Self-Medication

In researching bi-polar, you read some interesting things. Lithium for mood swings, though it leaves your speech slurred, your hands shaky, and causes possible rash. Lamictal, rash. Drug-resistant bi-polar. People who've been on the merry-go-round of drug after drug after drug with little to no real relief. And that's when you start reading about marijuana use and bipolar.

A study out of New Zealand swears marijuana use puts users at a 200% greater risk of developing bipolar. But what does it do for those who already suffer from it? Most message boards are filled with long-term pot users who claim marijuana is one of the few things that keep them straight. The other half of the forums are filled with people calling the marijuana users potheads. I decided to see what all the fuss was about.

A co-worked gave Jb some pot she had in her car yesterday. It was probably under a gram. Not very much at all. He brought it home, rolled it up in a cigarette paper, and we toked up in the bathroom. Three hits each. It was a little like the scene with Craig Ferguson and Brenda Blethyn in Saving Grace, in which, to quote IMDB, "a small-town English widow, facing financial troubles after her husband's suicide, turns to agriculture of an illegal kind." Fantastic little movie if you've never seen it. But there's a scene where Brenda and Craig are up at the bluffs because Brenda's character insists on smoking a joint if she's going to be growing marijuana. There's that 15-20 minute period of, "Is that it? Honestly, what's all the fuss about? I don't feel anything." Jb said he knew that's when it was going to hit me.

It all started with a bit of lightheadedness, which I get as a side effect from my medication anyway, then the giggles kicked in. It creeps up on you slowly, but once it does, it feels like you've just stepped out of the best massage, sauna and whirlpool treatment you've ever had. You are utterly, completely relaxed. So relaxed that for the first time you realize how stressed and anxious you had been. For anxiety, it's ten times better than Klonopin. I had been in a depressive funk all yesterday, asleep when Jb got home, emotionally inaccessible. But as soon as the marijuana hit, I felt like me again. I could laugh. I could feel. I could interact with Jb. For the first time in a long while, we really connected, had fun together, participated in a relationship that had gone somewhat dry with the extent of my mood swings. Three hits kicked me right out of depression, and I still feel fine today, the day after. There's no mixed mood: no depression, no anger, no racing thoughts, no irritation. There was only the feeling that, for a couple hours, I didn't have to deal with the constant mood swings. I felt relieved, relaxed, revived.

This isn't to say that I necessarily agree with self-medication. Nor that I think becoming a pothead is the way to go. I wouldn't want to do it all the time, but I genuinely understand the recreational use of pot. And, having done it, it felt a little like the first time I had sex. People try to scare you, guilt you, warn you off of it, but once you're adult enough to responsibly handle the decision to indulge in your first time, you're left wondering afterwards: "What was all the fuss?" It feels good, it hurts no one, and as long as you're responsible, why not?

I can't tell what sort of long-term effects marijuana use might have on bi-polar patients. I understand enough that it could affect the effectiveness of your medication. But then, most bipolar marijuana users seem to suggest they use it as an alternative to medication. And that I could understand. Because all too often, the side effects are worse than the disease, and they're almost never as effective as your psych would lead you to believe. I've been on a med cocktail since March, nearly four months now, and I'm still in this half-life, neither sick enough for hospital, nor well enough for the real world. But last night, I slept the best sleep I've had all week.

Smoking & Mental Illness

Hi, my name is -----, and I'm a smoker. I started 2 1/2 years ago under a period of great stress: a separation from my husband, a new boyfriend, financial stress due to both, my father's bout with a tumor in his colon, and the unexpected death of my wet-headed ninja kitty of 9 years. It didn't help that my boyfriend was also a smoker. I didn't originally know this. He'd been hiding it. Once I found out, I preffered he smoke than continue lying about it. And so, it was readily available. If not the best of options for dealing with my stress.

Before any judgments are made, yes, I know the risks. I've had an uncle who died of lung cancer, a great uncle who died of lung cancer, possibly two grandfathers who died of lung cancer, and a grandmother with empysema. Both my parents smoked for years. I know the risks firsthand. Most people don't need studies to understand that smoking often starts under duress of some sort. But the most interesting thing, in my mind, is the link between smoking and mental illness. According to an article on Bipolar World, 70 percent of bipolar patients smoke. Sixty percent of patients with major depression smoke. The numbers go up for those with schizophrenia and down with panic disorder and Post Traumatic Syndrome (PTS).

Even more surprising is the controversial subject of marijuana use among bipolar patients as a mood stabilizer. Try the following Google search: (marijuana or cannabis) "mood stabilizer" (bipolar or mental illness). There's ample anecdotal evidence on the subject, but no real clinical research. Although, the BBC News might disagree with that. According to a news report based on clinical trials in New Zealand, cannabis doubles the risk of developing mental illness. To slog through the actual report that the BBC story was based on, you can view it for free on Blackwell Synergy's website. Whether mentally ill patients are using smoking or marijuana, the underlying issue is the need for those with mental illness to find some control over their moods, sometimes even over the side effects of other, more popular, and more "accepted," pharmaceutical drugs.

So, do I smoke? I do. I'm around 4-6 cigarettes a day. It's gotten higher since the depression and the hospitalization, though the hospital was a "smoke free campus." For days, I was in nicotine and Cymbalta withdrawal, and no one on the staff educated me to the fact that I could ask for either the patch or the gum, as well as Ativan, which is commonly prescribed for withdrawal from alcohol and substance abuse. Again, it was a case of the patients educating the patients in the hospital, which seemed to happen far too often. Because almost all the patients smoked. And this is perhaps the crux of the problem, when you can't find help and what little help you can find feels far too insignificant for the uncontrollable illness wrecking havoc in your mind, where do you turn?