Mom gives autistic son marijuana

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-30-2002
Mom gives autistic son marijuana
45
Mon, 11-23-2009 - 2:26pm

The Dr. that says this child is "stoned" and negates the fact that he was wasting away on THIRTEEN pharmaceuticals before, is an idiot!


http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AutismNews/mother-son-marijuana-treat-autism/story?id=9153881


 



Pages

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Tue, 11-24-2009 - 10:59am

>"Referring to a Rhode Island mother who wrote about her experience with pot in the online magazine Double X, Earleywine said, "I hope other folks don't give her too much trouble until they've walked a mile in her shoes.""<


Weighing the options a laced brownie every three days & 3 medications vs 13 drugs that collectively weren't working IMO this mother's doing

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Tue, 11-24-2009 - 12:02pm

ITA!



iVillage Member
Registered: 08-01-2008
Tue, 11-24-2009 - 12:11pm

Research needs to start about this. Maybe autistic individuals benefit from this differently than other people do. Let's face it, doctors still don't know what causes autism...

pepper spray,mace,stun gun,taser,personal alarm,hidden safe,security camera,home protection,self defense products
Avatar for ddnlj
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 11-24-2009 - 12:33pm

There used to be a time when people healed themselves as best they could using whatever was available and

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-30-2002
Tue, 11-24-2009 - 12:58pm

***Research needs to start about this.***


This is the biggest thing right there. Research needs to be done, but it isn't. Way too much money is spent on the war on drugs, etc. and research is not being done on the potential benefits. One has to wonder, is it because, big pharma isn't set to make a huge profit off of a plant someone could grow in their backyard?


I live in California. I once benefitted from the use of medical mj. In the years immediately after my spinal cord injury I was prescribed MASSIVE doses of narcotics for pain management. Then they would prescribe me laxatives and tagamet to counter the side effects of the narcotics. I was told I was to look forward to a LIFETIME of these type of medications. They caused all kinds of problems. I couldn't eat because my stomach hurt all the time.



iVillage Member
Registered: 08-01-2008
Tue, 11-24-2009 - 1:15pm

You brought up many problems that are very true. I personally am fed up with Docs that are not open to approach ailments with other than the free samples they get from pharmaceutical companies. Sometimes the cure all are right in your back yard! Not overly processed, hormone'd or antibiotic'd to death. I personally try to stay away from medicine if I can find something that I can take that can be consumed in it's natural state. Sometimes you hear about these vitamins that claim to be all natural, etc. But you can get the same vitamins in vegetable, fruits, fish... Scientist actually say that vitamins from food are far better than from processed pills that don't have all the nutrients that the actual food contains.

pepper spray,mace,stun gun,taser,personal alarm,hidden safe,security camera,home protection,self defense products
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-30-2002
Tue, 11-24-2009 - 1:46pm

One of the things that benefits me is cranial sacral and accupuncture



iVillage Member
Registered: 08-01-2008
Tue, 11-24-2009 - 2:00pm

You sound like a strong person, more power to you!

pepper spray,mace,stun gun,taser,personal alarm,hidden safe,security camera,home protection,self defense products
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-17-2009
Tue, 11-24-2009 - 4:11pm

Jumping in here for a second.

I realize that most "traditional" drugs used for pain and other ailments are either metabolized by the body in the kidneys or the liver. Chronic use of these drugs can damage these organs in the long run sometimes.

That being said, marijuana is not without adverse health effects either. Just because it is "natural" doesn't mean it has no side effects or harmful outcomes with use.

http://www.nida.nih.gov/infofacts/marijuana.html

Marijuana is the most commonly abused illicit drug in the United States. It is a dry, shredded green and brown mix of flowers, stems, seeds, and leaves derived from the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. The main active chemical in marijuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol; THC for short.
How is Marijuana Abused?

Marijuana is usually smoked as a cigarette (joint) or in a pipe. It is also smoked in blunts, which are cigars that have been emptied of tobacco and refilled with marijuana. Since the blunt retains the tobacco leaf used to wrap the cigar, this mode of delivery combines marijuana's active ingredients with nicotine and other harmful chemicals. Marijuana can also be mixed in food or brewed as a tea. As a more concentrated, resinous form it is called hashish, and as a sticky black liquid, hash oil.* Marijuana smoke has a pungent and distinctive, usually sweet-and-sour odor.
How Does Marijuana Affect the Brain?

Scientists have learned a great deal about how THC acts in the brain to produce its many effects. When someone smokes marijuana, THC rapidly passes from the lungs into the bloodstream, which carries the chemical to the brain and other organs throughout the body.

THC acts upon specific sites in the brain, called cannabinoid receptors, kicking off a series of cellular reactions that ultimately lead to the “high” that users experience when they smoke marijuana. Some brain areas have many cannabinoid receptors; others have few or none. The highest density of cannabinoid receptors are found in parts of the brain that influence pleasure, memory, thoughts, concentration, sensory and time perception, and coordinated movement.1

Not surprisingly, marijuana intoxication can cause distorted perceptions, impaired coordination, difficulty in thinking and problem solving, and problems with learning and memory. Research has shown that marijuana’s adverse impact on learning and memory can last for days or weeks after the acute effects of the drug wear off.2 As a result, someone who smokes marijuana every day may be functioning at a suboptimal intellectual level all of the time.

