Medical marijuana

[shimmerz]

I have an opportunity to sign on with Medical Marijuana. I am looking at attempting to reduce my overall anxiety and perhaps blow through a trigger that I really need help with right now. There is a ton of stuff to learn about this. Gel caps, powder, oil, smoke. Different blends. Take it every day to get to a mellow baseline, or just when necessary. My prescriptions are absolutely not working for me (I have been on them for 10 years now and they are benzoids so I shouldn't have been on them this long anyway) and family doctors are now literally turning me away because I have been on clonazepam and ativan, so I need to do something I think and the idea of Medical Marijuana appeals to me at this point.

Not really certain how a health care provider (here the person writing the script is actually a Nurse Practitioner) can determine what type of blend is best for me and what dosage so I am asking for anyone else's opinion of this form of therapy.

Have you experience with it as it relates to easing PTSD symptoms? How does it help you? Would you literally pay for it for the rest of your life to keep symptoms at bay? Does it improve your overall quality of life? When you stop, do your symptoms peak again quickly?

Just whatever you can think of that may be helpful if you have a moment. Much appreciated.

 

[Partial]

I have recently got my card to use MM legally for ptsd.

My recommendation on getting an idea as to wether it may help or not is based on my experiences and conversations with people that led me to try this as a treatment.

In my state, ptsd just recently became a qualifying condition, my quality of life was deteriorating to the point that therapy was just making things worse, and I dislike prescription medications and all the side effects, that I had no interest in taking them.

I went to local dispensaries and talked to a lot of people. 3 out of 4 people working at them were also using MM for ptsd, most were veterans.

Many talked about where they were mentally prior to trying this route. Their stories were similar to how I was currently, avoiding going out, basically trying to live in a cave and avoid any triggers. Now here they were, working in public, talking to people, etc. gave me some hope, so I went to a doctor who reviewed my history and signed off on the forms.

Talking to the md who approved me was also encouraging. He was very against MM, actively campaigning against it. His patients stories led him to research it further, for his own ptsd.

He became a very active supporter and is off the medications he took for years that were destroying his liver.

I'm far from experienced and still learning, but here is my two cents.

Visit dispensaries if they are legal where you are.

Talk to everyone you can.

Educate yourself by researching online. Leafly (I guess you can't use links here) was a resource I read extensively.

If you have sleep disturbances, a heavy indica strain is recommended. I used to never be able to sleep unless I drank heavily. Now, after a single puff I feel all the tension in my neck and shoulders almost instantly go away. Two puffs and I'm slowed down enough in my mind that I can sleep without disturbances.

Treat it like a medication. You'll have to figure out the correct strain that works for you and your proper dosage. I don't want to get stoned, I just want to sleep, so I use just enough to take the edge off, which allows me to sleep. It's figuring out your own body and what works and how much you need to get there, but not just put yourself in a sleep coma.

As for use, there is traditional smoking, vaporizers, pills, tinctures, and edibles.

Personally, I smoke it. The act of doing it gives me some relief. There are nights where just going outside for a few minutes and knowing the option existed and was available was enough to allow sleep. I just bought a Pax 2 vaporizer, which I'm trying to get used to. The advantage is, there's no smoke that is damaging to the lungs, no odor (the woman who works the counter where I go can use it on campus if she gets an anxiety attack. It looks like a cell phone booster battery. The fact that she is back in college when a year ago she described her life as being curled in a ball in the corner of her apartment sobbing, was something I found encouraging.)

There isn't a "normal" script that gets written, you get approved to use it, then are on your own to figure out what works, how much, etc. I've found the dispensaries an invaluable resource for figuring things out. My recommendation is to stick with an indica only strain to start. Some people find relief with a sativa dominant strain, but sativa can add to anxiety, depending on the person.

Quality of life? I sleep now, that's almost a foreign feeling.

Treat it like medication, it is. In my view one that doesn't have any side affects other than an occasional dry mouth.

I tried this route because I was in a state on vacation where recreational use was legal, so I bought a one gram joint on a whim. One night I was coming out of my skin stressed (that insta-anxiety where you're pretty sure you aren't going to make it to the next tick of the clock, total doom), so said what's it matter? Went outside, three puffs and I literally poofed for the night, full nights sleep.

I was shocked at being able to sleep a whole night. I have not worked myself into being able into seeing if it can shut down a full in panic attack during the day, probably because I'm older and there is still a stigma attached to it, but I'm working on it.

TLDR version:

Research online. Leafly is a good resource.

Talk to people at dispensaries.

Start with an indica strain, or very indica dominate strain.

Live life.

 

[joeylittle]

THC is the primary psychoactive. So, to avoid a 'high', you want low THC. CBD is the primary non-psychoactive; this is why there's a market for products that are as close to pure CBD as possible (CBD oils are prominent right now).

If you are going to try inhaling, I'd recommend just staring out vaporizing as opposed to smoking. As @Partial says, vaping results in better absorption, significantly less lung damage, and requires less product.

