A.D.H.D + Cannabis

[VapingDitto]

Hey there guys, just wanted to pass along some information.

Let me go into my history…

I have ADHD, had it since I was a child; however, I couldn’t diagnose it due to $$. This all changed when I got into college a couple of years ago… The financial aid department along with my school psychologist was able to fund my neuropsychological test (~$1300). This test put my mind at ease because it did two things: One, it allowed me to forgive myself, and two, it pushed me towards the right direction.
Let me expound on the first idea… Growing up was hard with ADHD. My entire family would describe me as a “smart” kid with copious amounts of ingenuity; furthermore, this made the cognitive dissonance even greater because I performed horrid academically. Consistency was my worst enemy; for instance, my grades would fluctuate from A’s to F’s then when I receive my progress report… from F’s to B’s, but it would fall back down by the time my report card comes back. Additionally, I struggled with completing my homework, reading, and adhering to a schedule. Over the years I tried to fix my consistency, but like all things it would only last for a week. I began to get depressed and eventually through time I held a strong grudge with myself. I also foster this belief that everything I did wrong was entirely because I was lazy and stupid; additionally, this was emphasized by my grandparent’s empty looks (I live with my grandparents because my parents abandoned me). I can’t even begin to describe the hopelessness of being stuck without the light at the end of the tunnel… This all changed when I got my neuropsychological testing; I was diagnosed with ADHD, and that grudge I had with myself suddenly absolved… and I can confidently say that I forgive myself for my past performance; however, I still regret everything!! xD

After being diagnosed, I started researching on ways to help my condition; mainly ways people with ADHD should study. Additionally, my school recommended that I see the school’s psychiatrist. I promptly made an appointment with him; in our session he discussed sleep hygiene, nutrition, and medication. I was prescribed 5mg of Adderall a day for two weeks, skipping the weekends. This was a really low dose (the way it should be in the beginning), and over a 1 year period I was up to 10 mg 3 times a day. The low dosage didn’t cause me any side effects, but at 10 mg I had terrible sideeffects; I wasn’t eating, sleeping right, I was irritable, and had headaches. Unfortunately, the benefits were FARRRRRRRR to great… I was able to pay attention during lectures and complete my homework. I would actually read an entire article instead of just the first couple of words within the first paragraph. Despite the side-effects I gain insight on how I did things, how I learn things, and methods for keeping focus; I was finally headed towards the right direction…

Now back to the side-effects… I absolutely HATE THEM!!!!!!!!!!! I also noticed something else… I don’t have any of these ill side-effects when I vaporize my botanicals! After reading some articles on how Cannabis can help ADHD, I wanted to try it so badly… But the idea itself seem so contradictory because I notice cognition changes when I vape for consecutive days or right after I vape, but this might be due to my failure to titrate the medication…. I load farrrr too much (~.3 g) 3 times a day. Now I have some questions I want to answer or have answered…

What are effective ways of using Cannabis to Treat ADHD?
What influence does the potency of Cannabis have on the treatment of certain disorders? (IE: Using a high potent bud vs low potent bud on ADHD)
What specific chemicals do I want to have in order to treat ADHD? (IE: THC/CBD/Ect)
What does THC/CBD ratio have to do with the effectiveness of treating ADHD?
Where is the line drawn between medicinal use and recreational use in terms of dosage/frequency/effects?
How much should I dose in order to receive medicinal effects to treat ADHD/ADD? (Bowl size, # of hits, frequency, ect...)
(P.S: I am not seeking medical Advice... I am only seeking opinions and personal stories)

I know there has to be someone on the Fourms that Has ADHD/ADD and uses cannabis to treat their symptoms! And if anyone got any opinions or anything to say, Please chime in.

ADDitionallyyyyy I Wanted to show people this PDF….
http://davidbearmanmd.com/docs/ADHD&cannabis.pdf
Here’s a quote
“There is a remarkable new story in healthcare: Cannabis (slang marijuana) may be good
for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD or ADD). The trend recently caught
the attention of conservative FOX news, which quoted pediatrician Dr. Claudia Jensen
“…cannabinoids [marijuana] are a very viable alternative to treating adolescents with
ADD and ADHD…”1”

A pretty informative document justyfing the use of Cannabis as a tool to help abolish some of the ADHD symptoms.

Much Love
VapingDitto

(Sorry for my incoherent paragraph and thank you so much for decoding it in your brains… I am vaked as crap )

 

[Zee007]

Holy shit! I say that because I have ADD myself and I've always wanted to ask these same exact questions, and you worded everything perfectly. I have also read articles, and have heard patients say they smoke marijuana because they have ADHD/ADD but I've always been skeptical because like you've said my cognitive abilities get too cloudy after I smoke (which can also be due to the amount I consume).

