[Gary123]

My son was going to a shrink and he is on Luvox and Lamictal for anxiety. We all know mmj helps with anxiety, except his psychiatrist thinks that smoking is "reffer madness". My son made the mistake of telling his doc that he has a medical recommendation now the doc won't refil his meds until he goes to rehab. I am totally against that as he only smokes when he needs to. The doc says the effects are unpredictable. We have pointed out that he had anxiety many years before he ever smoked therefore smoking didn't cause his anxiety but to the contrary it helps. Combined with his meds he can stay on a lower dose and supliment with mmj. I called the manufactures of the 2 meds and they knew of no contraindications or side effects related to their drugs with mmj. I related this to the doc but he wasn't impressed.
My question to you all can you point me to literature or studies that I can present the doc with to dispel his archaic thinking?
Thanks

[brokeneckdog]

Seemingly, your doctor is not very open minded about alternative therapeutic treatments. You would probably be wasting your time trying to educate him when your effort could be spent finding a more compassionate doctor that is not as close minded....

This is only my personal opinion and is in no way professional advice. Because I really don't have no idea.

[Dr. Jekyl]

that is the perfect answer

spend your money somewhere else and find a new doctor

[1stimer]

I agree with BND a change of doctors is in order. It does not sound as if you will able to convince the ole couch doc that MMJ is helpful and beneficial but the canorml.org website has a lot of good info on MMJ, so does the MPP and Americans for Safe Access websites. Good luck with the DOC

[mooniegoogoo]

Yes, unfortionatly your sons doctor is an idiot, I'm sorry. You are much better off refiling some paper work with a new doctor.

[superface13]

I had a psychiatrist tell me the same thing....that it could interact with my medication, that there was no way to tell purity or dosage...blah blah blah. These are the same things that big pharma always spews. I told him that it worked for me and I didn't agree with his opinion. Got a new doctor. So should you. He sounds like he's in big pharma's pockets a little too deep.

[CarlSagan]

A doctor with this kind of attitude is not going to listen to a patient or patients fathers, even if there is medical literature. The last thing your child needs is to go to rehab for MMJ. There are not a lot of studies out there (mainly because the gov't controls the supply of mmj for studies) and your doctor is right that the results can be unpredictable. MMJ works for some people and not for others. However, what is important is that is works for your son. Its hard to find the right dr, but there most be someone out there who can put your son's wellbeing above any political/economic motive.

Good Luck

[SoaringSativa]

your Dr. is narrow minded and acting a fool. Tell him to open his mind, and stop allowing politics dominate science\medicine.

[Pico+Barrington Collective]

He is YOUR son NOT the doctors. Tell the doctor where to shove it. YOU know what is best for YOUR son. Prescription pills are scary; as we truly do not know the side effects that they can produce on each individuals.....

[Narong]

i would have to agree, taking mmj with psychiatric/depression drugs do not interact very well. Since the patient may not be well aware of short/long term side effect.

[BabyBoomer]

I have to agree with all the rest.

change doctors.

But before you go, ask this dim wit how much kick back he is getting for every Rx he writes for poisonous pharmaceuticals.

He has his own agenda, his wallet, and not your sons well being.

Good luck and please keep us updated how your son is doing.

Good positive thoughts being sent your way.

[DreamSmoker]

Originally Posted by Gary123

My son was going to a shrink and he is on Luvox and Lamictal for anxiety. We all know mmj helps with anxiety, except his psychiatrist thinks that smoking is "reffer madness". My son made the mistake of telling his doc that he has a medical recommendation now the doc won't refil his meds until he goes to rehab. I am totally against that as he only smokes when he needs to. The doc says the effects are unpredictable. We have pointed out that he had anxiety many years before he ever smoked therefore smoking didn't cause his anxiety but to the contrary it helps. Combined with his meds he can stay on a lower dose and supliment with mmj. I called the manufactures of the 2 meds and they knew of no contraindications or side effects related to their drugs with mmj. I related this to the doc but he wasn't impressed.
My question to you all can you point me to literature or studies that I can present the doc with to dispel his archaic thinking?
Thanks

I too have had to take those drugs and deal with my Phyc....
The best advice I can give you is to find another Phyc. and have your son drop the Anti anxiety drugs all together and start Medicating with a top shelf Indica hybrid.... No Sativa strains.... Sativas can add to anxiety....
It will take time, but My sympoms are managable now....
When I went to Cannabis... It was as if I could finally get that good night sleep for the first time in 2yrs......
Do not tell any of your Regulars Doctors about how you bypassed their advice to use Medical Marijuana....
This can mess with their research Data if you throw Pot into the works...

