Exiting Opioids: Cannabis Fights The Anxiety & Depression (PAWS)

3 Shares

When long term opioid use is replaced with cannabinoids, there's more to fight than pain:

In a recent Q&A regarding the topic of cannabis for anxiety and depression I rambled on as usual – the journalist grabbed a quote and moved forward. The message was pretty strong in regards to treating PAWS or a protracted withdrawal common with those that have quit the use of strong pharmaceutical opioids or other addictive substances after years or decades. I gained permission to share the full interview, I hope it helps inform some of how I use multiple cannabinoids to fight the pain and replace the pharmaceuticals while also deploying others to fight the effects of this, which is very intense. Suddenly, after the physical withdrawal has ceased and often months to even years later, the physical attributes of the initial withdrawal return in a vast majority of cases. Everything from anxiety to a deep depression occurs and will stay for a few hours or even days. Without the knowledge of this syndrome, most people and even doctors will think it’s another health issue or depression/anxiety alone. The more I talk about it the more I find that PAWS is a subject matter for almost everyone that’s been addicted to anything.

Q: What is your experience with anxiety and depression?

“Anxiety and Depression seem to go hand in hand. I’ve had multiple cancers and have severe epilepsy, which alone has caused problems with this combo, then I quit opioids after 2 decades of use and depression-like I never thought I would feel overtook my life. Then comes the anxiety of facing the world when I feel that way – like your world is crumbling in one moment with depression and then moves an anxious nervous feeling that I can’t put my finger on because topics move so quickly through my mind. It may be a mind-over-matter situation for many – but the science behind PAWS is very concrete – it’s a short-term return of the physical withdrawal that causes a furthered state of both depression and anxiety in the individual.”

Q: Does cannabis help you address these symptoms?

“I’m not just a patient, I’m also a published researcher so I likely have an edge over the average consumer on what to use. CBD works very well in the AM, a larger dose than I normally would want, to get me up and stop the depressing feeling that was keeping me in bed all day. When I use a high THC dose right off in the mornings it will help pain and other issues but doesn’t help me get up and go. The CBD does that trick. As the day progresses I use more THC to balance out the feeling and it calms the anxiety that causes a racing mind.”

Q: Does it help you?

“Yes. No pharmaceutical medication has ever helped me as Cannabis and extracts do. Without it, I’d likely be unable to do much in life as it’s replaced literally dozens of pills taken daily. I’d have to return to pharmaceuticals that required me to ingest a diet of pills daily that was so overwhelming, and they still didn’t stop seizures. I’m not sure how I’d fight depression as there are so many pharmaceuticals on the market now with really scary side effects. SSRIs cause problems with people with epilepsy.”

Q: Do you have a legal recommendation or are you self-medicating?

“I have a Medical Recommendation, am the founder of the Global Cannabinoid Research Center and the former Dir. of Communications of the American Academy of Cannabinoid Medicine so I make sure I document everything with Primary care doctors vs. self-medicating without any data kept in medical files. I believe in Integrative Medicine meaning that our primary doctor should be documenting our files with cannabis oils and the milligrams we take just like any other medication. They will be doing this with Epidiolex pharma CBD so why not with all cannabis intake?

Q: When did you start using it to help you

“I’ve had a cannabis card for well over a decade. When one looks at when they started using cannabis as medicine I believe it’s really important to consider when we started using it the ‘right way’. Ingestion is so imperative, something I was unaware of previous to 2013 when I first started using oils. Through the years using the trial and error method that seems to work the best, I’ve ventured into the creation of formulations and protocols specifically to fight pharmaceutical dependence with whole-plant cannabis extracts – meaning no one single cannabinoid is used and the balance of the plant is also considered for use in various ways, especially terpenes.”

Q: Were you using it before recreational?

Yes, I started smoking cannabis 4 decades ago recreational, I had no idea there was a medicinal aspect to it other than through California’s Prop. 215 which allowed me to get my first card. Even when I was first using a medical card I didn’t know the right ways to use it medicinally and couldn’t get any positive feedback from doctors. Most would require I quit using it completely instead of giving any input.

Q: Do you use any other medications/treatments, or just cannabis?

When I first started oils I was taking 48 pills a day – 4 dozen. A literal diet of pharmaceuticals. Today I take 4. Now it’s taken nearly 6 yrs. to accomplish this so I don’t recommend patients get overzealous and quit medication too quickly. For Depression and Anxiety, I have not gone out after medications because it’s heavily due to the cessation of opioids. Anytime someone has to learn to live their life no longer numb, for whatever reason, there’s going to be challenging. In the mornings the challenge is in getting up and going and keeping to at least some type of active schedule, in the evenings it’s sleeping, all day long it’s pain control. This requires multiple cannabinoids delivered in various ways – but don’t forget the terpenes.

Q: What else should readers know about cannabis use with anxiety and depression?

“Keep in mind that medicinal cannabis works differently for everyone based on our unique physiology. Don’t get discouraged because something worked for your friend but doesn’t for you. It’s a trial and error process much like we see with doctors and pharmaceuticals, except we can customize what we use with the knowledge it doesn’t have their harmful side effects of them. There’s no one-size-fits-all with dosing so it’s important to experiment with your own dosing to dial in the protocol that’s necessary. Don’t give up on Cannabis because one strain or one type of oil didn’t work the way you thought it would because when you find the right strain and ratio of oils you’ll find freedom and independence you thought you lost.”