Here's an example (0:31-0:40), but this patient makes me doubt the medical benefits marijuana can give to people with ADD/ADHD when it comes to helping yourself focus.

I've been diagnosed with ADD since I've been in second grade, I've taken almost every medication available, ritalin, generic ritalin, adderall, concerta, and vyvanse. From my experience vyvanse is the best drug for ADD when it comes to minimal side effects. My tolerance is pretty high and I take 50-70mg. I absolutely HATE the side effects as well, and one thing I've noticed is that it destroyed my social skills which is why I quit taking the drug all of last year. Luckily staying off the drug that long helped bring back my personality tremendously. Another thing I absolutely hate is how depressed it can make you feel after it wears off and I also became an insomniac, thanks to weed I didn't have much trouble sleeping.

Lastly I would just like to let you know from my experience, proper exercise, and a healthy diet can really boost your ability to focus. It is something you've probably heard before, but if you can push yourself and work on a healthy lifestyle you will notice significant, positive differences with your diagnosis.

 

[Vicki]

My husband, myself, and my daughter have ADHD. My husband has never been treated for it. I took Ritalin when I was a kid. Back in the early 70's, they called it being "hyperactive." I have not treated it as an adult except with cannabis. My friends have said that cannabis makes me "normal" because it calms me down.

My daughter did take some of the ADHD drugs, but they all had horrid side effects. My daughter was never hungry, and didn't eat much. She lost weight, had nausea and vomiting, headaches, etc. It was a nightmare. We couldn't keep her on the ADHD drugs, so we had to end up taking her out of school and homeschooling her.

 

[Zee007]

My husband, myself, and my daughter have ADHD. My husband has never been treated for it. I took Ritalin when I was a kid. Back in the early 70's, they called it being "hyperactive." I have not treated it as an adult except with cannabis. My friends have said that cannabis makes me "normal" because it calms me down.

My daughter did take some of the ADHD drugs, but they all had horrid side effects. My daughter was never hungry, and didn't eat much. She lost weight, had nausea and vomiting, headaches, etc. It was a nightmare. We couldn't keep her on the ADHD drugs, so we had to end up taking her out of school and homeschooling her.

Wow I'm sorry for your daughter... May I ask what type of medication she was taking? Also what was the dose? I'm not suggesting ADHD meds are the right thing for her but I would just like to inform you, in case you didn't know, there is a huge difference when taking the meds with food in your system particularly foods high in fats and protein. I'm really surprised the medication actually induced nausea and vomitting .

In case you haven't looked into it, which I'm pretty sure you have, almost all public schools have special programs now for people with ADD/ADHD, allowing students more time to take tests and many other perks in discreet ways. I also have ADD, which I mentioned in my previous post and have also found a program in my area that helps people with ADD/ADHD who don't want to take the medication. It seems to be very beneficial, although it is very expensive but I am sure there is some kind of financial aid available. I forgot what it is called but I'll post it here once I find the papers on it.

 

[Vicki]

Wow I'm sorry for your daughter... May I ask what type of medication she was taking? Also what was the dose? I'm not suggesting ADHD meds are the right thing for her but I would just like to inform you, in case you didn't know, there is a huge difference when taking the meds with food in your system particularly foods high in fats and protein. I'm really surprised the medication actually induced nausea and vomiting .

The first drug we put her on was Ritalin because it was cheaper. Her dose was 20mg twice daily. Then we tried Vyvanse, and that was worse. She was taking 60mg daily when we took her off that med. The smaller doses were not working, but the higher doses came with horrid side effects.

In case you haven't looked into it, which I'm pretty sure you have, almost all public schools have special programs now for people with ADD/ADHD, allowing students more time to take tests and many other perks in discreet ways. I also have ADD, which I mentioned in my previous post and have also found a program in my area that helps people with ADD/ADHD who don't want to take the medication. It seems to be very beneficial, although it is very expensive but I am sure there is some kind of financial aid available. I forgot what it is called but I'll post it here once I find the papers on it.

The schools here don't offer special programs for kids with ADHD. They only offered to give her more time while doing her work, but that wasn't enough. That's why we had to end up pulling her out of public school.

