What are you treating with Cannabis?

[BenDover]

I have a few questions regarding the treatment of certain debilitations with marijuana.

In the last year, I have been diagnosed with depression and adult ADD. I have been on a lot of different prescribed drugs in this time frame, including Zoloft and Welbutrin for the depression (I'm still on both, Welbutrin for depression and Zoloft for anxiety.); and for the ADD I have taken Adderall, Adderall XTR (extended relief), and now I am on a newer drug called Vyvanse. I have noticed a marked improvement in my depression, anxiety, and ADD since starting treatment and prescriptions. But, I with in the last few months I started smoking on a relatively regular basis and I have noticed an improvement on all aspects of these conditions.

Now, I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. I was keeping my smoking a secret from my wife. I was feeling guilty as hell and planned on telling her, but I wanted to find the right way to explain it to her. Long story short, she found this forum open on my laptop and asked me about it. The cat was out of the bag and I told her how I had been feeling since taking marijuana. The problem is that she is one of those that has been brainwashed by our society that marijuana is illegal and therefore, bad. This has caused a huge riff in our relationship for the last day and a half. I have been having troubles dealing with how to explain it to her how I feel that I need to stay on marijuana. I tried printing out a bunch of literature that I have found on the net about the successful treatment of my conditions, but she still is very stuck on the fact that it is illegal, and "bad".


I guess I am just looking to vent a bit, but I also want to find out some of your experiences.

Thanks for reading. :)

[SmokinMom]

Hey Ben, I am glad the mj is helping. And I am sorry about the wife. My hubby feels much the way she does. It took about 8 yrs for me to make any headway and convince him differently. He still isn't 100%, but it is getting a little better. He also doesn't know how often and how much I use. ;)

Maybe you could try showing her all the side effects those medications can have. If she approves and lets you smoke, will you be discontinuing the medications?

I too have some depression/anxiety issues and I find the mj helps. I am slowly weaning myself from my med, celexa.

Good luck.

[octobong007]

mine knew i smoked when we got together and i always tell her "any problems with it, there's the door"...she laughs but knows i'm serious...i wont take pain meds at all anymore...maryjane helps the pain, problems breathing, and superficial problems like wanting to jump outta my car to teach the weiner in front of me a few lessons...it dont help my lack of good looks, but then again, never bothered me too much.

[KingKahuuna]

I saw the same thing with my wife,
The real help was when the Doc mentioned smoking right in front of my Lady, and much to my surprise she listened very carefully. She is on my side.
I am allergic to almost all of the different painkillers, and whats the difference when you get into the world of narcotics to kill pain.
I am a very strong advocate of the use of MJ for things that go wrong with us. My wife can tell you of the differences that she has seen in me when I smoke as compared to when I don't. Right off the batt, there is this wonderful relief of pain when I smoke a little. The blood pressure drops for certain and I am not a nasty individual like some folks get behind alcohol. I mellow and am pleasant to be around. I enjoy staying well groomed so I don't even smell like I have smoked.
Untill your state makes it a non crime to grow and smoke, keep a low profile, check the local laws for what happens if you get busted and what are the punishments for differing amounts.
I say talk with your lady by inviting her to study up on the actual facts and history and uses of marijuana with you. Do this as a project with the understanding that this might turn out to be a blessing for you and how you feel, not to mention the cash you will save using THC verus all the other meds. IMHO
smoke in peace
KingKahuuna

[octobong007]

i'm with ya king, how many addicts are there out there that would kill for pain pills, and the doctors go wild writing those scripts. pain pills gave me ulcers...plus i was TERRRIFIED i'd become a pillhead, proud that i aint! haven't messed with those things in 15 years. i quit taking a cancer causing respitory steroid because of mj...if i go into a breathing attack, i take one hit and put it down for bout 10 minutes then i'm fine...then i get wasted of course...or i just eat a cookie, or 2, or 5...over that and i'm too gone to do anything but fall outta my chair and drool on myself-but i'm good at those things ;-)

around where i live, if you even go to an informational meeting on the subject of mj, the "man" is around and watching, so no sense in attracting attention and becoming famous, thanx to the internet gods there's another way tho.

