News Top Army Doctor Leery Of Treating Ptsd With Marijuana

[Deleted member 541]

I started smoking it as a kid @15. But when PTSD hit full force, mixing pot with PTSD was not a good thing. Paranoia anyone???? It was bad..... Had to quit it and haven't looked back...

 

[Fadeaway]

@hodge, you are just picking on my favorite fruit :p and for the record, blueberries are a low glycemic fruit so how much did she eat? :eek:

Sadley most of my experiance with it has been second hand and the people using it to hide behind it instead of using it as an aid to deal with symptoms. I think where it really comes to light is when a persons offers it to you instead of comfort when you seek them out for support. "Oh, your boyfriend cheated on you? Here, have a joint," instead of offering a hug or asking if you want to talk about it. *cough* my mom *cough* It shows how they hand handle their own problems. Not all users are like this, but for me, this is a tell tale sign of the kind of user they are.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

I can see it helping with sleep and maybe anxiety, but mostly I see it in the same form of most drugs. I do miss it and Im not really "anti-weed" if you will. But I am rather glad that I get pop drug tests at work and monthly at my pain dr so i cant default to it.

I dont see it in the same addiction form. Some say you cant get addicted, some say you can; I didnt and was a rather heavy user but that doesnt mean you cant. Also another pro, I suppose, is the fact you cant OD on it, I tried and you smoke yourself sober.

In the smoking form is it very harmful to your lungs, just as cigarettes are, which I traded for a nicotine vaporizer which is just water vapor so if I could ever do it, thats the form id take. But thats a huge if.

Florida is putting it back on the ballot for medical use (last i heard, I voted for it last time) but in any case, even if it were approved for medical use here and even if i were prescribed it (doubtful i would be), i likely wouldnt want to unless anxiety was that high and i couldnt get it down any other way.

Though you do have to ask yourself, given that its delivered in a safer way like vaporizer, or pill form, are medication any better? Are they also masking?

 

[hodge]

@hodge, you are just picking on my favorite fruit :p and for the record, blueberries...

Lol, I know she ate a lot of them every night! I don't know how much exactly, but enough to give her gout. That's one of my favorite fruits, too, but now whenever I eat them, I think of her.

Okay, sorry for going off topic :-).

 

[Crystal Rose]

I had a severe mental break and disassociation after smoking (huge bong, Colorado weed) a few months back. I had my medical card in California mind you and I used to get the best hybrid flowers, hash oil and edibles delivered straight to my door. Finding the right levels and dosage did wonders for my anxiety but it is pretty trial and error. I'm wary of marijuana if my mental state isn't stable. I'm using CBD oil at the moment but I was scared into taking it easy for awhile now.

 

[Deleted member 29920]

The longer you smoke it, the shorter your life becomes, and the less chance of any real bonding to life itself. Any hope towards participating in life just dwindles away with marijuana.

This perfectly describes what marijuana done to my dad. It's hard and upsetting to witness it destroy someone and it's one main reason I won't have anything to do with him. I tried warning him so many times and he would not give up. He's basically a hermit because of it. It ruins your life.

 

[Crystal Rose]

This perfectly describes what marijuana done to my dad. It's hard and upsetting to witness it destroy someo...

My dad, while having gone through a lot of abuse and dealing with personal addictions, has really benfitted from it medically since his stroke a few years back. Sure, I have watched him overdo it but I have also watched his speech and motor skills improve because of it. I think it's important to realize that it's all on a spectrum and we have to recognize our relationship to various substances and it's different for so many people. It's satirical to me that we as a society would pop little white pills stamped and touted by an industry that profits so much from our various ailments but somehow reefer madness creeps in and keeps so many non-violent "criminals" systemically incarcerated. I wish I could drop out from society sooner really.

 

[anthony]

has really benfitted from it medically since his stroke a few years back

That depends whether you're talking about marijuana OR medical marijuana (the pharmaceutical grade prescription type which doesn't have the nasties in it). Even if it is normal marijuana, you're only talking a few years. That isn't damaging... compared to a decade, two, three, worth of using it. The results then are vastly different, and they won't be positive.

 

[brae]

i smoked weed daily for 10 years to cope with ...everything. earlier this year i accidentally smashed my bong and had a huge meltdown, but as soon as that was over i had this very strong intuitive sense that i could stop smoking if i wanted to. i never saw myself stopping before that. i went into massive crisis, i had no idea how much smoking was causing me to repress trauma. iv relapsed a few times but every time i end up stopping again. i do miss how it stopped me from dreaming so i didnt have nightmares, and it helped my lifelong insomnia and gave me an appetite and a sense of relief. but that relief is really only because we train ourselves to associate relief with the coping mechanism, no matter what it is, drug or whatever. since being sober for the first time in my adult life so so so much is coming up. tbh i would never have said this 6 months ago but i really do not recommend getting stoned as treatment for ptsd. maybe the oils and tinctures etc that dont induce a high could be totally helpful. but now i have much worse flashbacks/intrusive memories, dissociation, nightmare, anxiety amongst other things , because the weed was masking all of it. i have a lot of shame around it and addiction in general, its pretty huge for me to be admitting that weed isnt the harmless substance people say it is. i think if it used intentionally and not habitually/dependently it can be useful for sure! depending on ur situation. i think its important to look at everything as a tool, to be honest and ask ourselves 'how is this serving me?' we have to know why we are using that tool and gain a sense of power and know when things might not be that useful anymore or becoming toxic and damaging. i just really dont know if it mixes well with extreme trauma

 

[Deleted member 12723]

My husband was a heavy pot smoker when we first got married and then got a job where they did drug tests and he had to quit. Right away he substituted alcohol for pot and became mean. He told me that smoking pot was his medicine and he was actually so much better at doing life. I really hated to see him quit and saw what the alcohol was doing to all of us.

I have smoked it and overdosed on some at one time and it made me so paranoid so I do not do it anymore ever again.

It is not for me. I have no problem with others who use it as long as they remain responsible adults. I guess I am jaded about it.

Eventually my husband quit drinking and got into recovery and changed for the better but his PTSD symptoms would still rear its ugly head at times. He then got very sick and I had to take care of him full time. But we did have a few good years together.

I think that those who use it really do believe that it helps them yet it seems that life revolves around it. Just my two cents.

 

[Deleted member 29920]

white pills

aka: :devilish:

 

[Gaining-clarity]

Is it too late to add to this thread? I see the last post is a couple months ago.

My experience with pot, and from watching others, is that it really detaches the user from reality. I could smoke up and actually believe that I was absolutely great. I could be happy, etc. However, nothing had changed. Things actually got worse while I would've sworn they were much better.

I've seen people think they are doing well when that are medicating with pot, when they aren't doing well. They think they are overcoming and dealing with things, yet they are anti social (except with other users), they are underachieving, they are still depressed, they still can't deal with their lives. They can be very calm, yet still full of rage and bitterness and pain.

Marijuana, seems to me, only reinforces the disconnect caused by ptsd in the first place, therefore removing the sufferer further from recovery.