That’s where the use of a cannabis nurse comes in — a registered nurse whose responsibility is to guide patients through their decisions on how to go about consuming cannabis for medical use.”
Ardra Shephard is a Canadian and not well known in the US – but she is on her way to
increased recognition and fame as a blogger, script consultant, and speaker. What you don’t know about Ardra is that her award-winning blog Tripping on Air is an inside look at her life with multiple sclerosis (MS). MS grips its sufferers in the worst ways including nerve pain, spasticity, and insomnia – as well as seizing legs and fatigue. Conventional medicine often produces unwanted side effects and can lead to more pharmaceutical experiments in a continually failing attempt to find relief.
Ardra recently wrote about 7 things she learned in her journey to treat her MS woes with medicinal cannabis. On her list:
1. It’s important to consult a professional. Taking an approach to any treatment plan
without first talking with a medical professional is not only foolish, but can be dangerous.
Ardra recognized early on in her journey that she knew next to nothing about the
plant-based medicine and took it upon herself to do diligent research with the help of
clinicians and pharmacists to ensure she understood recommendations for her specific conditions.
2. Medical cannabis can be expensive. In the US, medical healthcare providers do not cover cannabis as medication and this can be an out of pocket expense which takes experimentation with different types, which can be spendy.
3. It’s possible to overdo it with medical cannabis. Ardra writes about how the dosage for her medication in Canada included instructions to “start slow.” Unfortunately, she unknowingly overdid it and although she slept, when a middle-of-the-night bathroom need interrupted her slumber, she realized she was extremely high and promptly fainted.
4. The effects of medical cannabis can last a long time. As a result of the psychoactive effects in THC, cannabis effects can be long lasting. With practice and journaling effects, one can determine the right type and dosage to serve as a solution to many conditions.
5. Medical cannabis is not without risk or side effects. Don’t misunderstand that finding – there are side effects that can result from cannabis use – but they don’t include addiction, or cancer like many pharmaceuticals do. The side effects from cannabis might include anxiety or paranoia, sedation, and increased appetite. The beauty of these side effects is that with careful use and documenting results as experimenting with different strains and products is that some of these can be easily avoided.
6. Medical cannabis is not a panacea. Ardra is quick to point out that cannabis didn’t cure her MS, but for her is a symptom management tool, used in conjunction with lifestyle modifications, diet, and some conventional medicine.
7. The benefits are worth it. Like many others who suffer from the impacts of MS, Ardra found that CBD and THC helps her to sleep better, decrease pain, and as such pain medication, and enjoy some of life’s simpler tasks without suffering.
Cheyann Shaw was a vibrant and adventurous fitness social media influencer. That changed at 23 when she was diagnosed with stage 4 serous ovarian cancer. Her chemotherapy regimen began in August of 2016 and thus began a series of nightmares – multiple rounds of chemo, surgeries, a temporary ileostomy bag, and an allergy to dairy. Her weight plummeted from 130 to 97 lbs, from muscle to a skeletal bag of bones.
Her family and friends watched her deterioration until her parents finally broached the topic of giving medical cannabis a chance. She was initially opposed to the idea, having always led the life of an athlete and considering her body a temple. Oddly enough her father, a previously anti-cannabis man, had seen a friend battling with back cancer have positive results by treating his own condition with medical cannabis. Cheyann began with 1 gram each of Rick Simpson oil and CBD, distributed in pill form. She found that the aggressive chemo she was subjected to next – seven rounds in all – was far more tolerable. She began to see that her appetite was back and was starting to crave food again, even eating dinner and desert like a “normal” person.
The most difficult of the chemo side effects she had experienced previously was feeling both exhausted and wide awake simultaneously. To combat the side effects of chemo, doctors had begun injecting her with a steroid to “help” but those would keep her awake, sometimes up to 72 hours at a time. Both her physical and mental health were suffering and again, she started looking into how medical cannabis might help with the mental exhaustion. She found that THC was a godsend for insomnia and began to sleep and wake up refreshed. Not only that, but the anxiety was dissipating with the use of THC.
Today, Cheyann says that she’s a firm believer that medical cannabis helped her win the fight with her cancer. She says, “Many people are closed-minded when it comes to THC and at one point, I was one of those people. But if you keep an open mind and do just a little research, you’ll be surprised at what you might find.”
Often times I hear patients tell me they have treated their lower abdominal issues with cannabis suppositories, either vaginally or rectally. I’ve been told they work for menstrual cramps and to treat the symptoms of Crohn’s. Click below to check out the research on cannabis suppositories and if they really work.