 

[jambandphan03]

I can completely relate to this, and hell, I had a hard time making myself read the entire post

Diet is a huge part of what is wrong with most of us, from an early start, not to mention the fact that humans simply were not meant to live the way we do today, so much to take in all the time, we are over stimulated, and over exposed to multitudes of toxins. I feel the "institutions" that we measure ourselves by are grossly skewed as to what makes a functional human. I was also one of the smart ones, that had trouble fitting into the mold through my school years. Flying scores on all the achievement tests, but lousy with my school work, or even socializing. Always the odd one out, and that still rings true today, I just found a lot of people who are just ass different as I am, or more to hang around with. I started using cannabis around age 17, learned about the benefits of hemp around age 14, so I was already moving towards cannabis before I ever tried smoking it. Its amazing how many ways this plant can be used, and how different the effects can be depending on the delivery. I was one of the drug free kids, my mom didn't believe in them, so I never had to go through all the different meds, but I did have other health issues that had me in and out of doctors most of my early life anyway. I always wondered how they could jam us all into class rooms, so sterile and rigid, and expect us to want to sit there for hours, year after year... I think that some of us are not broken, it's the system that is messed up, trying to mold us all to be the same, when we are obviously very different from person to person. One size does not fit all...

 

[VapingDitto]

@Zee : How have you been coping when it comes to your attention deficit after quitting meds? Has the symptoms worsen or gotten better over the course of being on meds? Had you experiment using canna for your attention problem? (I second the doubt of the patient in video, but I do admit towards being sorta prejudice xD)

@Vicki : I sincerely hope everything works out for your family ; furthermore, I can definitely relate to all of the horrible side effects your daughter has been getting from the meds.

@Jam : I really liked the mold analogy you had... Captured precisely what I was thinking at one point.

@All : I want to add that adderall (Mixed D-Amp + I-Amp) has lots of drug+food interaction; for instance, I can't eat/drink things with acid in it (Vit C, Lactic acid, and ect) 1 hr before or 3 hr after taking my Meds, or else they won't last long enough. This is also extremely troublesome because I have to take 3 a day. I had heard that Vyvanse is just D-Amp, so you don't get the motivational boost from the mixed amp, but you have less sideeffects and food interactions.

Ever since I've been diagnosed I watched over what I did more... It has been more obvious to me that I consume wayyyy too much processed sugar/fats/proteins/oils and not enough of natural ones. Over the course of being diagnosed and now, I've been trying to eat better, but It's hArrrrdddd because the processed foods are just more convenient. This cause me to stray back and fourth between healthy and unhealthy, but I do notice differences in the way my medication and brain works between the two eating habits. Eating healthier with more fruits+veges really helps with focus and energy.

My sleep Hygiene is horrid! Especially for 2 weeks before finals... That is one thing I yet to experiment on. I wonder if I tweak my sleeping habits how much change will occur... Another problem I have is the lack of exercise. My motivation to exercise is the main problem; I would exercise for a couple of days then I would study a day and it would lead me to skip exercising... After that first skip its all over.

Over this month I am going to commit to changing these two variables... Hopefully, this will lead me off the tracks of the adhd meds train. I've been taking weekends off of my meds and going to try to replace it with cannabis ( i have lots of studying to do on weekends being pre-med )

If you guys find any information on Cannabis + ADHD (specifically pertaining to how to use cannabis to treat ADHD) let me know!!
I also wanted to add... Thanks for the replies! I read every single word!
Much love!
VapingDitto

 

[nzys]

Hi there, just joined the forum cause I found this post on google. Thought it important to share my experience with Marijuana as I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child.

My life has definitely been hard. I did take concerta when I was younger, but I stopped when I was in grade 6 (11 years old). High school was difficult, didn't make many friends. I didn't really understand why, as I hadn't really understood what ADHD symptoms actually looked like. My mother only described them as hyperactivity, so I thought that all the behavioural issues and attention issues were a result of my personallity, and I just thought I was a bad person.

Then I graduated. This is when I discovered how Marijuana seemed to chill me out and reduce my anxiety when in social situations. I soon had an actual solid group of friends and I was doing things and I was enjoying life. I went out and bought a vaporizer because I definitely didn't enjoy trying to self-medicate with the smoking method as it burns my throat, I think it's not very good for my lungs, and I have to consume and buy way more as smoking it requires more weed to get the same "high".

I don't use it to get high anymore. I use it to get me going in the day, to interact with people, to workout (believe me, it helps), enhances my focus. I believe it really helps.

Last week I sent it back to the manufacturer to get it looked at, as it has been not working for a couple months now. My social circle shrunk, my relationships with even my family are strained. My mood and attitude are very poor because of my social failures. Tonight I just took some big bong hits to try and get back into my 'productive mode' and I've finally realized why I've had so many huge social failures in the past couple of weeks.

