Apnea and Marijuana

[mperkel]

Question - and I'm looking for reality based info on this. What effect does smoking pot have on apnea? Does it make it better, worse, or no difference?

[goose]

Hey mperkel,
I can't tell you if it makes it worse, better or not, but I can say that it can mask apnea as well as other afflictions from you.....

I stopped pot 3 years ago after 40+ years of abuse.
I always attributed the "tired all the time" feeling to being stoned all the time. I also attributed some of memory issues, learning issues, dyslexia issues etc., to the pot.....
Since I've stopped -- the tired all the time feeling didn't go away so when I was diagnosed with OSA it made a lot of things come together. Now, with treatment, that "tired all the time" feeling is a thing of the past.
Now I've been diagnosed with ADHD which I've apparently had all my life, undiagnosed, and caused a lot of the issues I listed above....though ADHD in and of itself is not a totally bad thing.

According the my shrink it can take 2 years for the affects of long term abuse to be "normalized" (whatever that means), so the first 2 years I guess are just adjusting to "real life" and purging.....Though I'm told that it will never be completely eliminated from the fatty tissues that it stores itself in.....I keep wondering if that means I'll get a buzz when I do exercise
It does not mean that the pot had no real affect - I don't believe that's true. I believe it had a very strong adverse affect on me long term, but that's water under the bridge. Life goes on......

Good luck!!
cheers
goose

[Julie]

Apart from any 'state of mind' issues, smoking is smoking, and if you were to smoke weed as often as regular cigarettes, because it is so much harsher, you'd end up with COPD very quickly, and that sure wouldn't help your OSA. So the smoking process, from a respiratory point of view is going to be worse than regular smoking. Addiction-wise, I couldn't say, though don't believe THC works the same way that nicotine does on your brain.

[Zoot]

I wouldn't call it abuse as much as every now and then it needs to be smacked around some.

[nurse23]

I am involved with a clinical trial that is using marijuana in a pill form to help stop apneas. Something to do with seratonin levels and the brain. Will keep you updated.

[Georgio]

Nurse23, you must be feel'in pretty good by now! If they work I would trade my cpap for those pills anytime!

[mulezicman]

I am involved with a clinical trial that is using marijuana in a pill form to help stop apneas. Something to do with seratonin levels and the brain. Will keep you updated.

Do they need any help????

Just kidding.

[Babette]

SIGN ME UP!!!!!

Goose, I've always felt that any kind of chemical use really is a person's way of self-medicating because they feel SOMETHING is "off kilter". I'm not surprised to find that you are discovering diagnoses for some life-long ailments that were masked by the marijuana.

Me, I just like to get stoned. Pity I can't do it anymore. I'm sure the K-12 educational system would frown on that.

But then again - I like to get stoned as a way to entertain my brain, which is entirely too bored with much of my life, probably due to ADD.

Which I blame completely on early and chronic exposure to TV.

LOL,
B.