KevenFlynn
New Member
Hello, I figured that was a good title for a first post on a board such as this. First off I would like to say I had no idea that the usage of cannabis was so extensive before stumbling upon this site. You learn something new every day.
Anyways, I would like to introduce myself and kinda give you a glimpse at why I ended up becoming a member of a forum such as this. Best if I start at my introduction to MJ.
I turned 21, got divorced from my first wife, and found the bars and beer. Now when I say I found beer, I mean I was pounding 12 to 18 a night on work days and could clean through 2 cases a day on the weekends. Even with this massive amount of consumption, I found a beautiful gal that loved me to death and so I took the plunge again and married for the second time.
We have 1 child and for the first 6 years of its life I was a full blown alcoholic. I drank a 6 pack on my way home from work to "prime the pump" and then would kill 12 more between 6 and midnight passing out every night. When my child was 6 my wife told me "stop drinking or I am leaving". That was it. I set the booze down and have not touched it since and our child is in middle school so it has been a good long time.
Because of the alcoholism I am worried about addiction issues. I have a personality that has to take things to the extreme and that lead to my next problem, pain. I have had multiple broken bones on both my hands due to fighting when I was younger, a broken back due to a work accident almost 20 years ago, weight lifting injury that tore up my shoulder pretty bad, ans a knee injury that involved completely severing my ACL, stretching my LCL and MCL, a quarter size hole in my meniscus, compression fracturing my tibia, fibula, and femur. The knee injury required surgery that involved removing part of my hamstring in order to rebuild my knee and more plates and screws then I care to think about. I also suffer from nerve damage in that leg that has me feeling like a dog is biting my upper shin most of the time and pressure and pain in the knee all the time. I can walk like nothing ever happened (thanks to an amazing sports PT) but will never run again.
Now that you know the back story, lets bring this up to date. After the surgery (4 years ago) I was on pain killers like percocet, oxi, and one other for the pain. I hated them. I could not drive while on them, felt like a balloon floating about 8 feet above my body, and was constipated so badly that I have a pretty good idea what women go through during child birth. After about 8 weeks of that I tossed them in the trash and said screw it, I will man it out which I did for 2.5 years. In those 2.5 years I never got more then a couple hours of sleep at any one time because pain would wake me up. I never felt relaxed because there is no way to free your mind when you are constantly thinking "crap, my knee is killing me" when work, bills, child's school functions, etc are not on your mind. I was in a bad mood most of the time and I could see it was affecting mt wife and child's life adversely as well as my own but what could I do? The pain killers from the doctor sucked and had way to many side effects. Then a friend stopped by my work one day....
I am self employed (read 80 work weeks with crappy pay
) which evolves me being on my feet at least half the time. Anyway, my friend stopped by one evening and asked me how I was doing. I said fine but my leg was killing me and it had gotten so bad that day that I was actually limping. Not trying to get sympathy but when the swelling gets bad sometimes my leg goes...dead for lack of a better word, giving me this drop foot thing. My friend told me that his mother had nerve issues from working 20+ years in a chemical factory and that pain was a daily issue with her. Her doctor told her to look into "alternative" medicine because the state we lived in has a Puritan view on anything that does not come out of a factory in a little amber bottle. I looked at him and asked "you mean your mom gets high!?!?" which his answer was "every day".
That kind of shocked me because this guys mom is one of those proper little southern women that was as polite and God fearing as she was kind and motherly. My friend then informed me that he also partook due to ulcers in his throat that made keeping food down difficult. I never knew about his nor his mothers medical issues but thought it was cool they found a way to get the symptoms under control even if I thought MJ could do nothing for me. I explained those thought to my friend at which time he handed me a joint and told me to try it before bed that evening. I took it reluctantly and headed home...7 mph under the speed limit.
I got home about 10PM, showered, got something to eat, and then sat down in the living room with my wife. I brought up what my friend and I talked about and my wife told me that if we lived in a different state, MJ would be prescribed to her for both her auto immune disorder and for her seizure disorder. I was shocked thinking that my wife that told me she would leave me if I did not stop drinking would be so open to MJ. I informed her that I had a little out in the garage and she asked me as strait faced as a judge "Well, what are we waiting for?"
25 minutes later both of us were back on the sofa giggling a little and fully relaxed. My wife was in no pain from the joint issues the auto immune disease causes and for the first time in a couple years my leg, back, shoulder and hands were pain free. I went to bed about an hour later and slept for 10 hours! When I woke I was not foggy headed, hung over, or jittering for more medicine like I used to after using alcohol or pills to fight the pain. I was clear headed, energetic, and felt really good. I figured it was a fluke and headed off to work.
