Marijuana

[guy123]

After reading lots of positive studies and having my doctor tell me it works, I decided to give it a try.

 

I should start by saying that at this point I had been on daily Clonidine for 3-4 weeks, and seeing decent results.

 

I procured a small bag of marijuana. Some of it was brown, but most was green buds. Most people know green buds are good... "if it's brown, turn it down," etc. I decided to start with the brown stuff and "work my way up," since I'm not a habitual user. It's like how in college you drink the cheap vodka, and then when you're older and making money you can buy Grey Goose and you appreciate how good it is. Anyway, the first night I smoked some of the "lesser quality" stuff, and was feeling relaxed, music was enhanced, etc. I remember having the thought at one point "wow... no urge to blink...".

 

The second night I smoked more of the brown stuff. I wasn't smoking too much... probably 4-6 hits from a small pipe over the course of 2 or 3 hours. Again I felt the same as before, but I had a slight feeling like obsessive thoughts were occurring. I know that anxiety is a side effect of marijuana, so I figured it was maybe just that.

 

I took the next day off. Eyes still feeling good.

 

At this point, I was out of the brown so I put one of the green buds in my pipe and took a bit drag.

 

About 10 minutes later I didn't feel right. I felt like I was having a "bad trip." My heart was racing (increased heart rate is normal with marijuana), but this was different. I didn't feel good. Instead of being mellowed out, I was anxious as ######. I felt like I had to be doing SOMETHING. I wanted to go to the gym. This was seriously not cool. I also noticed a large increase in my tic. I literally had to blink hard every 5 seconds. it was like as bad as it was if not worse than before I started Clonidine.

 

In all honesty, because of the sudden increase in energy and the increase in ticcing, I thought for a sec "holy crap, what if this was laced with crack" since cocaine is notorious for increasing tics in people due to its dopamine activity. I searched the web and the consensus was that if your pot has crack in it, you lips/mouth go numb right after you smoke it. That didn't happen, so I figured it wasn't the case. (the only other drug that could really have that effect would be meth, and because I definitely wasn't craving more, I knew it wasn't meth, lol... plus I got it from a reputable source so I'm sure it was pure).

 

Also worth noting is that my tic doesn't seem to get worse in the case of anxiety/stress (something that seems to be common with TS patients). It's just always there. Never waxing, never waning, just always there. Blink. Blink. Blink. Therefore, I don't believe that the increase in tic frequency after smoking was due to increased anxiety.

 

More research turns out that there are two strains of marijuana, sativa and indica. Generally speaking, sativa gives you what people refer to as an "energetic high," and indica gives you the "stoned" high. Perhaps I just got some really powerful sativa, and that's why I was feeling super pumped up. But that wouldn't explain the increase in tics. I read on a site that marijuana has no effect on dopamine.

 

Anyway, it's been a few days and my ticcing is still much worse than it was before I smoked the strong stuff. I'm actually a bit worried, but I don't think marijuana can have permanent neurological effects (ok, maybe if you smoke every day for years). I even read a study about someone with TS or Chronic Tic Disorder who used cocaine in a clinical setting and his tics returned to baseline after it wore off. At any rate, this is really not cool and the last few days have sucked. I'm still taking Clonidine, tho. And drinking alcohol, because that seems to help (a tiny bit).

 

I also read something on a marijuana site about a guy who (paraphrasing) "came off of haldol and completely controls his Tourettes by smoking indica strain marijuana." That was interesting.

 

So that made me wonder about all of the many studies (and forum posts) I've read about with people who smoke marijuana daily to control their tourettes. I think every medical study I've read relating marijuana and/or marinol to TS and tic disorders has been extremely positive, and in many cases it's mentioned that the effects continue to improve over time (altho they also mention rebound exacerbation when you stop). I wonder if they were using indica.

 

I found two posts (I think one was here) of TS patients who said marijuana made their symptoms much worse. I wonder if they were smoking sativa?

 

I wonder what strain marinol is made from. I don't suppose anyone knows? Or if you get medical marijuana from one of those clubs in California, do they have different strains you can pick from?

 

Anyway, just thought I'd share my experience.

 

As a side note, if it turns out I can't smoke marijuana, I'll be pretty disappointed. I'm a musician (played guitar since I was in 5th grade), and listening to music on marijuana is one of the most beautiful things I have experienced. But more importantly, I was really looking forward to it as a viable treatment option, and I will be upset if it's not effective for me because that leaves just Topamax, Tennex (which is basically the same as what I'm on now), and the neuroleptics which I don't want.

 

Oh, I think I'm going to tell my doctor about this experience (how some weed had a good effect but others had a bad effect) and then use that as a basis for asking him for marinol, since he even admits that marijuana helps tic disorders.

 

Geez how did I turn this into such a long post? Thanks for reading.

[Chemar]

Guy

you may also want to contact the TSA as I know they have funded research on cannibis effect on TS tics and there are reports of benefit, hence the successful use of the prescription med Marinol by some

 

however

 

apart from the obvious legal issues with use of "street drugs"

 

please also remember that the "designer MJ" available nowadays can actually be very very dangerous stuff because it has been genetically modified and does not have the blend of chemicals naturally found in the plant which modulate each other. Instead it has aimed for excessivly high THC which can produce some severe side effects including phobias, paranoia etc and I have even seen reference to it triggering schizophrenia in susceptible individuals

 

I hope you will see your doctor about this