I hope this helps. And I sure as hell hope I get my vape back soon.


here's a video I found that suggests it's good for adhd

 

[JCat]

I'm bipolar (rapid cycling type II ...). I was initially diagnosed as ADD as a lot of the symptoms are similar during my hypomanic phases (which are frequent ... actually my preferred way to be if I can maintain it without drifting into being too manic ... but I digress ...). I was diagnosed as an adult and have tried some ADD drugs but they didn't seem "right" ... I always felt "off" and not myself and once diagnosed with BP II, after much research, decided cannabis was a better (and much less drastic) fit for me than the anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, anti-seizure, etc. drugs that seem to be commonly prescribed for individuals like myself.

I find cannabis helps me stay more on-track and more focused on whatever task I am currently working on, however, it doesn't help much with the stop/start impulses that I have difficulty controlling ... (I have to use my rational thinking to force myself to start/stop things and than the cannabis just keeps me going in the right direction)

I use Sativa dominant strains (or hybrids with Sativa like effects) for the most part to keep me focused and on task and switch over to Indicas when I need to step it down a notch because I'm getting a little too manic or having a hard time stopping and relaxing. When in the depressed phases it helps me ride through it and accept that I just have to wait and try to keep going and do proactive things to pop me out of it and back into a hypomanic phase which is difficult to do because I'm depressed ... cannabis (especially Sativa's) have a tendency to help me "forget I'm depressed" temporarily which helps me get going on something which has the positive side effect of keeping me active and increasing the likelihood of breaking out of the depression (as work, exercise, play, etc are all required if you want to get out of a depressed state ... generally) ... as a drastic measure one can always resort to temporary sleep deprivation which I find has a tendency to force a state change ... kinda' risky though so I tend to leave that as a last resort option if required for work projects (I'm a software architect/developer) ... or many ages ago to complete assignments or prepare for exams.

 

[max]

I hope this helps. And I sure as hell hope I get my vape back soon.

Sounds like you need a back-up vape. I'd suggest contacting Planetvape (http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/p...nation-for-the-best-vapes-on-the-planet.4404/) and asking for a suggestion in your price range, or you could start a thread in Ask FC and state your needs. A 'want to buy' ad in Classified is also an option- http://fuckcombustion.com/forums/classifieds.29/

Hope you get your vape back soon, and welcome to the forum.

 

[Tweek]

I have attention issues in relation to my depression/anxiety. Once I hit a slump, it is a long, hard climb back to functional. Once I become fixated on either feeling sad, worried or both, nothing else gets done. Not even a shower or a meal. I can go days without eating...thankfully I have a wonderful wife to make sure that does not happen.

Herb has helped me pull things together in ways I was never able to with certain medications. I still take one prescription, but the others are so addictive with awful side effects, that I do not want to go down that path. I tend to find that sticking to a regimented schedule is also very important. I have to get a certain number of hours of sleep, I have to stay active, eat healthy and avoid certain foods...otherwise I will slip. I can imagine it is very similar in that sense to those with A.D.H.D

 

[dorkus_molorkus]

Wow, some of the stories here are very similar to mine. My wife reckons I am an undiagnosed sufferer.


I have never been diagnosed with adhd or such. But, I was quite a gifted child that suffered from extreme anxiety, self esteem & emotional issues from an abusive childhood.
I dont remember which came 1st the anxiety or the abuse, so I just bundle them together.

Cannabis, does so much for me on so many levels.
Whereas, some might think I have wasted my life being stoned. (been baked since I was 18)


I however, feel that my cannabis use has done mankind a favor.
Cause I swear to god if I didnt have cannabis to help me slow my thoughts down to some sort of cohesion..................................

I wouldve nuked the whole fucking joint and every mofo in it.
Just like one of those comic book crazy-assed super villains.

So, to recap-

Cannabis has saved mankind.


Well, so far at least, but FYI dont fucking shit me.

and God help the world if I ever get a superpower.
Cuz, we gonna see some justice then!

 

[Zee007]

@Zee : How have you been coping when it comes to your attention deficit after quitting meds? Has the symptoms worsen or gotten better over the course of being on meds? Had you experiment using canna for your attention problem? (I second the doubt of the patient in video, but I do admit towards being sorta prejudice xD)

After I quit meds, focusing and getting work done was a lot harder but all the other negative side effects went away. Unfortunately it took a really long time to get my personality back but it's gotten better. I used to get high and do homework all the time, I only made it half way through until I found myself stumbling in front of the refrigerator again