[headband]

if your depressed, i wouldn't be smoking weed, Im a medical patient, and very depressed, my shrink told me that I need to stop smoking weed. Weed is a depressant and obviously if your depressed, using a depressant wont help one bit. Its a habbit that I love, the smell, the taste, the pretty buds!. My tolerance is so high that I dont even get high anymore, Well nothing like I use to 4 years ago. But still I love mj and probably always will for the rest of my life. If you cant balance life and smoke weed, then probably weeds not for you. Its hard for me to do this, so im going to straighten out my life then smoke. I cant quite till my babys are done growing.................................... as for the wife thing, I have it going on with my girlfriend soon to be fiancee. She doesn't understand. Im a medical patient, no real reason im just a stoner, which she knows, andknows ill be successful but she still doenst like it. Its all how they were raised, shht i grew up finding qp's and bongs when i was 8. She grew up around non of it. ::::"But, I with in the last few months I started smoking on a relatively regular basis and I have noticed an improvement on all aspects of these conditions"::::: maby on the add but definetly not depression its a proven fact. I say the same thing to my gf... theres the door, but really i wouldnt everr leave such a beautiful thing for a plant, even though its the best plant, thank you god!

[BenDover]

Maybe you could try showing her all the side effects those medications can have. If she approves and lets you smoke, will you be discontinuing the medications?

Well, I have been trying to get information about the drugs that I am on and info about marijuana, so I will try this avenue when discussing it with my wife. I would love to discontinue the meds, but I don't see me getting off of them right away. The anti-depression drugs, I think, are necessary for right now, and the ADD drugs help me quite a bit, too. I have been "supplementing" these meds with MJ, and I think the results have been good. The side effects of the ADD drugs are that I am "amped up" and I don't think about eating, so the MJ has helped a lot just on these two items.

I do plan on discussing this with my doctor. If he says that it shouldn't harm my treatment, then my wife will most likely be more accepting.

Thanks for the input!

[octobong007]

Weed is a depressant and obviously if your depressed, using a depressant wont help one bit. Its a habbit that I love, the smell, the taste, the pretty buds!.
study up my friend...weed is a stimulant. when you first smoke it, your heart rate will increase, it can be used to create an appetite, in small doses it'll help ya get more work done...the slumber you feel after smoking is the coming down, unless you've smoked alot. it does effect different people different ways, IT does have A PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECT, for example try this sometime...
get a new smoker and tell him 2 or 3 hits off your stuff will kick him back and he'll be worthless, thats what he'll be. next day, smoke him up again on the SAME stuff, this time tell him some crazy name like "devils journey" weed...it'll act like speed, man i couldn't stop doing stuff and cleaned my own house...you'll think he's got energizer batteries where his soul is, he most likely will HAVE to be doing something. but only let him smoke a couple hits...get him stoned later. when he's comin down, he'll get tired cause his circulation will slow down...back to normal and probly need to sleep...THATS why we get the munchies, to accomodate for all the energy its bringing us. this of course is my scientific OPINION...but as a fact, marijuana is considered a STIMULANT...of course you wanna have some real fun, get someone thats never smoked before and let them hit "refer" flavored cig tobacco...its like giving a kid some near beer.
now this is my opinion and in no way have i molested any farm animals or skinned any live squirrels in making it. i only thought of this sitting on my back porch in the front yard staring at the shopping center here in the middle of a field of corn which i'll pick later to make a tomato sandwich on bread made from rocks i caught out of the stream in the desert...have fun ;-)
i must be smokin that "i'm retarded and creamin my pants weed"...woohoooo

[POTUS]

A search of the web returned a multitude of varying opinions about Marijuana being a depressant or stimulant. A range of Medical and Legal definitions seemed split between the two. I guess in the long run, it depends on who's opinion you want to believe.
To paraphrase Shakespeare:
(shame on me)

To be a pot smoker, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous highs,
Or to take bong hits against a sea of troubles,
And by toking, end them? To get high: to buzz;
No more; and by a buzz to say we mean a real buzz.
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To get high, to buzz;
To let the mind wander during a great high:
perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that dream of the ultimate high what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, grabbed a bong,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of the Po-Po,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of an empty baggie,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly while high to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great toking and buzzing
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. - Soft you now!
The fair Mary Jane! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.

(Sorry Willie, the debel made me do it)

[Puff- The Magic Dragon]

First, I use weed because I like it.

