{"componentChunkName":"component---common-build-question-tags-template-js","path":"/question-tag/ptsd/3","result":{"data":{"allQuestion":{"edges":[{"node":{"id":"Question_11273-markdown","title":"How to relieve the symptoms of medication withdrawal? ","slug":"how-to-relieve-the-symptoms-of-medication-withdrawal","content":"\"In conjunction with starting the use of cannabis to help with PTSD. I started to taper off my medications for depression and anxiety. With my doctors approval. Now that I have completely stopped the medications both (Celera and Klonapan). I am having horrible withdrawal symptoms. I also stopped using the Estrogen patch that I feel I was on for just to long. I have upped my Vitamin D to the prescribed amount. I just tried a tincture that has a higher THC in the evening and it made me feel awful. I will try a lower dose tonight, I used the full dose my first time. I did not realize that I would be having this amount of withdrawal symptoms, my doctor said just to stop that I wouldn't have a problem. It has been about a week and still not doing well. I use a vape pen with high CBD one dose, twice a day. Any suggestions to help me out. I feel , all the general symptoms of medication withdrawal. I guess it just shows how long I have been on these medications and how I need to be patent and In the long run get my body regulated on healthier alternatives. Thank you \"\n_____________________\nWith all respect to Dr. Olson,  I've seen this following syndrome in my practice called Antidepressant Discontinuation Syndrome.  Here is a helpful article you can look at and also bring to your own MD.  The authors of this very well made article suggest against abrupt discontinuation of SSRI, SNRI's and other anti-depressants.  I want to stress that this has just been in my practice and Dr.Olson also probably has just as much if not more experience than I in this matter.  I offer this article humbly:\nhttp://www.aafp.org/afp/2006/0801/p449.html\n\ndrpark\n_____________________\nYou might be having SSRI (Celexa) withdraw symptoms. I could happen if you were on a high dose or even a mild dose. If a mild dose you might want to try waiting it out a day or two more and see how you do. If you were on a higher does or can not tolerate the withdraw symptoms, you might want to restart your Celexa. Restart at half the dose you were on. After a few days, or when you feel better, you might want to try again to taper off the Celexa. this time try cutting back on the dose by 50% each week (4-6 days). If you continue to feel ok, keep cutting back on the dose until you are off. If the withdrawal symptoms develop again, go back up on the dose you were on that didn't give you withdrawal symptoms and try again this time tapering the dose ever 2 weeks. The same issue can happen with the Klonopin. If so, try the same slow taper as mentioned above.\n\ndrpinto\n_____________________\nI have successfully removed many patients from SSRIs but the benzodiazepines are a whole other story. I usually encourage patients to be on high-dose CBD (~28:1) twice a day (10-15 drops twice daily) for one month before you start to withdraw from your either medications. SSRIs you can typically abruptly discontinue but save all your leftover pills because in about 4 to 5 days your body will want more SSRI medication, so give it a pill, if you need another pill the next day you can do that also but then try to stay off the medication for approximately a week, your body will scream for more and that's when you give it one or two pills but you will notice this is a sub therapeutic dose so your body will be tapering off at this point and it typically only takes a few weeks for you to be off the SSRI completely.\nBenzodiazepines should never abruptly be discontinued because they cause horrendous side effects.\nBenzodiazepine should be reduced by one dose per month. Please don't try to discontinue the benzodiazepines any quicker than that or you could cause more depression. You will eventually be off the benzodiazepines. You must be very careful with your THC intake because if you go high on THC you will increase your anxiety. Until you are well stabilized off the benzodiazepines you must concentrate mostly on high CBD Cannabis to keep your body calm but you don't get the full effect of CBD cannabis for approximately 3 to 4 weeks. Since you are prone to anxiety and depression, You legally can carry a high CBD/ low THC spray with you but when you are driving you must carry it in the back of the car like an open container of alcohol. If you feel anxious, one spray of the high CBD cannabis (8:1 to 18:1) should have a nice calming effect.\nMost people are vitamin D deficient and many doctors only measure the inactive form, 25-OHD, but they should also measure the active form that is excreted from the kidneys, 1,25-dihydroxy Vitamin D, since the inactive form maybe low but the active form maybe high and you don't want to overstress your kidneys. \nVitamin D is necessary for the human body to function normally because in the human body it is a hormone not a vitamin and hormones are necessary to create new healthy cells.