Medical Marijuana and Sleep Apnea?

[BDP87]

I have very recently (the last few days) been using Medical Marijuana as a new treatment for my PTSD. I use a vape pen and a "night formula" to help me sleep, as advised by my doctor and the pharmacists at the dispensary. My goal is to get off of the pills I am currently on (Clonazepam) and go a more "natural" route, as I have been trying to limit the amount of pills I take a day (I'm on a few different medicines).

Ever since I have started (about 3 days ago), I have seen a big jump in my apneas, particularly centrals, my machine says at least. I was averaging somewhere around 3 and I have jumped all the way to 7. I tried sleeping both while being on both the Clonazepam and MM, and without taking the Clonazepam, because I thought maybe the combo of both was just too much, but even when I didn't take the Clonazepam, I was still having the same amount a night. I am also waking up with my mouth extremely dry as well as my eye.

I feel as though I have been getting a better sleep and I am waking up less at night which was kind of the point of starting the MM to begin with. The Clonazepam wasn't working for me anymore.

I really would like this to work, as I really no longer wish to be on any pill. What the heck do I do? I have made an appointment with my sleep doc for next week, but until then I am worried about my sleep. Perhaps my body needs to "re-adjust" to something new in my system?

I need advice!

[Walla Walla]

Recommend you down load sleepyhead and post a chart. There may or may not be adjustments that can be made to help. Without a chart it's hard to advise on adjustments. Some say MM helps their Obstructive Apnea others say it doesn't. I don't think there has been enough studies done yet to know for sure.

[BDP87]

Never heard of it. How does it work? Is it an app?

[BDP87]

Ah never mind, I found it. I don't have an SD card in my machine though so I guess I can't use it.

[Melman]

Your machine should have a slot for an SD card. It's under a little door with a small blue tab at the end of the machine. My new machine also came without a card. Any SD card will work. Resmed supplies 2GB cards but they may be hard to find. 8-16GB will be more than you will ever need.

[GrammaBear]

I have very recently (the last few days) been using Medical Marijuana as a new treatment for my PTSD. I use a vape pen and a "night formula" to help me sleep, as advised by my doctor and the pharmacists at the dispensary. My goal is to get off of the pills I am currently on (Clonazepam) and go a more "natural" route, as I have been trying to limit the amount of pills I take a day (I'm on a few different medicines).

Ever since I have started (about 3 days ago), I have seen a big jump in my apneas, particularly centrals, my machine says at least. I was averaging somewhere around 3 and I have jumped all the way to 7. I tried sleeping both while being on both the Clonazepam and MM, and without taking the Clonazepam, because I thought maybe the combo of both was just too much, but even when I didn't take the Clonazepam, I was still having the same amount a night. I am also waking up with my mouth extremely dry as well as my eye.

I feel as though I have been getting a better sleep and I am waking up less at night which was kind of the point of starting the MM to begin with. The Clonazepam wasn't working for me anymore.

I really would like this to work, as I really no longer wish to be on any pill. What the heck do I do? I have made an appointment with my sleep doc for next week, but until then I am worried about my sleep. Perhaps my body needs to "re-adjust" to something new in my system?

I need advice!

I don't know anything about MM, but I do know about benzodiazepines as I take alprazolam.  Personally I take a very tiny amount and when I tried quitting it 'cold turkey' it gave me a whole slew of nasty physical symptoms the least of which was withdrawal.  If I was you, I would consult the doctor who prescribed Clonazepam for you for advice on withdrawing from this medicine.  It is my understanding that in order to be successful withdrawing, it has to be done gradually.  Good luck to you.

