Marijuana stopped symptoms!

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SOTO
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Joined: Fri Oct 04, 2013 4:38 pm

Marijuana stopped symptoms!

Post by SOTO »

I starting using marijuana, one small pipe full or one weed cigarette, each afternoon, about a month ago. Friends had suggested that I try it, and gave me a small amount. Being an ex-tobacco smoker who quit in the 80's, it is quite difficult to handle smoking, but I am thrilled that I have only had RLS symptoms once or twice since I started. I understand there are ways to take marijuana without smoking it, which I am researching now. I am also sleeping more than I have in years! The only downside is that I live in a state where it is still illegal. I'm not able to move to a state where laws are more tolerant, so I now need to find a reliable, safe source.

I've been taking Klonopin, Tegretol and Ropinirole for years, but still had symptoms daily, not always with complete relief. I've had RLS/WED for over 25 years, and am now 65.

I realize that research on this is probably not profitable for pharmaceutical companies, but if I could stop taking these Rx meds, and only use marijuana for complete relief, I think it would behoove the Willis-Ekbom organization to at least do small clinical trials and report their findings to this group, and to the medical community.

If it stopped my symptoms, or relieved them 28 days out of 30, then it is worth suggesting or mentioning this to other sufferers. I can't say that anything else had this kind of result, and until my results change, this will be my answer.

EeFall
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Location: Washington State, USA

Re: Marijuana stopped symptoms!

Post by EeFall »

I quit smoking in 83' myself. Get a vaporizer it just vaporizes the meds in mj, no harmful smoke just vapor. Heats it to around 374f there are different settings on good machines. I have a Solo you can buy them on internet. Places like GotVape. I'm glad it helps you! My state is legal and I also have medical mj license. Haven't used for awhile other meds are working I can have 22 ounces of mj. :lol: strange new world.

aveerik
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Joined: Sun Aug 25, 2013 9:07 pm

Re: Marijuana stopped symptoms!

Post by aveerik »

I personally think eating it helps my symptoms better then smoking it, and sometimes smoking it actually gives me symptoms. I have only eaten it twice but it seems to me more of a body high then a mind high. Probable different for everyone though. Luckily I live in Washington so it is legal on a state level. Never would have tried it at this stage in life if not. To much to lose. Good luck

EeFall
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Re: Marijuana stopped symptoms!

Post by EeFall »

aveerik wrote:I personally think eating it helps my symptoms better then smoking it, and sometimes smoking it actually gives me symptoms. I have only eaten it twice but it seems to me more of a body high then a mind high. Probable different for everyone though. Luckily I live in Washington so it is legal on a state level. Never would have tried it at this stage in life if not. To much to lose. Good luck


I forgot about eating it :lol: My wife makes some mean brownies with the mj butter you can purchase, also some great banana bread. I have tried the chocolate chip cookies for sale and also the rubbery candy (forget the name). Much of the body or mind high has to do with the variety of the mj. I don't know all the chemical mumbo jumbo but have asked at the mj stores and they are very helpful. Death Star works pretty well for me to vape. The butter in the stores is awesome, you just substitute it for butter used in baking recipes and then one gets baked.

Also I should mention that some of the mj actually just masks the RLS symptoms because of the high, but I can still feel the restless legs. It depends a lot of the variety of the mj, one needs to experiment :lol:

badnights
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Re: Marijuana stopped symptoms!

Post by badnights »

Pay attention to what strain you're using. The active chemicals vary from strain to strain. No one knows jack-poop about it, unfortunately, and most of the breeding has been done to enhance the high without regard to therapeutic effects, so you probably have to figure this out on your own. Sativa-heavy strains tend to be better than Indica-heavy strains - but that is not a golden rule.

Just be aware that some strains might actually make WED/RLS worse while others can help it.
Beth - Wishing you a restful sleep tonight
Click for info on WED/RLS AUGMENTATION & IRON
I am a volunteer moderator. My posts are not medical advice. My posts do not reflect RLS Foundation opinion.

Ellephant
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Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 1:23 pm

Re: Marijuana stopped symptoms!

Post by Ellephant »

Has anyone experienced significantly worsening twitches/muscle jerks while doing this? I find that my unpleasent sensations dissipate a bit but I end up twitching all over.

