Pain is a part of regular life for most people. Some go through chronic headaches or might have joint pain. Some people handle pain well; others might fail to tackle it. They shift to painkillers. While these painkillers are good in the short term, most of them have adverse side effects in the long run.
So, is there any natural herb? Yes, Delta 8 gummies might work for pain. But before that, you need to understand various aspects of pain. Let us explore all these things through this article.
What is Pain?
The current IASP ( International Association for Study of Pain) defines pain as “An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with actual or potential tissue damage.”
Pain is good to some extent. It protects us. For instance, if you do not feel any pain by touching a hot stove, you will get burnt more often. The pain helps you to know that there is an issue within your body that needs attention. But sometimes, the intensity of pain is unbearable.
How Do You Feel Pain?
Like tasting, hearing, or smell, pain is also a perception. When you taste something, your brain knows what it is. Similarly, when there is an injury, your brain knows about it and creates a feeling accordingly.
Whenever your body faces discomfort or injury, your nervous system works as the reporter. For instance, imagine you get a cut on your little finger. The nerve cells present in the little finger will immediately signal to the spinal cord that something is wrong. The Spinal cord transfers the signal to brain cells.
Now, the brain cells interpret the message and respond to the nervous system. It will also create a feeling of pain. There are still many unanswered questions, such as how your brain turns the message of discomfort into feelings.
Scientists are working continuously to understand more about pain. In a recent discovery, researchers found the presence of receptors (a protein on the cell) in the body for different kinds of pain. Here is where Delta 8 gummies might help. You will learn more about it through subsequent sections.
Types and Reasons of Pain
Whenever there is a hurt, you call it pain. But there are several kinds of pain. Our body perceives and responds to each of them differently. Here is a broad classification of pain.
- Nociceptive Pain
It is the most common type of pain. You feel that pain when you touch a hot dish, break your arm, stub your finger, or do other typical tissue damage. There are primarily three types of stimuli behind nociceptive pain. They are:
- Mechanical: It includes injuries, such as sprains, cuts, breaks, or bruises.
- Thermal: It has injuries because of extreme temperature, such as frostbite or burns from the heat.
- Chemical: It consists of any chemical burns, such as lemon or soap in the eyes.
The intensity of nociceptive pain also depends on the location of pain in the body. You can either have minor injuries in the skin, a deeper wound that reaches tendons, ligaments, and bones, or the one that originates in an organ.
- Neuropathic Pain
This pain occurs when an injury affects the alarming system, that is, the nervous system. It differs from Nociceptive pain as you would not feel ache, throb, or stab. Instead, you will generally get a feeling of numbness, burning, electric shock, itching, coldness, or a sensation of needles.
Usually, people with issues of the damaged nervous system, such as spinal cord injury or multiple sclerosis, are more prone to this pain.
- Psychogenic Pain
You feel this pain when a mental or emotional issue increases, causes, or prolongs the pain. A typical example of this pain is a stomach ache you feel when scared or anxious. Another example includes headache, back pain, or muscle pain because of grief or depression.
So, these are some types of pain that you might feel.
Delta 8 THC Gummies for Pain
Being a comparatively new compound with several controversies surrounding it, there is little research on Delta 8 THC. However, experts believe that it may offer similar therapeutic benefits as Delta 9 THC because of its similar structure.
A study to understand the antiemetic effects of Delta 8 THC revealed that it might be more effective than its counterpart Delta 9 THC. It was because Delta 8 THC induced fewer adverse side effects. The analgesic properties ( pain-relieving effects) of Delta 9 THC have been researched for decades. So, let us consider some of the studies that show the effectiveness of Delta 9 THC on pain and why Delta 8 might give comparatively more promising results.
A study in 2009 aimed to understand the effects of moderate dosage of Delta 9 THC on neuropathic pain, a difficult to treat pain. Among the 172 patients, almost 75% continued the treatment till the end and witnessed a change in their pain intensity. They also reduced their opioid dosage. However, 48 patients failed to tolerate the treatment because of side effects, the expense of therapy, or insufficient analgesia. Here is where Delta 8 gummies might work. Delta 8 might offer the same therapeutic benefit but with fewer side effects and psychoactive impact.
A study in 2018 reveals that the interaction of Delta 8 THC with the endocannabinoid system, particularly the CB1 receptor ( present mainly in the nervous system), helped it manage inflammation and pain. In the study, delta 8 was significantly effective in regulating inflammation and pain among mice with corneal injuries. The researchers concluded that D8 is an effective cannabinoid that might also treat pain in humans. However, there is a research gap that has to be filled.
Although there is research to show the possible effects of Delta 8 on pain, more research will help know how cannabinoids interact with pain signals in the body. Also, to get the possible pain-relieving effects of D8, it is vital to pick a perfect product for you. So, make sure you carefully select the strain ( Indica, Sativa, or Hybrid). Also, you should carefully pick the dosing method between gummies, tinctures, oils, or topical lotions.
Conclusion
The National Cancer Institute defines Delta 8 THC as an “analog of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) with antiemetic, anxiolytic, appetite-stimulating, analgesic, and neuroprotective properties.” So, Delta 8 THC might help you get rid of that pain obstructing your social life. It might increase your quality of life.
