Introduction
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an unpredictable and disabling disease of the Central Nervous System (CNS), which is made up of the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves. The Multiple Sclerosis Foundation estimates that more than 400,000 people in the United States and about 2.5 million people around the world suffer from Multiple Sclerosis (“Definition of MS,” n.d.). According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the exact antigen whic targets the immune cells to attack remains unknown to this day. Damage to the myelin coating around the nerve fibers in the Central Nervous System and to the nerve fibers themselves interferes with the transmission of nerve signals between the brain, spinal cord and the rest of the body. …show more content…
Despite their potential to minimize pain, opioids can be highly addictive, which can pose a significant problem for those who take them to manage chronic pain. Cannabinoids, however, can be seen as a more natural method of reducing pain, as they are derived from a plant, and do not directly possess addictive qualities. On opposite ends of the pharmacological spectrum, opioids and cannabinoids operate in vastly different ways and offer their own risks and benefits when in relation treating various MS symptoms in patients. This difference drives the purpose of this systematic review, which is to compare and contrast these two types of drugs in order to determine their feasibility in the relief of MS-induced …show more content…
Inclusion criteria of “NOT cannabinoids” was utilized to exclude all articles pertaining to our investigative research of cannabinoids and to solely focus on opioid based drug therapy. From the initial keyword search 1432 articles resulted. From the initial 1432 articles, “Full Text” was selected which reduced the total to 1354 articles. Secondly “Publication dates 2007-2017” was selected to keep our scope of research within an acceptable range which resulted in 1111 articles. Lastly, to harness the most credible sources, “Scholarly Articles” was excluded to bring our search result to 521 articles. Exclusion criteria was meant to refine articles to our research focus, validity of research through publication date, and type of source
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an unpredictable and disabling disease of the Central Nervous System (CNS), which is made up of the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves. The Multiple Sclerosis Foundation estimates that more than 400,000 people in the United States and about 2.5 million people around the world suffer from Multiple Sclerosis (“Definition of MS,” n.d.). According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the exact antigen whic targets the immune cells to attack remains unknown to this day. Damage to the myelin coating around the nerve fibers in the Central Nervous System and to the nerve fibers themselves interferes with the transmission of nerve signals between the brain, spinal cord and the rest of the body. …show more content…
Despite their potential to minimize pain, opioids can be highly addictive, which can pose a significant problem for those who take them to manage chronic pain. Cannabinoids, however, can be seen as a more natural method of reducing pain, as they are derived from a plant, and do not directly possess addictive qualities. On opposite ends of the pharmacological spectrum, opioids and cannabinoids operate in vastly different ways and offer their own risks and benefits when in relation treating various MS symptoms in patients. This difference drives the purpose of this systematic review, which is to compare and contrast these two types of drugs in order to determine their feasibility in the relief of MS-induced …show more content…
Inclusion criteria of “NOT cannabinoids” was utilized to exclude all articles pertaining to our investigative research of cannabinoids and to solely focus on opioid based drug therapy. From the initial keyword search 1432 articles resulted. From the initial 1432 articles, “Full Text” was selected which reduced the total to 1354 articles. Secondly “Publication dates 2007-2017” was selected to keep our scope of research within an acceptable range which resulted in 1111 articles. Lastly, to harness the most credible sources, “Scholarly Articles” was excluded to bring our search result to 521 articles. Exclusion criteria was meant to refine articles to our research focus, validity of research through publication date, and type of source