[sheepless]

hoping this won't get me in trouble with the moderators. if the following is against the rules somehow, please feel free to delete my post.

this probably won't help much but that may be because to my knowledge no one really has answers because there is no definitive information about this topic.

when my state legalized recreational mj, my family suggested I try it for sleep. I don't know if there are any major differences between mm and recreational mj other than someone with more knowledge than me (presumably) has already determined what mm strains are good for sleep. so after much experimentation with recreational mj for sleep I find effects vary by strain and results are inconsistent. if forced to make a judgement I'd say obvious improvement to sleep - in my case increasing time between awakenings - does occur, but only a small percentage of the time. it may be that accomplishing this requires a high enough dose that I feel sluggish the next day and to me that defeats the purpose. prescription sleep aids leave me hungover too. on the flip side, my subjective impresssion is that some strains actually contribute to wakefulness. I had a suspicion mj might worsen my apnea, like alcohol and maybe like alprazolam but I haven't seen any evidence of that.

otoh, if reducing anxiety and removing alprazolam from your system is the reason for mm, I can attest to temporary relief from anxiety using almost any (but not all) strain(s). 45 years ago I didn't much like mj because it often made me paranoid, as in more anxious. I don't know if it's age, increased body weight, much more refined and potent mj these days, or a combination, but that is no longer a factor for me. and while mj is usually relaxing while awake, I really can't say with any certainty whether it helps sleep quantity or quality.

one more thing: if by mm you're talking about cbd - the type that lacks the thc that gets you high - lot's of people believe it helps whatever ails you. in my unsystematic trials, I can discern no effect of cbd whatsoever, but that might be only compared to the obvious tangible effects of thc.

I want mj to help and I like that hour of more-relaxed awake time before bed so I expect to continue occasional use. as they say around the forum: your mileage may vary.

[OpalRose]

Just a “friendly” reminder on Apnea Boards policy concerning discussion of marijuana.

See footnote in Rule #2.

http://www.apneaboard.com/drug-policy.htm

So far, the discussion in this thread on the use of Medical Marijuana is fine.  

Thanks folks.  

[mdhampton]

The thing I wonder, are you prescribed THC or cabinanoids? The latter should have less side effects.

[storywizard]

Hi there...

I have not been around much lately but thought I would leap in on this discussion of Medical Marijuana.
I have been using MM for sleep and pain relief for a couple of years now, there are a few different ways
to take it, and as far as I can tell from talking to other MM users, as well as my own experience we all react
differently to to each strain and method of ingestion.

That was not very helpful, but there is a point to this, really, lol...

Firstly the OP, in my opinion, should not be taking pharmaceuticals and MM, done that, not good for the brain.

If BDP87 wants MM to help with sleep, he needs an Indica dominant strain. I think you said you were vaping?
Start with a couple of slow gentle intakes, see how that feels. Wait at least an hour to really sense how you feel.

CDB was mentioned above. This is supposedly a non psychoactive part of the marijuana plant. To get a really non
psychoactive dose of CDB the best way is to take it as a tincture/oil reduction, where the THC has been mostly removed
...a drop or two in a small glass of water and away you go.
Very little head effect as they say. There are high CDB strains of the flowers which you can toke/vape, but they will still
have THC in them, you will have a psychoactive effect. I take CDB oil/tinctures for nerve pain, it does relieve the discomfort, with no head affect.

I am on the fence a little with MM for sleep. As 'sleepless' suggested MM is very good at relaxing the body/mind, an Indica strain tincture/oil
can help with the initial falling asleep. I found that I can easily take in too much THC and end up with the famous weed hangover. I have found that a combination of a few inhales of Indica vape, and a little(1/2tsp) Indica infused honey is a really good combination. Gets me 4-5 hrs pain free sleep, mostly...

But again, we are all different. The Compassion Club where I get my MM from trains new users to start low, go slow.
Very good advice. Finding one or more ways to ingest that actually help is a bit of a challenge, actually rather like CPAP now I come to compare...

I wish anyone trying MM all the best, its a bit of a difficult path as there are so many opinions and cultural biases out there, including mine.
A found that of all the advice I have garnered the compassion club experience has been the best as they deal with folks who are physically
and or mentally/spiritually suffering.

Just a brief comment re trauma. I suffer from complex trauma, not PTSD. But from the research I have done MM can soothe some of the effects, it cannot heal the wounds.

If you are a reader you might want to check out this fellows book if you have not done so yet:
http://www.traumacenter.org/about/about_bessel.php

For a more "new age" approach, there is Peter Levine:
https://traumahealing.org/about-us/

Storywizard