Addiction to ???

[Intruder]

Has anyone else fallen trap to self medicating there symptoms. I was dx a 6 years ago and since then i started smoking synthetic mj (K2) bcuz mj would cost me my job. and im an advicat for medicinal mj. After being put on amphetamine to stay awake, now if i miss a dose, SOB. The synthetic mj was brought up in marriage counsling and wife and counslor chalenged me to stop using it. I can tell you there is definate withdrawls. Yesterday i took 1 hit 4 times all day and today nothing. I havnt slept yet and i havnt been able to think clearly.

I went thru alcohol rehab 21 years ago and 12 years ago. I know longer drink.

A few years back i got into phsycoactive herbs and ended going thru a real tuff weak of opiod withdrawls from a plant native to asia.

Looking back i now see how i was just hiding from the sick emotions from this dam diesease and alot of the symptoms i couldnt explain. Im a bigger than average person and i have always had week legs and arms. The doc cant say how long ive had ms, but after seeing my first mri and finding 22 lesions he said he cant say how long ive had it but he says ive had it a long time. He started asking me questions about childhood and teen years. To the best guess he could give me was maybe in my early teens when igot Ms. This is a guess with some scientific evidence.

Any body else have any issues with addiction and substance abuse that may or may not be connected to MS.

[dm123]

What is in synthetic MJ? What is K2? Is it for pain control? Is the active ingredient THC?
Never heard of it.

[Intruder]

K2 or any synthetic is a blend of herbs usually damania that is sprayed with a synthetic canabonoid. Used to be a chemical called JWH 018. It is alot stronger than MJ but is a single canabinoid where MJ has many canabinoid.

Jwh 018 and several similar JWH compounds were invented in the 80s and 90s i belive by John W Huffman to use in canabonoid research . It is a research chemical and has become as popular as mj. JWH doesnt show up in drug test so people can get the high and avoid legal ramifications.This stuff is bad news. It messes with my brain and makes me think wrong, i dont make sence to myself alot now. It is extremely addictive and made me almost manic.

Of course i am on anti depresents and amphetamines and that may be the factor that messed me up. It is not good for much except pain releif and helps spasticity a little. I does give uphoria for a short time, but in the long haul it messed me up. I am thinking i will get my smarts back after i get it out of my system, but i dont know. It isnt good for anything as far as im consurned and has been in the headlines for bout a 6 months now. DEA banned some of the compounds but there are so many and more popping up they cant get a hold of it. When they banned it on december 24 by the 27th a whole different legal compound took the banned chemicals place.

You may have heard of Spice it is a brand of synthetic that was and iguess still is distributed work wide. Its big big business and lots of people made alot of money on it. I would tell anyone to avoid it at all costs, it is not MJ and doesnt have many medicinal purpose at all. DONT MESS WITH IT.

**Post broken into paragraphs by Moderator for easier reading. Many people with MS have visual difficulties that prevent them from reading large blocks of print.**

[dm123]

I don't use MJ or any drugs for that matter right now. I was on opiates prescribed by a pain management anesthesiologist for a couple years prior to back surgery.

One of the things I learned along the way was that there is physiological dependence and psychological addiction. The two can occur in the same person at the same time but you can be physiologically dependent without being psychologically addicted.

I would think it would be next to impossible to be both and stop on your on without professional help and a good, open to discussion, family support system. Some health insurance companies will now pay for professional help.

I was able to taper off opiates by myself after my pain was controlled, mostly cause I hated the side effects of the meds. Physiologic withdrawals are withdrawals. Our bodies treat everyone the same. I honestly don't think I could go through the withdrawal part without getting help with the psych part if the psych was a factor.

If there is any doubt in your mind don't try it alone. A person needs to build up there will power either way and failure can be devastating to will power and your psychic.

Some of the folks on the pain management forum I use to correspond with used plain old regular marijuana for pain control. That was the only thing they could find that worked. If it were legal, I would have sought that as an option if it worked for pain control. MJ just makes me dumb as a box of rocks. I could get lost in a closet, that is how stupid it makes me.

Many in the medical community still think there is no use for these types of drugs other than the terminally ill. I recently had to sit on my hands while listening to one of these lecturers. It was obvious he had never had to deal with dehabilitating chronic pain to the point where suicide is on your list of options.

