Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Medicinal Marijuana and Crohn's Disease

Wow, I have been so fortunate to feel as well as I have.  Last flare up was November 2012.  Yesterday changed that.

I actually started feeling lousy two days ago, it just got a whole lot worse yesterday.  Crohn's is such a strange disease.  There is absolutely no consistency.  Besides the abdominal pain and diarrhea, there are a bunch of other "things" that can happen.  From flare up to flare up, you never know what "things" will be there.  This flare up had all of them.  Abdominal pain, joint pain, mouth ulcers, fever, kidney pain, nausea and worst of all, a nasty headache.  Never got out of bed yesterday.  Two layers of sweats, four blankets and I was freezing.  Nothing worse than trying to sleep with a fever.  The nightmares are so brutal, I'd rather just stay awake.

This morning, the fever broke,  however, the pain was just as bad.  I got out of bed and headed right for my vaporizer.

In January of 2013, I received a Medical Marijuana card from the State of New Jersey.  Since my last flare up was in 2012, I have never had to smoke to relieve any symptoms.  After taking three hits on the vaporizer, within ten minutes, most of the "things" were gone.  Nausea, mouth ulcers, joint pain, kidney pain and most importantly, the headache were all gone, as if they never were there.  The abdominal pain is still there.  I'm assuming the anti-inflammatory properties in marijuana took care of the headache and joint pain.  That might also be the reason the mouth ulcers and kidney pain went away.  Marijuana also has properties that disable the gag mechanism we all have.  Our gag mechanism is what causes us to feel nauseous.  It's also what tells the brain that we are full (that's why the "munchies" happen).  I now understand why it helps chemo patients deal so well with nausea.

I hope the federal government catches on real soon and approves it on a national level.  I am going to be in Florida next week and won't be able to take it with me.  I'm not restricted from taking any other medicine I need, why should this be any different?

More importantly, it relieved me from a lot of pain.  Next time I go to the dispensary, I'll make sure and give them the link to this blog.  They'll love it!

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