Marijuana For Depression And Anxiety

I personally think MJ is great for depression and anxiety, but if you make it a habit (which I have done before) the comedowns could make your depression worse temporarily.

 

I've been like really depressed for the past three years and started smoking the past two years. When I'm high and have energy I feel perfect, but I then become shy and awkward socially which makes me depressed again. It also drains way too much energy out of me. I sleep for like 10 hours and wake up feeling groggy, but still relaxed. It works much better when I smoke alone then with people because I get sucked into my thoughts and zone out. I don't know if I smoke too much/frequently for my body or what, but I wish I could think easier and enjoy my time more when smoking mj. But for now it just makes sitting and being depressed more tolerable and entertaining.

 

I'm bipolar and I find that mmj effect everyone different. For me it has been a godsend, but I could easily see how it could throw you for a loop if you weren't mentally ready.

Being in a good mindset helps. If you get sketched out or paranoid at all, you may want to be careful.

Me personally, I smoke to sleep and ahem I know I'm being completely irrational. It helps me take a breath and think things through rather than just go off in someone

 

Opinion will follow...

Any drug you use for depression or any medical issue is only going to mask it. You need to get to the root and fix the way your mind works. While cannabis is much better than pills, it is not a cure or a replacement for fixing the way you think.

Pills are shit though. Don't take that garbage.

 

This thread just became one of my favorites, anxiety was the main reason for me to get my mmj after being prescribed klonopin. Marijuana is not a cure but a treatment, and whoever says that MJ can make depression or anxiety worse can be right but it depends on the strain of the MJ. Basically an indica or an indica dominant hybrid with high CBD is usually a good to treat anxiety. I would rather experiment with different strains of MJ rather than with the different meds with the 1000 side effects. So I go green to treat my anxiety/depression but i don't look at it as the permanent cure, to beat those illnesses have to come from within...

 

10 months ago i discovered marijuana and it's helped me alot. i was bullied for seven years, from literally the first week of highschool. When im high im happy, i can let the hurt go. But ofcourse i cant be high all the time .

 

Six years ago I had finally driven myself to the end with my drinking and constant run in's with law enforcement (many DUI's) had caught up with me. I had a bad wreck in the middle of the woods and some how my brother and I lived and walked away(until the state trooper came up).

I was feeling really down and guilty for what had happened and thought about the end. I was so afraid to stop drinking it had been a part of my life for close to twenty years. I ended up checking myself into a Psychiatric hospital. There they gave a diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder and after a few days there I was put on Effexor XR and I decided to skip all the other pills recommended from the DR., because I was worried about addiction to them.

I went from that place to a treatment facility for 28 days. While there I slept thru a med call and missed my first dose. It was about 2 weeks on it and my brain was all ready showing the withdraw effects of just one missed dose. My 28th day I was released and two hrs later I grabbed a bowl and took a hit.

I felt some guilt but I continued to toke a few times a day through all my legal problems. I failed 78 UA's sat in jail for 30 days. In those 30 days they missed my med's 5 times. I got out pee'd clean once for them and then toked. Notice I did not go back to drinking. Taking Effexor did help me and I believe the marijuana also helped.

Summer of 2011 I began to have severe sweats at night(sheet soaking). I talked to my DR and he said its a side effect I have to live with. I took them for five years and my relationship with the booze and loosing it of course I was depressed. After five years and not wanting live with waking up soaked at 3 am. I began to ween my dose down from the 300 mg to 0 in 30 days. The sweating stopped and it took 2-3 months for the brain zaps(withdraw) to stop. I have found a new DR and they want me to get back on Effexor at a lower dose. I put it this way to the DR my body my choice.

I do have days when the lows seem really low but I use a lot of self help and talk to keep me positive. The one constant here is that I smoked weed all the way except 30 days in Oct. of 2007. Oh I left out the other part when I got of treatment went to pay it forward and donate blood. Come to find out I have a form of Kidney disease. Today I am sober and alive I made a complete life style change. The pills the gave me(Effexor) can lead to kidney failure but the DR said don't worry about that worry about drinking again. Well yeah he get know cut from the PBR I was buying of course take the pill. That said wow hope I didn't derail this.

tldr: The pills work but get a re-evaluation to see if you can come off or reduce. Don't mix alcohol and pills recipe for disaster. Smoke weed and be happy.

 

The one thing I can positively tell everyone is that depression is not a disorder, it's a natural reaction to bad situations. Drugs cannot help this, they just make you content for no reason. Fix your situation, and thereby fix your depression. However, I've found that marijuana is very helpful in that in between stage when you need something to change your train of thought to a more progressive and helpful one. Whereas drugs make you content to be in the dark, marijuana can show you the light at the end of the tunnel. And most of the time that's all we need.

 

What do you think cannabis helps us depressed people do? Pills try to change the imbalance of chemicals in your brain. Cannabis makes it so you think. For me it makes me think about why Im so fucked up and makes me power on through it, rather then let myself talk myself down.

Sure cannabis doesnt cure it. But its the only thing that gets my mind out of the fucking gutter. And if you can figure out why you think the way you do, you one step closer to changing how you think(if you want).

so for me, it definitely has the power to GIVE you the power to change the way your mind works.

 

your right, seasonal depression and bipolar disorder arent real things, just like kids who have ADHD just had to much sugar in their soda.


Im an avid believer that this world has turned everything into a disease and a disorder, but to say DIAGNOSABLE depression is just a bad reaction to situations makes you sound like a asshole.

