Toking Tuesday: Chronic Chronicles
Cannabis has been a part of my life for the last couple of years. I started out with my medical card when we lived in New Mexico. I still remember the first strain I bought. Let me tell you, after not having used cannabis in a decade or two, starting out with Gorilla Glue may have not been the best idea, but it gave me a good couch lock.
For those outside the chronic illness community, couch lock may sound like a boring vegetative state, without the artificial life support. However, for me, and I would guess many others, the couch lock effect is exactly what I need at times. In some of the research I have been doing to figure out what exactly is going on with my body, I stumbled across something that made total sense.
In addition to Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and hypermobility, there’s something called autonomic dysfunction, or dysautonomia. The autonomic nervous system regulates so many of our automatic responses that keep us alive. From breathing and blood pressure, to digestion and heart rate, our autonomic nervous system is an integral part of our whole being alive thing.
In the case of hypermobility, we often have a heightened response to physical and/or emotional stresses. This, in turn, leads to our autonomic nervous system going haywire, raising adrenaline levels. Perceived stressors and increasing levels of adrenaline can result in us feeling jittery and rattled with anxiety. Bright lights and loud sounds, you know, things that we encounter whenever we leave the house, can also trigger these changes in our autonomic nervous system.
Enter cannabis. Depending on the strain, my anxiety and jittery feeling can be reduced through the use of cannabis. The whole couch lock thing is so instrumental to helping me to regulate my body’s response to adrenaline surges. For years, I have felt as if my body is responding continuously to a perceived threat, triggering the fight-or-flight stress response. This response is beneficial when there are indeed threats, but when there are no bears around, this surge of adrenaline can make me feel restless and wander around the house and yard, just trying to find an equilibrium of sorts. Couch lock allows me to do what I find difficult...relax.
Do you experience symptoms of anxiety and/or depression? Have you tried cannabis for addressing your symptoms? What are some of your pain and restlessness coping skills?
For those outside the chronic illness community, couch lock may sound like a boring vegetative state, without the artificial life support. However, for me, and I would guess many others, the couch lock effect is exactly what I need at times. In some of the research I have been doing to figure out what exactly is going on with my body, I stumbled across something that made total sense.
In addition to Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and hypermobility, there’s something called autonomic dysfunction, or dysautonomia. The autonomic nervous system regulates so many of our automatic responses that keep us alive. From breathing and blood pressure, to digestion and heart rate, our autonomic nervous system is an integral part of our whole being alive thing.
In the case of hypermobility, we often have a heightened response to physical and/or emotional stresses. This, in turn, leads to our autonomic nervous system going haywire, raising adrenaline levels. Perceived stressors and increasing levels of adrenaline can result in us feeling jittery and rattled with anxiety. Bright lights and loud sounds, you know, things that we encounter whenever we leave the house, can also trigger these changes in our autonomic nervous system.
Enter cannabis. Depending on the strain, my anxiety and jittery feeling can be reduced through the use of cannabis. The whole couch lock thing is so instrumental to helping me to regulate my body’s response to adrenaline surges. For years, I have felt as if my body is responding continuously to a perceived threat, triggering the fight-or-flight stress response. This response is beneficial when there are indeed threats, but when there are no bears around, this surge of adrenaline can make me feel restless and wander around the house and yard, just trying to find an equilibrium of sorts. Couch lock allows me to do what I find difficult...relax."The body’s tendency to overreact to stresses by making too much adrenaline can lead others to think that hypermobile people are “too sensitive,” “irritable,” or “anxious.” Patients themselves may notice this, saying, “I’ve always overreacted to little things. I can’t help it.” It is very important to recognize two things about this phenomenon. First, it is a physical reaction, so that counseling usually will not be effective in treating this type of anxiety. Similarly, adrenaline highs and lows may be mistaken for the mood fluctuations of bipolar disorder, but mood-stabilizing medications usually are not indicated. When medication is required, beta blockers, which block adrenaline, may be as effective with fewer side effects than SSRI’s like Prozac and Lexapro or benzodiazepines like Xanax and Valium. Second, while a feeling of anxiety can be produced by emotional stress, it is just as likely that such symptoms have a physical cause, most often fatigue, pain, or dehydration, and less commonly by a drop in blood sugar or blood pressure. Not surprisingly, researchers have found that anxiety and panic disorder are more common in hypermobile people." (Dr A Pocinki MD, PLLC)
Do you experience symptoms of anxiety and/or depression? Have you tried cannabis for addressing your symptoms? What are some of your pain and restlessness coping skills? 
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