Bipolar Disorder Support Group
Bipolar disorder is not just a single disorder, but a category of mood disorders marked by periods of abnormally high energy and euphoria, often accompanied by bouts of clinical depression. This is the place to talk about your experience with bipolar disorder, learn from others' experiences, and find support.
Hi all. Good morning! Hope you've had your coffee. I'm still having mine.
For the sake of discussion, because this seems like such a good place to do it, I was curious as to what the community thought about medical marijuana?
There is research both that it contributes to mental illness (old drug war reasearch, mostly discredited), and new research that cannabis can actually help with Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, PTSD, anxiety and depression, all which I suffer from.
I personally started smoking medical marijuana on the recommendation of my therapist and outpatient dual-diagnosis facility, both for the above mentioned conditions and also as harm reduction to keep me from drinking.
I'm linking here to an essay I wrote for Queer Mental Health about my experience with medical marijuana, if you're interested:
http://queermentalhealth.org/narrative/my-experience-with-medical-marijuana-as-a-psychiatric-medication-and-harm-reduction-strategy/
What are you guy's experiences with medical marijuana?
I know the effects vary widely among different people. for some people like me it is the magic lifesaving medicine and for others it gives them panic attacks or makes them really paranoid. Then there's always the newbie eats an edible stories which can involve psychosis and be quite harrowing.
For the sake of discussion, because this seems like such a good place to do it, I was curious as to what the community thought about medical marijuana?
There is research both that it contributes to mental illness (old drug war reasearch, mostly discredited), and new research that cannabis can actually help with Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, PTSD, anxiety and depression, all which I suffer from.
I personally started smoking medical marijuana on the recommendation of my therapist and outpatient dual-diagnosis facility, both for the above mentioned conditions and also as harm reduction to keep me from drinking.
I'm linking here to an essay I wrote for Queer Mental Health about my experience with medical marijuana, if you're interested:
http://queermentalhealth.org/narrative/my-experience-with-medical-marijuana-as-a-psychiatric-medication-and-harm-reduction-strategy/
What are you guy's experiences with medical marijuana?
I know the effects vary widely among different people. for some people like me it is the magic lifesaving medicine and for others it gives them panic attacks or makes them really paranoid. Then there's always the newbie eats an edible stories which can involve psychosis and be quite harrowing.
However, it's my mental illness that won't let me smoke it. Total freak out when I have tried. Praying for the stuff to wear off. Anxiety and paranoia that I can't breath or that something is stuck in my throat.
I do believe we have to do what works for us and I have a few family members that smoke rather than taking anxiety meds. Works for them and is probably safer than my benzo.
As for the studies? I don't think they have studied it enough.
I really never experienced any bad side effects during any time I have smoked through out the years. In fact my worse depression was when I abstained for over 10 years, and believe it or not regardless of what they say it did not lead to a addiction to harder drugs. In 2009 I was diagnosed with breast cancer and in five years I went through 11 surgeries, chemo and radiation and was very sick for what felt like ever. I was living in Seattle at the time and thankfully medical marijuana was legal there and at the suggestion of my oncologist and pdoc I went on medical marijuana for the nausea, loss of appetite insomnia and stress.
Okay with medical marijuana they grow and mix different strains to treat different issues, so I would go in and tell them what problems I was dealing with and they would recommend what would help me most. I will tell you if it wasn't for it I probably would be dead because I would have taken my own life. There was so much pain and hopelessness during this time that this was the only thing that calmed my mind and allowed me to just turn off my mind and constant racing thoughts of dying.
Unfortunately I live in Florida now where even medical marijuana is illegal so I am unable to continue to use which I would even though I am in remission just because I would rather use it for stress then taking my prn. If my cancer comes back or the stress gets so bad I am depending on my prn too much I will move back to Seattle where it is legal for recreational use now.
So to sum it up it has saved my life during one of the most horrible times of my life when all the pharmaceutical medications were not helping me at all. It's not just the disease that call kill you it's the treatment and stress involved in having a scary illness like cancer where your not sure if your going to live or die and marijuana really helped to get me through this.
Like I said I can't speak for everyone because not all of us will have the same reaction.