Marijuana use

How many of you smoke weed? I am just curious. I know it can be dangerous for some people, but Ive never had any bad experiences. Marijuana works as a great anti-depressent for me without any bad side effects. I still take my meds and my therapist has told me that marijuana is fine, even if the Doctor says not to smoke. I wish more studies would be done about medical marijuana for bipolar patients. When I get home from work it is the only thing that helps me relax. There are specific strains such as blue dream particularly made for bipolar patients. This strain extremely elevates your mood and makes you feel great as it did wonders for me the three weeks I was smoking it.Hopefully marijuana will become legal this drug is nowhere near as dangerous as alcohol. Just my opinion..

I started smoking when I was 13, and smoked every day from I was 15 to 18. Then I spent a couple of weeks in prison, too incapacitated by depression to even try getting a hold of some smoke. And when I got out, something had changed. Ever since, narcotics of all kinds makes me somewhere between queasy and sick as a dog.

- I've tried weed and various pills since, and I seriously can't stand anything of the kind. My pet theory is it's because of my particular brand of crazy, but I'm not exactly sure. Coke and amphetamines have pretty much the same effect on me (in small doses, mind) that you describe weed having on you. And according to my psychiatrist, that's definitely because of my combination of BD & ADHD.

KialK23 wrote:my therapist has told me that marijuana is fine, even if the Doctor says not to smoke.

I'm very surprised by this. There's lots of documented negative sides to marijuana use - infertility, short-term memory loss, shrinking of the brain in adolescents....

For me, I just can't stop smoking it if I have it. I'll light up at 9AM and smoke all day. And I've gone completely wacko during periods of smoking it - its made me at times paranoid, extremely anxious, suffer overwhelming OCD thoughts. For some reason I've a tendency to become extremely grandiose when smoking it - I get racing thoughts and feel certain that I'm going to be the best in the world at something, which sadly has never quite happened yet....

In moderation it can be great for creativity, but I would consider it extremely unsafe for bipolar people - its put me over the edge too many times at this stage.

I smoke on a daily basis; although not a lot. I have a puff here and there throughout the day. I don't have bipolar, but I do have avoidant personality disorder. I don't see the harm if it helps. Look at how many people drink every day and for some reason that's legal. I don't drink so I don't see the harm in smoking weed.

I was a 24/7 pot head for decades. I self medicated and escaped into marijuana for as long as I can remember - always convincing myself that it was not hurting me in anyway. The wake up call came a few years ago, when my teenage son was diagnosed as bipolar and ended up a drug addict. I felt tremendous guilt about my culpability in his addiction and my poor example. It took his struggle to make me realize that I needed to get serious. I quit everything- pot, alcohol, and every other drug (I dabbled and was up for a party anytime- never had an "off" button), and have been sober for a year and a half. I wasn't an addict, but I definitely abused pot.

About three months ago, I tried smoking pot again on two occasions, two days in a row. I was away on business and there was no risk of being caught. I didn't seek it out but when it fell into my lap, I didn't say no. Funny thing is, I didn't enjoy even one second of it- I felt guilty, paranoid, and headachy. Just completely crummy. Then, for a week afterward, the most telling sign that it had an effect for all those years, I was cranky, moody and depressed. Really sent into a low. It took me about a week before I felt better again. I realized then that it definitely affected me for the worse, and I cannot ever do it again. I'm kind of glad it happened, because there is no doubt in my mind. Not anymore.

In my opinion, for me at least, there's no place for weed. I cannot responsibly convince myself that any drug that alters my mind is ok. If it changes how I feel (and that's why I did pot in the first place), then it's going to cause a mood issue/imbalance later. Its unavoidable. Again, not speaking for anyone else, but if I'm honest, I used to feel like pot relaxed me and calmed me........well if that's true, what happens when I stop? Can I never stop? Do I need to remain stoned? Isn't it better to deal with the mood issue rather than stay under the influence? I've seen the ups and downs too many times to pretend they don't exist, and I've seen how ugly drugs can get when someone is sick...... It can go from bad to worse really quickly.

Best.

Let me preface this by saying I do not use marijuana as a treatment for my bipolar or other health issues.

I'm glad you are honest with your doctors about your usage. That is very responsible.

