On Cannabis...

Now, we all know that medicinal marijuana is becoming more and more ubiquitous in its use for treating a variety of diseases and syndromes, particularly pain and chronic pain.

I have used pot recreationally and incidentally, found incredible relief from my physical and emotional TMS/PPD symptoms and I've often wondered why this is the case.

I know that marijuana has analgesic properties but I'm not at all convinced that this is the mechanism responsible for reducing my pain; after all, I've taken many other analgesics and pain killers to no avail.

I feel that the reason it works so well in reducing symptoms is that it brings me into the present-moment, and reading Forest's recent replies about what the various TMS/PPD treatments that are successful have in common, it got me thinking about pot. Does it shut down the part of our brains that worries, projects into the past and future, analyzes, emotes, etc.? It does for me. I believe that is why it is so helpful in reducing anxiety and chronic or non-chronic pain, and its use for medicinal reasons is growing. We are a culture that is living in our minds. We need to start coming into our bodies again, and being present, and this is a tool (among many) that has helped me. When you drop the storyline and the fear and pressures and come into the present moment, there is so much peace.

All that to say, I am not pushing medicinal marijuana, nor any other "treatments" of TMS, since that goes back into not treating the problem at its source. However, I do think that it is one way of creating new neuropathways and once you have experienced what it feels like to be at peace, to feel calm, to not be thinking about problems, nor the past, nor the future, the idea is that you can strengthen this neuropathway on your own, without the use of substances.

I recently listened to a podcast or a TedTalk (I can't recall it or I would share it here) that talked about how some people have literally never in their lives felt peace or calm or true happiness or joy. Their brains truly do not know what this is and therefore strengthening this neuropathway is impossible because they can't even access it or know what it would feel like to create it, which is where some scientists, biologists, and even doctors, are saying that drugs can be very helpful. Some drugs can open a person up to feeling things they didn't know possible and the person is later able to recreate these feelings on his or her own.

Anyways, food for thought. I am really interested to hear what others have to say on this topic.

 

Beer lessens my anxiety and pain. It's nice to have something that can do that, but in the long run I'd like to be able to do it without having to drink beer. As for marijuana, I don't know.. it increased my anxiety exponentially back when I smoked it.

 

Fascinating observation/supposition. Thanks for this. I follow your thinking, and am curious.

 

The great pain deception, page 259.
-Drug are all poison to mindbody. there is always a futur price to pay for feeling better now.

I miss it. Pot help me so much to repress my emotions and i am so angry. Sometime i feel its help me to stop worry.

Younger i was suffering from ocd a while. Thinking all time that i get hiv torturing me about the futur and my past (the trigger). i stopped smoking cause i was worrying this is make me more para oid. The ocd stopped one night when i decided to smoke a joint. I dont know if it was the substance or the fact that i said to mt brain, i dont care if i got this virus, i do what i want.

Also pot was my reward for so many things.
After Hard day of work = smoke
After Running
After hiking

After after before while.... I miss it


Sorry for my bad english

 

From a very thoughtful psychiatrist who opposes both prescription and recreational drugs. Take it for what it's worth.
http://robertberezin.com/stoneramerica-marijuana-is-a-psychedelic-drug-that-damages-the-brains-and-consciousness-of-habitual-users/ (StonerAmerica, Marijuana is a psychedelic drug that damages the brains and consciousness of habitual users)

Marijuana is a psychedelic drug that alters the consciousness of habitual users and damages the brains of children and adolescents. Yes it is a gateway drug. But that is misleading because it implies that unto itself it is benign. Marijuana is not benign. Today’s ‘weed’ is anywhere from fifty to a thousand times stronger than your father’s ‘grass’. Getting ‘high’ affects the limbic feeling centers of the brain and alters the very play of consciousness itself. It not only alters and damages motivation and thinking, but most importantly, it removes the user from the feeling of his Authentic Being. Feeling is at the center of relatedness, judgment and the grounded operations of consciousness itself. I have already addressed how marijuana usage interferes with psychotherapy and the recovery from psychiatric struggles in “It’s Time to Address the Marijuana Issue”. As a psychiatrist I have dealt with the destructive effects of marijuana in both adolescents and adults. Smoking marijuana interferes with the process of psychotherapy for our patients to recover from psychiatric symptoms, and to recover their authenticity and capacity to love.

 

I respect your thoughts, thank you pspa.

I do agree that getting high alters motivation and thinking, but personally, I strongly disagree that it removes me from my feeling of Authentic Being. In fact, I experience connection with authentic self when I use marijuana (occasionally). I am able to let go of the drive to strive, the perfectionism, the past-future non-present thinking, and connect to the Now, fully and completely. I don't feel stoned, I feel energized, creative, present, focused, and feel the joy of being alive.

I will repeat what I stated in my first post and clarify below:


"All that to say, I am not pushing medicinal marijuana, nor any other "treatments" of TMS, since that goes back into not treating the problem at its source. However, I do think that it is one way of creating new neuropathways and once you have experienced what it feels like to be at peace, to feel calm, to not be thinking about problems, nor the past, nor the future, the idea is that you can strengthen this neuropathway on your own, without the use of substances.

I recently listened to a podcast or a TedTalk (I can't recall it or I would share it here) that talked about how some people have literally never in their lives felt peace or calm or true happiness or joy. Their brains truly do not know what this is and therefore strengthening this neuropathway is impossible because they can't even access it or know what it would feel like to create it, which is where some scientists, biologists, and even doctors, are saying that drugs can be very helpful. Some drugs can open a person up to feeling things they didn't know possible and the person is later able to recreate these feelings on his or her own."