\nIf the vitamin D blood level is low in your body, it negatively affects many systems, such as your muscles and blood pressure. With low levels of Vitamin D you may experience thyroid disease, chronic pain with muscle & joint aching, kidney stones & even calcified heart valves, high blood pressure, depression, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia, an increased risk of migraine headaches and even a significantly increased risk of breast cancer with a greater risk for metastatic disease and death. \nThe laboratory ‘normal’ for Vitamin D3 is 30-100 (30ng/mL is rickets level) but for optimum health the blood level must be 55-100. Do you want to be just ‘normal’ or would you like to go for optimum?\nThe kidney clearance function for Vitamin D must be monitored so the larger amounts of Vitamin D are not overwhelming the ability to clear any excess Vitamin D from the system and this is the level of the active form of Vitamin D. \nFor a healthy patient with normal kidney function and vitamin D deficiency, I recommend a large dose (called a bolus) of vitamin D3, approximately 40,000 international units to be given with food one time per week  plus 5000 International units of vitamin D3 per day, repeating the sequence for up to four weeks and then do a repeat blood level. For accuracy do not take your vitamin D right before the blood test and do not do the bolus the day before or the day of the blood test. You should notice a significant sense of well-being once your blood level of vitamin D3 is above 55 ng/mL but there is no benefit in going above 100 ng/mL.\nIn order to sleep as you're going off your other medications, please be aware that you may need to keep your CBD: THC ratio in a 2:1 balance in order to sleep without anxiety, so if you have had more THC in the evening you may need to take a higher dose of CBD to balance the ratio of CBD to THC.\nI know this all sounds technical and it sort of is but you can do this because I've had great success with other patients and if you still have questions you can always send your questions and we will give you an answer.\nIf you do have further questions, please don't send those questions as a response to this posting since the posting will only allow us to answer one time, then you must submit a new question.\nGood luck, this may go a little slow but it is well worth the journey to get you away from dangerous, addictive Western pharmaceutical drugs.\n\ndrolson","image":null}},{"node":{"id":"Question_11134-markdown","title":"I have been taking klonapan and Celexa in the evening to help relax I have PTSD and Depression ","slug":"i-have-been-taking-klonapan-and-celexa-in-the-evening-to-help-relax-i-have-ptsd-and-depression","content":"\"I want to now use this Anxiety Relief Tincture as a replacement. I just currently started using a vapor pen in the afternoon only. With a higher CBD and non Psychoactive. So far working well. only need one does and all is good. I want to get off all my synthetic meds. What is your opinion?\"\n_____________________\nI would recommend talking to your psychiatrist/doctor regarding tapering your medications as the cannabis begins to relieve your symptoms. It is unwise to stop medications abruptly, especially if you are on high doses for long periods of time as seizures or worsening symptoms can occur.\n\ndrb","image":null}},{"node":{"id":"Question_11117-markdown","title":"I'm a total novice! Very confused, ","slug":"im-a-total-novice-very-confused","content":"\"I'm a total novice! Very confused, I would like to get a few support systems. PTSD , severe depression, where to start?\"\n_____________________\nWe offer comprehensive consults around the medicine, dosage and delivery methods. We work with many novice patients with similar issues and are happy to help. You can visit our website or email us at Flower@HerbaBuena.com\n\nherbabuena","image":null}},{"node":{"id":"Question_11062-markdown","title":"Would Firefly offer me a discount matching pax if my upgrade involved switching to Fire Fly 2?","slug":"would-firefly-offer-me-a-discount-matching-pax-if-my-upgrade-involved-switching-to-fire-fly-2","content":"\"These are the 2 best hand held vapes and I thank you guys for the heads up on combustion and the breakdown of moving to flower consistency with convection . I am a Vietnam vet living with PTSD and my vape needs to be spot on for coping strategies in this game of medicinal benefits . Would Fire Fly honor that discount if my upgrade is to a Fire Fly 2 ? \"\n_____________________\nI would suggest you contact FireFly directly with your inquiry at phone: (206) 418-6565. Alternatively, you can send them an email using their booking widget on thefirefly.com\n\ndredmunds","image":null}},{"node":{"id":"Question_10614-markdown","title":"My husband just returned from serving overseas and is very anxious. The doctor's are treating him for PTSD.","slug":"my-husband-just-returned-from-serving-overseas-and-is-very-anxious-the-doctors-are-treating-him-for-ptsd","content":"\"He doesn't like the drugs they are prescribing. The side-effects are horrible! Some of his friends are using marijuana and having great results. Do you recommend this? Should he smoke it? What strains are best for PTSD? I'll do whatever I need to do to help him feel better and to get my \"old\" husband back.