Hi
Unsure weather this is the right place to discuss this one............anyone use cannabis as a relaxation aid and if so does it help

Sooty

This is a fine place to bring it up and am sure it has been discussed in the past. In my personal experience, today's MJ is not the same stuff from the 70-80's, so if you have fond memories of being stoned back then..........................I tried home grown, not medical brand, had a scary experience and double dose of extreme dystonia. But everyone is different and worth trying out - just know there are select grades of the the stuff - one may work while another may not.

TG

I had one of my neurologists inquire if I'd tried pot so, I thought I'd give it a go. Keep in mind that I live in California and before trying, went out and got my official medical marijuana cert. I could go on and on about what a sham that is but, I'll try to stay on subject.
IMPORTANT!!!! If you smoked pot in the old days... things have changed! Take the strongest pot from the 60s and 70s and multiply by 10 at least. It will lay you away or as in my case, leave me pacing and uncomfortably praying for the damned stuff to wear off. That said, it has been my last resort to get to sleep now for a few months. When I've taken all of the drugs, the sleeping pills, the yoga etc. and I'm still laying in bed so stiff that not all of my body can seem to touch the mattress at the same time, then I'll go for my one long toke.
First of all, be sure to get your hands on as pure an indica as you can find. If you get sativa or a cross with alot of sativa, you'll not get the effect you want. I recommend that you google indica strains, jot down a list of the strains that are either pure indica or mostly indica. Take that list with you when you go shopping. Indica is for pain relief and muscle relaxation. Sativa will energize you.
Now, once you have your list there is weed to smoke and forms to eat. Careful with those edibles. There's no quality control out there so one man's single brownie is another's man's high for a week. Take a really tiny bite and wait to see how it goes. Be sure you're home and safe when you do it. I ate 1/4th of a brownie at once and had an unwanted party for several hours.
I recommend that in the long run, you bake your own edibles so that you know what and how much is in them. You can buy canna butter which you replace for the oil in cooking recipes. Just be sure that the butter is made from indica and not sativa.
As far as smoking, I'm not a smoker but, it does seem that it is easier to control what you're getting in that form. Just take a half a puff and wait to see before getting bold and over doing it.
So, bottom line is that for me, it will work when nothing else does. Just go slowly and carefully.

While my supply is erratic at best, I have found it to be quite helpful for me. Even to the point of going from near helpless to ten minutes later and having forgotten that I was helpless found that I was not. Eerie.

Yup, I'd say you get stoned by the "good" stuff LOL. My sister finds the stuff growing in her corn fields every year.

TG

I haven't looked up past posts about this yet but will. I have heard tell of some neuroprotective actions of Cannabis but the study was quite some time ago.
Luckily for me, as a CA. resident, I do have a medical/Marijuana card.
I use it 4-5 times a week right before bed and it helps me relax enough to get a great sleep. I actually like the hybrids, but I am not awake long enough to worry about the "high". What I do know is that the relief of getting into bed after smoking with the muscle relaxation it gives me is absolutely heavenly. I sometimes do visualizations at that point because I feel more open to healing. Relief is the operative word here for me.

i find it very helpful, especially when stung by depression and despair, or simply if i am stuck on a question or a feeling or a what-next worry.
I grow my own but it is not powerful because i am using seeds from the same line of plants for years, and because the growing season here is short. Cops here will ignore
4 or 5 plants, especially if there is a barely coherent PWP giving them advice.
I know it is stressful for the nanny state to think that i am free to choose for myself and they like to outlaw anything that tastes good, moves fast, or has sharp edges, but i am a better citizen when i get high and turn John Lee Hooker up loud.

what rick said about supply

what victoria lou said about when taken, sleep and relaxation

i judge having had enough by how relaxed i feel. I am also not as interested in the high as I'm already so goofy with meds but it's the only thing that relaxes all of me. i have to be very careful not to fall with my memory, cognition and balance even more impaired but i can dance.

i only have it in small quantities when i do get it so if the police ever came to the door they would see a grandmother very much in need of this bit of weed in her pipe. i am no longer going to feel intimidated by using something that works. it relaxes the mind.

i also read that it was neuroprotective but don't remember where.

smoking weed gives you a real urge to smoke nicotine.

Is this true ??

Neil.

Neil,
Maybe not if you never were addicted to nicotine,
But my experience - having been a smoker and quit, became a nicotine smoker again after taking up the Devil Weed. Some days you get the bear, some days the bear gets you.