In the mid noughties my mum died from pnuemonia. She'd had COPD (Emphesema) for many years (lifelong tobacco smoker) & had been admitted to hospital with a chest infection. She'd made significant progress before being poisoned by a turkey sandwiche in hospital, contracted a nasty case of food poisoning & was too weak to fight it. She died of pnuemonia within a week of eating the sandwiche.
But that's another story. After she died I got to thinking about my dope smoking & decided out of respect for her I would try to cut my habit significanty, if not quit entirely. At the time I was smoking around a 8th of an ounce (or about 3.5grms) of superb skunks per week. So, I cut my habit to one small joint before bed, & occassionaly using valium to sleep & skipping the smoking altogether. During this period, the southern UK was under some slightly unusual weather conidtions, resulting from very hot air temperatures & increased pollution, & sudden, powerful thunderstorms. It later turned out that these conditions had caused quite a large increase in hospital admissions for heart & lung problems. Apparently, the storms were washing particulates that are normally high enough in the atmosphere not to cause health problems, but the very heavy rain was splashing off pavement & vapourising pollutants at ground level where they could be more easilly inhaled.
I was very surprised to find my asthma becoming considerably & progressivaly worse during the period that I spent reducing my marijuana intake. I'd spend the days struggling to breathe, despite upping the dosage of my preventative inhalers as well as using twice the amount of Salbutamol that I usually do... I found that once I got home in the evening & smoked my miniscule spliff, the asthma would ease immediately & this wave of relief & relaxation would wash over me. During this time I was probably smoking an 8th a MONTH, rather than every week, but that evening spliff was an absolute Godsend.
Since then (5 yrs ago now) I have deliberately experimented with my lung health by cutting down or reducing my herb intake deliberately to coincide with bad air-quality-days here in SW London. I recieve a text message from my local council on days when local pollution levels may affect asthmatics so I know when the best time for a "test" has come along. On almost every occassion (at least three times on top of my first try) my asthma has become more difficult to control when I reduce my intake on high pollution days.
So, I have a theory, purely laymans of course, that perhaps the oils from cannabis are coating my bronchia in such a way as to prevent the miniscule particulate allergens from reaching deep enough into my lungs to increase my asthma & that reducing the amount I smoke allows greater amounts of these allergens to reach deeper into my lungs, causing asthmatic effects.
Am I crazy? Am I just trying to justify my usage of a drug I'm dependent on? Or is my theory remotely possible. I found an online document related to the beneficial use of marijuana in asthmatics which seemed to corroborate my theory, at least in part, so I'll try find it again.
I should add that I do not now, nor have I EVER smoked tobacco, either on it's own or with my marijuana. Also, that my parents moved me to Zimbabwe as a kid, on the recomendation of a doctor, who suggested the dry air & high altitude would ease my very severe symptoms as a child. Unfortunately this failed & I was admitted many, many times to A&E in Zimbabwe as a kid. However, at the age of 19 I had not had a severe asthma attack or been admitted to hospital for at least 6 years & it was thought I'd "grown our of it". At 19 I returned to live in Greater London & within a year had already been admitted to A&E twice with asthma &/or chest infections. I should also add that I'm very physically fit, have a job that keeps me very active & feel that, provided I smoke a small amount of weed, keep up with my inhalers, avoid vigorous excercise during high pollution days, & manage any chest infections cafefully, that my asthma is better controlled now than at any time during the 23 years I've lived in greater London.
I also have a very low marijuana habit now, smoking no more than 2 or 2.5 grams per week, of weak, imported Thai & African weed. This means my daily intake of active ingredient has probably dropped by around 70% since before my mum died. I'm a light user but rely on marijuana for my appetite & to help me sleep. Oh, & I'm a musician, DJ & drummer & quite simply, I love to get a little stoned & play or listen to music
Thanks for reading, any input positive or otherwise greatly appreciated. Thank you!
PS Mods, I have posted this in Cannabis Discussion also, please feel free to delete or merge these threads, if it suits you...
PPS This isnt the article I read some months ago, cant find it... Short-term memory failure perhaps Lol but interesting for me, nontheless
Link---------------->
editted slightly from -
http://www.livestrong.com/article/23082-marijuana-treatment-asthma/
"The use of marijuana as a treatment for asthma has many advocates and opponents, because research on humans and lab animals shows possible benefits in some people but adverse effects in others. Marijuana has a tendency to intensify physical responses and psychological feelings, bringing about varied results among different people. There may be short-term benefits but long-term difficulties when asthmatics smoke marijuana. But many experts believe more research is necessary.
Eight people with asthma were induced with bronchial spasms through chemical inhalation in some sessions and bicycle exercise on other sessions, according to a study published in the American Review of Respiratory Disease in 1975. The subjects receiving placebo marijuana had a gradual recovery during 30 to 60 minutes. The people who received actual marijuana recovered immediately, reported the researchers from the Division of Pulmonary Disease, Department of Medicine, at the UCLA School of Medicine in Los Angeles.
Smokers who use marijuana and tobacco are more than twice as likely than nonsmokers to get respiratory disease and almost three times more likely to contract COPD, according to a study published in the April 14, 2009, issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal. However, the same study found that smoking only marijuana was not associated with an increased risk of respiratory symptoms or COPD. The team from the Vancouver Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease Research Group in British Columbia, Canada, studied a random sample of 878 people ages 40 and over living in Vancouver. They then compared their history of marijuana and tobacco intake with its relationship to respiratory disorders."