Second, my real medical uses are:
Lifelong insomnia. "Couchlock" weed helps me sleep.
Severe back pain. While it's not an opiate-based pain killer, it does help. If nothing else, it helps me to forget that my back hurts. And, more importantly, I'm not getting addicted to pills.
Headaches. I've had severe headaches since I was a little kid. Good weed helps me relax and seems to make a bad headache go away faster.

The DEA is full of lying, power-mad, freedom-hating, Constitution-loathing scumbags.

[tcbud]

my medical reason is arthritis, nothing big, just pain in the joints.....this pain has been around for almost twenty years now. And i been smoking mj most of that time, last year i mentioned to the doc that it seems to help the pain and low and behold he calls the assistant in and offers me a Marijauna Recomendation. i bought it for fifty bucks cash, folded it up and put it in a valentine card for the old man. i can not remember him smiling that big and being straight at the same time. Now, no more worries about the man finding my one lone plant, and now i can grow twelve, legaly!! if nothing else Medical mj has aleiviated my paranoia and the pain in my joints.
good luck to you and your woman
tcbud

[Pot Belly]

i can grow twelve, legaly!! tcbud

What state do you live in?

[Puffin Afatty]

When he asked me what I wanted the med card for, I told him depression. I told him I get depressed when I dont have smoke. :rofl: Oddly enuf, he didnt think that was funny?? I then told him of my family history with glaucoma, arthritis, hypertension and anything else I had ever heard pot was used to treat. The Dr gave me the script for $50. I just wish I lived in Kali, michigan wont honor the script YET. I was able to smoke in a club though, almost like in the Dam.

[headband]

migrains, insomnia. It was pretty much walking in, handing him $160 and him and I signing on the line. I had paper work, he really didnt care. In the bay you can some in some shops, its an experience

[gangalama]

I know that weed has help me out in some real depressing times, dramatic times, by myself or with others, good or bad. Marijuana is by far the best thing I`ve got goin and I dread to think about ever losing it. It helps me keep my anger in check, to sleep, to eat(more), and curbs general aches and pains. I love cannabis! And the variety of strains allows for us all to find what were looking for.

[tom-tom]

I use mj because my pinkey toe herts ,,so i have to smoke it on the hour every hour ,,just to keep my pinkey from herting ,,












HAPPY GROWIN TOM TOM
AND HAPPY SMOKIN

[potheadfockr]

Like some, I smoke because I love a good movie/xbox360/and my home based job.

I have been a licenced MMJ pt since 2003 for ADHD (original diag.), 2004 car accident left me with a broken back, blown knee and shoulder. Since then I have been one happy person in chronic pain everyday but who knew.

Finally, to help the gentelmen who asked the question. MMJ was ligitimized in my mind when I came off my ADHD meds after 3 years of Bio-feedback (second best thing ever) from 14-17, at the same time the great gift of MJ found me and life went from suspensions, expulsion and social nightmare. People have no Idea I am the same person. Even my own family said whatever you did was the greatist thing (untill I told them-they finally got over it-I come from a very conservative family) and they now swear by it, even though the claim it is not for them (my stash has been pinched-Dad). To sum this up, I have a degree that I couldn't have done without MMJ (college 2004-2007, 3 years bachlor's CSUF), open my own business fall 2007 (received accolades and I get paid while I get to check out pot clubs) and I am engaged to a wonderful woman (Med student, never smoked, hates the smell, wouldn't be caught dead within a block of a hippie) yet she is 100% unquestionable behind me. The point, life's great challange, what works for you. If MMJ works for you, you need to legtimize yourself and your beliefs and with this your wife should follow if she loves you (til death do us part, I am your rock and all that) and if not MMJ, is the least of your probems.

Hope this helps. Best of luck and take care.
-PhF

[Barrelhse]

Straightness.

[bearfootbob]

Initially, it was the first thing that relieved severe and episodically suicidal depression that had been going on for 7 years. It was no ** depression, debilitating. I finally decided to smoke some with my stoner friends.
At first, I thought MJ had cured the depression, it was truly miraculous. A few years later, I found that it isn't so much a cure as a treatment. But whether we want to call it a stimulant or depressant (I tend to think it is both), I know hands down it's been very effective in alleviating that.
I've noticed lately a lot of feedback from people's Doctors, warning people not to use MJ for depression, because it is a depressant. I think this is another wave of misinformation and part of the larger attempt to discredit the medicinal qualities, as well as keep depressed people on pharmies!

