Marijuana and Treatment
of Anxiety and Depression About a year after I
received treatment for alcoholism I started experiencing severe anxiety
and depression. I lived with this for a while thinking I was still feeling
the effects of my years of daily drinking and drunkenness. I eventually went to my family physician. He immediately
prescribed an anti-depressant, Prozac. After a weeks time I felt
better, although there were some side effects to deal with. I stayed on Prozac for about eighteen months, at which time I
became increasingly worse. The medicine had lost its effect on me. After that, my doctor tried several different anti-depressant
drugs over a period of another eighteen months with little or no relief
for me. During the second eighteen-month period, I thought of taking my
own life as the pain was so great that nothing else mattered. I was to a
point where I could barely face my day-to-day responsibilities, work,
family, etc. I decided to try a different tack. I stopped all synthetic
drug use and tried acupuncture, message, naturopathic and holistic
remedies, as well as vitamin supplements. I went with all this for over a
year with minor relief. I did not know what to do next, so it was back to
the family doctor, who prescribed Paxil. That was last year. Paxil works
for me, marginally. If I supplement the Paxil with marijuana, I get total
relief and I feel whole again. I have been self-prescribing this
combination for about six months now. I have not felt this good in many
years. The down side is the availability of the herb and it's legality. I
dont think my conservative doctor would be open-minded enough to
consider prescribing for me. I also have these guilt feelings using
marijuana, which I guess is my problem that I must deal with. I know that the issues around marijuana are all political,
and I dont understand how the lawmakers can be so blind as to condone
alcohol use but spurn a useful to society substance. I am a white male, 50 years of age, married with two
adolescent children. My wife and I have successful careers in different
fields. |