Medical Marijuana Helped Me When Nothing Else Could
Many, or perhaps most, people use the benefits of marijuana for recreational purposes, perhaps because it can be fun, and perhaps because many governments have classified the drug as having no medical benefit. Today we begin to understand that this is not true. If you are unsure of how and why medical marijuana offers significant benefits, let me share my story with you.
Important Medical Disclaimer
I am not a doctor and I don’t give medical advice because I can’t! Keep this in mind as you read. Marijuana is a powerful but safe drug. According to statistics, it has a low likelihood of causing serious harm to anyone compared to other drugs. However, it is still a drug and it can get in trouble if you don’t know what you are doing. You should talk to your doctor (or doctors) before making any significant changes to the way you manage your health, so do that before proceeding with what I’m talking about here.
Marijuana affects everyone in different ways. Different strains have different effects. You can take medications that interact with marijuana in some way. For these and other reasons, you should not dive into such a powerful medicine without first consulting your doctor. If I’m making you think that marijuana can help you medically, you still need to talk to your doctor before diving.
Why I tried medical marijuana
I have lived most of my life in an anti-drug mood. I have never smoked, still drink very rarely, and have not tried marijuana until I was thirty. Even then, I was given a prescription for medical marijuana because I thought it would help me deal with the pain. In a moment of miraculous luck, two years later I was faced with many chronic pain problems that seemed to be helped only by narcotic pain relievers. If you know the dangers of opioids, you will understand why I wanted to avoid them. I like to be in control of my body and mind, which is why I always hate getting high. The pain was so debilitating and frequent that I didn’t care and decided that if it helped, I should at least give it a try.
When I first tried marijuana, I drank too much of it. I took half of what the woman in the dispensary advised a person who was completely intolerable. I was high for about 16 hours and hated it. I thought I was going to stop breathing, and for hours I fought the urge to sleep, thinking that I might not wake up. Eventually I went down and it felt like a comfortable version of drowning. The next morning I woke up with a headache and decided that marijuana was a bad idea.
The pain changed my mind again. When you are taking opioid pain relievers, you can only take them twice a week if you want to avoid addiction. If you are in pain every day, you want to take the pill every day. It takes a tremendous amount of self-control to say no, I need to get through this day and the next (and sometimes the next after that), otherwise this pain will intensify – even if it doesn’t seem possible. This is the terrible thing about opioids: they decrease your pain tolerance if you use them too regularly.
My research continued looking for other alternatives, and I always returned to marijuana. As I learned more, I found that a bite of a cannabis brownie from one company did not have the same effect as others. I tried another strain, but still took too much and hated it only a little less. But, as it happens in the movies, the third time there was a charm. I found these little chocolate-covered blueberries that gave a very small dose of the beneficial strain, and suddenly I fell asleep perfectly and felt painless in the morning.
Is Medical Marijuana Right For You?
It’s a difficult question. You can get a prescription for medical marijuana for any medical condition . There are two main types of marijuana – indica and sativa – and both have the ability to help with various ailments. I would argue, however, that a long list of accepted conditions may offer too much hope for those who suffer from some of them. Medical marijuana can treat pain-causing problems. Specifically, indica cannabis can help you sleep. If you have a low appetite or an eating disorder, marijuana can help you find the urge to eat – perhaps too much. But you’ll also find conditions that marijuana cures, such as obesity, that don’t make a lot of sense. If marijuana makes you want to eat, how can it help you lose weight? I do not know the answer to this question, but I am very skeptical about this statement.
In the symptom list, you will find other interesting conditions, such as anxiety, which marijuana can relieve or aggravate. You’ve probably heard of paranoia as a side effect. Some strains cause this in most people, while others do not. Tolerance or even a general experience with marijuana can help you avoid this paranoia, as can the higher cannabidiol (CBD) strains. Most tensions will help you relax, but some can make you paranoid. Everyone also reacts differently. I got hungry, but I didn’t become paranoid or stupid. My friend is not hungry or paranoid but gets very stupid and can not help laughing. So can marijuana help with anxiety? Of course, some may have it, but it may exacerbate the problem for others.
Whether medical marijuana can help you depends on how you respond to the drug and whether you really need it. If you need to lose weight, you’ll be better able to handle diet and exercise than medication almost every day. If you really need a drug or other medical care, marijuana probably shouldn’t be on your list of options. Even if I were a doctor who could give you this information, it would take me a very long time to figure out under what conditions marijuana can help and under what conditions it does not. I can tell you that marijuana usually helps relieve stress and pain. It can also help you fall asleep. If you have a medical condition with these symptoms, medical marijuana can help. Otherwise, you might get lucky with something else.
If you want to try medical marijuana, talk to your doctor first. While not all doctors know much about its medical uses, unfortunately, you can always ask for a referral to someone who knows if yours falls into this category.
But there is a lot to learn here! As Green Week continues, we’ll talk about how marijuana works, its legal status, how you can use it responsibly, and more. If you feel that marijuana can help you, and your doctor agrees, there are still many obstacles to overcome to learn how to use this drug for medical purposes. We’ll cover many of these issues in other posts, so stay tuned!