The wife aspect I have experienced also. When we were first together, I made it known right off the bat, and it was cool for a time. But she had some of those deep-seated beliefs, that a daily toker is a "drug addict", and had a whole agenda to straighten me out that I wasn't really aware of.
Well you can round off a square, over time, but you can't really square of a round. I should have stood my ground more on it. I went from smoking in front of her, on OUR couch in OUR living room at night, to hiding out in the basement with the window open like some teenager sneaking a puff, and I couldn't smoke at night after work because she would get really distant and mean when I'd smoked.
I'm glad that some of you have been able to make these situations work. My ex wife was an RN, and you couldn't tell her anything about medicine. We got to talking about Vioxx one day, and she strongly believes that the only people who ever have complications from Pharmies are people who are too stupid to read the labels.
Anyways, it was a very brief marriage, and I've been free of all that for a year now. I really don't think I'll go there again, try and be with someone who doesn't understand MJ. I may be a 'drug addict' in her eyes but I cleaned house almost daily, gave her most of my money, altered my smoking habits, and was nothing but sweet to her. I even forgave her cheating on me with her (militantly anti-drug) Ex. Forgave it. Did not "retaliate".
Truth is, MJ was keeping me sane and level, and it was the one thing that was helping to keep her from BREAKING me completely. And that is why she had issue with it, not for medical or moral objections. She started playing the disappearing act again for days on end around Thanksgiving, and I was gone by Christmas. I experienced what I can only describe as a "thought disorder" at this time, and it was beyond what MJ could alleviate. The thought disorder was the almost constant thought of suicide surfacing. Now I am a rational person, and you just brush these things aside, but it was an onslaught of this thought, day and night, for weeks. I was literally slamming my head on the wall to try and make it stop. It wears you down.
To add to the fun, the one connection I had wouldn't return my calls. Despite my situation I don't hassle people, I call once or twice a week. So I gave up on that and started growing again. I was so depressed I let the plants wilt for days. As growers you can only imagine how down somebody has to be to let their plants go. But the plants survived, as did I, alive and well to make long as hell posts about what a buzzkill my ex was. Never again! Ganja girls only from here on out!

[ClosetGrow420]

I hate that, when you plan on telling someone something but you wait for the right time. Then when you finally work up the courage, they already know.

Im sorry to hear about your situation...hopefully it will just ease away.

So if you were to complain about arthritis pains / joint pains, you could easily get a MMJ license? Or is it not that easy?

[BenDover]

Yeah, it's going better. Thanks, ClosetGrow420.

As far as the MMJ cert, it's not that easy. But, from what I understand is that the law is fairly vague. So, it is possible to get it for arthritis pains.

[Ekoostik_Hookah]

im treating my A.D.D and my B.O.R.E.D._.N.E.S.S
and my love for T.O.KE.I.N.G up !!!

[Mutt]

Insomnia and anxiety.
Without herb. I'd be on a pill to go to sleep, a pill to chill me out, a pill to keep me from being depressed, and would prolly be a full blown alcy to calm my head down (I have a tendency to dwell on things, weed helps calm that down and keep my head in the game).
Also, I just love to toke. It's my favorite hobby next to growing it. :D
I just wish that it was Decriminilized...even med legal here...I know I would get a prescription.

[goddog]

sounds like she is part of the problem as well.

be good to you.....

no one belongs to anyone.

[mal_crane]

Hey Ben, I am glad the mj is helping. And I am sorry about the wife. My hubby feels much the way she does. It took about 8 yrs for me to make any headway and convince him differently. He still isn't 100%, but it is getting a little better. He also doesn't know how often and how much I use. ;)

Maybe you could try showing her all the side effects those medications can have. If she approves and lets you smoke, will you be discontinuing the medications?

I too have some depression/anxiety issues and I find the mj helps. I am slowly weaning myself from my med, celexa.

Good luck.

Careful with Celexa, Mom. It can have a lot of bad after effects, including a deeper depression. I will never take it again ...

[SmokinMom]

Careful with Celexa, Mom. It can have a lot of bad after effects, including a deeper depression. I will never take it again ...

Hey mal, thanks for the concern. I am pleased to say I withdrew from the Celexa just fine, it's been about 6 weeks since I took any. I think it was making me worse...sure as hell wasn't making me any better....lol.

