Cannabis and Type 2

I am greatly interested in this topic because of my restless sleep patterns. I am strictly talking about this in a medicinal manner and not to get euphoric sensation. I am interested in hearing other peoples experiences and any studies you may know about.

Past several months I have been looking at cannabis (marijuana, MJ, Pot, weed, ganja) and its affect on specifically T2D and sleeping patterns. Several years ago I was on the night shift working between 8-12 hours a day. I do believe this contributed to my development of diabetes. During that time and since I left that job I have had horrible sleep patterns and nightly sleep. Even as a kid I would toss and turn ALL OVER THE BED. On the suggestion, I tried a cannabis edible in a low dosage and slept WONDERFULLY! Not only what it a complete sound, solid sleep, I didn’t get up in the middle of the night not one time. Truly amazing! I am not current using anything and my sleep is back to being restless, tossing and turning and getting up several times in the night.

Has anybody had similar experience?

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Probably a double edged sword if you are vulnerable to the munchies… :slight_smile:

I use valerian capsules and it works really well! You could also try 5-htp but that one doesn’t seem to be nearly as sedating. I was on medical cannabis a few months back for chronic pain and anxiety. It started causing more trouble for me than I started out with, so I haven’t touched it for a few months. It messes with blood-preasure (which in my case is already low) and some other things. My body doesn’t tolerate it the same as when I was 20 something.

I’d be interested in trying it when I visit a state where its legal.

Unfortunately, I feel a need to have a discussion with my doctor before doing so, and honestly, I just don’t know how the heck to bring that one up.

“Hey doc. So, I’m going on vacation to X state. I know I’m on these three different medications for my fibromyalgia pain… what say I stop them for a week and try some marijuana instead while I’m gone. And do I need to worry about interactions with my diabetes or thyroid meds?”

And when I get back, would I check the box for having ever done illegal drugs or not? Would it impact anything on my health insurance if I reported it? Now there’s a head scratcher.

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Using cannabis, regardless of form, is a true disservice to your cognitive abilities.

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It is a disservice to the medical profession when medical professionals make blanket statements that do not allow for or acknowledge individual situations and responses, thereby encouraging the reluctance of patients to openly discuss all their conditions and options. I’m not advocating anything here, but your statement cannot be true for all people in all situations.

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I’m assuming the comment was directed more towards Christalyn, but I do have a comment on the matter.

Unfortunately, at least in my case, the same could be said of medications for fibromyalgia. I had to stop my first, Lyrica, after only 3 days. At a minimum dose I was forgetting words, unable to complete thoughts/sentences, and actually had one incident where I ordered take-out and forgot having done so during the 30 minutes it took for it to arrive.

Thankfully I have since found better alternatives for that.

Out of all the medications I’ve tried for sleep (Ambien, Ambien CR, Lunesta, Restoril, valerian root, benadryl, melatonin, muscle relaxers, and a couple of others) the only one with consistently good results where I go to sleep within 1 hour of taking it, and stay asleep, is clonazepam. That, itself, has the potential for addiction, as well as the potential for problems with thinking and/or memory.

Lack of sleep in and of itself can be damaging to cognitive abilities. For awhile I would stay up for 18-20 hours, only sleep for 3-4 hours, stay awake for 3-4 hours, sleep another 3-4 hours, and then repeat the cycle for weeks on end. My ability to think was shot. My depression was deep. My blood sugars were out of control. My blood pressure was up. If I’d been in a place where I could legally try a bit of medical-grade marijuana, I’d have done it and not really concerned myself too much with a few baked brain cells at the time. Sometimes the risk is worth the reward when it comes to chronic insomnia and constant, chronic, debilitating pain.

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As someone who did my share of ganja back in the day, I would much more quickly opt for Clonazepam even with the potential risks it shares with other benzodiazepines. There are so many things I still want to think through and learn before my life ends, so I do my best to do everything within my control to avoid clouding my cognitive abilities. The aging process does a good enough job doing that on its own; I’m certainly not going to give it a helping hand!

@Bradford1 I am talking about CBD.