\"\n_____________________\nI have treated several patients suffering from PTSD that have found cannabis to be helpful for their condition. As you state that he is very anxious due to his condition, I would recommend indica strains. Indica tends to be sedating and relaxing and is also helpful for sleep.  If your husband has depression as a component of his PTSD, an indica dominant hybrid containing some sativa may be helpful.\n\nI discourage smoking cannabis, as the products of combustion (carbon monoxide, tar, carcinogens) contain compounds that may be harmful to one's health. Vaporizing is a great shorter acting alternative to smoking as are oral tinctures. Edibles are much longer acting and are therefore helpful for patients also suffering from insomnia.  \n\ndredmunds","image":null}},{"node":{"id":"Question_10569-markdown","title":"After discovering that THCV and CBN are helpful for osteoporosis, appetite suppression and PTSD, I now seek strains.","slug":"after-discovering-that-thcv-and-cbn-are-helpful-for-osteoporosis-appetite-suppression-and-ptsd-i-now-seek-strains","content":"\"Can you point me in a direction to find landrace strains, such as Durban Poison and Willie Nelson, which don't seem to be readily available? (tried Leafly and googling to no avail) I'm currently vaping and using tinctures and edibles for sleep but would love to find a strain for the osteoporosis and to decrease the munchies. Thanks for any help you can offer.\"\n_____________________\nActually, cannabis does help to preserve the bones but osteoporosis can only be reversed if you have the building blocks to make new bones. If you are over 60 years old, you may need to add as spray in the mouth that supports the body's ability to make its own human growth hormone to stimulate new bone production but again you still need the building blocks. For new bones you must have an adequate blood level of vitamin D3. It is almost impossible to obtain enough Vitamin D from the sun because the skin will rapidly age and skin cancers may result from excessive exposure. Take your vitamin D3 because it is a hormone, not a vitamin and it is necessary to put the calcium in your diet into the bones where it belongs. If you do dairy products and do you eat meat, you are getting too much phosphorus and you will further deteriorate your bones. The best dietary calcium to build bones is obtained in seaweed and dark leafy greens and a diet that minimizes meat, sugar and caffeine. When you exercise it stimulates the bones to become more solid so in essence you're telling your body exactly where you want the calcium to be placed provided you have adequate vitamin D3. I also discourage patients from smoking their medicine, when we want exact amounts given for tissue repair, I suggest you take a tincture for more accuracy. Good luck in your search for the exact right bud to help your bones also.\n\ndrolson","image":null}},{"node":{"id":"Question_10566-markdown","title":"How does cannabis help the brain with combat related ptsd?","slug":"how-does-cannabis-help-the-brain-with-combat-related-ptsd","content":"\n_____________________\nHmmm complicated answer but, in short, PTSD results from a dysfunctional endocannabinoid system.\n\nTo understand the neurobiological mechanisms of PTSD, scientists analyzed 46 subjects, half of whom had PTSD and half who did not. Researchers found that people with PTSD had lower blood levels of anandamide, a cannabis-like compound that we produce in our bodies. \n\nIn all mammals, anandamide triggers the same brain receptors that are activated by THC. The cannabinoid receptor, CB1, found in our brain and central nervous system is involved in emotional learning, stress adaptation and fear extinction. Researchers have found that normal CB1 receptor signaling deactivates traumatic memories and allows us to …… forget. \n\nLow levels of anandamide affects CB1 signaling and results in impaired fear extinction, aversive memory consolidation and chronic anxiety, all seen in patients with PTSD.\n\nCannabis activates these CB1 receptors.\n\n\ndrbluto","image":null}}]}},"pageContext":{"limit":12,"skip":24,"numPages":3,"currentPage":3,"id":5667,"name":"Ptsd","slug":"ptsd","country":"US"}},"staticQueryHashes":["3949754563","4179947113","4202924991"]}