I quit effexor once...now thats one bad med. Don't ever take effexor. If a Dr tries to give you effexor, run the other way!!!!!!!!

I am in a good place mentally these days. I guess you can say I've come to terms with my dads death. I think the exercise is working wonders too. Hopefully I will never have to take any antidepressants ever again!!!

:D

[trillions of atoms]

i had a ruptured disk between my l4 and l5 vertabrea....ive been off painkillers including morphiene since a month or so after surgery. i have never been happier to be off pills and odds are i will not go back. i needed a fusion when i was 18 turning 19 but here i am yrs down the road and i just deal with the pain and medicate when i can. i was on every type of painkiller imaginable, and they do nothing but mask the pain only for it to return needing to take even more medicine the next time. not so with smoking MJ.

i will never accept someone who tells me smoking pot is bad because they can never give me one good reason other than "its illegal".

forget societys morality....pills are way way worse!!!!!!!!!

thank you god for putting the plant for me to sow here on this earth!!

[mal_crane]

To answer the topic of the thread, I started using marijuana as a recreational drug. When I was younger I found that it treated my insomnia very well. These days, I notice that it also helps battle my chronic depression and anxiety to the point where I've become a completely different, happier person than I am without it. After screwing up my back at work, I smoke to alleviate the pain caused by deteriorating vertabrae and pinched discs in my lower back.

Mom, I had a friend who was illegally hooked on effexor and it messed up his personality and mind.

[RidingLow]

Chronic IBS, essentially cured by smoking. Before I started smoking, I would have to go to the hospital to stop the IBS flares. Aboout two weeks ago for medical tests I stopped smoking to test how well the pot was controlling flares compared to Fennergin, and Roxy for breakthrough pain. Mind you my IBS is one of a small percent of extreme cases. I had a 6 day flare where I couldn't eat anything, and couldn't drink more then 2 tablespoons of liquid every 10 minutes. At the end of the flare I was hospitalized in the emergency room and bagged on IV, 6 hours and 3 bags later and 3 doses of dilaudid, I walked out of the Emergency room, feeling slightly better and thousands of dollars poorer. After the flare I phoned my doctor and after 7 days of not eating I was told to go back to the MMJ regieme. Later that day I cooked and made my own pizza from scratch. Unfortunately it appears to be genetic as my father also suffers from extreme IBS. He lives in a state where medical MJ is not an option as of yet unfortunately. and has been suffering for 30 years, and has full govermental disability. Yet he could just smoke some pot, and actually be productive and probably not even need the disability. This world of ours is pretty silly.

[night501]

i smoke to get to sleep.
starting in high school i was unable to fall asleep. it was like my body was worn down but my mind was ready and raring to go. i would lay there for hours with the light off and just trying to sleep, but was totaly unable to. i would go for days on end not sleeping. at 17 my doctor perscribed me valum to take before bed but the days after i took it i felt like i was a walking corpse. it finally got so bad that i was staying awake for 10-15 days on end. i was living in a perpetual daze. then i met my best friend chris. at first i just saw her as a girl i liked so i asked her out. about 2 weeks after we started dating i was in the midst of a realy bad "episode".
one day after school she came over and told me that she smoked, at first i was all like "what? thats bad stuff!" then she told me about her weed naps. the first time i smoked i didnt get high... i got blitzed!!!! i literaly slept the whole weekend, i mean literaly from about 10 friday night till my mom woke me for school on monday. ever since then i have been a daily smoker. hell i even smoke when i can sleep. i havent had an "episode" in 6 months. i do still get them but they rarely last more than a day or 2. of coarse by the second night you better believe that i procured some smoke.

[clanchattan]

I've noticed lately a lot of feedback from people's Doctors, warning people not to use MJ for depression, because it is a depressant. I think this is another wave of misinformation and part of the larger attempt to discredit the medicinal qualities, as well as keep depressed people on pharmies!

why prescribe speed for hyperactivity? no pharm company is dropping cash into doctors accounts so when it comes to marijuana i take everything they say with a grain of salt. or a gram of .......

[ChatNoir]

http://www.norml.org//index.cfm?Group_ID=7002

This link has enough information and the sub links included have sources from medical institutions whose authority can not be denied. If she disagrees with you despite a the fact that there is a great sea of information, then she is devoid of logic which is a mental illness which needs to be cured.