If you need meds, take them without feeling guilty. If you don't get help and stop.

[twinkiepink]

I've become addicted to adderall, I've been taking it for around 3 years. Before I was diagnosed with MS I was diagnosed with ADD, which I think is really just a symptom of MS. When I was officially dx with MS my neuro said to keep taking the adderall since she often prescribes it for fatigue. I only take 20 mg a day, which is not much compared to many people, but if I don't take it, forget it I am completely useless!!! I feel horrible, can't think and have zero energy, just want to stay in bed. Maybe some of this is psychological I don't know. I've tried several times to not take it on the weekends, but by 12 or 1pm I give in and end up taking it. I feel guilty and ashamed that I can't function without it, but right now I am not ready to stop taking it.
I can't see how I'd get through my daily life without it.

[mattntp]

I self medicate

I have been a daily MJ user for about ten years. I still use it to "retreat" into a meditative state and escape my reality. I am strongly opposed to synthetic MJ, it is just another silly side effect of criminalization. Pot is safe, but illegal so people resort to dangerous, albeit legal substances to get high. Everyone gets high on something, either cheeseburgers or religion or meth or music or whatever. Who is to say which is good or bad, other than the person using it?
I have pondered whether I have been self-medicating or getting high the past ten years. I have many lesions old and new, so maybe I was treating symptoms I didn't even know I had. I am upfront and honest about my MJ use and luckily for me my employer and family are all supportive and non-judgmental. I have no plans to stop using MJ, and look forward to getting home from work and escaping the pain.

How do you feel about Salvia? It is a South American sage that has psychoactive properties. I experimented with it in college and it just made me fall asleep, but many people use it as a safe?, natural, legal alternative. You do have to basically hyperventilate with the smoke to get a strong effect. Large volumes of smoke are needed, which scared me for the effect on the lungs.

I have never been a tobacco user. I also have been able to resist other addictive drugs, I have Norco(hydrocodone) on hand and do not use it unless needed(but my friends all want to get their hands on it). I just started provigil(neurostimulant) but do not like the feeling of being on an upper, I never have. I am apprehensive about staying on the Provigil, but will give it a chance.

I am a hop-head when it comes to beer, I can't get a beer that is too hoppy or bitter. But I was able to almost stop drinking altogether, and have not had a drink in about a month. I also have dabbled in other psychoactive(mostly hallucinogenic) substances, some people call them drugs, and have been able to use them recreationally and responsibly.

So Yes, I regularly self-medicate. No, I don't feel that I am an addict. I feel no shame for medicating with MJ, the gov. and community should be ashamed for preventing anybody from using MJ.

I have had a harder time with the Swank Diet and giving up whole milk and switching to skim or no milk at all. So am I a milk addict?

[dm123]

twinkiepink,

My opinion, don't make a mountain out of it and suffer guilt. You are not taking it to get high. You are not taking more than prescribed. Your post leads me to believe you are not abusing in any way. You are taking a legally prescribe drug to make your life better.

This is where I get revved up at news people and people who have never needed medicine, and it is medicine, for health issues in their lives. Addiction carries the connotation of a street addict who uses as a mental escape or to get high at the risk of their on well being and that of others. Dependence may or may not be associated with addiction. The street addict needs professional help too. That is a different issue.

Would you call a Type I diabetic addicted to insulin? A person with angina addicted to nitroglycerin? How about someone on an antidepressant like Effexor or Cymbalta? The withdrawal effects of these antidepressants are horrific. Prilosec, or any other acid pump inhibitor for that matter if stopped after "using" for a couple months will cause all those little stomach acid pumps to try to make up for lost time. Is a person addicted to Prilosec?

All legally prescribed drugs are tools for giving us a better life. I personally have a hard time endorsing vitamins and street drugs. Many people do and their lives are made better. If it works, and you can afford it, that is OK too.

Earlier in my working career, I was indoctrinated with the belief that controlled substances should be tightly controlled. Big mistake. I have often wonder if the chronic pain I went through before having surgery was pay back for my wanton youth. Young people and even old with perfect functioning bodies haven’t a clue what it is like to have chronic pain or a chronic, dehabilitating disease.

If you need Adderal to make your life better and taking it as prescribed, take it and don’t be ashamed. You are no less a person and NOT an addict.