Medical cannabis helps with MS symptoms

I am a 33-year-old living with multiple sclerosis and the experience of using medical cannabis to treat my symptoms has been life changing for me in countless ways.

MS has no cure and is a debilitating, unpredictable disease of the central nervous system that causes symptoms with muscle spasticity, chronic pain, fatigue and weakness. I was diagnosed with MS in 2008 while serving in the military as an Army Paratrooper. For more than four years, I have been taking six to eight pills a day to manage my symptoms. These medications are very harsh and damaging to the liver and organs, making me take additional medications to counteract those side effects.

MS is one of the 39 approved conditions to qualify for medical cannabis treatment in Illinois. On Nov. 9, 2015, the first opening day for dispensaries in Illinois, I was able to receive my first dose of treatment. By using medical cannabis, I am now down to taking one to two pills a day and my muscles are looser, improving my muscle spasticity and mobility.

I thank the Illinois Department of Public Health for having compassion and for their thoughtful and forward thinking approach in allowing patients like me the opportunity to use medical cannabis. Why shouldn't all suffering patients be given that same opportunity to help relieve their symptoms?

William Wiorek

Bolingbrook