Friend in need is a friend indeed?

So because of the world wide web I can connect with people all over the world, grow friendships with people I've never met, and be there when someone needs support and guidance at the drop of a hat. I cant even begin to tell you how many of what I consider my "best friends" I've never even met in real life. The internet has allowed me to meet an activist/blogger idol (Brandon Lacy Campos). A man who I consider a male version of me, who only lived down my road never meeting in person until the world of facebook put us together (Aaron Whitford). It allows me to stay in constant contact with my dear family even when we are scattered across the country. Hell its even given me a potential donor for my next child. (You will remain nameless for fear of a certain overbearing someone who might try to steal my unborn child) (I kid I kid). The coolest thing its allowed me to do is connect and help with the communities I love the most, LGBT family and my NORML family. This week I received a post on instagram, which is a place where people post pictures and I seem to have a love for cats more then I ever knew. It was on a picture I posted of my new Northern WI Norml shirts I got in the mail. It simply said "hey can I email you about some questions I have. So being the person I am I shot her an email with the address given to me and this is what happened.


ME
Hey just woke up and saw your message on Instagram. I am a lupus survivor and know all about chronic pain and the benefits of marijuana. Ask any questions no judgements here! 

TRISH

Ok cool
So I'm not exactly sure what to ask or where to start.
I was injured in a robbery in '06. Entire right side of my body was beaten to a pulp. Neck is always inflamed and is worse on days where I might clean the shower or have chopped a bunch of veggies or something mundane like that. Shoulder was shattered and I had surgery to repair that about 4months after the injury. My knee got jacked up severely (acl, mcl and patella) and will need replacing eventually but I want to wait on that as long as possible and I've got 2 little ones running around so surgery at this point doesn't seem feasible.
This is my dilemma... I hate taking pills and I'm sure I'm killing my liver with the amount of Ibuprofen I take but without it, I'm in bad shape.
My neck is the worst with the inflammation and aching, followed by my shoulder and elbow. My knees give out often and the swelling and aching after makes it a high priority for relief. I wear braces and that does help.
I have vicodin and muscle relaxers but try to use them as little as possible. Especially the muscle relaxers as they make my eyes so heavy that I get a slight headache. With the Vicodin I will only take a half at a time (it's a 500mg pill) and if necessary take another half an hour later. Every couple of months I will quit taking them for a week or more so I can let my body adjust as I'm paranoid of ending up in rehab or some crap. lol (only half joking)
Lately I've ended up taking up to 3 pills a day which is a lot for me and I'm going to have to cut them out all together for awhile to let my cleanse a bit. Trouble with that is then I'm hurting all over, all the time and after a couple days I can end up as a crying mess and super cranky. Ugh. Lose, lose situation.

Sorry for all the crap to get to the point... lol...
I can't smoke in the house and my partner isn't too thrilled about me smoking at all but I have a friend who is a grower and makes lollipops with hemp seed oil. I'm wondering first off... how does the marijuana help? Does it just make you high so you don't really realize the pain or is it really doing something to lessen the inflammation, or pain stimulator synapses? And also, is there a difference between the edibles versus smoking and which one is easier to maintain a good relief schedule?

Any and all information would be greatly appreciated :)

ME

So first off let me say bravo for realizing there are other options besides prescription pills for pain management. They (no matter what kind the all have damaging side effects) first off do you live in a medical marijuana state? I can't recommend doing any illegal activity for obvious reasons. I prefer edibles (suckers,brownies etc) over smoking for pain management. They last longer and can be controlled better as far as dosage is concerned than smoking. The active ingredient cannabinoids found in marijuana do incredible things. They have been found to decrease the size of cancer cells, increase appetite for those suffering from chemo drugs, manage pain, act as an anti inflammatory, help with depression and anxiety and much more. From what I've read about you and your symptoms I think it would be a great method to try. Here I'm going to state the obvious that I'm not a doctor and you should seek one to get a professional opinion. You will also need one to get a prescription for use as well. If your partner has concerns take them with you to the appointment so they can hear it from a doctor about the benefits you might receive. Marijuana doesn't work for everyone and it might take a while for proper dose to be determined for your specific needs. Everyone is different dont get discouraged. It truly is a healthier method for pain management. Good luck I hope this helps. Please email me at anytime. I'm happy to answer any and all questions!

Kimberly

Ps may I use this for my blog? It shows how more people are looking for an alternative for their pain management.
Sent from my iPhone

TRISH

Thank you and yes, we live in California which is a medicinal state. We will be going back to Washington middle of May where it's completely legal now (I think the other reason my partner is open to the idea).
I'm glad to hear that you prefer the edibles. I had a feeling that it would be easier to regulate. I used to be smoke a lot of weed back in the days (before I dreamed of needing it or had a girlfriend. lol) and from that experience I know that the extremes wouldn't be feasible for daily life- too high, munchies, nap. haha.
I appreciate your info and I'll update you when I can about how it's working out when I get all my ducks in a row. By all means use this for your blog and help people. I think this is truly useful information and I would rather see people use an all natural product. I just needed to have more information and a better direction to look in for research and I'm sold. Will continue to research for my partners sake (she's a librarian and research is the way to her heart, haha) but I am feeling very relieved that someone other than my stoner, best friend is saying it's a better option than pills :P
Will chat in the near future.
Oh, what's your blog? Mind if I follow you and read or is it more of a personal story?
I have a blog as well http://superlittletales.wordpress.com and also a facebook page for our two mommy family, "superlittletales" Would love to have you check us out. (sorry, shameless promotion. no hurt feelings if you don't)

