My Insomnia story

I use cannabis to treat chronic insomnia, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, depersonalization disorder and depression.

I'm 18 and I live in a state that does not support medical cannabis.

Since I was 4 years of age, I'v had trouble falling asleep. I would sometimes be awake untill 3-4 a.m for no reason a few times a week, being woke up around 6:30 a.m every morning for breakfast and school.


Every year after that my insomnia only increased, By 14 I would lay in bed whole nights untill daylight, Leaving me exshausted, Frustrated and just as tried as when I layed down 10 hours ago, To carry out the next day like a zombie untill I passed out someplace and would sleep sometimes 15-23 hours.

My parents well knew something was very wrong with me by this point and took me into the doctors office.

Here are the medications i'v taken in attempt to fall asleep
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Ambien (I lit alot of stuff on fire in my room while everyone was asleep and still have no memory of it.)
Lunesta (same shit as ambien, I would wake up with boxs of chips and half full milk carton)
Rozerem (terrible reaction felt like shit 3+ days after dosing)
Trazodone (slight help with depression no help with sleep)
Diphenhydramine(OTC) --- taken up to a whole box at once with no sleep.
Kolonapin(up to 7mg at nightime with no luck)
Seroquel(are you fucking serious? what a terrible drug.)
Valium
Ativan
Melatonin(had no effect)
GHB
I'v also tried everything possible to sleep without any type of drug(relaxation techniques good sleep hygiene ect)


Most of these medications were prescribed by the sleep specialist at Mayo clinic in Rochester Minnesota.

They happen to have one of the largest sleep centers in my very own town, I did everything from overnight sleep studies, using a CPAP device to wearing a little black watch on my arm to see if it was a Delayed sleep phase syndrome issue, It was not.

He then only had once choice left for a medication, GHB(http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/ghb/ghb.shtml)

After doing a few days of reseach on ghb and hearing the 1000 dollar price tag a month to get this medication shipped in from the U.K and hearing that one table spoon too much might send me into a coma or death. I knew there Had to be something out there that could shut down my mind for awhile without such insane side effects.
My doctor had literally prescribed every possible medication he could get his hands on and tried every other method he had in the book.

And by this time the insomnia and sleep deprivation had sparked a few new mental disorders.

No one had answers.
No one had any idea what was wrong with me.
That's when I started looking into cannabis.
I'v used it a few times before and only remember falling asleep! Me and my parents started reading about it on the internet, The U.k had by far the most reaseach done on using indica as a medication for insomnia.
At that time I was 16, But my parents were very supportive because they were seeing first hand what sleep deprivation could do to a child and teenager.
And seeing the side effects of GHB vs herb was no contest.
I'm not using ANY prescribed drugs right now and I still battle with these mental disorders, But cannabis is the only thing that is letting me sleep, and not feel godawful the next day .
My sleep doctor knows that I smoke to sleep and all he said was don't get caught.
I have been into ER a few times during my life from seziures, I'm not epileptic but it always happened at times when I did not sleep 3-5 days straight. I have not had a seziure since using cannabis.
I DON'T want to put my family at risk OR be a criminal for using a herb that grows natually to fall asleep at night and combat my anxiety and depression. rather than living pill to pill on benzos with horrible withdraws.
I'v tried to get in contact with our states politicians with never any luck or reponse, But I did get ahold of one. Here is a reply back from Andy welti a Minnesota State Representative.


"Dear ****, Thank you for sharing your opinion with me regarding the legalization of medical marijuana. The 2008 session came to a close this evening and the medical marijuana bill was not heard. I had reservations about legalizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes and I spent time researching this issue. I was planning on listening to the debate about the issue and keeping an open mind throughout the discussion. However, the bill did not come up for a vote so I will have to wait until next year to fully analyze the issue. Respectfully,Andy April 15, 2008"



Looks like i'm going to have to move to a medical state. =(