My Journey with MMJ

My senior year of high school, my doctor prescribed me Prozac to help manage my chronic depression. Throughout the year of taking it, I started getting excruciating migraine headaches. My doctor then prescribed me sumatriptan to help ease the migraines. I was having four to five migraines a week, sometimes causing me to faint while working. Both meds made me increasingly fatigued, lethargic, nauseous and irritable every single day.

After an entire year, my doctor weened me off of Prozac and then prescribed me Zoloft. Needless to say, the Zoloft also left me irritable, lethargic, anxious, depressed, nauseous, and the list goes on. I continued to have migraine headaches and depressive episodes on a weekly basis.

While at a university, I began recreationally smoking marijuana with friends. My antidepressants were far from working and smoking seemed to be my only escape. After four months of consistent weekly use, I came to the realization that I had not had a migraine in over a month. I had not even thought about my migraine pills. I was surprised and confused. But I never associated my lack of migraines with my weekend smoke session.

At the end of 2016, my life was turned around by sexual assault and I was soon diagnosed with PTSD at 20 years old. I decided in order to truly become my best self, I needed to approach my heath in a more holistic way: healing my mind, body, and soul. I became increasingly fascinated by holistic practices (yoga, meditation, clean eating), but especially by the medical advances of marijuana. I decided to take matters into my own hands and become a patient with the state of Maine. I became a certified medical marijuana patient and have been a patient for over three months now.

Over the last three months, I have not had a single migraine. I have successfully weened off of my antidepressants (with doctor's supervision). Medical marijuana has helped treat my symptoms of PTSD more than I can honestly describe. I can finally get a full night of sleep. I finally have the motivation to get up every single morning. I finally have an appetite for food. I attend social events anxiety-free. I finally am migraine free. I finally have peace of mind.

Other than dry mouth and red eye, I have personally never experienced a negative side effect from my marijuana use. What I have experienced is enhanced mood, munchies, euphoria, total body relaxation, and some really in depth conversations with friends!!

Before you instantaneously judge someone for their cannabis use, please educate yourself. It's the most natural treatment possible. It is a plant. It has an abundant amount of medicinal value. It is free from synthetic chemicals, unlike the Zoloft I was prescribed. If you wouldn’t judge someone for taking prescription meds, then please don’t judge the use of marijuana. I can affectively manage my overall well-being with the help of cannabis. Marijuana is about more than getting high. It’s about healing.