I am not saying to use marijuana to repress your emotions, and continue using it as a way of disconnecting. I am saying that, for myself (and potentially others), consuming marijuana (I use a vaporizer or eat it in something baked) allows me to experience what it IS to be present, to not be worrying, to not be motivated (I could use a decrease in my motivational centres), to feel calm, to feel connected to others (marijuana gave me the courage to open my heart and self to new friendships and experiences that I was previously too anxious to experience). I truly did not know what it felt like to feel this way, or I had forgotten; marijuana helps me to remember.

I am calmer, happier, more connected and more present while not high, and this has been the true gift.

For me, when I do use marijuana, it is like having a beer or a drink. I don't drink (or very, very rarely), and marijuana is my way of letting loose a little.

I live in British Columbia where this is a lot more accepted, and commonplace. My doctor, whom I trust and completely respect, endorses my marijuana use (off the record).

Thanks for your comments, and I appreciate the discussion.

 

You can achieve same results through meditation. Does not cost anything, works same and does not generate addiction. In addition, you know that the work and rewards are all yours.

 

I mediate as well

 

Do you know anything about Cannabis? I came to this forum because I wanted to know if smoking my medical cannabis would inhibit my TMS but it sounds like you are just spreading the popular lies started by Richard Nixon. Do some ACTUAL research. He started a smear campaign to stereotype Mexicans and blacks. None of that is true. About 1% of people who smoke cannabis go on to smoke harder drugs. The D.A.R.E. program is more of a gateway drug. Everything I just said is backed up. [mod edit] It's true that weed is stronger today but that is it. You only let it ruin your life if you let it. If you are lazy and you smoke weed then it makes a FANTASTIC excuse not to do anything all day. While I was in college I knew some guys who loved to stay home all day and smoke. I also know a guy who goes out all day and works. he comes home at night and smokes with me. He is also an accomplished musician and he doesn't smoke before a show because he doesn't want to. He only smokes when he's completely done with his stuff because thats how you do it. You run your own life. Weed just calms you down and treats ailments.

 

Can anyone with ACTUAL experience with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and Cannabis offer some advice?

 

Hello Andrew,

This isn't a Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation site. The TMS acronym here stands for something else. I hope you find the information and healing you seek.

Take care

Plum

 

Maybe that's why marijuana brings you into "present moment awareness"? It reduces the rage and stops it from expressing itself? Only problem with marijuana - like all drugs including opioids - is that you have to keep taking it and that creates its own problems in the long run. Temporary artificial paradises are all like that - as the French poet Charles Baudelaire was quick to observe.

 

Hi Andrew,

This is what I wrote to another person 'Geri' looking for ‘Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation’ information on the other website.

http://tmshelp.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10128

I read your information and you might do well to check out some of the threads going on here. The description you give fits in very well. I would be surprised if anyone here gives the exact advice you seek.

Good Luck

 

Yes. I can. It’s not scientific in any way. I experimented with hybrid strains and indica strains. Neither did anything for my TMS other than possibly distract me from it for a bit. I got too high one time even. Same deal.

However, something did happen that I could not connect the dots with at the time. I was suffering from anxiety of course. Most or all of us do/did. Coming down from the high where it just had me thinking differently I said to myself “you don’t HAVE to do anything.” Pressure was the root of my TMS symptoms. It kinda sorta got the ball rolling.

I no longer use it, but I wish I could. I have to take drug tests. I wouldn’t really recommend it to a TMS sufferer. If you are in a position to experiment I see zero harm in it. Personal choice.

 

I personally would have to be totally out of my mind (perhaps on Marijuana) to allow a helmet that emits EMC near my Precious Brain. Do you really trust the FDA safety standards?

Never smoked Marijuana, maybe on my death bed, or at least a "wee dram" of pure double malt Sctotch.

 

That may in fact be the case. It's probably much better though if you don't have chronic pain in the first place. Dr Sarno would say that you have chronic pain because your central nervous system is under so much stress that it's reducing oxygen flow to your extremities, typically shoulder, neck and lower back as a way of distracting you from the underlying psychological rage you've been repressing, sometimes for an entire lifetime. I believe Michael Brown thinks that rather than medicating to reduce the pain, you should regard it as a messenger to be embraced and learned from. Everytime you evade you're chronic pain with medication, Brown would say you are perpetuating it.

 

most people i talked to with my type of chronic pelvic pain, said medical MJ didnt work very well, BUT in some ways, it made them "care less" about it. CBD alone doesnt have great proof of being a significant pain killer, but it can potentially relax the brain and affect neurotransmitters to indirectly affect pain. None of it worked for me, but we all have our own journey.

Admittedly, i still take a daily low dose pain med, but i try to take the least amount i can get away with. I know pain meds are a "nono" in the TMS world, but they helped me a ton to get my life back. when my pelvic organs feel like they're on fire, i go into a panic mode. I even felt suicidal many times. I couldnt work, couldnt sleep, etc. I lost everything i loved. When i learned about TMS, i knew i was going to have to start living life and getting back into activities. the reason i was brave enough to have temporary worse pain, is because i knew i had a fallback with meds. Now i'm mountain biking, sitting, and doing all the things i wasnt supposed to do, according to docs. I would have never taken the leap if i didnt have available pain relief to get me thru the adjustment. I would have probably remained in a cycle of depression, bedridden, possibly losing my job, etc.

 

From most of your posts about the dangers of marijuana, laughed))) Guys, find at least 1 SCIENTIFICALLY substantiated article where they prove that marijuana is harmful to health. If it is a really good product without primes, then there is no harm. You will get more harm from the exhaust in the street.

Regarding the post, my friend, if this helps you, use it, but not as the main tool, but as an additional one. The main thing is not to go over alcohol and drugs. I sincerely wish you good luck!