Back in the early 90’s, William was in a car accident. He sustained whiplash, a couple of herniated discs, and a few broken bones.
Complications from the back injury prompted his physicians to put him on a cascade of lethal pharmaceuticals.
A couple of drugs put him in the hospital, some caused hallucinations, others – uncontrolled body temperature, still others – violent fits. “The anti-depressants basically made me happy I was in pain,” remarked William.
Anti-depressants are routinely doled out to the chronically ill under the premise that, whether the cause or the effect, the patient must be depressed.
William suffered with a migraine that lasted for a year. He would have to lock himself in the bedroom, pull the shades and lay there in the darkness. Often he would cry from the intense pain.
William struggled with prescription narcotics
The drugs that his doctors had him on put him in another world. They robbed him of his short-term memory. The only thing that kept him grounded to reality while he was on prescription meds was the pain.
The only drug that he found that sufficiently relieved the pain was Percocet. But because of its toxicity, physicians will only prescribe it on a limited basis.
Percocet, a narcotic analgesic, is used to treat moderate to moderately severe pain. It contains two drugs – Acetaminophen and Oxycodone. Acetaminophen is used to reduce both pain and fever. Oxycodone, a narcotic analgesic, is used for its calming effect and for pain.
Percocet is known to cause dizziness, light-headedness, nausea, sedation, and vomiting, but most serious is its high tendency for dependence.
William had a friend who asked him if he had ever tried Cannabis. He admitted that he had used Cannabis on occasion recreationally. His friend asked him if he’d ever used it to treat his pain. William realized that when he used Cannabis, he felt better.
He and his friend went out and obtained some “black-market” Cannabis and William began dosing.
That day was the first time that he had control over his pain in 14 months. He cried that day, not because he was in pain, but because he was released from it.
He’ll always have the injuries that he sustained from that car accident long ago. But he’s able to manage his pain now, with Cannabis and physical fitness. He finds that he doesn’t have to dose on a daily basis anymore, but only on the days when the pain is too much. On those days, Cannabis “… does the job for me.” With it, he no longer takes any pharmaceutical meds for pain.
The only side effect he has experienced from dosing with Cannabis is that he got hungry.
But the story doesn’t end there. William was diagnosed with Epilepsy when he was eight years old. He’s been on a wide range of medications to treat it. Depakene, Depakote, Tegretol, Dilantin, Phenobarbital, Klonopin, and many others.
William realized that he had one month to find an alternative.
With some of his medicines, all he wanted to do was sleep. He spent much of the time unconscious. The Tegretol gave him violent mood swings. Others would cause him to break out in rashes or hives; one even caused him to bleed on the surface of his skin.
It was Klonopin that finally enabled him to gain control of his seizures.
Due to the seriousness of Klonopin, physicians only prescribe it as a last resort. Two of the many side-effects of this serious drug are short-term memory loss and coma, but with the high frequency of seizures that William was experiencing, he considered it a worthwhile trade off.
At one point, he was experiencing 12 to 15 seizures a day.
For years, wherever he moved, whatever doctors that he would have treat him, they would always prescribe Klonopin.
A few years ago, he fell on hard times. He owed his physician money, so the physician refused to treat him or sign for refills of his prescription.
It’s hard for him to discuss this time of his life without him becoming emotional. He remembers going to his physician’s office, with other patients there, pleading with him to give him his medicine – so that he could work, so that he could drive – he was a single father with two kids – so that he could do the things he normally did that he knew he wouldn’t’ be able to do without that medicine.
The physician begrudgingly agreed to fill William’s prescription for Klonopin just one more time, but that was it.
William realized that he had one month to find an alternative. He got online and looked up alternative treatments for Epilepsy. He found a vegetarian diet, exercise, meditation, prayer, and Cannabis. Because he only had 30 days, he did them all. he turned vegetarian, he started a strict exercise program, he meditated and prayed every day, and he started smoking Cannabis religiously.
When the 30 days were up, the prescription was gone, but he didn’t have anymore seizures.
What’s more, they stayed gone. After a year, he was no longer a vegetarian, he didn’t meditate and pray every day, and he didn’t exercise like he should, but he continued to dose with Cannabis. It’s been three years and he has not been on any prescribed medicine and it’s also been three years that he has been seizure free.
About six months after he had been off the Klonopin, William’s physician ordered an EEG at the local hospital to check the progress of his Epilepsy. What they found was that the seizure activity in his brain had actually increased, but they no longer surfaced. He no longer had any visible seizures.
William is a hard working American. He works a full time job and contributes greatly to his community. William takes care of special needs children. So much so that a number of local agencies compete for his services.
He’s raised two children on his own. Now he’s helping others raise their children.
All William wants – instead of pumping his body full of pharmaceutical toxins, making him sick, lose his memory, lose his mind – is just to be able to medicate with Cannabis once in a while, so that he can be clear headed and pain free, so that he can continue to be an asset to society.
To view more of our Medical Cannabis Testimonies, please visit our website at www.youtube.com/cannabispatientnet . We need your Testimony. Please contact me today about scheduling your interview. Help us change law through your personal story. I can be contacted at seren001@swbell.net.
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