When Pain Meds Stop Working
A patient had orthopedic surgery and woke up in serious pain. Standard pain medications were not touching it. The surgical team was stumped.
Then the anesthesiologist asked one question that changed everything.
It turns out the brain’s cannabinoid system and opioid system are deeply intertwined. When one system adapts over time, the other follows. And that cross-tolerance can mean the difference between a smooth recovery and a crisis in the operating room.
This is not about judgment. It is about safety. A simple conversation before surgery, one that takes less than a minute, can completely change how the surgical team manages pain during and after the procedure.
In Colorado, where recreational marijuana is part of everyday life for many people, this is the kind of thing anyone heading into surgery deserves to know.
The full story, including the surprising solution that got this patient’s pain under control, is inside our Medical Mysteries series.
Want to read the full story? Join our free community at itsmy.health to explore the Medical Mysteries series and dozens of health education videos from Dr. G.
Authored by Gerard Guillory, MD
Gerard Guillory, MD, is a board-certified internist who practiced for nearly four decades with a focus on functional, root-cause medicine. He is the author of three books on irritable bowel syndrome and the founder of It’s My Health, where he and his team put current health news in context and help members understand the underlying causes of chronic symptoms.
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