During my 11 and a half years in the military, I was prescribed several different types of medications for anxiety, depression, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, migraines, as well as many other different ailments. As a disabled veteran, I began using cannabis medicinally as soon as I left the Navy but in conjunction with the medication that I was prescribed. I realized right away that cannabis was a blessing and noticed that it helped a lot with adding relief to the adverse side effects I was having with my medications.
When I left military service, the problem of over medication became worse and I began to realize that I was not the only one experiencing this; thousands of other veterans were also being over medicated. It was so simple of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to prescribe these medications based on my symptoms, but it became even more problematic when even more were prescribed not only for the original ailment, but for the side effects that the original medications inhibited. At one point, I was perscribed over 14 different medications switching back and forth, from MAOI’s and SSRI’s (prozac, zoloft, effexor, etc); Benzodiazepines (Xanax, Klonopin, etc.) for anxiety; Ritalin, Adderall, Dextroamphetamine, etc for ADHD (which I never thought of myself having); and different pain and anti-inflammatory medications. This list isn’t inclusive having continually switched several times due to the different adverse effects. It didn’t take a genius to know that a cocktail of medication would take a detrimental toll on my body. It was a complete no brainer!
Naturally, when I started consuming cannabis, I knew it was a taboo within the VA system. There were a few times I asked the VA questions or “hinted” to them about using cannabis and was told that there would be repercussions within the VA system, so naturally, I kept it to myself that I was already consuming. While on the prescribed medication and without cannabis, I was always lethargic, felt like a zombie, I gained 25 lbs, would become very irritable and would continue to have random episodes of anxiety and depression. The purpose of many of the medication prescribed was to help with these very issues! When it came to a point that I could no longer handle the adverse effects anymore, I decided that I would slowly discontinue use and adjust my cannabis consumption accordingly to balance out any withdrawal.
I began to realize the true medicinal benefits of cannabis as I was weaning off of the medications, I was feeling better and better. Through the use of
Danilo Banta:
"The Wealth Cannabis Offers"
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