on July 28, 2013
Hi guys! I know I haven't been around as much as I normally am lately. However, my quality of life right now has been sort of crappy due to the fact we can't get ahold of our regular guy to buy medicine. He's been MIA for a few weeks now. The other guy we use as a backup is overcharging. He's really shady anyway. Plus my boyfriend lost his job yesterday, so we don't have money to buy any to medicate with right now. Anyway, because I haven't been able to medicate... My symptoms are making me miserable. I spend most of the day asleep because in so fatigued and the rest of the time I'm awake I have stomach pains or cramping or gas. So that's what's been taking up my time lately. Managing my symptoms is a full time job and it sucks.
However, I have learned something rather interesting because my disorder has taken over. I spend quite a lot of time on a support group website for my GI tract disorder in order to keep my spirits somewhat up. It helps knowing other people deal with the same things I do and how they are managing their symptoms. It's also less scary to know the things that are happening to me right now aren't some other problem. Anyway, I noticed a topic on our support group boards today about using cannabis to treat symptoms.
So being that I have had nothing but a positive experience using cannabis for my symptoms, I clicked on it. The thread starter wanted to know others experiences or thoughts about cannabis in regards to treatment and pain management because he had never been a marijuana user but was curious about trying to use it to help his symptoms. I expected the results in the thread to be as positive as mine, but what I found was sort of surprising.
A lot of people had negative things to say. But, honestly I think it was from lack of education regarding cannabis. I would like to post what one man said because I honestly thought it was somewhat shocking that a man much older than I was so misinformed. Here's his post: (I have edited out some details in fear of sharing too my about my disorder and some of the more gross symptoms)
I tried a few times - 10-12. I was an irregular consumer. Did not cure any pain. Improved my appetite most of the time, but made me crave junk food
instead of healthy which can be bad for (Our disorder). Made me euphoric and happy when taken in smoke form
(via cigarette and bong). In solid ie cookie form, it made me paranoid. I guess I had too many cookies(4-5). Never did it after that.
Another man said that it did nothing for his pain at all just made him feel high. And another said it made him feel foggy all day and he didn't like it.
Okay, here's what made me sort of upset by this (I actually came off sort of know it all Ish in my post because it was so shocking to me that so much negativity and misunderstanding existed in this thread). To me, all the negativity in these people's posts were because they were using the wrong strains. To me, it really seemed to me that the people in this thread were really misinformed (based in other responses as well) that different strains of marijuana exist to do different things. You can't just smoke or put whatever in your edibles and expect it to help with your specific symptoms.
Granted I realize that everyone has different reactions to medicating, however, it just seemed they were talking negative effects from using the wrong strains to treat themselves and over medicating.
For me, I smoke Sativa. I stay away from certain strains because I've found it they dont help my pain as much and makes me feel more active when I need to relax in order to relax my abdominals. Generally, I've found I smoke at regular times to regulate my appetite and relieve my nausea. I can lose my appetite very easily from my illness and staying on a regular schedule of eating is imperative for my functioning. For me, I must smoke quality as well. I don't expect anything positive from crap. The ideal strain for my symptoms is sour diesel. It does all I desire when I medicate and makes me feel normal. Also, I don't need a whole bowl to myself to feel the effects. I smoke just enough about 3 hits or so, so that I'm not fried all day but feel the effects I need.
Anyway, I guess what I am trying to say is it seems like there's a huge lack of education among people that actually need medicine about how to medicate and what to use to medicate. It seems they are smoking way too much then blaming it on marijuana itself. Then it seems people are just smoking or ingesting whatever and expecting it to do what they want to help them. It really sucks that people are getting this negative experience from medicating because they don't know how much to smoke or ingest or because its the wrong strain. I wish this education was readily available to people. I, of course, recommended people go to their dispensary to have someone there help them find a strain that works for them, but lets face it people in pain aren't always necessarily medicating legally, which further enables misunderstanding as to what strain does what. I was lucky enough to have this education from my boyfriend when I first started medicating, but its apparent to me that everyone isn't as lucky as me and that makes me sad. I wish I hadn't realized that the amount of readily available info is effecting people seeking relief's experiences and turning them away from the only thing that's given me relief over the last few years.
I mean, it took trial and error for me to find what works for me too, but I didn't give up and found relief for me. I wish other people would understand and give cannabis the chance it deserves to help them.