ViewsAskew
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Re: Marijuana stopped symptoms!

Post by ViewsAskew »

I haven't ever tried it. For the twitches, you mean like an awake version of hypnic jerks? It could be PLMW - periodic movements during wakefulness. Speaking only for myself, PLMW can be very disconcerting and some things do help WED but not PLMs.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

EeFall
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Location: Washington State, USA

Re: Marijuana stopped symptoms!

Post by EeFall »

Ellephant wrote:Has anyone experienced significantly worsening twitches/muscle jerks while doing this? I find that my unpleasent sensations dissipate a bit but I end up twitching all over.


I can see where that might happen. Alcohol does that too me, it makes me twitch and jerk and it nullifies any meds I have taken for RLS. Most of the mj I have tried masks the symptoms of RLS but does not hide them completely like a dopamine agonist (used to do for me before I augmented) or methadone does now. Certain strains of mj seem to help more than others and it depends on the amount of thc and other active ingredients in mj.

My doctor, an ND, where I got the medical mj license, recommended the use of mj with high levels of CBD that help in pain relief. Also to use Indica rather than cannabis sativa. She said indica "is generally sedative, used for pain, sleep, and decreasing muscle spasms. Usually contains a higher level of CBD than cannabis sativa. CBD % indicates level of pain relieving, and immune stimulating properties." This is from the written information she gave me when I explained it was for RLS. She also said that THC is generally lower in Indica mj so that it is much easier to work and function normally with a Indica with high CBD and low THC. CBD stands for Cannabidial.

Here is list of strains she gave me to try that have high levels of indica genetics (but you should pick the ones with highest CBD):

Auntie Em
Blackberry Black Domina (Sensi Seeds)
Blueberry
Blue Fruit
Chemo
Cripple Creek (Tom Hill Seeds)
Dynamite
G13 (appetite stimulation)
Herijuanna (MS)
Angel Dust (MS)
The Remedy
Mandala No. 1
Ultimate Indica (legends)
Purple Kush (appetite stimulation)
Santa Maria
Super Silver Haze (appetite stimulation)

And yes these are the names on the list, and no I'm not making this up :lol:

List of indica with high CBD's (these are the one's to try first):

Pineapple Thai (I verified this)
Cotton Candy Diesel (I verified this)
Soma A Plus (this is correct Soma A+)
Harlequin (I verified this)
True Blueberry OG Kush (I verified this)
Jamaican Lion (I verified this

badnights
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Re: Marijuana stopped symptoms!

Post by badnights »

That's totally opposite to my limited experience, in which an Indica-heavy strain caused my RLS to go nuts. I was expecting it to work great, because a few puffs of a joint had worked great twice before, so I tried the same batch again a few nights later, with the same horrid effect. I then asked what strains I had been using, and learned that the one that worked had been almost pure Sativa, the one that made it worse was Indica-heavy.

I was under the impression that a friend of mine who uses it regularly for RLS had the same experience, ie Indica made it worse, but now I think I will ask him again - it is contrary to your experience, so there must be something more going on there. Perhaps the cannabidol.
Beth - Wishing you a restful sleep tonight
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I am a volunteer moderator. My posts are not medical advice. My posts do not reflect RLS Foundation opinion.

EeFall
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Location: Washington State, USA

Re: Marijuana stopped symptoms!

Post by EeFall »

badnights wrote:That's totally opposite to my limited experience, in which an Indica-heavy strain caused my RLS to go nuts. I was expecting it to work great, because a few puffs of a joint had worked great twice before, so I tried the same batch again a few nights later, with the same horrid effect. I then asked what strains I had been using, and learned that the one that worked had been almost pure Sativa, the one that made it worse was Indica-heavy.

I was under the impression that a friend of mine who uses it regularly for RLS had the same experience, ie Indica made it worse, but now I think I will ask him again - it is contrary to your experience, so there must be something more going on there. Perhaps the cannabidol.


