Quote:
Originally Posted by manicdepressive07
(Or any other way to self medicate)
Yay or nay?
As I lay here in bed, having the never ending fight with myself to fall asleep, I'm starting to seriously contemplate using marijuana for the sole purpose at easing my mind at night to help me get to sleep. My mind is constantly racing at night and it takes me AT LEAST 2 hours after I get to bed until I fall asleep, sometimes not until 2 or 3am.
I asked for help about insomnia on fb a few weeks ago and got an overwhelming majority vote from my "hippie" Cali friends who suggested I try smoking pot to help me get to sleep. I'm just worried about how it may interact with the drugs I take? (Namely, Geodon). Does anyone else do this or know BP persons who smoke pot for insomnia or use it to self medicate? I even asked my pdoc about it and his only seriously concern was that it was a bad idea because the drug exacerbates being "unmotivated" and having "lack of action" during the day and may cause over eating. (Which I obv don't want since I am trying to lose weight). But I would only be taking this at night, strictly before bed. Any thoughts on this subject would be appreciated  |
1) I eat cannabis chocolate for insomnia. Yes, in Cali, with a prescription, and the doctor who prescribed it specifically told me not to smoke. Either edibles or drinkables (we have marijuana mango lassi, which is decent), or vaporizing, but not smoking due to the damage to the lungs. For me - it was easy. I do not smoke at all - I do not possess the skill of smoking. I also did not want to spend big dollars on vaporizing. So I spent several months trying
different edibles, until I found Tangerine Dark Chocolate with Cannabis by KIVA. Then it took some time to find the right dose, but now I am doing OK.
I also take 30 mg Elavil, with a piece of cannabis chocolate. You can try marijuana alone first, though.
2) No, it does not cause overeating in ME. In my case, I am undernourished right now, due to a combination of thyroid problems which somehow do not get fully fixed by synthroid, and, anxiety (I react to anxiety with nausea and stopping to eat). I also get migraines with nausea, and those also cause me to not eat. So I eat very little right now, much less than I should be eating, and am subsisting mostly on liquid foods (milk, smoothies, V8) to get some nutrients in every day.
3) For a few months, I was on marijuana and geodon, without issues.
4) I am probably not bipolar (was mis dx'd) so I cannot speak to the possible effect on bipolar, but I can tell you that when I did speak about marijuana with the pdoc last year when he thought I was bipolar because he just took over from a prior pdoc, he only advised me that long term use can cause anxiety. It has not done that to me - I am experiencing the same kind of situational anxiety that I am used to experiencing and that I experienced for years before starting to use marijuana. So no change at all.
5) It does not cause being unmotivated. I am motivated and accomplished a couple of creative projects pretty well. When I do not do things that should be done, it is because of anxiety and not because I am unmotivated, and, that kind of anxiety is old news for me, and completely unrelated to pot.
All in all, I recommend it highly.
Oh, and last year when I got my prescription, I was thinking of medicating migraines and insomnia. The doctor told me that most likely I would have success with insomnia; less likely, would have success with migraines. She was right - it did not help with migraines at all, but it does help sleep.
Here is a link to my chocolate:
https://www.stickyguide.com/dispensa...dark-chocolate
It actually tastes very good and does not have the typical taste of cannabis. Does taste good, which is, to me, very important.