screamingflea
1-18-11, 2:56pm
Every spring, I go through a huge bipolar flare-up that lasts 3-5 weeks. I'm completely incapacitated with 5-6 mood swings a day, panic, voices, the works. I can't go out into the world because I get overstimulated. I can't exercise at all (my usual mainstay) because I get manic instantly, and I have trouble eating because I can't focus enough to slap anything on a plate. It's a living hell. Eventually it clears up on its own, but there's a convalescence period of another couple weeks where I'm very fragile and weepy all the time.
For the last couple of years my doctor has responded with horse-doses of antipsychotics. I'd get nauseous (which aggravated things because I wasn't eating,) and lose my balance so I'd totter around like a little old lady. And then things would clear up in 3-5 weeks or so, with a convalescence period of another couple weeks where I'm very fragile and weepy all the time.
This time I'm thinking about doing a 180 and going the old fashioned route. Cannabis has a well-documented positive record with bipolar, and I have several friends who've done extremely well with it. This morning I contacted my state's MM board and they told me that bipolar wasn't a condition covered under the law. He implied that I might be able to get around it with documentation that I was "in pain" >8) and nauseous from my current medication. But it would take a few years of notes in my chart. I don't want to be a regular - I just want something to spot my way through a predictable tough time.
My doc told me that his practice won't even discuss MM as a matter of policy, and I like him so I don't want to reinvent the wheel with someone else over a single issue. He told me a couple of MJ horror stories and then sent me off with a "you can find MM ads in the alternative newspaper." Interesting mixed signals there. I have one friend with a standing prescription for Marinol and she says it saved her life, and I'm calling my doctor back to ask him about that too.
Has anyone here tried medical marijuana? Has it been helpful? Does everyone find this insurmountable series of hoops to jump through? This is completely new territory for me. I've always been on the conservative side so I've never really imbibed on my own either. As nerdy as it sounds, I don't even know how to get it the old-fashioned way. :|(
For the last couple of years my doctor has responded with horse-doses of antipsychotics. I'd get nauseous (which aggravated things because I wasn't eating,) and lose my balance so I'd totter around like a little old lady. And then things would clear up in 3-5 weeks or so, with a convalescence period of another couple weeks where I'm very fragile and weepy all the time.
This time I'm thinking about doing a 180 and going the old fashioned route. Cannabis has a well-documented positive record with bipolar, and I have several friends who've done extremely well with it. This morning I contacted my state's MM board and they told me that bipolar wasn't a condition covered under the law. He implied that I might be able to get around it with documentation that I was "in pain" >8) and nauseous from my current medication. But it would take a few years of notes in my chart. I don't want to be a regular - I just want something to spot my way through a predictable tough time.
My doc told me that his practice won't even discuss MM as a matter of policy, and I like him so I don't want to reinvent the wheel with someone else over a single issue. He told me a couple of MJ horror stories and then sent me off with a "you can find MM ads in the alternative newspaper." Interesting mixed signals there. I have one friend with a standing prescription for Marinol and she says it saved her life, and I'm calling my doctor back to ask him about that too.
Has anyone here tried medical marijuana? Has it been helpful? Does everyone find this insurmountable series of hoops to jump through? This is completely new territory for me. I've always been on the conservative side so I've never really imbibed on my own either. As nerdy as it sounds, I don't even know how to get it the old-fashioned way. :|(