In my opinion you have better options for stress than smoking pot. As far as the effect pot has on mg well, for starters your inhaling smoke which by the way is 20 times stronger than nicotine and with the potential respiratory and breathing problems associated with mg I can see any benefit what so ever..just the opposite in my opinion.

There are some good alternatives out that for stress that would benefit you better..Good luck , Cj

Hey there take it from me as relaxing and helpful as pot may be for the nerves I agree with CJ can see no benefit for MG...I say this also because I have been a long time cigarette smoker unfortunately and when was diagnosed with MG, had thymectomy etc managed to quit for a long time...I too am a very anxious and stressed out person so go off the wagon with the smokes now and more again and trust me has done nothing but hurt....Fighting a constant battle to stop...There are definately other alternatives...Good luck l know how hard it is....

Well I did some quick research and found these immediately. the second link shows that medicinal marijuana can now be prescribed for mg patients
http://cannabisnews.com/news/20/thread20367.shtml

http://www.medmarijuanaofil.com/about-us.php

I would say unless you have breathing issues from your mg, weed will not help nor harm you.
however a similar discussion on here had a comment left from someone saying THC could possibly be an acetylocholinerase inhibitor (I don't know if I spelled that right, its such a long word!). that could mean that cannabis could actually benefit mg patients. most people are quick to say marijuana will make your symptoms worse because it makes you relaxed but the weakness caused by mg is not your muscles relaxing its your muscle receptors being blocked and destroyed. I have no experience with marijuana but if its offered as a treatment for mg in Illinois than it cant be life threatening.
Annie

Welcome to the group. I'm not sure about medical marjuana, but I will be researching it. Right now it isn't legal in Florida, but it's on the ballot in November. I guess I will continue my research and see how the vote comes out.

I wonder now after reading some more of comments I did a little research and saw that they say medical marijuana is used for MS patients and has worked well so now Im curious about this subject..I will be interested in what others here find out...

Hello,

Great for cancer patients or even patients that have given up hope on things! Give it to them hand over fist I say!

Marijuana has not been proven to help MG. I have tried to find it and one cannot find this type of information. I challenge anyone to find it. It has harmful chemicals and smoke that are really no good for anyone, let alone someone with MG.

Having said that, What you do find is that marijuana has cannabinoids like tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) that can help with Alzheimers disease. THC isn't marijuana. If you can get just the THC, maybe we could have something.

THC - "caused competitive inhibition of the AChE enzyme and inhibition of ..amyloid peptide aggregation, implicated in the development of Alzheimer's disease. Compared to currently approved drugs prescribed for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, THC is a considerably superior inhibitor of A aggregation, and this study provides a previously unrecognized molecular mechanism through which cannabinoid molecules may impact the progression of this debilitating disease"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2562334/

Alzheimers is not MG, otherwise we could use their meds and vice versa. Why can we not? Because MG takes place in the peripheral nervous system, not the central nervous system.

No offense, but the links provided by Annie via quick google are just advertisements for prescriptions for marijuana. Honestly, you can get a prescription for marijuana for almost anything at the right doctor. Those sites are testaments to that!

About me:

I smoked marijuana for close to 25 years before MG. I quit smoking due to MG concerns related to my lungs, in addition to the chemicals put in the marijuana hurting me. I quit for 2 years until I was in control of my MG. Like drinking alcohol, I smoke marijuana semi regularly now and I waited to do so until my MG was VERY stable. Having said that, from my vast experience, you should be VERY stable to smoke it. I do not believe you can do much harm to yourself with moderate usage and I do not believe you are helping yourself much by smoking it. It takes your mind off of things for a bit, I understand. However, I believe the long term usage of marijuana has contributed to my anxiety disorder. I had to get therapy to aid me in order to cope with it. It is fact that marijuana has anxiety associated with its initial effects and longer term effects are disputed. I can say that I have known a few long term, everyday all the time pot smokers in my lifetime and most of them are hermits now not leaving their homes much or they will be staying indoors and have social and like phobias, which are forms of anxiety/pysche issues...but they relax at home and weed takes their cares away just like alcohol would. They aren't helping their true underlying condition of PTSB or anxiety or pain/whatever, just dealing with it via getting high.

I get why people want to use it...I really do!

Use at your own risk!