Research on the long-term effects of marijuana abuse indicates some changes in the brain similar to those seen after long-term abuse of other major drugs. For example, cannabinoid withdrawal in chronically exposed animals leads to an increase in the activation of the stress-response system3 and changes in the activity of nerve cells containing dopamine.4 Dopamine neurons are involved in the regulation of motivation and reward, and are directly or indirectly affected by all drugs of abuse.

Addictive Potential
Long-term marijuana abuse can lead to addiction; that is, compulsive drug seeking and abuse despite its known harmful effects upon social functioning in the context of family, school, work, and recreational activities. Long-term marijuana abusers trying to quit report irritability, sleeplessness, decreased appetite, anxiety, and drug craving, all of which make it difficult to quit. These withdrawal symptoms begin within about 1 day following abstinence, peak at 2–3 days, and subside within 1 or 2 weeks following drug cessation.5

Marijuana and Mental Health
A number of studies have shown an association between chronic marijuana use and increased rates of anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and schizophrenia. Some of these studies have shown age at first use to be a factor, where early use is a marker of vulnerability to later problems. However, at this time, it is not clear whether marijuana use causes mental problems, exacerbates them, or is used in attempt to self-medicate symptoms already in existence. Chronic marijuana use, especially in a very young person, may also be a marker of risk for mental illnesses, including addiction, stemming from genetic or environmental vulnerabilities, such as early exposure to stress or violence. At the present time, the strongest evidence links marijuana use and schizophrenia and/or related disorders.6 High doses of marijuana can produce an acute psychotic reaction; in addition, use of the drug may trigger the onset or relapse of schizophrenia in vulnerable individuals.

What Other Adverse Effect Does Marijuana Have on Health?

Effects on the Heart
Marijuana increases heart rate by 20–100 percent shortly after smoking; this effect can last up to 3 hours. In one study, it was estimated that marijuana users have a 4.8-fold increase in the risk of heart attack in the first hour after smoking the drug.7 This may be due to the increased heart rate as well as effects of marijuana on heart rhythms, causing palpitations and arrhythmias. This risk may be greater in aging populations or those with cardiac vulnerabilities.

Effects on the Lungs
Numerous studies have shown marijuana smoke to contain carcinogens and to be an irritant to the lungs. In fact, marijuana smoke contains 50–70 percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than does tobacco smoke. Marijuana users usually inhale more deeply and hold their breath longer than tobacco smokers do, which further increase the lungs’ exposure to carcinogenic smoke. Marijuana smokers show dysregulated growth of epithelial cells in their lung tissue, which could lead to cancer;8 however, a recent case-controlled study found no positive associations between marijuana use and lung, upper respiratory, or upper digestive tract cancers.9 Thus, the link between marijuana smoking and these cancers remains unsubstantiated at this time.

Nonetheless, marijuana smokers can have many of the same respiratory problems as tobacco smokers, such as daily cough and phlegm production, more frequent acute chest illness, and a heightened risk of lung infections. A study of 450 individuals found that people who smoke marijuana frequently but do not smoke tobacco have more health problems and miss more days of work than nonsmokers.10 Many of the extra sick days among the marijuana smokers in the study were for respiratory illnesses.

Effects on Daily Life
Research clearly demonstrates that marijuana has the potential to cause problems in daily life or make a person’s existing problems worse. In one study, heavy marijuana abusers reported that the drug impaired several important measures of life achievement including physical and mental health, cognitive abilities, social life, and career status.11 Several studies associate workers’ marijuana smoking with increased absences, tardiness, accidents, workers’ compensation claims, and job turnover.

What Treatment Options Exist?

Behavioral interventions, including cognitive behavioral therapy and motivational incentives (i.e., providing vouchers for goods or services to patients who remain abstinent) have shown efficacy in treating marijuana dependence. Although no medications are currently available, recent discoveries about the workings of the cannabinoid system offer promise for the development of medications to ease withdrawal, block the intoxicating effects of marijuana, and prevent relapse.

The latest treatment data indicate that in 2006 marijuana was the most common illicit drug of abuse and was responsible for about 16 percent (289,988) of all admissions to treatment facilities in the United States. Marijuana admissions were primarily male (73.8 percent), White (51.5 percent), and young (36.1 percent were in the 15–19 age range). Those in treatment for primary marijuana abuse had begun use at an early age: 56.2 percent had abused it by age 14 and 92.5 percent had abused it by age 18.**

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-30-2007
Tue, 11-24-2009 - 4:30pm

Until scientist can prove to me with out a doubt that marijuana and/or drugs aren't responsible for SOME of these problems with autism, I wouldn't want my grandson anywhere near the stuff.

I know too many people who have "smoked" and now have children with problems.

Pages