Has anyone tried medical marijuana for the treatment of PTSD?

I tried it last night. I am not a stoner and over did it. However, the PTSD thoughts did go away for nearly a day and I did sleep well for the first time in months. The problem thoughts return the next afternoon though.

I do not live in a state where medical marijuana is legal. And, I don't like to smoke or to be high.

Has anyone had a good experience treating PTSD with medical marijuana? I'd like to hear your story. Thanks.

[Hellion]

Well I have not been recommended marijuana by a doctor, nor do I have that MMJ card....but I have certainly smoked marijuana to alleviate PTSD symptoms and as far as I can tell it does help. It calms the anxiety, reduces racing thoughts/being stuck in thoughts of past and generally helps with relaxation. The effects are temporary though so yeah it will wear off.

There are other ways to ingest it besides smoking, and there are strains that don't get you as high....like strains with much more CBD than THC, not sure about strains that don't get you high at all though, I personally don't really mind that effect...but to each their own.

[Calm]

I'd be willing to try it. It's not legal in the state I live in yet but hoping it will become legal someday. I battle with PTSD and OCD, and they're entwined together. The OCD problems are constantly there and the PTSD triggers the OCD and makes everything so much worse. If it would help with the extreme anxiety, then I'd jump through hoops to try it. Meds just haven't worked well at all.

[lightcatcher]

I think it could be an individual thing - I have smoked it a long time ago however I didn't like it as I like to have complete control over my body etc.

[Teacake]

Originally Posted by unguy

Has anyone tried medical marijuana for the treatment of PTSD?

I tried it last night. I am not a stoner and over did it. However, the PTSD thoughts did go away for nearly a day and I did sleep well for the first time in months. The problem thoughts return the next afternoon though.

I do not live in a state where medical marijuana is legal. And, I don't like to smoke or to be high.

Has anyone had a good experience treating PTSD with medical marijuana? I'd like to hear your story. Thanks.

Over time pot could make ptsd worse. Prolonged stress depletes gaba. Marijuana reduces gaba. This is why some potheads get paranoid and a few get psychotic.

The cure you are looking for oa the amino acid and neurotransmitter gaba. Its cheap and legal. It doesn't mask ptsd symptoms. It reverses the physiological changes of ptsd. Iit will make you closer to normal. It is safe and effective. Read Billie J. Sahleys little books to learn more. She was a pain researcher and treatment provider.

Pot is good medicine and a good recreational drug. There's nothing wrong with it. It's just not a cure for ptsd. It can give you a break from symptoms now and then. Regular use will make you worse.

[Hellion]

Originally Posted by Teacake

Over time pot could make ptsd worse. Prolonged stress depletes gaba. Marijuana reduces gaba. This is why some potheads get paranoid and a few get psychotic.

The cure you are looking for oa the amino acid and neurotransmitter gaba. Its cheap and legal. It doesn't mask ptsd symptoms. It reverses the physiological changes of ptsd. Iit will make you closer to normal. It is safe and effective. Read Billie J. Sahleys little books to learn more. She was a pain researcher and treatment provider.

Pot is good medicine and a good recreational drug. There's nothing wrong with it. It's just not a cure for ptsd. It can give you a break from symptoms now and then. Regular use will make you worse.

According to various internet pages, cannabis actually acts like GABA/promotes it various wordings on that...but not really anything about cannabis reducing it.

[Mysterious Flyer]

I used to smoke pot, but I stopped because it was making me paranoid and interfering with my sleep cycle. It was giving me a lot of weird dreams, which is not what you need when you have PTSD. If you can smoke it without getting paranoid (or fat, haha), then go ahead for recreational reasons. I don't think it would alleviate PTSD, though. If you have PTSD, you are probably better off seeing a psychiatrist who can prescribe something more targeted. Don't tell him you smoke pot, though. He might turn you away.

[Hellion]

Originally Posted by Mysterious Flyer

I used to smoke pot, but I stopped because it was making me paranoid and interfering with my sleep cycle. It was giving me a lot of weird dreams, which is not what you need when you have PTSD. If you can smoke it without getting paranoid (or fat, haha), then go ahead for recreational reasons. I don't think it would alleviate PTSD, though. If you have PTSD, you are probably better off seeing a psychiatrist who can prescribe something more targeted. Don't tell him you smoke pot, though. He might turn you away.

I've tried lots of meds not just for PTSD per say but symptoms of that as well as anxiety and depression including various anti-depressants(prozac, effexor, wellbutrin, celexa and mirtazapine), a couple anti-histamines(for anxiety/sleep), anti-psychotics(seroquel and zyprexa to supposedly help depression and anxiety), klonopin(which I lost control on not knowing how addictive it was) and a few others none of which help any and/or make me feel worse.... There are a couple that help a bit so far trazodone works ok for sleep, and I have valium for severe anxiety or panic attacks. But yeah I've still found cannabis very helpful, it seems to help me focus and concentrate better to which I've had a hard time doing since I've gotten PTSD.

I think if I could get MMJ for PTSD, not that I have to since its legal in my state...that would likely be safer in the long run then all those pills but then I also haven't reacted well to those. My smoking cannabis doesn't seem to get me turned away, so it might depend on the psychiatrist in fact sometimes it might be better they know in case there are meds that interact dangerously with it that they might prescribe if they don't know.

[Mysterious Flyer]

Well, different people react differently to drugs. I suppose it wouldn't hurt for a person to try, but I would caution against using pot a crutch, and then not seeing a doctor. It won't kill a person to smoke it a few times and find out if it makes them paranoid or not.

Keeping in mind that I've never tried it myself, from what I gather from looking into this route, it would be the THC component that would cause the high from marijuana, as well as being the cause of the anxiety or paranoia that some users experience. The other major component CBD would not result in the high, the anxiety/paranoia, and it also does not raise the heart rate like THC does.

Every marijuana strain would carry it's own THC to CBD ratio, and even within the strains themselves each plant would vary - sometimes dramatically. Most strains these days have higher THC levels (due to being bred for the high effect), but there are some strains with a 1:1 ratio, and there's a growing trend (no pun intended) towards developing medicinal-oriented high CBD strain with low THC levels.

The reason marijuana is being looked at to assist with PTSD is because of what research is suggesting happens when someone has PTSD. The brain has a type of receptor called CB1 receptors (Cannabinoid type 1 receptors), and in people with PTSD there seems to be more of these receptors than normal. Working with those CB1 receptors is a type of neurotransmitter called anandamide, and it supposedly plays a role in transmitting the signals that help a person manage and handle mood, stress, memory, etc.

However, the people with PTSD don't have enough anandamide, and so it causes those CB1 receptors to not be able to help manage those areas, leading to the PTSD symptoms.

The THC and CBD in marijuana have a similar structure to anandamide, so the thinking seems to be that when they use marijuana, it goes and binds to those CB1 receptors that are lacking anandamide, in effect tricking the receptors into thinking everything is normal. The result being the PTSD symptoms don't get triggered as strongly.

It wouldn't be a long term fix though because frequent marijuana use (daily smokers) is linked with a decreased number of CB1 receptors. This seems to be due to the marijuana tricking the brain into thinking it's getting plenty of anandamide, so CB1 receptors are decreased (the brain thinks it doesn't need so many to catch it since there's so much available). That being said, the brain does seem to work on rebalancing itself once the marijuana is stopped.

At least that's how I understand what I've come across. I'm no neuroscientist, and as I mentioned I've never tried marijuana, so I'm just going off of what I've read.