Cancer and pot. (personal experience)

[Oogie_boogie]

I don't often post on the forums, but i've been an avid smoker of pot since I was 13 years old. To all those skeptics about whether or not cannabis helps in rehabilitaon and cancer here's my short story.

2 years ago in may I wound up at the hospital diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma. It was localized in my right axillary lymph nodes (in my arm pit) where a malignant tumor was rapidly growing from the aggressive disease. After undergoing intense chemotherapy and a failed blood stemcell transplant later in the year shit was still flying out of control. During that time I was put on steroids, harsh chemotherapies (which made me lose about 30 lbs of weight, mainly muscle mass since I was never a heavy guy) and multiple blood transfusions. Doctors highly advised me against smoking pot, drinking alcohol and having sexual intercourse. My surgeries included a total lymph node biopsy and having my spleen removed and minor kidney failure from the drugs I was given.

After all this I was completely exhasperated and reverted to smoking cannabis to help me cope with it. After 2-3 months of smoking about 7 grams a week, my blood results started looking better. My immune system was properly supressed and I was feeling much better to go out, and eating like a monster. Doctors were completely taken back by my rapid increase in weight, about 20 lbs in 3 months, and my overall attitude has changed. They perscribed a medicine known as marinol, which was a thc derivative still controversial for its hallucinogenic side effects. It was an anti-nausea, hunger inducing medication. I continued smoking pot like I always did, and doctors saw fit to try out another stemcell transplant from a compatible donor (my sister) and braced themselves for the worst. I completely flew through it (was playing ps2 for the full 2 weeks in the hospital) and as soon as I was released I continued indulging at the same pace. My blood counts were going up, my weight was coming back, my energy gains were great. But my overall attention span and short term memory were going to shits.

At the current time right now, as an experiment, I completely stopped smoking pot, been about 2 weeks since my last joint, and when I got my last blood results, doctors were suprised to see that I was experiencing some Graft versus Host ( a condition common in transplants) in my liver. Now i'm on steroids and I feel shittier by the day. Now my experiment recommences here. I have an ounce at hand that i'm waiting to attack soon as i'm off the steroids, and I will be comparing the blood results afterwards.

So to all the skeptics, this is what I see first hand, and no study or research will tell me otherwise other than what I experience. Medications are worse than pot, chemotherapy was used in concentration camps to exterminate innocent people, while cannabis brought peace amongst tribes and generations of stoners chilling at parties.

Long story short, I smoke pot to get healthy.

[©antSEEme]

wow

sorry for the suffering you went through, but kudos and god speed on recovery

thanks for posting this, its a great read, although im not sure how to put it into words properly (you having to deal with this scary shit, and all)

marijuana is so unresearched, that i idont know how the hell doctors can say weather or not it will help or not help any particular disease, besides obvious deseases that decrese the appitite.

but, i wish you well, and again, hope you pull out of it soon

[Captain Cannabis]

good to hear things are going well enough that you can experiment like that. i have a friend who had bone cancer and he smoked tons of weed during his treatment. he said that without it he would have had no appetite at all.

hope things continue to improve for you.

[Paranoid Android]

Thanks for sharing your story.

Cannabis is a great source of many things, I hope it is one to help you get through these tough times. Staying positive is also a huge thing, you'll be fine.

[B.]

Wow, that is a thought provoking story... I do wish you the very best for your recovery.

Yet more proof that Marijuana is a positive thing and yet more reason to be frustrated at the lack of REAL study going into the drug and that its ignorant prohibition continues in the 21st century.

Thanks for sharing.

[Nerevar_4]

Yea thanks for sharing. I'd like to hear how this all works out. Very interesting, and I hope things turn out for the best.

[30_Units]

Originally Posted by Oogie_boogie

chemotherapy was used in concentration camps to exterminate innocent people,

Great Story, and I do hope that that ounce can help repair some of the haggardness steroids have inducted into you right now (I always had a lot of problems when I was made to take steroids-sooooo many weird side effects) - but I have to call you out. Chemotherapy wasn't used by the Germans in concentration camps, well, at first they used a ton of different things, from petrol fumes to tying generator exhaust hoses up to closed shacks,

but what they settled on was an insecticide called 'Zyklon-B'. Nothing at all like the crap, yes, crap you had to endure, but a rough way to go nonetheless.

great story man. big ups for living.