A retired GP who has been suffering from back pain for years says she has switched from taking 'traditional' painkillers to using medicinal cannabis. Franni Szekely, 68, a retired doctor who lives in East Sussex with her partner and three grown-up children, has lived with unbearable pain from sciatica for 30 years.
The pain caused by sciatica meant that Franni's entire life was put on hold. She lived with severe constant pain down her buttocks and leg. The pain meant sitting down for long periods of time would cause her to be in agony, so going out for meals, going to the theatre or even sitting in a car or on a train was out of the question, as was her gardening hobby. Franni said h er life became 'dismal and boring'.
The pain also severely affected Franni's work as a GP. She tried a standing desk, which she found exhausting, and she would often conduct home visits at a patient's front door to avoid doing any more steps. Eventually, at 59, she was forced to take an early retirement.
After years of trying several treatments including steroid injections, physiotherapy, acupuncture, yoga and endless painkillers, Franni had a major operation on her spine to treat the pain. The operation had very little impact on the severity of her pain, so Franni spoke to her GP. She was prescribed Tramadol, a powerful opiate, for the pain.
Franni was always reluctant to take Tramadol, because of the opioid's risks of addiction. However, after her operation, she was left with no other option. She said: "It's a tachyphylaxis drug, which means it is addictive. You take one tablet, then three weeks later you need two, then six weeks later you're up to four.
"After my operation, the specialist had prescribed Tramadol but almost immediately I started hallucinating. Words were coming out of people's mouths as blue ribbons and the hospital room had turned into a jigsaw puzzle. It was terrifying."
Franni was left desperate for an alternative solution until one day a friend suggested she try cannabis for pain relief. In February 2023, Franni started researching medical cannabis clinics in the UK and came across Alternaleaf .
Franni had a consultation with a specialist doctor, who prescribed her with medical cannabis flower (to be consumed via a vaporiser) and edible pastilles, both of which contain THC. Almost immediately, her pain was eased.
Franni said: "The first thing that struck me as soon as I started medical cannabis treatment was how instant the pain relief was. I could sleep properly for the first time in forever and sit comfortably for longer than 30 minutes, which meant we could go on holiday again.
"The absence of pain that vaping medical cannabis brought meant I could do things I loved again, like gardening and travelling." Franni adds."My world has changed immensely. I've been to Japan, Costa Rica and Crete most recently. I also help out at a sheep farm which opens to the public for lambing. At a time in my life when my existence could have got smaller and smaller, medical cannabis has opened everything up for me."
Medical cannabis has been legal since 2018 in the UK, however, it is not possible to be prescribed it for chronic pain on the NHS. As a retired doctor and patient herself, Franni feels passionately that access to medical cannabis should be improved.
Franni adds: "As a person trained in orthodox medicine, others might think my choices are strange. But the standard system hasn't worked for me and so I've been forced to seek help elsewhere. When I was practising, opioids were a last resort because of how addictive and harmful they are. I'm surprised more people don't know about the use of cannabis for medicinal reasons."
Dr Gerard Sinovich, pain specialist at Alternaleaf, said: "Despite applaudable efforts to bring the numbers of opioid prescriptions down, it's still the go-to treatment for chronic pain in many cases. Greater awareness of medical cannabis as a treatment for chronic pain could help safely treat millions of patients like Franni while reducing the UK's dependency on opioids."