So flipping wonderful to put someone at ease with their choice on using MMJ for their illness. Sure Trish could have google and gotten pretty much the same answer as I gave her but the comfort of hearing it from someone who has gone through the process just has that touch of realness to it. Which ever way Trish and her partner decide to go on the subject I hope that my information and williness to talk about it helped them along they way. Thats all I have to say tonight and dont forget weed is sooooooo gay. :)

Dear Mr. President

In the 2008 election I was so proud to be voting for a president that I actually believed in. Change Change Change Yes we can Yes we can Yes we can. I now here I sit four years later and wondering where my change exactly is? I feel even more lost than I did back then. Two things I am so passionate about, medical marijuana and equality for all, my beloved president can't seem to make up his mind on. When he was running his campaign he promised that marijuana patients would be protected and the medication would be easily available. He made me feel that all states would be able to receive this as a viable medication option. The opposite of that dream world is what we are living in now. Dispensaries which pay state and federal taxes are being raided on a daily basis. Peoples lively hoods are being destroyed by the government. Patients are unable to receive their medication. Lives are being ruined. All of this under President Obama's command. A man who has admitted that he has used marijuana. "As a kid I inhaled quite frequently. That was the point.""I think that we need to rethink and decriminalize our marijuana laws. But I’m not somebody who believes in legalization of marijuana. What I do believe is that we need to rethink how we are operating in the drug wars, and I think that currently we are not doing a good job.” This was his stance back in 2007 on how to treat marijuana. I couldn't agree with him more. Im not looking for full legalization (but I would vote that way if the option ever came up to vote) only for patient use. This is a drug that over and over has been proven to help with thousands of issues. Now in 2012 he is treating marijuana as a hard core drug that needs to be stopped, which is hurting more than helping. Do I think he used his stance on marijuana to gain votes back in 2008? Yes and now he's using his new stance to do the same as well. As a lesbian woman I hope you can see how this scares the shiz out of me. In 2010 when he repealed don't ask don't tell I cried. It was a movement that this country needed and now with that he is standing up for marriage equality it seems that we keep moving forward. Do I think he is using this to gain votes? YES. I just pray that he won't flip flop on this issue as well. Mr. President you do have my vote but how does that saying go? "Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me"

Motherland of Marijuana

When you plan a vacation around the idea of marijuana where is the first place you think about? If Amsterdam didn't pop in your mind before my sentence was finished you might be too high to think. As a  22 year old pot loving girl with a chunk of change to plan a vacation where do you think I chose to go? Thats right the motherland of marijuana. The capitol of cannabis. The home of hash. You might ask me is it all its cracked up to be over there? I would simply put yes. There are coffee shops on every corner. Quality weed to chose from in everyone. I walked into our hostel and was greeted by our house owner and then showed a variety of pipes, papers, bongs, and vaporizers to use at our disposal. I was in heaven. Amsterdam was the friendliest, most clean, beautiful place I have ever been to. Do you know why that is? Because of marijuana. Sure there are so many other great things the city has to offer, such as the Anne Frank house, Van Gogh museum, and the ever famous red light district, but marijuana truly fuels this city. What amazed me was that the use of marijuana had really made a positive impact on the people's lives who lived there. Their crime rate is almost undetectable, their streets are kept cleaner than many American cities Ive been too, and people are more than willing to help you with almost anything. I felt more comfortable walking down any street alone then I do in Milwaukee. This city sets an example of what every city should strive to be like and with the reform of marijuana laws I think many could achieve such a goal.

Weed is so gay

Weed is so gay. It makes you giggle, tickle, have warm happy thoughts, want to hug and eat everything in sight. So by all means weed is so gay. Now when I said gay Im going to go out on a limb and say that you thought I meant bad. Tisk Tisk fellow readers. So who am I you might ask? Im NORMLKim the lesbian medical marijuana activist. Wow what a mouth full. In a nut shell I'm pretty much every Republican's nightmare. An openly gay mother of one who in her free time likes to collect signatures, donations, and blogs about marijuana. The part of marijuana I like to focus on is the medical use. Now sure the day full legalization occurs I will be dancing and singing in the streets but first my goal is to get it to the people who need it most. Cancer patients, chronic pain sufferers, bi-polar and severe depressed patients, autistic children, my list could go on and on. To live in a country where our nations capitol approves of using this drug but certain states don't boggles my mind. This drug needs to be accessed nation wide and its users need to be protected. Not having to leave their medicine behind because they are visiting a family member in a non using state. Not to worry about crossing borders state to state. Not to worry that they might not get a certain job because of drug testing even though they are fully prescribed this as medication. Or even worse the fear of losing their current job because someone finds out they are a user. This needs to stop people. Do you ever question someone when they say they use vicodin for their back injury? Do you ever question the severely depressed person when they say they take welbutrin? What about the mother of an autistic child for feeding them a special diet, do you question her? Im going to say no you don't and medical marijuana users shouldn't have to answer any questions either. To obtain and medicate as doctor prescribes should be allowed anywhere in this country. Thats what I'm going to try and make happen. Want to help me out?