Can Marijuana Help Me Heal?

(photo from Julia Teichmann on Pixabay)

I have been struggling with a pretty severe health issue for the past year. It’s called gastroparesis, along with a hiatus hernia and acid reflux. This combination has prevented me from eating and drinking, so much that I’ve lost sixty pounds due to being plagued with frequent vomiting after I eat. It has been quite debilitating and has prevented me from joining in social activities around food. On the plus side, I have saved a lot of money by not going to restaurants.

The medical system let me down. For ten months,  my GP, naturopath, and GI specialist all missed diagnosing a simple gut infection called H. Pylori, which was finally cleared through taking three antibiotics simultaneously. The wait times to get testing from a gastroenterologist have been long, but I’m finally getting some answers and possible treatment options, which include taking a new drug and hopefully surgery.

However, I’m still currently having trouble eating. I feel full after just a few bites of food and have to stop or I feel sick. It’s almost like I have PTSD around eating. It suddenly occurred to me that maybe marijuana could help boost my appetite and take the fear out of my mind. I used to enjoy smoking pot back in my teens and twenties so why not give it a try.

My husband went to our local dispensary (don’t worry American friends, it’s all very legal up here) and asked for the mildest type for us boomers. He returned home with three neatly rolled joints of Citrus Orchard sativa. We were away at the beach for a few days with no worries, so we sparked up a doobie. I instantly remembered the feeling from  thirty years ago. It was like saying hello to an old friend. We both giggled a little, put on some chill music, and sat playing with our phones. I noticed how my memory was really bad because, as I scrolled online, I couldn’t remember what I was doing. I would navigate to a page and wonder why I had clicked there. Hmm… perhaps not a good thing for an aging mind.

Then we prepared some dinner. I tried some cheese and crackers. I could actually taste the cheese and realized that my taste buds have been “depressed” throughout this past year of poor health. Then I made a cup of soup and managed to finish the whole thing. I waited for ill effects. Nothing. Low and behold, I still had an appetite, so I ate half a turkey sandwich. This was the biggest meal I could remember eating since I became sick. I realized that the pot had “given me the munchies” in the best possible way.

Have you had any positive health outcomes from smoking pot or eating gummies? Please comment below. I’d love to hear from you.