Here are my thoughts on this very controversial subject. I think it is fine for a person to say what meds work for them. Be them prescribed or otherwise. I think it's fine for people to mention the side effects they have from meds also. This is useful information. What I do not believe is fine, is making a blanket statements on the effectiveness of medications. For some people, a Anti-depressant will save their life. For others, it can cause erratic behavior and even suicide. All meds we take, contain an element of risk, but some people are lucky and find the risk outweighs the reward. We each have different chemistry, and how things effect us will be personal. For some bipolars, caffeine is very bad. For others, it helps and studies prove a reduction on suicide rates for people who consume it.

If something works for you, you are honest with your doctor, and the side-effects outweighs the benefits, then you should be your own advocate for this method of treatment. The people closest to you, who honestly care about you can be good watch dogs also. When someone is having a bad reaction to a prescribed psych med, they don't always know it. I fell into this category and the results were most devastating. It's nice if you have friends, family and doctors on board. Assuming you have genuine people in your life who you trust enough to share the condition with.

I too hope they do many more studies on the benefits on cannabis for not just bipolar, but a variety of illnesses. For every doctor and website you find who is dead set against the use of cannabis for bipolar patients, there are others who advocate it's use. Do to the controversial, nature of it, many doctors will tell you they cannot advocate its use, even if they feel it could be of benefit. I hope more honest and less beaurocratical conVersations will be had in the medical community.

Thanks to everyone for talking about their experiences.

i am an avid supporter of marijuana. I find that cannabis does not make a dramatic effect on the maintenance of my moods, but it can add a little add in controlling trajectory . I heard a rather interesting neurological theory involving CBD in marjiauna actually decreasing psyychotic thoughts. I found this really rather amazing

In the week before my hospitalisation I used marijuana and I would say it saved me from doing very stupid things I would regret much more than I now regret the loss of my 14 months drug-free. However, I live in the Netherlands, where weed is possible to buy (not legal, despite what you think -- it is a crime that is punished by nothing) on every corner and there is also medical marijuana, and ALL professionals I spoke to insisted weed is the worst drug a bipolar could use.

So I just wanted to chip in that I read a study about weed induced psychosis, as well as the fact that I have abused weed since I was 18 (9 years) on and off while being bipolar. At first, it was fine. But as the years went by, things got worse. Now we will never know if it was the weed that was causing the ill effects or the condition worsening. But last year when I went to a party, I smoked two bowls and went full blown psychotic. Family members and pets were God and the Devil, and Obama could listen in on my thoughts and caused The Vatican to be nuked. That is just the tip of the iceberg. I read a study on marijuana and psychotic disorders (schizophrenia, bipolar, schizoaffective) and there is a clear correlation between marijuana abuse and those disorders. There is a clear increase in risk of psychosis when abusing marijuana while having those disorders. In fact, weed can initiate a psychosis, which can be confirmed from my personal experiences.

Now when I smoke weed, I have very engrossing and screwed up thoughts that make me very anxious. I still love doing it because of the euphoria and hallucinations (auditory and visual), and if I abuse marijuana too much, I will go into a deep depression. So for me, the trick is to smoke every once in a while. I have accomplished this as I haven't bought a sack in years. I will go to a friends house every month or so and have a couple of bowls. I figure if I take my medicine regularly it should defend me from the psychosis, and not doing it everyday protects me from deep depressions.

Hope this helps.

I've smoked weed almost every day for the past two years, and I haven't really had a major manic episode since and my depressive periods are much better. When I'm depressed it helps me to stop focusing on the same thoughts about how $#%^ I am and numbs me to the point where I won't really get upset no matter how much I think about things. It also seems to have stamped out the manic episodes, which has been both a blessing and a curse (I tend to miss them a little).

I'm not advocating it as a treatment, but I wouldn't advocate ANYTHING as a treatment. The brain is so complex that nobody knows the exact cause of ANY mental illness. Even if your symptoms and behaviour are exactly the same as another person with bipolar, it's highly likely they won't respond equally to the same treatment. I understand why doctors condemn it as a drug, but I think their reaction is doesn't have enough evidence behind it because it's such a massively under-researched drug.

Weed definitely has its bad points, but personally I don't have any psychologically adverse reactions to it. I don't like smoking, but I would rather die than have to go back on antipsychotics, and lithium and antidepressants just didn't work. Marijuana isn't for everyone, but it does help some. It's just a shame it's so difficult to research.