TJ

Cannabis is a bronchodilator so, if not smoked, good for asthmatic lungs. There so may ways we can deliver it without smoking it. Since I deal with nausea and weight loss from cancer and its treatments, I will start using for those reasons but pay attention to how it affects my MG which is currently bad. Cannabis lollipops sound like potentially great stress relievers. :) Of course my plunge to 96 lbs is what fueled my current decision, but stress relief is good.

My experience is that it doesn't affect my MG symptoms one way or the other. If I'm symptomatic when I smoke or ingest I'm still symptomatic. If I'm stable when I smoke - I'm stable. And if I have an indica strain I will get lazy after a while and just want to kick back - just like normal people. But, if I ingest or smoke a good sativa strain I'm full of energy and in a great, fun loving mood for hours. Again, that's just normal. Bottom line, I would say if you don't use pot there is no reason to start just because you have MG.

Update: I have used medicinal cannabis (edibles) and Marinol for appetite issues related to pancreatic cancer and for nausea from chemo. Both negatively impact my MG, which is now quite bad, rapidly producing ptosis and generalized weakness. Also, from what I have read and experienced, cannabis does not help much with pain; if it did, I could take fewer narcotics. We need a lot more research, and evidence based answers to your questions are probably not available.

Since I live in Washington, easy to get. I spoke to my doctor, was told not to smoke because I have asthma. No problem if ingested.. I think I will pass on opportunity I spent 20 years in Bay area when I was younger, everyone at least tried it once. I was not a fan, I like being in control. I still do.. age hasn't changed me much.
Talk it over with your doctor before trying.
Dee

Dee, I feel the same about the control issues. If only I were no 15-20 lbs underweight. It can produce paranoia, which seems detrimental to anxiety, too.

None of the drugs we take whether from plant or pharmacy are totally innocuous. Some plant derived substances are quite powerful, such as digitalis and cyanide. Like pharmaceuticals, some plant drugs have a larger therapeutic to toxicity ratio than others; that allow for dosage variations, leaf to leaf and plant to plant, not to be of great consequence. In addition to dosage variation, adulteration, deliberately or by misidentification can be a problem, especially with substances which are illegal or uncontrolled. Although these problems can be found among pharmaceuticals as well, there are more protections for the consumer.

Since so many of the drugs we have to take to control potentially fatal symptoms and disabling conditions have known and unknown dangers, including low therapeutic to toxic ratios, adding anything to the mix should be undertaken with reservation. Psychoactive drugs that affect clear thinking are dangerous in this respect, even independent of other considerations. Those that are slowly metabolized and released unpredictably and whose active half life is prolonged are especially worrisome. Considering the lack of knowledge we encounter with MG, we need to be especially sharp. Smoking marijuana or being around others who are smoking is something I think would be extremely foolish for me, and I hope those who chose to use it are able to do so with clear heads and without adverse consequences. b.

Well said bweeds.

I do not claim to have tried pot or even am that educated about all of its side effects. What I do know that with little warning I ended up in a MG crisis that landed me in the ICU intubated and unconscious for 14 days and in the hospital for a full month. After that experience I cannot even imagine partaking in any potentially risky behavior that might result in going through that again.

I do recognize the medicinal benefits of marijuana for those fighting cancer and the importance of managing the myriad of symptoms to help maintain their health.

I guess especially after just going through my bit of hell, I would strongly advise caution when it comes to using marijuana. It is a muscle relaxant and does come with its MG associated risks. Simply put I do not want anyone to go through what I just did.

Joe

I have limited, ok EXTREMELY limited exposure to pot in my lifetime. Tried it once as a teen and decided that a few beers served me better. That having been said, in the past 30 days I experienced a lung collapse and a lung "white out" post surgically. I can assure you that I will NEVER smoke ANYTHING ever again, frankly I have a fear of yankee candle smells at the moment as I find them irritatting. I say.. stay away, but thats just me...

Fortunately, Maureen, smoking is not the only way to get the effects of cannabis.

Joe, starvation was a real risk for me, so I chose to live with MG symptoms rather than dying from starvation.

As b pointed out, the effects of being stoned could cause all kinds of troubles, but I was fortunate to have others managing my medications for me. I could not have been responsible for much when I was eating my cannabis edibles, which were candies tasting too much like bong water. Yuck!

Unless its benefits are proven, I do not recommend cannabis use.