Patient:
Kalle Snyder
Age:
30
Condition:
Tourette’s Syndrome, Attention Deficit Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, anxiety disorder, panic attacks, migraines, depression, sleeping disorder
Using Medical Cannabis since:
2010
Why did you start using medical marijuana?
In 2009, I started doing some research because I started noticing that all of my disorders were not getting better with the slew of medications I was taking. I felt more depressed; I was developing more tics and sleeping less. I just felt toxic. I talked to a friend who mentioned that his sister had a prescription from her doctor for medical cannabis and it was helping her with her migraines and anxiety. I went to my doctor to ask if she thought medical cannabis would help me. She agreed and prescribed medical cannabis to me for my migraines. She also told me that it may help with some of the other disorders I have.
Did you try other methods or treatments before marijuana?
When I was 12 I was diagnosed with TS, OCD, ADD and panic attacks. I have been on pharmaceutical drugs since then to treat the symptoms of these neurological disorders. As I got older I developed depression and anxiety so I was given drugs for those disorders as well. In middle school all of these disorders progressively got worse; the migraines I had been getting since the age of 5 also started to intensify leaving me unable to function, which made me need more drugs. I have taken Buspar, Paxil, Amitriptylene, Prozac, Catapres, Maxalt, among others. I am now happy to report that the only medicine I am currently taking is medical cannabis.
What do you say to people who are skeptical about marijuana as medicine?
I started doing research and found that there have been studies done on the effects of cannabis, namely the cannibinoid cannabidiol (CBD), on people with Tourette’s Syndrome (TS). It has been shown that CBD has reduced the severity and occurrence of tics in many cases. I can vouch for this. I have this one tic in my throat that has occurred on and off for years that literally stops me from breathing (scary as hell, by the way, and doesn’t help with me anxiety). Cannabis has helped dramatically with this particular tic and [it] has been able to greatly reduce the severity and occurrence of it. Not only has it helped with my TS, but it has helped with my other disorders as well. (Jasen T. Davis)
Are you an MMJ patient from Southern California with a compelling story to tell? If so, we want to hear you. Email your name, contact information and details about your experiences with medical cannabis to courage@ireadculture.com.
