What Are the Top Qualifying Medical Conditions for a Medical Marijuana Card in Louisiana?

In the state of Louisiana, medical cannabis can be recommended for any debilitating condition.

While in many other states, the list of qualifying conditions is limited, Louisiana allows any person with a debilitating condition or disease to choose medical marijuana.

All you have to do is work with a licensed medical cannabis doctor to get a recommendation.

Through our simple three-step process, TeleLeaf has helped thousands of Louisiana residents gain access to this life-changing medicine.

It’s as simple as:

1. Register online – Click here to register
2. Meet with one of our doctors on the phone through our secure, HIPAA-compliant telehealth portal
3. Get access to your medical marijuana pharmacy in Louisiana

Although cannabis is an ancient plant with a long history of medicinal use by cultures across the continents, broad and structured use of it is new to most of us.

Because of that, TeleLeaf makes it part of our mission to educate our patients. We want you to have the most information possible so you can get the most relief and healing you can from medical marijuana. One question we hear a lot is…

What conditions are most often treated with medical marijuana?

There are numerous conditions that are frequently approved for medical cannabis in Louisiana.

Among the most popular and common are: anxiety, chronic pain, insomnia, arthritis, migraine headaches, autism spectrum disorders, and muscle spasms.

The full list can be found here, but let’s look closer at these top qualifying conditions for medical marijuana in Louisiana.

Anxiety

One of the top conditions patients treat with medical cannabis is anxiety. In fact, a majority of TeleLeaf’s patients report using medical cannabis to alleviate anxiety.

A certain amount of anxiety is natural to experience, but many people find themselves dealing with either disproportionate amounts of it–broad, generalized anxiety that stays with them day in and day out–or some experience it in sudden attacks that can come out of seemingly nowhere. This kind of anxiety is intrusive and disrupts people’s lives.

A combination of talk therapy and pills have been the traditional treatments for anxiety, but many people find that the pills that are prescribed for anxiety treatment carry too many side effects.

Medical marijuana brings relief to thousands of patients in Louisiana without the side effects or any worries about safety.

Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is a condition that can affect anyone at any age. It can be caused by many things, including injury, repetitive use, and arthritis.

Physical therapy and pain medications are used to treat it, but–much like people with anxiety–pain patients don’t want the side effects from the pills. They’re addictive.

They cause drowsiness, nausea, constipation–the list goes on. Medical cannabis has a track record of relieving pain without the negative side effects.

In addition, medical cannabis can help by treating not just the pain but associated inflammation.

Insomnia

Insomnia is a sleep disorder that affects millions of people worldwide. It’s characterized by difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up too early.

Insomnia can be caused by a number of factors, including stress, depression, or sleep apnea. In some cases, insomnia may be linked to pain from an injury or illness.

There are some great holistic measures you can take–like shutting off all screens one hour before you lay down in bed (including and especially your phone!) and getting some form of exercise during the day–but most insomnia sufferers eventually turn to medication to help them get to sleep and stay asleep so they can wake up feeling rested.

The problem is that chemical sleep aids tend to leave people groggy. There’s a “hangover” effect from them that interferes with functioning.

Medical cannabis relieves insomnia without leaving patients dazed or sluggish the next morning.

Arthritis

Arthritis is characterized by pain, stiffness, and loss of function in the joints. There are many types of arthritis, but they all share similar symptoms, and–like chronic pain–they are often treated with pharmaceuticals.

Arthritis can be treated with medical cannabis in several ways.

Some arthritic patients choose to use topical creams or ointments for localized management of pain and inflammation associated with arthritis.

Other patients need stronger relief from their symptoms, so they take oral medications that interact directly with their endocannabinoid system (ECS) or inhale it for immediate relief.

Migraine Headaches

Migraines are severe headaches that can last from 4 to 72 hours. Like other headaches, they may be accompanied by nausea and vomiting. They’re debilitating and can leave you unable to go about your daily activities.

Over the counter pain relievers often do nothing for migraine headaches. Prescription ones carry side effects and risks, and they can increase the nausea.

Medical marijuana offers migraine relief that targets not just the headaches but also the anxiety and nausea that can accompany the pain.

Muscle Spasms

Another commonly treated condition is muscle spasms. Muscle spasms are very painful. They occur when muscles involuntarily move and contract.

This causes a great deal of pain and creates difficulty in completing even the simplest tasks, depending on the location and degree of the spasms.

When this is happening, the muscles need to relax. Doctors prescribe pills called muscle relaxers for this purpose, but they don’t just relax the isolated, troublesome muscle: they relax all of you.

Mental senses become dulled, and some people feel very tired when they take muscle relaxers. This is inconvenient and frustrating for a lot of patients.

The cannabinoids in medical marijuana relax muscle tissue and bring relief to people who suffer with muscle spasms.

There are many other conditions medical marijuana patients in Louisiana treat with medical cannabis.

The full list of qualifying conditions for Louisiana medical marijuana card reads:

• Cancer.
• Glaucoma.
• Any of the following neurodegenerative diseases and conditions:

1. • Alzheimer’s disease.
   • Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
   • Huntington’s disease.
   • Lewy body dementia.
   • Motor neuron disease.
   • Parkinson’s disease.
   • Spinal muscular atrophy.

• Positive status for human immunodeficiency virus.
• Acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
• Cachexia or wasting syndrome.
• Seizure disorders.
• Epilepsy.
• Spasticity.
• Severe muscle spasms.
• Intractable pain.
• Crohn’s disease.
• Muscular dystrophy.
• Multiple sclerosis.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder.
• Any of the following conditions associated with autism spectrum disorder:

1. • Repetitive or self-stimulatory behavior of such severity that the physical health of the person with autism is jeopardized.
   • Avoidance of others or inability to communicate of such severity that the physical health of the person with autism is jeopardized.
   • Self-injuring behavior.
   • Physically aggressive or destructive behavior.

• Traumatic brain injury.
• A concussion diagnosed by a physician.
• Chronic pain associated with fibromyalgia.
• Chronic pain associated with sickle cell disease.
• Any condition for which a patient is receiving hospice care or palliative care.
• Any condition not otherwise specified that a physician, in his medical opinion, considers debilitating to an individual patient and is qualified through his medical education and training to treat.

TeleLeaf is your connection to gaining access to medical marijuana in Louisiana.

If you are interested in becoming a medical cannabis patient in Louisiana, let TeleLeaf help you. Our staff of doctors and patient advocates are a phone call away.

Call us at (540) 500-4842 today. Our HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform gets you access to medical marijuana from the comfort of your home.

We are a company created for the patient, by the patient. We are here for you.