A woman with a rare disease says she was able to ditch her wheelchair for rollerskates thanks to medicinal cannabis.<br /><br />Jane Hinchcliffe, 44, struggled with chronic pain from an early age which led to a prescription of codeine at the age of 15.<br /><br />After a series of misdiagnoses, Jane was eventually told she had a functional neurological disorder (FND) in 2021 which caused her intense pain and muscle spasms.<br /><br />The disorder affects how the brain receives and sends information to the rest of the body and symptoms can include loss of motor control, sensory issues and attacks or seizures.<br /><br />After a bike accident in 2014, Jane's previously active lifestyle took a hit - leaving her couchbound and using a wheelchair.<br /><br />With the long list of pharmaceutical drugs not working and causing her significant side effects which led to her body weight doubling - from 9 stone to 18 stone in just a year - Jane was desperate to try something new.<br /><br />She decided to try a slice of medical cannabis cake at a festival which left her "astonished" at how effective it was for her pain.<br /><br />Jane then researched the idea of a medicinal cannabis prescription.<br /><br />She discovered Lyphe Clinic where, after running through her medical history, doctors were able to legally prescribe medical cannabis as a treatment.<br /><br />Jane, who now runs her own business selling legal CBD, from Hull, East Yorkshire, said: "It's brilliant that I don't need the wheelchair anymore, people just ignored me before.<br /><br />Jane went through a 30-year span of misdiagnoses - which included 'growing pains' and 'fibromyalgia' - before finally being diagnosed with FND in 2021.<br /><br />Her active lifestyle - which included running, cycling and walking - was halted when she fell off of her bike in 2014 and cracked her knee, leaving her in a wheelchair.<br /><br />She was prescribed a cocktail of pharmaceutical drugs to control the pain, including opiates, amitriptyline, diazepam, and laxative medication.<br /><br />She said: "All I did was crack my left knee on the pavement.<br /><br />"It seemed to heal well but then got worse and the pain was intense.<br /><br />"I wasn't able to run anymore. I used to do that a lot and I had to reduce it."<br /><br />In 2019, Jane was given a "wake-up call" when attending Green Pride - a festival dedicated to changing the laws around cannabis - in Brighton, East Sussex.<br /><br />She said: "Having travelled all the way from Hull, I had taken a bottle of morphine with me that I'd been prescribed, saving most of it for the day as I had to travel alone in my wheelchair on the train.<br /><br />"Once I had arrived, I decided to try a slice of medical cannabis cake containing a set amount of THC.<br /><br />"I was astonished to find that I didn’t need the morphine I was prescribed as the medical cannabis was incredibly effective for my pain.<br /><br />"This was a real wake-up call for me on the positive impact medicinal cannabis can have when taken correctly."