 

[DandylionWishes]

MMJ is soooo beneficial when used properly! I've been able to use mmj to replace 16 frickin' liver and mind destroying pharmaceuticals! (Drooling zombie into functional human-lots of benzodiazepines too). Big Pharma is a necessary evil that will always play some part in my life, but mmj has made an amazing difference!
Leafly is an invaluable resource for anyone looking for information regarding cannabis & has an excellent tool for looking up specific strains with descriptions of the average experience (happy, eurphoric, paranoid, etc.) along with user reviews.
Your budtenders at the dispensaries are your friends and personal instructors. Listen to them and should you want? Take your phone or tablet in with you and cross reference strains against Leafly's reviews.
If you prefer not to smoke - I recommend a tincture. If used sublingual, the results are just as quick as smoking (ingested can take up to an hour or more and dosing is HARD to gauge). I warn you- good 1:1 tinctures taste terrible! Some budtenders will recommend mixing it in your tea or coffee, but then you do not get the sublingual effects that are the most beneficial in regards to the time for it to take effect (pretty much instant) which makes figuring out proper dosage much easier. I've heard tell there are sublingual powders that are just as effective and taste better, I just haven't located any as of yet.
I'd definitely recommend using only indicas for evenings and night time & indica dominate hybrid strains (nothing above a 50/50 unless your anxiety is really high - then I'd say no more than a 30% sativa 70% indica hybrid) if needed during the day.
CBDs are an excellent form of cannabis that has 0.3% THC (the psychoactive element) or less. It is very effective for pain, arthritis, skin disorders-my friend who was in a house fire cleared up his scars using CBD oil!-and nerve damage. Some do find it helpful for PTSD among other mental injuries and say they find it helpful. Some people find placebos helpful as well.
When used as a medication and practiced with proper dosages, it really does need the psychoactive element (THC) to help combat the conditions I've been using benzos (among several other mind numbing & unnecessary "drugs" [which in my esteem cannabis shouldn't even be classified as one]) to treat.
**Note to anyone looking to use cannabis as a medication/medical alternative. It is meant to be used as MEDICINE. Micro dosing is worth the research, & ~ ALL strains can cause feelings of stress, anxiety or paranoia if used in excess! Again - it's medicine. The goal is to help us, not to become "stoners" - LOL
@Partial - where were you when I was just a grasshopper in need of master guidance? (Hehehe)

 

[Lionheart]

I have heard that for people with PTSD that marijuana with a ratio of 2 CBD to 1 THC is the recommendation to avoid exacerbating anxiety. I am only going on what research I have been able to do so, I would double check this information before attempting to medicate.

 

[Esterio]

Thanks for the post shimmerz
You got some good replies and have given me more to think of. I use an almost balanced strain THC is just less than CBD 16 and 17 % respectively. It works well for my back and neck pain. It helps to slow my brain down at night so I have a chance to sleep some. I find that during the day if I use enough to calm my anxiety I am no longer able to drive. So I am looking for a strain with less THC for the daytime. I smoke, vape, use tincture and eatables. I take the tincture with water and then you do not get the burn for the alcohol. For fast acting I use a vaporizer.

 

[Friday]

Just like with psychiatric meds... Everyone's baseline neurology is different. And everyone's personal preferences are different. AKA which side effects are wanted/beneficial, which are tolerable, & which are not only no, but hell no.

Which means that there's no way around having to experiment to find out what works best for you, how, how much, how often, and in what form.

Are there trends? Absolutely. But the only way to find out which trends to pay attention to & which ones to ignore? Are, again, down to experimentation + personal preference.

A good source to find out the basic trends between strains = Marijuana Dispensary & Strain Reviews - Leafly

Being a whole plant, however, means that there will be vast differences -even in clones of the exact same plant- grown/harvested/cured by different growers, & stored/sold by different distributors. Not only in weight, but also potency & distribution ratios of the active ingredients. While that's true for plants in general, this is a very complicated little plant, where subtle variations at any stage can create very different psychogenic experiences. Even when it's the same -expert- grower, using the same clones, the same methods, & storing distributing them themselves! Much less amateur operations (who are still learning the variables and how those affect their end product), different operations, different genetics, different environments, different storage, different distribution... Very much like wine... X1000. (And wine varies enough that a Bordeaux can be a 3 buck chuck, or $1,500 $5,000 or $8,000 Chateau Petrus. Because 82 & 85 were just f*cking awesome years, but the $1,500 a bottle years? Still worlds away different from $3.) And that's all before users start experimenting with their own variables (mostly in how they ingest, but also how they store, etc.).

 

[Partial]

Thanks for the post shimmerz
You got some good replies and have given me more to think of. I use an al...

Have you looked into a strain called Cannatonic? It's high cbd and low thc. It's not available where I live, but I plan on trying it if I get to Washington State.

 

[shimmerz]

Cannatonic Strain Information

Super helpful, Partial, thank you.

 

[Esterio]

Have you looked into a strain called Cannatonic? It's high cbd and low thc. It's not available where...

i think I may have I will ask about it.

 

[LisawithPTSD]

MMJ is the ONLY thing that gives me relief. Highly recommend. I prefer eating than smoking--longer lasting and better mellow. I can actually do work around the house and yard without having episodes. I've been seeing that ectasy is giving some people relieffor PTSD and mushrooms are for depression but I haven't tried them yet.