I Tried Medical Marijuana: Was It A Health Experiment Or Just Wanting To Get High?
I've been in the Parkinson's Disease world for almost three years. During that time I've been to a few symposiums. The question I hear asked most often is "Does marijuana help with symptoms and pain?"
The answer is always, "studies show it doesn't help but it doesn't hurt" Sigh!
You hear lots of stories about how marijuana helps people suffering from Cancer, MS, ALS, AIDS, etc....so why not Parkinson's?
Let's take a look at my main problems with PD. My issues include lack of balance, knee pain, back spasms and tremors. Occasionally I get these internal tremors that almost feels like a panic attack.
When the internal tremors occur, I take a Valium. It's only 5 mg's but I'm very cautious about how often I take them. They're addictive and doctors are now very wary about prescribing them.
But they do work for me. They calm me down...take the edge off. I'm usually a little hungover the next day but it's nothing that I can't deal with.
Now I'm hanging out in California. Home of a medical pot shop on every corner. No better time or place for a little experimentation.
It's all about the health and science!
Because I'm not a California resident, it's tougher to buy pot at a dispensary. Tougher but not impossible. More on this later in the week.
Lucky for me that every California resident I know has a prescription.
Saturday night it was time to see what medical marijuana was all about.
I'm not exactly a virgin in the pot smoking world but it has been 20 years since the last time I indulged in this activity. TWENTY YEARS!
I hear this stuff is pretty potent so I was told to take it easy. I took three hits off a joint...and yeah, I coughed one up...ummm lightweight.
I caught a little buzz...nothing major. It really didn't help with the back spasms but I did get a good nights sleep. Not a bad experience but not enough to draw any conclusions.
Sunday, it was time to give it another try....
This time I'm getting serious. Five big hits...pretty much half a joint...and no coughing.
The results are what you would expect. It didn't help with the spasms but it certainly mellowed me out. Okay...maybe mellow isn't the word. Closer to somewhere between mellow and wasted would be that word. We all get it, right?
Here's my biggest issue...It's nice to do this at home, at night where you can chill out and then go to sleep. What do you do during the day during work hours?
Sunday, I would have had a hard time going to McDonald's for a hot apple pie much less going to a job for eight hours. Good thing I don't work.
And what about driving? Oh yeah...good thing I don't drive.
So after trying this twice, what do I think?
I'm really not sure yet. I'll be in California another two weeks. I may need to try this another time or two...or ten.
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