Marijuana Vs Benzo Drugs

[heidi]

I'm just wondering if anyone has experience with both of these drugs and how they compare. I think these drugs are similar in the fact that they are both "rescue drugs" meaning you take a dose as needed. I think the marijuana's side effects are more fully understood then are the side effect of benzo drugs. There is a much greater risk of physical dependency with benzos. I like the idea of taking something as needed because I don't want to be effected by a drugs side effects on good days.

I just wonder are they comparable in terms of relief from stress particularly during PTSD episodes. I have limited experience with marijuana but the times I've used it it did help a lot. It was different then benzos because it changed the channel in my mind and as a result I didn't suffer vs. benzos which don't change the channel they just sort of maybe help tranquilize you.

I'm not asking this because I want to be a huge druggie and smoke loads of marijuana. I am asking this because I feel I need some kind of buffer when it feels like the stress on my body and mind are too great.

And I already believe in a holistic approach and not just thinking a drug is the end all. I already do take opportunities to get better and improve functioning. I finally got off benzos but I can see they were helpful, but I do not want to take them again. I am wondering if I should move to a state with legal medical marijuana because I think it could help my life which actually feels in jeopardy.

I know a lot of people here take benzo drugs and I'm wondering if you ever had the ability to compare the two.

 

[rightkindofme]

I have had negative experiences with benzos (my body doesn't like them) but I am a big pot-head these days. I discovered pot at 27 and I feel like it has done most of the heavy lifting to my make my life happy in the past few years. I feel it is nothing short of a miracle. I usually dose myself 3-4 times a day because it wears off after 3-4 hours. I can be cheerful and mellow and affectionate with pot. Without it I spend my days hiding in closets and crying. The difference is so profound that I feel the drug is near miraculous.

I think that if I had not discovered pot when I did that I would literally not be able to do what I am doing with my life. I'm a stay at home mom. If I were not stoned I would have to put my kids in daycare so that someone else could be patient and loving with them. Without pot I am not capable of being loving and gentle all day every day. I spend a lot of time feeling ashamed of myself but it is what it is. I won't have little kids forever. I won't need this much of a buffer in my brain in between experiences things and reacting.

So I'm hoping I have another 4-ish years of using it then I have to stop. I'm trying to get through the little-kid phase where they are physically rough with me. Things are already worlds better with my oldest (she's 5). Very young children are rough with their mothers. They aren't trying to be mean they just don't know how to be gentle yet. Having patience with that is beyond me when I am sober right now. I'm too on edge.

I have to stop five years from now regardless of how I am doing. I have to be clean for a while (and prove to myself that I can--I'm hoping for a year sober) before we take off to travel the world for a year. I can't be on drugs while we are traveling through various third world countries. That's not cool.

So yeah. It's a tool with an end-date in my life. I admit to myself that the two years off of pot will be good for me and I suspect that when I come home I will re-up my tool because holy moly do I enjoy being stoned. It makes me feel much happier than I am capable of feeling sober.

 

[DharmaGirl]

I have heard that it is better to eat pot for PTSD than to smoke it. I don't like to take anything, but I'm forced to take Opiates for chronic pain, antidepressant for the depression, two different anti-hypertensives for nightmares, and ativan as needed. I live in Washington State, so it is legal to have certain amounts here so I thought I would try it.

If you make Cannibutter first, then bake something, it is really strong and can last a day or more. It is too strong for me. I need a good kitchen scale. I think I will wait for the dispensaries to open before I try that again. The best thing it does is help me sleep.

 

[rightkindofme]

I eat it now. The smoking was causing me major lung issues. The edibles are more expensive but pretty awesome if you can afford them.

 

[Springer80]

Hi Heidi,

I used to smoke pot and it really did help me alot...I'm in the Uk so it's not legal over here but needs must and I really needed it. I don't now cos of the smoking/lung/cardio issues and I needed to know I could be me without assistance. However, it sounds like you've answered your own question...re which is the most effective. So as long as procuring it and not getting busted doing it are sorted so it isn't stressful and you can somehow square the health issue of smoking it, your sorted. Frankly, at some point smoking is the lesser of two evils if your ptsd is so acute...

