Is weed actually helping me with mental illness?

My nurse practitioners didn't approve of my use because they said that it would effect how beneficial my anti-depressant would be. I tried researching this and some people think it greatly reduces the effect of anti-depressants and some don't blah blah.
 
Do you have have any anxiety when you smoke? I was reluctant to bring it up at first as I was trying to get anti-anxiety medication (benzos) and I didn't want them to think I just wanted to get high off them.

 

your psychiatrist can't do shit if you tell him you smoke weed 24/7. 
 
you pay him might as well be honest with him, get the most out of it. but anyway its probably all mental, I've been a daily smoker for the past 4/5 years but I'm slowing down now and trying to stop at least for the spring and summer because when life gets real, you can't always depend on a fat dutch or a bag of pills to solve your problems. i loved coming back from work or class and taking rips out of the bong but don't be dependent on it. thats why everyone in "the mental health bubble" strongly opposes it. I've had a shrink said the same thing because it messes with your meds. 
 
i don't want this to sound like a dickish post, just trying to help. so all in all i would say choose 1 or the other, bc they may not mix well in the long run

 

Agree with above Guitardude. I suffer from severe depression and some anxiety. Cant forget about the annoying ADD that plauges me as well. While on my meds I hated the side effects, at times the weed worsened some of them. Choose one or the other, but make a wise choice based on consumption habits and budget. If you rely on the pharmecudical meds as your only stable source of treatment then stay with those. I do have a solid connection, however, and getting off the meds was the best choice I could have made.Sent from my SPH-D710 using Grasscity Forum mobile app

 

Trust me, the shrink cant tell the police or anyone else anything unless your planning to murder somebody or something.

 

No to sit here n list troubles but throw the pills away. My shrink told me things along the lines of think of your brain as a metal- when you smoke pot, or do drugs for that matter- its asif your bending that peice of metal back and forth until it cracks and snaps.

Iv turned the story to him now and stated my brain snapped because the drugs i was on and pot has been that iron solder that welds them 2 peices of metal back again.

If you think its beneficial and actually makes your day better then heck its the oppisite of what propaganda says. Only when you use theraputic tools as another drug to get fucked they become a problem.

 

bring it up when you go for your next visit to the psychiatrist. it's not like he'd call the cops on you or anything. its not safe to mix marijuana with most prescriptions anyway so definitely talk about it

 

i have depression and when it gets really bad the only thing that helps is weed. if it works for you, do it up.

 

Big Pharma doesn't pay your doctor to allow you to choose safer alternative. Ask him, and if his answer is no....shop doctors. I don't trust drug pushers.
 Worst case scenario stop taking all meds and see if your life doesn't improve. Move if you can.
Anxiety and depression? That shit is caused by other people taking liberties with your life, and without your say.
Take control of your life.
 
Now if you are batshit crazy....disregard and listen to your doctor.

 

I have high anxiety from my deployment to Afghanistan.  I jump everytime my cell rings.  I turn red from my shoulders up at least once a month (flushing)   I get prescribed tons of shit, and i keep telling them it doesn't work.  Weed is the only thing that has ever worked.

 

 
Binaural beats. If you have android try Eden Beats. Worked wonders for my PTSD. Made me less INTENSE!!!!
 Gotta find your frequency though. You need a good pair of true stereo headphones.

 

 
I'll be sure to try it.  Thank you!
 
 
I've been looking for alternatives

 

I dropped my meds that the docs gave me and.switched to weed. Didn't even tell anyone lol. Gotta do what you think is best for you, I think I made the right decision, just good forbid I run out of bud lol... like today

 

That sounds a lot like PTSD not depression bro but I'm only saying that due to that but like others have said man get off the big pharma medication and start the herbal medication for a while see how it is make your own choices for what's good or bad for you

 

From a recent medical study- it was on neuropatic pain, but the question of "should people with mental illness use cannabis for neuropathic pain due to the risk of it possibly making things worse?" came up.
 
“Even the presence of such a risk does not necessarily preclude the use of medicinal cannabis; rather, coordination with appropriate substance abuse and psychiatric resources is necessary…. Once risks and benefits are evaluated and discussed with the patient, cannabis treatment may commence as with other psychotropic medications, with attention being paid to side effects as well as efficacy.”
 
In other words, proceed like you would with any drug that can alter your perceptions (tranquilizers, anti-depressants, etc), and keep an eye on on its effects on you!
 
Now this article discusses a study that basically said "Cannabis maximizes the effects of good experiences, while minimizing the impact of bad experiences! (Which is also the whole idea of psychiatry-  to make you feel better and get past the bad stuff!, Right? Could cannabis possibly be a threat to your psych's job?     LOL)
 
Study: THC Increases Brain Activity In Response To Positive  Stimuli        (news – 2013)
http://blog.norml.org/2013/08/27/study-thc-increases-brain-activity-in-response-to-positive-stimuli/
 
That's based on -
 
The endocannabinoid system and emotional processing: A pharmacological fMRI study with ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol      (abst – 2013)    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23928295
 
"THC interacted with emotional content, as activity in this network was reduced for negative content, while activity for positive content was increased."
 
You may want to consider using a strain with CBD in it.  CBD counteracts the anxiety that THC can sometimes bring.
 
Cannabidiol inhibits THC-elicited paranoid symptoms and hippocampal-dependent memory impairment.        (abst – 2012)       http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23042808
 
Cannabis with high cannabidiol content is associated with fewer psychotic experiences.  (abst – 2011)        http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21592732
 
 
Granny

 

 
 
I was relating to the anxiety.  Not the depression.

 

Misunderstand occur but still dude use whatever you found or find beneficial in what I spoke of

 

 
You know I'm not the OP right?  I was just posting to let the OP what worked for me since my anxiety relates.

 

Well now I do but regardless along as what I said wasn't in vain

 

I'm 21.About a year ago i had a psychotic break. About two weeks before that i started to feel different, discover new things, obsess about psychology and try to psychoanalyze my parents; basically i had a slow fall into madness. By the time i got to the hospital i had thought that the government was going to take us away, there were code words in everything around like a disney advertisement that came in the mail, and that the government was trying to communicate things to me. I also thought i was the anti-christ, world famous, and that an entire football game was played in my honor. Anyways, i had not been smoking marijuana at the time for about two weeks before i started to act abnormally. I've used marijuana heavily in the past, spending entire savings on weed. I've probably spent about 4000 dollars on weed that's my best guess. Since my psychotic break i picked up smoking weed again, although my mom has caught me smoking twice and causes much more damage psychologically with her threats than weed ever will. anyways, cannabis has been a huge life saver, although i would never think of replacing it for my anti-psychotics. Some people need certain medication to function properly, but it seems to me that weed would be the only thing you need for anxiety and depression, unless you are one of those rare people whom marijuana makes more anxious. From personal experience excercise is the best cure for depression. You should do light workouts so you are more motivated to continue to work out instead of being sore and stopping.