AGAIN…if you are not familiar with MEDICINAL CANNABIS (CBD) then please don’t answer or reply. I am trying to have a serious conversation about medicinal cannabis. FYI…CBD doesn’t have a psychoactive element therefore no issue with cognitive abilities. Please do some homework.

Also understand with CBD or medical marijuana the dosing is extremely important because different strains have different effect on different people. Just because you had certain set of symptoms at a particular dosage doesn’t totally translate into everybody having that issue. With out science and standard dosing people tend to over medicate themselves and do not blame themselves for their error in judgement.

I tried the afghani cbd strain (94% thc 12.1% cbd). It helped with sleep yes. But it gave me a little anxiety some times for the first 30 minutes or hour after smoking, don’t know why. I mostly got used to that after a while but the main problem I had that caused me to stop is a lot of times, the morning after smoking, I’d wake up with a racing heart-beat that would last all day, every time I stood up and walked. It was definitely not because I had smoked too much. I guarantee that because I cut my dose down really small, not even filling up the little one-hitter. Still it kept happening. Don’t know why but I wasn’t over-using it, that’s for sure.

I am well aware of CBD and you need to do your homework if you believe there are no cognitive effects. There is no standardized “science” involved, only sketchy internet claims regarding particular strains and their properties. It’s your body to do with what you want. But you shouldn’t make claims about medicinal cannabis when you clearly do not know what you are talking about.

Actually there has been significant progress on the science of cannabis. Despite that the medicinal use is “whacked” since the drug laws are so out of touch with reality they actually have impeded science. Studies have shown that THC causes acute cognitive problems, and that at times that can be ameliorated by CBD in the cannabis. And as @Christalyn notes, the ratio and dosing is very difficult as it is dispensed as a raw ingredient and it is virtually impossible to control exact measures. Personally, I would try other things before resorting to cannabis.

From your description you may have developed some sleep problems where you circadian rhythms became disturbed during night shift work and you never recovered. It can actually be important to keep a specific cycle of going to sleep and waking in order to reinforce your body’s natural cycle. I would recommend going to bed like clockwork at a specific time and waking at a specific time (even if you didn’t sleep optimally). Light also plays a role. Don’t leave any lights on in your bedroom once you tuck yourself in and when you awake, bright lights everywhere. No waking in the middle of the night and watching TV or reading. I also found melatonin helped me stay asleep, I use 5mg Natrol from Costco.

I recently read a book called “Dreamland” which talked a lot about the science of sleep and had lots of suggestions on how to improve your sleep.

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I didn’t see CBD in your initial post-- people use different strains including strains with psychoactive elements for medical use. Please be respectful.

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Remember being respectful goes both ways. It is respectful to completely read a whole conversation before making a comment that only serves to make YOU look bad or like you haven’t read anything. Which is what you admitted too. Fully aware of the nuances of cannabis, different stains and such. If should read the beginning again I asked about CBD and medicinal use marijuana to avoid non serious conversations.

@Brian_BSC Thanks…yes I know my circadian rhythms are out of whack… I will have to do another night shift in about 2 months which is scary and I am preparing for too. I will get the book and see what suggestions it could provide. I only eat infused products not smoke. Still after usage it is hard to get back to normal and I feel really unsafe especially since I really can’t dose with accuracy the product I am using. Here in California, those regulations are loosey-goosey.

“Marijuana is one of the oldest known treatments for sleep disorders.” But don’t choose the wrong strain!!
For 2 months this year I had been searching for non-standard cancer treatments and if I could have gotten CBD oil to my mother would have done so. Apparently I would have had to travel to CO to acquire and then smuggled it to her Hospice. Unfortunately she was diagnosed to late for anything to be useful.
You might try a couple cups of Catnip Tea before bedtime. For me it is effective - if I’ve started having trouble sleeping, I’ll drink some catnip tea for a few nights. 100% legal and you can easily grow your own, use it fresh or dry it for future use. I like mine sweetened with a dab of honey and stevia.

Thanks for the tip. I don’t want to use cannabis. Right now it was the only thing that work very well for me. Sorry about your mother. I would have been happy to help out if could.