In December 2009 my Navy career was cut short and I was able to get knee surgery. When that surgery happened the results were that the knee would hold but I no longer has much cartilage left. It was an ACL repair and a Meniscus debridement. I was also informed that I did need a total knee replacement but due to my age, I was unable to get on at the age of 28. This is when I knew I would be in pain for the rest of my life.
When I arrived back in Texas I went to the VA and tried to get the surgery for a complication from the first surgery they lost the paperwork twice and it took until 2012 to get the joint unlocked due to clerical errors with the veterans' medical care system. Resulting in back pain from one leg being shorter than the other for 2 years. When I did get surgery they removed the Cyclops lesion as well as the remainder of my meniscus. Meaning I was now bone on bone in my left knee.
I have been living my life looking for alternatives. The opioids I was given I used sparingly due to their risks and my knowledge of the pain will only get worse in time and never better.
Over the next few years, I did physical therapy and tried knee injections. Neither provided any long-term relief. I started looking for serious alternatives to try to control my daily pain. Pain is a funny thing it changes your ability to tolerate life’s little bumps and turns. Your patience is short. There is an underlying hum with every step. While sitting. When laying down. No matter what position you just hurt. The injury that started in my knee was causing issues up the left side of my body from knee to hips to back. I did find my joy which is photography. I live in a manner that I did everything I could knowing one day I would be in a wheelchair. Having to hold on to the pain as long as possible because of a total knee replacement a person is only allowed 2 in their lifetime with the estimated time frame of 10 years per medical device.
As we reached the opioid crisis the only medication that would halfway work was hydrocodone and with the crisis, the doctor no longer gave those pills out. The new medicine is gabapentin. Gabapentin was originally a mental health medication. This was using the side effect of nerve relief as now its main purpose. I did not have much success with this medication. Over the years the Veterans Medical Administration increased the dosage to 2700mg - 3600mg a day. The “relief” was not there, but man the side effects were terrible. I hated the way it made me feel and dealing with side effects on a daily was no longer tolerable. I started looking for more alternatives.
In 2018 my back started going out resulting in bulging disks, degenerative disk disease, and sciatic as well as femoral nerve pain. My life became intolerable. I pushed through daily but began looking at the rise of CBD and marijuana as a way to get pain relief. I was ordering the “best” on the market from other states, and still, nothing was working. I had to go out on FMLA and reduce the hours I was working because the pain was intolerable. Eventually, I had to quit my full-time job in a career I loved.
Now you would think this level of chronic pain would lead to a higher disability rating with the military but no. The level of disability rating is not enough to live. The pain level left me no longer a productive member of society. So what next?
I was reading any and everything I could find which landed me in a UK medical journal. This paper stated that CBG may work for nerve pain relief in 30 days. I had nothing to lose. Looking on the internet I found the two places that had CBG and ordered some. I tried it and by golly, it was working. Since I had been experimenting with edibles already I added this into the mix. The effects of THC were similar to having too many opioids. The effects of CBG were similar to CBD only it took the pain away. I had possibly found my relief after a decade of searching.
When I made the infusion with CBG my patented formula changed the efficacy of the CBG from 30 days to 30 minutes to an hour. For the first time in 11 years. I had no pain. I was able to use myself as patient zero and I tried all kinds of dosages and levels of product which started with cookies. Then I just ate butter. Then I moved on to MCT Oil. MCT Oil was the solution for me.
Upon getting myself relief I spoke with many people that also had chronic pain and had them try the cookies with CBG and then the MCT Oil. I found it worked for them as well. The people it brought relief to were the following types of pain: multiple failed back surgeries, acinic cell carcinoma, breast cancer, skin cancer, scoliosis, rotator cuff tears, back pain from construction work, sciatica, and a few others. Upon finding this was working for so many people I decided it had to come to market. My idea was to just get myself out of pain I found helped many others with natural pain management. I tested my product against other competitors and my product still was working within 30 minutes to an hour compared to the relief of the competition.
This is where I am today. I was able to get more out of my physical therapy than when I had conventional medicine. I was able to finally get the leg differential back in check. I was able to no longer have a 2-inch left leg shorter than the other. Has this “cured” me, no. There is no cure. But my quality of life is returning and to not have the constant hum of pain I am a better human for it.