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cannabis patient care
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vol. 2 no. 1 cannapatientcare.com
nurse focus
C
hronic pain has been described as an "unpleasant
sense of discomfor t" (1), which may persist or con-
tinue to progress over an extended period of time.
In the case of acute pain, it arises rather quickly as
a result of a bodily response to an injur y and is often treat-
able. With chronic pain, the discomfor t is typically resistant
to medical treatments. Medical conditions such as f ibromy-
algia, cancer, shingles, ar thritis, diabetes, previous injuries,
and so for th are among the many ailments that can be con-
nected to chronic pain. Environmental or psychological fac-
tors have also been found to aggravate and worsen
chronic pain.
Eloise Theisen, an Adult Geriatric Primar y Care Board-cer-
tif ied nurse practitioner, who has been in the nursing f ield
for more than 21 years is now using her medical exper-
tise to assist patients in using medical cannabis to treat
their chronic pain. Aside from Theisen's medical experi-
ence she is also the Chief Nursing Of f icer at Leaf411, which
is a free cannabis hotline for anyone who wants to call and
discuss their cannabis use or inquire about cannabis use
with a nurse (2). Theisen is also the president of the Ameri-
can Cannabis Nurses Association (3). Originally, Theisen be-
gan her impressive nursing career in oncolog y. In this de-
par tment, it was quite common to see patients experiencing
One Nurse's Battle with the
Stigma Against Medical Cannabis
Use and Chronic Pain
B Y M A D E L I N E C O L L I
An interview with Eloise Theisen, a board certified Adult Geriatric Nurse Practitioner who specializes in cannabis therapy
and the president of the American Cannabis Nurses Association.
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