Scott’s story: Living, working, and golfing better with medical cannabis gout treatment

Can you tell us a bit about your health and why you decided to look into medical cannabis?

I got gout a few years ago, which I was very surprised about because I'm not a big drinker at all. It's actually made me completely stop drinking. I was prescribed all sorts of painkillers and things like that, and they started giving me really bad headaches. 

Cannabis was the only thing that I’d found that really worked, to be honest. It took the inflammation down. It took the pain away, and it stopped it coming back as well. There was a 3-week period where I didn't have any cannabis at all, and the pain came back with a vengeance. Since I've got my prescription from Releaf, it's not really flared up again much at all. So, it's helped massively with that. 

Another big reason why I decided to get cannabis prescribed is, I get very stressed. 

I've got my own business: I'm a managing director of a telecommunications company, and we've got 20 plus employees. It can be very stressful and very time-consuming. Having something to make me just switch off at night and allow me to get a proper sleep is just a godsend. It really is. So from that side, it's also been so good for me.

I've always been a pretty healthy person… I try to stay as active as I can, but recently, with work, it's just been pretty hard to do. I do play golf a few times a week, but I used to go to the gym three or four times a week, and I noticed it would help massively with recovery. I would be able to train again the next day without getting as sore as I was without it… 

So I've always been an advocate of it, it's a fantastic thing if it's used properly. I've used it nearly all my adult life, and it's helped me in a lot of different ways. 

Why did you begin medical cannabis treatment with Releaf, instead of sourcing it on the street?  

I wanted it to be regulated. I wanted to know what I was getting. I wanted to guarantee the right type for what I need it for. 

When you're getting it off the street, you're not guaranteed a certain type. You're not guaranteed whether it's a Sativa or Indica, so it was useless, really.  If I'm not getting the right type of what I need to help me, then I don't want to bother with it. 

Being able to actually get exactly what I need to help the situation is brilliant. That was one of the main reasons, just so that I know it's good, I know it's clean, I know it's regulated, I know that it's all been done properly. That was the main reason.

Do you feel safer now that you are a legal medical cannabis patient?

Oh, 100%. I'm nearly 40. I don't want to be going and meeting drug dealers and things like that.

I feel a lot safer this way. But I'm very discreet and I only use my medication in my house. I don't take it out. I've got a son at home, so I only use it when he's at school in the daytime or when he's in his bed at night. 

How did you settle on Releaf as your clinic?

I did a wee bit of research, and I found that some of the other clinics (although they might be cheaper per month) seemed almost like a free-for-all from the outside looking in, if that makes sense. 

It didn't seem like there was any sort of doctor, patient relationship there. It just seemed very much ‘pay a fee, give us your medical records, and we'll let you choose whatever the hell you want’ sort of thing. 

I think that's one of the reasons some people still have a stigma against it, because of things like that.

I chose Releaf because it just seemed a lot more professional. It seemed a lot more suited to me as a person, and it's been good so far.

And how have you found the clinical care you've received so far?

The care has been great. The staff have been fantastic. Everyone's been really, really nice. 

I booked in an extra appointment because I had a wee flare up of gout a couple of weeks ago. The daytime stuff I had, it felt like I was having to use more because it wasn't quite hitting the spot, so the clinician prescribed me a different one. It had 1% more THC, and I've tried that, and it was just brilliant. 

He didn't just go, "yeah, fine. You can get anything,” or, “you can get up to 25% THC if you need it”. It was very tailored, and that's what I like about it.

Have you encountered any challenges or stigma since you started medical cannabis treatment?

Like I say, I'm very, very discreet with it anyway, nobody really knows, so I've never encountered any stigma or anything like that. I’ve told one of my best mates, and he thinks it's a great thing….

I've also told my mum. I'm pretty open and honest with her, and I've actually told her that she should be getting in contact with Releaf because she's got all sorts of problems. She's got fibromyalgia, she's got rheumatoid arthritis and other issues that I think medical cannabis could definitely be of benefit for. She's getting given all sorts of horrible medicines just now that have got horrible side effects - they make her quite ill. So I've been speaking to her about it.

I think maybe the older generation, sort of my parents' generation, is still on the fence whether it's a good thing or not. There are definitely people that need to realise that it's a medication - it's something that's completely natural as well. But I do think a lot of people are waking up to it, and the people that aren't, I'm sure pretty soon they'll start to realise soon. 

Of course, there are certain scenarios where I wouldn't advocate it for, you know, like in the forces and things like that. It's such a high-stress environment. It's such a physical environment and could have adverse effects, perhaps, in that scenario. But for people in everyday life, people with normal jobs, people who need it for proper reasons, I think it's a brilliant thing.

Would you say your treatment has helped you get back to the things you love? 

Well, because my back doesn't get sore as much anymore, it allows me to play more golf.  After playing, I can get quite a stiff back, so at night I use it to then relax the muscles in my back, which means I get a good sleep and I would wake up and my back wouldn't be stiff.  It's full of benefits there.
 

Having cannabis treatments that you can use during the day has also been a real help for me, just for a bit of clarity. It's really good for giving you a clear mindset, it helps you think and concentrate on certain things.

Having something that I can have during the day, and something else for at night, has been a massive, massive help for me.

And finally, do you have any hopes or plans for the future now that your pain is being managed appropriately?

I’m looking forward to just being able to enjoy life a bit more, really. 

Being able to sleep is a big thing for me because I've got so much going on. My brain's so active when I'm so busy, but being able to get a good sleep has allowed me to do more during the day. So yeah, it's helped no end.

I play competition golf every weekend, and I'm actually thinking about, once the business kind of calms down a wee bit, getting my teaching licence as a PGA pro. But we'll see, we’ll see if I've got the time.

But, if I hadn’t found this type of cannabis treatment, I wouldn't have been able to play as much as I have, and get my handicap to a low enough level where this is even an option. I wouldn't have been able to practice, and I wouldn't have been able to keep my handicap down. 

Really, everything has been absolutely brilliant. It's been spot on.

For more information about medical cannabis treatments for the conditions mentioned in this Patient Story, please see medical cannabis for chronic pain.