I am in Toronto Ontario. We have federal and provincial legal cannabis laws for medicine and recreation and we can grow our own plants indoors or outside. My whole family has greatly benefited from cannabis use. I have a sister in Texas; I taught her about CBD and she uses it now.
My 95 year old mother, whom I cared for at home since 2015, had a stroke in late 2019 and is now in a nursing home. She is partially paralyzed and has dementia with severe short term memory loss. She is taking CBD twice a day, 20 mg. a.m. and 40 mg. bedtime, for tremor, sleep and anxiety. She cannot have THC because of increased fall risk according to the cannabis doctor. I think the cannabis has also kept her free of pain. So far she is the only resident in the home who is on Rx cannabis. But the doctor on staff is supportive and so are the nurses.
I am in my late 60s and have had auto-immune type chronic health problems since I can remember. I am also a 20 year breast cancer survivor, no chemo or radiation despite dire warnings from surgeon and oncologist that I would be dead in 3-5 years without these treatments. I used alternative-integrative medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine to recover.
I am on the Dr. Terry Wahls MD anti-inflammatory protocol for MS and auto immune conditions. It involves intermittent fasting with ketogenic diet from carbohydrate restriction and 6-9 cups of non-starchy vegetables, leafy greens and few fruits, no grains or legumes or dairy, and higher intake of saturated fat from coconut. It has helped more than anything else I’ve done, and I’ve tried EVERYTHING. I never liked the feeling of being stoned, ever. I hated smoking and had weak lungs and chemical sensitivities. So I thought I would never be able to benefit from cannabis when the medicinal properties started being discovered and talked about in alternative medicine circles.
Thanks to attending the cannabis series hosted by United Patients Group Founder, John Malanca, I tried CBD gummies and found my right dose, about 40 mg, that helped with the bowel inflammation, insomnia, and fibromyalgia. But cost per dose adds up, especially if I need a daytime dose as well, so I decided in 2019 to grow 4 female plants in the garden (organically, no chemical fertilizers). The strain was Cookies & Cream. I ate green leaves all summer. A few fresh leaves per day improved my bowel problems and allergies. A local cannabis lab extracted the resin for me and I diluted it in coconut oil. The product turned out to be far too high in THC for me. So I had to keep buying the expensive CBD gummies. If I dilute the coconut oil decoction to the point where I don’t get stoned from the THC, there is not enough CBD left in the dose to give me anti-inflammatory and sleep improvement effects. It does work pretty well as a topical balm for joint pain, but I rarely need that.
In 2020 I grew what was supposed to be a high CBD and CBG strain, Mango, but it also was too high in THC for me. The heavy dosed effects are awful and made sleep impossible. This is so frustrating. I would not have bothered growing it if I had known. Apparently, most strains of cannabis high in CBD and CBG are also high enough in THC to cause intoxication for people like me. I wish there was a way to separate CBD and CBG out at home without expensive lab equipment but there isn’t.
Sincerely,
Aliss Terpstra, Certified Nutritional Consultant
If you’d like to share your Stories of Hope…we would be honored. You can submit to Hope@UnitedPatientsGroup.com
