  医療カナビス |
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For three years now, I've known that I have Multiple Sclerosis. In the four years prior to that, I had battled against an unknown illness and I was afraid that I might have cancer. Finally, the neurologist decided to do an MRI-scan and that's how I found out in the end. That's when the next battle began. I started using a wheelchair occasionally, to make things easier for me when I had to go somewhere. It made my life easier, but I began to see the world slip away I had a job in a sanatorium that I enjoyed very much. I really felt at home there- Now, it was becoming difficult for me to motivate people to recover from a hip operation in the six weeks following the operation. I had developed a very different outlook on things. I felt that I could no longer deal with people and their problems. I tried working on a therapeutic basis only, but that didn't work out. In any case, I was in an isolated situation, because I didn't mow anything about the illness I had. They had given me some books, so I started reading them. while in a sad mood I though 'might as well give that MS line a call.' I talked to someone who said she was seeking advice om a psychic. She also mentioned something about marihuana and that just stuck in my head. My husband is against smoking, but in the end he said:'let's give it a try.' I was walking up and down the house, restless form the pain. I couldn't sit or lie down. We put pillows all over the place for me to sit on,but even that became too painful-e bought some marihuana but didn't mow how to use it. Friends of my son explained it to us and then we managed-At Last, I could sleep again. I no longer had to spend the night fighting in my mind against the people around me that had let me down, my body that was giving up on me, the changed image of my future, and so on. I always used to say that I was the richest woman on earth. I had healthy children and a good husband. I did lose that fee3ing a bit. But, thanks to marihuana, I stopped worrying and I could sleep peacefully. When the children were still living at home, I had daily tasks that kept me busy and I didn't really think about my illness. But now the children have left home. With marihuana, things are going well now. It's simply part of my life and I'm not ashamed of it. I talk about it to everyone as well. A friend of mine who suffers from the same illness told me,"I am useless, I'm not a good mother and I'm not a good wife." I advised her to try marihuana and it turned out she of my needed three drags of a joint. That is really great and she's going to keep on doing this. She told her family physician about it and he thought that it was a good idea, too. If you are already ill and think that you're worthless because of the illness, if you have hardy any sex life anymore, then these are reasons for using marihuana. One's love life is very important, especially for people with an illness. There is a great risk of a couple being separated because of a disease. I always bring up these kinds of subjects in the discussions at meetings, when a group of 15 to 20 patients get together once every six weeks at the MS Association in the presence of a neurologist. This neurologist is very interested and can learn a lot from us. He would like to set up a permanent meeting place, so that patients can get support om other people in the same situation. Once the visit to the neurologist is over and you have left his office, you're on your own. That's why it's really important for fellow MS patients to get together regularly. e openly discuss the use of medicinal marihuana and several other people in our group are also using it. The neurologist is supportive and I have met with no opposition whatsoever. To the people who are against it, I always say that it is a matter of individual choice. Sometimes I am visited by people who have heard that I use marihuana and want to mow more. They come to my house and I just tell them what I know. After all, I'm not an expert. I wouldn't mind knowing more about it myself so that I could share more information and offer more guidance. Lighting up a joint for the first time can be pretty scary and it's reassuring to have someone next to you who has experience. The people around me also react positively to my using weed. As long as I'm well, they're happy. My mother was very interested and she tried it once, because she has trouble sleeping. I gave her a few drags and she smoked the rest of the joint at home, but it didn't do much for her. So I said,"You just stick to your sleeping pills." Some people don't like the smell of it and in the beginning I had the tendency to step outside. Then my husband said that I should smoke inside and that if it bothered anyone, they could be the ones to leave. I smoke around two grams of marihuana per week, which isn't a lot, but I have noticed that I have to throw in a little bit more now, because it has lost something of its effect. Maybe I should try using a different kind. I can afford to use a bit more now because I have a patient pass that gives me a fifty percent reduction. It doesn't really matter how much it costs because I try to treat myself as generously as possible. I started very carefully, not really mowing what I was doing. It's a bit of a shame that there was nobody to advise me. Now, I'm very open about it and always say, "Please, give it a try! If it doesn't help, it won't hurt you either". I have a friend who has the same illness and she told me that she was sleeping very badly because of the spasms she was having. I said, "Give it a go, girl." Her husband agreed. The of my problem was having to go to a coffee shop to get the weed. She really dreaded going. So I went out and bought it for her and told her how to use it. When she had used it she said,"I just don't understand this, I have slept for four hours in one go." During the day, she brews tea with it and now she says, "Margriet, this suits me down to the ground." hen I hear this, it gives me a feeling of satisfaction, too. There is another aspect to my use of marihuana- Our sex life has actually improved tremendously! There have been years when things didn't go that well, because of the illness. Thank goodness, I have a very patient husband, who didn't really find it important and was more concerned about me. And there are two sides to the coin. I had never thought that it could be so beautiful! This might sound strange, saying this when you're fifty. That you can sleep and not worry is already quite something, but to have a renewed love life, that's just amazing. The improvement in our sex life isn't the most important aspect of it all. I always say, "It's about being human", but we're still together and this gives more warmth between us. Our use of marihuana hasn't caused us to grow apart; in fact, it's quite the opposite. |