In my case, It has been proven through litertally 17 years of tests that I have a severe chemical imbalance affecting my natural body clock. When the days get shorter in the winter, and the sun is not out as much, my body tells me to hibernate essential. I start to crave carbs, and sugars and stop eating protein, and use energy on a absolute as need basis. When I was a kid, I wouldnt get out of bed for anything but to shit or piss. not food, not tv, not sex(you know teenagers, just trying to proving my point) not anything. In the summer, Im outside all down everyday. I do all sorts of pickup sports, wakeboard, cycle etc. I love to hang out with friends and go on dates with the gf, I am a full on normal person. and when daylight saving time hits, There is 100% a difference. and mj only makes you content for no reason if you let it. I try not to just sit back and let it take me, but a good vibe and a good nights sleep if something I think everyone need once in while.

All im saying, is be careful with your broad generalizations. People might get a bit defensive :/

EDIT: I didnt mean for those 2 posts to come across harsh lol. not the intention at all if it did. having a long day I guess.

 

That's what I meant when I said it helps you see the light at the end of the tunnel, whereas pharmaceuticals just make you feel content to be in the dark. Pharmaceuticals are a modern disaster. What you experience is natural, I wouldn't call it a disorder. I think everyone's brain is built differently, and while there is a most common brain pattern, there are others too. ADHD is bullshit, and pharmaceuticals are just enabling that behavior that results from it. I was diagnosed with it, and you know what I did? I struggled in certain areas. And struggled. And struggled some more. And I kept on struggling until I figured out how to succeed, and then I figured out how to thrive, even though it wasn't always easy. But life wasn't meant to be. But dealing with those struggles is part of it, and you know what? I'm glad I went through them, because looking back, I enjoyed it. I did not know it at the time, but now I do. And I'm better because of it.

And so are you.

 

I have severe anxiety and depression. The depression comes and goes but the severe anxiety really affects me. I self medicate with weed. I took pills for it throughout high school but they need actually helped much. Weed is my medicine. Always is and always will be.

 

No one ever answered TexBudster, and I'm curious to hear opinions too. I do use it, though I'm not sure the best way TO use it. It does help me with depression, chronic pain (always!) and gives me the best sleep ever.

My question is, for those that it helps, do you smoke as soon as you get up, then various times through the day to keep your depression/anxiety level? Or do you just take it when needed, say, like if you're having a really down day?

 

Smoking throughout the day helps, but if you live a very active lifestyle investing in a vape may be worth it. For chronic pain, and without the narcotic effect, topical salves can be made that are phenomenal, and great for all types of pain, from arthritis to 2nd and 3rd degree burns, and everything in between.

Where to get it though is all up to who you associate with. A LOT of people use marijuana, and it's not all that hard to find them if you look around, and are a little outgoing. Just find some good friends, and if they don't smoke, I'm sure they know someone who does. Any decent person would not think any less of you for your choice of partaking in some herbal treatment

 

As someone who has been dianosed and treated for depression for 12 years, I respectfully disagree with you on some points. Not all depression is situational. I do agree that some is, like depression after the passing of a loved one, or becoming depressed during a stressful time... But I also believe some people have an actual chemical imbalance which causes them to become depressed. I agree that if you are depressed over a specific issue, you should confront the issue, but as I said...some of us don't have that.

 

I completely agree. I'm depressed 80% of the time and alot of it is when I don't really have much of a reason to be.

 

I think we all have a reason to be depressed, if we're aware of our surroundings at all. Look at the world we live in.

Marijuana helps me to see the beautiful things in life, and for that I'll always be grateful. Maybe I am wrong, but I still do not believe in depression as a disorder. I think the "disorder" is a heightened awareness of what we're living in.

 

You say you don't believe that depression is a disorder, lack of supporting evidence, proof, etc. That's fine. I mean, personally, I don't feel everything in our air is all that safe, but I can't just stop breathing... I also don't tell people that they should stop breathing, or scare children by researching everything in the air then hanging around schools chasing kids telling them not to breathe.

Yeah, that all sounds extreme, but you sound ignorant. Whether its a disorder or not, people who suffer from it don't need people like you telling them to suck it up and move on. More often than not, there are times when people are depressed and have NO idea why. If you haven't been through something personally, don't offer your jaded/influenced opinions repeatedly in a place where people who suffer from this disorder have come looking for help. Do you have any idea how hard it is for people with depression to even ADMIT there's a problem because of people, like you, who speak on the subject out of ignorance? So you can trace back all of your sad emotions? Good for you. Not all of us can. Nor do we need people like you making us feel worse than our very real depression already does. I have never met someone who suffers from depression that has said, "you know what you need? You need someone to tell you that this thing doctors, friend, and family members know you suffer from, is just in your head. Call someone ignorant about depression, and you'll be cured. Trust me. Oh, but they have to believe it isn't a real disorder, or it won't work. I'd say good luck, but there's nothing wrong with you..."

Look, man. I know you have your own views, and you've made them clear. We're just trying to get better and have some quality of life that we can explore and enjoy. So, thanks (not really), but that's enough.

*drops microphone*

 

You have no idea what I've been through, friend. These pharmaceutical pill pushers are feeding people pills on a large scale basis to cure depression, and other "disorders", then these people are getting cut off, and it's leaving their lives in ruin, and others too. I'm not saying suck it up, but the change needed is not a regimen of pills - it's a change of lifestyle. It's hard to do things while depressed, I get it. But we need to work past that through a regimen of a fulfilling lifestyle - good friends, good goals, even therapy if you need that.

Do not assume I am on the outside looking in on you, or judging you in any way. I have respect for people like you for having the strength to continue when everything in your body is telling you to lay down and try not to exist. But calling this a disorder and forcing pills on the masses is not the answer - that was all I was trying to say.

That being said, I understand the importance of pills in some people, but more often than not these pills end up ruining lives. I've seen it, time and time again, and I'm sure you have too.