Good Luck :hug:

 

[madmax]

Try this:Durban Poison Cannabis Strain
This subtropical sativa is named after the South African port city of Durban where thousands of kilos of this dark, distinctive sativa are produced every year. Smokers everywhere know her to be a sativa like no other, she will shoot your head straight to the clouds and leave your body behind.

 

[just me here]

Speaking from my own experience, marijuana was an easy kick when the time came to leave it behind. Benzos never really caused any euphoria but did diminish anxiety and thus depression for a time, but dug a hole of diminished energy that was very difficult to pull myself out of.

Marijuana was a high I enjoyed at the time but left me too cloudy to do any type of high tech work well, with full attention and focus (I would assume that would apply to the hard work of getting through my PTSd therapy wich includes EMDR).

Marijuana was much easier to leave behind, I did it alone and don't remember any withdrawal difficulty beyond a month or so of headaches and irritable bowel like symptoms. I would think of marijuana as a short term distraction and benzo's as a long term detour with much greater difficulty getting free of the drug.

 

[DharmaGirl]

I just use it for sleep. Very rarely too. I don't use it in place of benzos because I don't use them everyday either,

 

[lemonade]

I am in current detox from Geodon and Celexa and Lorazepam. I have PTSD and I started smoking marijuana 3 years ago. It saved my life. I truly believe that.

The ultimate goal was to get off prescriptions because I was just a shell I really didn't have any feelings at all. I was on prescriptions for 7 years. The withdrawal from these 3 prescriptions so far has been very very painful.

I smoke about two to four bowls a day right now. I have tried edibles to and they absolutely work you just have to figure out the amount that is right for you and that is going to depend on the strength of your butter. Right now I smoke if I feel withdrawal pain.

I am from Colorado but came to detox in Costa Rica. It is illegal here but you can get it anywhere it is not as potent as the medical marijuana in Colorado but its good for now.

 

[JarHed]

Both Marijuana and benzos have some similar effects. I've used both. Here's what I think are the differences. It is difficult to quantify the amount of THC in the Marijuana that you either smoke or ingest. That said the effect each time you use it may be different. Different strains have different amounts of THC. So sometimes you'll get a huge affect and other times less. This aspect can make it difficult in trying to moderate how you're feeling or to control anxiety or depression for instance.

With a medication like a benzodiazapine you get the same measured amount each time. You know what you're getting and whether you might need more or less. If you're careful you can use them on a regular basis without getting dependent or addicted. Although that always exists. The same may be said for pot as well.

Perhaps the real difference is that one is about self medicating and the other is a controlled medication. You can always talk to your doctor about the effects of your meds but might find them a bit negative to talk about taking marijuana. Only because they often think of pot in the same way they think about drinking.

I smoked for years and it helped with anxiety, sleep and pain as well. There's no doubt that it can be useful. All I would say is what ever the medication you take to help your condition know all you can about it and it's short and long term effects on your body. Best of luck.

 

[stuff]

I would not make it through the day if it weren't for weed. It helps me take a different view point if I am in a really negative thought circle, it elevates my mood when I am hideously depressed, and it helps with the hypervigilance in a huge way. It's probably saved my life on a couple of dark occasions. I find benzos really awful. They may sedate me, but I'm still left having the same feelings I was trapped in when I took it. I wish they would legalize it here, so I could regulate which strains I'm smoking. I qualify for a license, but I don't want to limit myself for travel, as that can sometimes apparently do.

That being said, I think it sometimes affects people differently. I have friends with anxiety that say it makes their anxiety worse, but that's the opposite for me.

 

[cdg]

I see the benefits of it. Unfortunately it gives me bad anxiety when I smoke it. Benzos seem to be the only thing that works so far.