All of that to lead up to this: We have a morbid sense of humor. We're irreverent, snarky, probably swear too much, and unless things are very serious, we try to make something light out of things that might be considered heavy by some.
Lately, we have been considering what we can do to improve seizure control for Rachel, and reduce her chronic anxiety. We have been dosing her cannabis oils in very small amounts, and I knew that it would be more helpful to increase those doses, so we consulted with our oil maker, who confirmed that Rachel's dose is incredibly low, and that we should probably work on titrating up. Rachel uses fully activated forms of THC and CBD oils, which means that if she hasn't acclimated to a particular dose, she can experience a "high." We have been so conservative with her treatment that it had never happened, and I admit to being concerned about how she would handle it, in the event of an "overdose."
Well, we increased the dose marginally yesterday, with no trouble at all. This morning Rachel dosed herself, and the syringe slipped a little bit, so she got another 1/10th ml more than usual...effectively doubling the dose she was at two days ago. She had her morning nap as usual, and when she got up still looked really tired to me, with slightly puffy eyelids. She said she felt heavy and slow, but was SO relaxed, and her anxiety level (on a good day it's 4-5) was practically non-existent. She was calm, happy, and relaxed, but was having some difficulty compiling her thoughts, so she went to lay back down for a bit.
So, that's it. Rachel was "high" on cannabis for the first time. She has been stoned on prescribed sedatives to the point that she couldn't think or speak straight, walk in a straight line, or stay awake at all. She's been toxic on epilepsy medications, which made her joints ache, gave her double vision, and caused nausea to the point of vomiting. I will take this over any of that, any day of the week. This will only last a few hours, and we can easily adjust her dosage from here, and know that she is tolerating her treatment well.
Cannabis treatment is not for everyone, but unlike the majority of her other medications, an overdose is not fatal, and rather than being worried, we were giggling about how she was feeling, and how content Rachel was to just sit with the dog in her lap, and play on her phone. We are so grateful that we have had the opportunity to give cannabis a chance, and we are nowhere near ready to give up on it. I'm only sorry that we waited as long as we did before getting started.
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| A syringe of one of Rachel's cannabis oils. A single dose is 3/10 of ml. |
