Post-traumatic Muscle Pain by Anonymous 

Rather than write a long essay, I will be short and succinct.  I was in a bus accident in my mid teens (the bus rolled and I fell the width of the bus crashing my right scapula on the metal bar on the back of the seats opposite.) No one believed I was in pain since I was one of those athletic teenagers, always on the go until my father heard me crying one night and decided he had to do something.  I couldn't lie comfortable in any position.  It drove me crazy.  I was finally diagnosed 4 years later with a vertical fracture on the lower part of my scapula as well as torn (scar tissued by then) muscles from my neck to my mid right back which already at the age of 20 showed signs of developing fibrocitis (arthritis of the muscles?). I spent 30 years never being able to sit still or lean back in a chair without constant nagging discomfort. No one could understand my constant fidgeting. In my early 40's I was reintroduced to pot (tried some in the 70's in England).  Months later, I had realized that the mornings after the nights I had smoked pot, I did not wake up with the stiffness and discomfort I had come to accept as 'normal'.  I began smoking more and more frequently (i.e. every night)...I didn't need much at first...just a puff or two sufficed. Of course, now 7 years later, my tolerance has increased. Now it's a couple of bowls or so each night of strong home grown bud babies. I had tried chiropractry and massage therapy which had only limited and short lived relief and I have tried several other muscle relaxants and pain remedies but they all required regularly repeated doses every few hours.  I found they did not agree with my stomach or my head.  With the pot use, a little at night seems to help me sleep calmly and dulls the shoulder, neck and back pain unlike any man made compounds so I can actually find a comfortable position for sleep.  And so, until someone comes up with anything better, smoke on I shall.