TO BE CONTINUED.....
Anyways, I would like to introduce myself and kinda give you a glimpse at why I ended up becoming a member of a forum such as this. Best if I start at my introduction to MJ.
I turned 21, got divorced from my first wife, and found the bars and beer. Now when I say I found beer, I mean I was pounding 12 to 18 a night on work days and could clean through 2 cases a day on the weekends. Even with this massive amount of consumption, I found a beautiful gal that loved me to death and so I took the plunge again and married for the second time.
We have 1 child and for the first 6 years of its life I was a full blown alcoholic. I drank a 6 pack on my way home from work to "prime the pump" and then would kill 12 more between 6 and midnight passing out every night. When my child was 6 my wife told me "stop drinking or I am leaving". That was it. I set the booze down and have not touched it since and our child is in middle school so it has been a good long time.
Because of the alcoholism I am worried about addiction issues. I have a personality that has to take things to the extreme and that lead to my next problem, pain. I have had multiple broken bones on both my hands due to fighting when I was younger, a broken back due to a work accident almost 20 years ago, weight lifting injury that tore up my shoulder pretty bad, ans a knee injury that involved completely severing my ACL, stretching my LCL and MCL, a quarter size hole in my meniscus, compression fracturing my tibia, fibula, and femur. The knee injury required surgery that involved removing part of my hamstring in order to rebuild my knee and more plates and screws then I care to think about. I also suffer from nerve damage in that leg that has me feeling like a dog is biting my upper shin most of the time and pressure and pain in the knee all the time. I can walk like nothing ever happened (thanks to an amazing sports PT) but will never run again.
Now that you know the back story, lets bring this up to date. After the surgery (4 years ago) I was on pain killers like percocet, oxi, and one other for the pain. I hated them. I could not drive while on them, felt like a balloon floating about 8 feet above my body, and was constipated so badly that I have a pretty good idea what women go through during child birth. After about 8 weeks of that I tossed them in the trash and said screw it, I will man it out which I did for 2.5 years. In those 2.5 years I never got more then a couple hours of sleep at any one time because pain would wake me up. I never felt relaxed because there is no way to free your mind when you are constantly thinking "crap, my knee is killing me" when work, bills, child's school functions, etc are not on your mind. I was in a bad mood most of the time and I could see it was affecting mt wife and child's life adversely as well as my own but what could I do? The pain killers from the doctor sucked and had way to many side effects. Then a friend stopped by my work one day....
I am self employed (read 80 work weeks with crappy pay
) which evolves me being on my feet at least half the time. Anyway, my friend stopped by one evening and asked me how I was doing. I said fine but my leg was killing me and it had gotten so bad that day that I was actually limping. Not trying to get sympathy but when the swelling gets bad sometimes my leg goes...dead for lack of a better word, giving me this drop foot thing. My friend told me that his mother had nerve issues from working 20+ years in a chemical factory and that pain was a daily issue with her. Her doctor told her to look into "alternative" medicine because the state we lived in has a Puritan view on anything that does not come out of a factory in a little amber bottle. I looked at him and asked "you mean your mom gets high!?!?" which his answer was "every day".That kind of shocked me because this guys mom is one of those proper little southern women that was as polite and God fearing as she was kind and motherly. My friend then informed me that he also partook due to ulcers in his throat that made keeping food down difficult. I never knew about his nor his mothers medical issues but thought it was cool they found a way to get the symptoms under control even if I thought MJ could do nothing for me. I explained those thought to my friend at which time he handed me a joint and told me to try it before bed that evening. I took it reluctantly and headed home...7 mph under the speed limit.
I got home about 10PM, showered, got something to eat, and then sat down in the living room with my wife. I brought up what my friend and I talked about and my wife told me that if we lived in a different state, MJ would be prescribed to her for both her auto immune disorder and for her seizure disorder. I was shocked thinking that my wife that told me she would leave me if I did not stop drinking would be so open to MJ. I informed her that I had a little out in the garage and she asked me as strait faced as a judge "Well, what are we waiting for?"
25 minutes later both of us were back on the sofa giggling a little and fully relaxed. My wife was in no pain from the joint issues the auto immune disease causes and for the first time in a couple years my leg, back, shoulder and hands were pain free. I went to bed about an hour later and slept for 10 hours! When I woke I was not foggy headed, hung over, or jittering for more medicine like I used to after using alcohol or pills to fight the pain. I was clear headed, energetic, and felt really good. I figured it was a fluke and headed off to work.
TO BE CONTINUED.....