However, I have learned something rather interesting because my disorder has taken over. I spend quite a lot of time on a support group website for my GI tract disorder in order to keep my spirits somewhat up. It helps knowing other people deal with the same things I do and how they are managing their symptoms. It's also less scary to know the things that are happening to me right now aren't some other problem. Anyway, I noticed a topic on our support group boards today about using cannabis to treat symptoms.
So being that I have had nothing but a positive experience using cannabis for my symptoms, I clicked on it. The thread starter wanted to know others experiences or thoughts about cannabis in regards to treatment and pain management because he had never been a marijuana user but was curious about trying to use it to help his symptoms. I expected the results in the thread to be as positive as mine, but what I found was sort of surprising.
A lot of people had negative things to say. But, honestly I think it was from lack of education regarding cannabis. I would like to post what one man said because I honestly thought it was somewhat shocking that a man much older than I was so misinformed. Here's his post: (I have edited out some details in fear of sharing too my about my disorder and some of the more gross symptoms)
I tried a few times - 10-12. I was an irregular consumer. Did not cure any pain. Improved my appetite most of the time, but made me crave junk food
instead of healthy which can be bad for (Our disorder). Made me euphoric and happy when taken in smoke form
(via cigarette and bong). In solid ie cookie form, it made me paranoid. I guess I had too many cookies(4-5). Never did it after that.
Another man said that it did nothing for his pain at all just made him feel high. And another said it made him feel foggy all day and he didn't like it.
Okay, here's what made me sort of upset by this (I actually came off sort of know it all Ish in my post because it was so shocking to me that so much negativity and misunderstanding existed in this thread). To me, all the negativity in these people's posts were because they were using the wrong strains. To me, it really seemed to me that the people in this thread were really misinformed (based in other responses as well) that different strains of marijuana exist to do different things. You can't just smoke or put whatever in your edibles and expect it to help with your specific symptoms.
Granted I realize that everyone has different reactions to medicating, however, it just seemed they were talking negative effects from using the wrong strains to treat themselves and over medicating.
For me, I smoke Sativa. I stay away from certain strains because I've found it they dont help my pain as much and makes me feel more active when I need to relax in order to relax my abdominals. Generally, I've found I smoke at regular times to regulate my appetite and relieve my nausea. I can lose my appetite very easily from my illness and staying on a regular schedule of eating is imperative for my functioning. For me, I must smoke quality as well. I don't expect anything positive from crap. The ideal strain for my symptoms is sour diesel. It does all I desire when I medicate and makes me feel normal. Also, I don't need a whole bowl to myself to feel the effects. I smoke just enough about 3 hits or so, so that I'm not fried all day but feel the effects I need.
Anyway, I guess what I am trying to say is it seems like there's a huge lack of education among people that actually need medicine about how to medicate and what to use to medicate. It seems they are smoking way too much then blaming it on marijuana itself. Then it seems people are just smoking or ingesting whatever and expecting it to do what they want to help them. It really sucks that people are getting this negative experience from medicating because they don't know how much to smoke or ingest or because its the wrong strain. I wish this education was readily available to people. I, of course, recommended people go to their dispensary to have someone there help them find a strain that works for them, but lets face it people in pain aren't always necessarily medicating legally, which further enables misunderstanding as to what strain does what. I was lucky enough to have this education from my boyfriend when I first started medicating, but its apparent to me that everyone isn't as lucky as me and that makes me sad. I wish I hadn't realized that the amount of readily available info is effecting people seeking relief's experiences and turning them away from the only thing that's given me relief over the last few years.
I mean, it took trial and error for me to find what works for me too, but I didn't give up and found relief for me. I wish other people would understand and give cannabis the chance it deserves to help them.
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4 people like this.
I agree it is tough getting through to people that aren't educated or even curious enough to find the information themselves. Most people think all strains do the exact same thing. When I smoked stress in High School I think that is the only time I had negative experiences and it was mainly due to t... View More
You are correct on many levels here education even among the seasoned stoner is slim to non out there. Not to mention there is a ton of misinformation. How marijuana effects each person could well depend on the amount of endocannabindoid receptors that person has in their body as well as the amount ... View More
I agree with all of you.there definitely just needs to be more readily available info for all of this. Ive had to do a lot of research regarding strains on my own. Its especially difficult because each person is different. The GI tract issue I have also has a wide range of symptoms varying from pers... View More
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