not only does Vijaya not show such side effects, but it also reduces the patients’ dependency on these drugs. That decreases the risk of unpleasant treatment complications in elderly patients, making Vijaya a safer and more effective alternative to traditional prescription drugs.
To find out more about how using this herb can help older patients get significant relief from their pains, contact Hempstreet and get the right consultation from the best Ayurvedic doctors for yourself.
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