But that's another story. After she died I got to thinking about my dope smoking & decided out of respect for her I would try to cut my habit significanty, if not quit entirely. At the time I was smoking around a 8th of an ounce (or about 3.5grms) of superb skunks per week. So, I cut my habit to one small joint before bed, & occassionaly using valium to sleep & skipping the smoking altogether. During this period, the southern UK was under some slightly unusual weather conidtions, resulting from very hot air temperatures & increased pollution, & sudden, powerful thunderstorms. It later turned out that these conditions had caused quite a large increase in hospital admissions for heart & lung problems. Apparently, the storms were washing particulates that are normally high enough in the atmosphere not to cause health problems, but the very heavy rain was splashing off pavement & vapourising pollutants at ground level where they could be more easilly inhaled.
I was very surprised to find my asthma becoming considerably & progressivaly worse during the period that I spent reducing my marijuana intake. I'd spend the days struggling to breathe, despite upping the dosage of my preventative inhalers as well as using twice the amount of Salbutamol that I usually do... I found that once I got home in the evening & smoked my miniscule spliff, the asthma would ease immediately & this wave of relief & relaxation would wash over me. During this time I was probably smoking an 8th a MONTH, rather than every week, but that evening spliff was an absolute Godsend.
Since then (5 yrs ago now) I have deliberately experimented with my lung health by cutting down or reducing my herb intake deliberately to coincide with bad air-quality-days here in SW London. I recieve a text message from my local council on days when local pollution levels may affect asthmatics so I know when the best time for a "test" has come along. On almost every occassion (at least three times on top of my first try) my asthma has become more difficult to control when I reduce my intake on high pollution days.
So, I have a theory, purely laymans of course, that perhaps the oils from cannabis are coating my bronchia in such a way as to prevent the miniscule particulate allergens from reaching deep enough into my lungs to increase my asthma & that reducing the amount I smoke allows greater amounts of these allergens to reach deeper into my lungs, causing asthmatic effects.
Am I crazy? Am I just trying to justify my usage of a drug I'm dependent on? Or is my theory remotely possible. I found an online document related to the beneficial use of marijuana in asthmatics which seemed to corroborate my theory, at least in part, so I'll try find it again.
I should add that I do not now, nor have I EVER smoked tobacco, either on it's own or with my marijuana. Also, that my parents moved me to Zimbabwe as a kid, on the recomendation of a doctor, who suggested the dry air & high altitude would ease my very severe symptoms as a child. Unfortunately this failed & I was admitted many, many times to A&E in Zimbabwe as a kid. However, at the age of 19 I had not had a severe asthma attack or been admitted to hospital for at least 6 years & it was thought I'd "grown our of it". At 19 I returned to live in Greater London & within a year had already been admitted to A&E twice with asthma &/or chest infections. I should also add that I'm very physically fit, have a job that keeps me very active & feel that, provided I smoke a small amount of weed, keep up with my inhalers, avoid vigorous excercise during high pollution days, & manage any chest infections cafefully, that my asthma is better controlled now than at any time during the 23 years I've lived in greater London.
I also have a very low marijuana habit now, smoking no more than 2 or 2.5 grams per week, of weak, imported Thai & African weed. This means my daily intake of active ingredient has probably dropped by around 70% since before my mum died. I'm a light user but rely on marijuana for my appetite & to help me sleep. Oh, & I'm a musician, DJ & drummer & quite simply, I love to get a little stoned & play or listen to music
Thanks for reading, any input positive or otherwise greatly appreciated. Thank you!
PS Mods, I have posted this in Cannabis Discussion also, please feel free to delete or merge these threads, if it suits you...
PPS This isnt the article I read some months ago, cant find it... Short-term memory failure perhaps Lol but interesting for me, nontheless
Link---------------->
editted slightly from -
http://www.livestrong.com/article/23082-marijuana-treatment-asthma/
"The use of marijuana as a treatment for asthma has many advocates and opponents, because research on humans and lab animals shows possible benefits in some people but adverse effects in others. Marijuana has a tendency to intensify physical responses and psychological feelings, bringing about varied results among different people. There may be short-term benefits but long-term difficulties when asthmatics smoke marijuana. But many experts believe more research is necessary.
Eight people with asthma were induced with bronchial spasms through chemical inhalation in some sessions and bicycle exercise on other sessions, according to a study published in the American Review of Respiratory Disease in 1975. The subjects receiving placebo marijuana had a gradual recovery during 30 to 60 minutes. The people who received actual marijuana recovered immediately, reported the researchers from the Division of Pulmonary Disease, Department of Medicine, at the UCLA School of Medicine in Los Angeles.
Smokers who use marijuana and tobacco are more than twice as likely than nonsmokers to get respiratory disease and almost three times more likely to contract COPD, according to a study published in the April 14, 2009, issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal. However, the same study found that smoking only marijuana was not associated with an increased risk of respiratory symptoms or COPD. The team from the Vancouver Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease Research Group in British Columbia, Canada, studied a random sample of 878 people ages 40 and over living in Vancouver. They then compared their history of marijuana and tobacco intake with its relationship to respiratory disorders."