It is not my experience, it is the doctors recommendations. I haven't used much of it myself. Death Star that isn't even on these lists seem to work pretty good for me and the butter that one can purchase here I have no idea what the chemical percentages are and it seems to work pretty good. I haven't used any for several months having had to go through the 5 weeks of detox and then the last month or two taking methadone and Lyrica again without a DA anymore. It works so well I don't need to take mj.

I probably will for the pleasure side of it alone though since I can't drink alcohol at all because it makes my RLS terrible! My wife and I actually had an extremely fun time a few nights this summer laying out on our loungers at night checking out the stars, listening to music, and vaping mj. I for one am very happy it is legal here now.

edit:
I should mention that Death Star probably got its name for a good reason, it is rather powerful stuff :lol:

badnights
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Re: Marijuana stopped symptoms!

Post by badnights »

Ah! Interesting. It reminds me of how people, including physicians who don't know WED, always assume that we need to relax, so they try to get us to do things that actually make our symptoms worse.

I wish we had some hard evidence one way or the other on what kinds work best. I can't smoke it because I don't want it in my damaged lungs, and I am reluctant to use it in any other way because I abhor the feeling of being stoned, but I really really want it to work; I want it to be an answer. I am not sure why; maybe just because I want an answer.
Beth - Wishing you a restful sleep tonight
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I am a volunteer moderator. My posts are not medical advice. My posts do not reflect RLS Foundation opinion.

EeFall
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Re: Marijuana stopped symptoms!

Post by EeFall »

badnights wrote:Ah! Interesting. It reminds me of how people, including physicians who don't know WED, always assume that we need to relax, so they try to get us to do things that actually make our symptoms worse.

I wish we had some hard evidence one way or the other on what kinds work best. I can't smoke it because I don't want it in my damaged lungs, and I am reluctant to use it in any other way because I abhor the feeling of being stoned, but I really really want it to work; I want it to be an answer. I am not sure why; maybe just because I want an answer.


Methadone, if it wasn't for the hyper alertness, works better than marijuana for me. The Lyrica tones down the hyper alertness so I can sleep. Actually it is an awesome combination and I am grateful for it! I just woke up from having fallen asleep on the couch, gotta go make it to bed soon before I drift off again. :D

I won't smoke it either, I quit smoking over 30 years ago and don't want to mess up my lungs anymore than they probably already are. My Solo vaporizer gets the job done, there are many on the market for varying prices. My first vaporizer was a Vapir Air One 5.0 which can be purchased for less than $100.00 and is well worth it. Volcano digital vaporizers go for more than $600.00 so the prices vary. The important thing is that when one is finished vaporizing you still have the mj leaf sitting there unburned but with the active ingredients having been released as vapor, almost like a fog. It is really amazing.

badnights
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Re: Marijuana stopped symptoms!

Post by badnights »

so you're another one who gets hyperalert from opioids. Or just methadone?
Beth - Wishing you a restful sleep tonight
Click for info on WED/RLS AUGMENTATION & IRON
I am a volunteer moderator. My posts are not medical advice. My posts do not reflect RLS Foundation opinion.

EeFall
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Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2013 4:11 am
Location: Washington State, USA

Re: Marijuana stopped symptoms!

Post by EeFall »

badnights wrote:so you're another one who gets hyperalert from opioids. Or just methadone?


I don't really know if it is just methadone or not. The other opioids don't seem to work as well for me, they just don't seem very strong and the doctors wouldn't give me large enough doses for them to work, not sure why. It would seem a simple thing to me but I guess it isn't. I have pain so they need to give me enough pain medication to overcome the pain. Methadone will overcome the pain easily with only 2.5 mg in the morning and lunch, and now 12.5 mg in the evening.

Ellephant
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Re: Marijuana stopped symptoms!

Post by Ellephant »

Just throwing my two cents in on the indica vs sativa - indica really made it a lot worse for me. It actually put even more physical "emphasis" on my legs, and didn't make me tired at all. Though sativa is really hit or miss for me depending on the night, I get better results with it because it affects my entire body uniformly, and the "head high" makes me calm down much more than the "body high" from indica does. Unfortunately I don't live in a state where medicinal marijuana is legal yet, so I can't really go about trying or experimenting with different strains (lord knows I would if I could), but both the indica and sativa I have tried were medicinal strains.

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