West Marin residents suffering from severe, chronic physical pain now have a venue to share their experiences and learn about alternative medical offerings to treat their ailments. For the second consecutive month, Inverness resident Jeff Hickey will host a meeting of the West Marin Pain Management Group on Saturday to gather people interested in avoiding the standard, Western-medicine regimen of prescription drugs such as prednisone. “Not all of us have the same maladies,” said Mr. Hickey, who has lived in Inverness for 17 years. “But we’re all struggling in various ways with chronic pain injuries.” Mr. Hickey received a surge of interest in the group after publishing an article in the Light in June that praised the medical use of cannabidiol, a compound in marijuana that relieves pain without producing psychoactive side effects. But the group discusses other options, too, such as water therapy and meditation. He hopes, eventually, to invite doctors from both Western medicine and holistic backgrounds to offer a more diverse range of medical viewpoints. The group also functions as a social gathering to help relieve isolation and stress, which aggravate chronic illness. The idea to host the group arose last year after Mr. Hickey, having suffered years of pain from prostate cancer, had his prostate removed. But an even more urgent need for the group became obvious just three months ago when fibromyalgia hit his wife, Karen, “like a brick” a few days prior to their 30th wedding anniversary. Lately, she’s only been able to work part-time from home as an animator for Pixar, and her husband, a novelist, has assumed the role of full-time caretaker. Though she kept being sent home from the hospital with bottles of prednisone, Karen has since found that simply floating in water provides the greatest pain relief. “We want to open the door for people who are finding alternatives and want to share what they’ve found,” Mr. Hickey said. The West Marin Pain Management Group is open to anyone with pain issues that wants to attend. Anyone interested in attending the upcoming meeting may contact Jeff Hickey at 415-669-1636 or [email protected]. See calendar for more details.