[SUITE 215]

One thing you have to take into account from the Doctors point of view is how the prescription medication will affect him in conjunction with medical Cannabis. I think he is just being cautious.

[MadRiverTurtle]

Originally Posted by Dr. Jekyl

that is the perfect answer

spend your money somewhere else and find a new doctor

+1

Not many psychiatrists are going to care for someone using psychoactive substances. IMHE, this is the norm and not the exception.

1) If your son is under 18 and smoking anything, then you should have him quit altogether and go to rehab if necessary.

2) If you allowed your son to take prescription meds for his main course of treatment, then why would you want mmj interfering with that treatment. The end goal is for him to at some point resume a normal life, so one day he's off all the meds, right?

3) Don't blame the doctor. Your son did the right thing telling him about the mmj. It's his treatment.

4) Forget about changing the doctor's mind. He's trained and educated and likely doesn't care about your input. If you don't like the doctor, then change doctors.

[Sharkey]

Gary, check your pms, I just sent you information for a psych doctor that treats anxiety who is a little more friendly towards mmj and recognizes the difference between using it to get high and using it to treat anxiety.

[Repsol720]

MadRiverTurtle is right. I have personally been very open and honest about myself to many doctors because I thought honesty is the best policy. Come to find out 90% of the doctors I saw ended up doing the same with me multiple times. Anytime one would find out I am on mj they would withhold the prescriptions until I got off or went to rehab. I actually just broke down one time and tried rehab. That was one of the biggest mistakes I could have made for my health and I regret ever trying it. But I woudn't know until I tried I guess. Most of those doctors think they have medicine and body chemistry "mastered" when in reality it is a "PRACTICE" and that's all it will ever be until we find out the truth about everything first. I tried one then to another and another and another costing me way too much money for them just to tell me stop smoking pot and not help me with my issues. This type of behavior from society has led me to become my own doctor as best as I can but the only problem is finding the meds/chemicals when I feel I need them for my optimum health. Some advice to anyone that wants to become their own doctor: It's very risky, difficult to comprehend and sort out b/s, scary, lonely, and dangerous. So be careful and it's really not for people that are ignorant or closed-minded.

[Markit8]

There is no point in trying to to convince this doc. Your best bet is to switch to a new one.

There are good psychs who are receptive to the MMJ conversation and will help to accommodate those needs in prescribing and helping to titrate your sons prescriptions. This will likely be mentioned once and wont need to be talked about again: most will be very reluctant to endorse continued dialog about MMJ. You are almost guaranteed to be told, if only for liability purposes, that MMJ could be a bad thing.

You mentioned wanting to reference literature. There are a few books written/co-written by Ethan Russo that can be purchased from Barnes and Noble. Both are great resources. You may find that the answers don't reinforce your opinions 100%. While MMJ is very effective for anxiety, it also has the potential to be detrimental.

[konj]

my doc wants to send me to rehab because i use mmj.
these doctors who want to take us off our medical salvation are horrible people what do they know or care that we were going through horrible symptoms in our minds and bodys that only mmj alleviated. now they want to send us to rehab for something which a doctor recommends.
these pychs or dr.'s get the dirty bum of the week award, shame on you!

[mikebig 9078]

try going to a psychologist.I went to one for the same problem and he was fine with my mmj use.any doctor that thinks weed is addictive is a quack. he probably gets a kickback from the rehab for refferals

[Markit8]

Originally Posted by konj

my doc wants to send me to rehab because i use mmj.
these doctors who want to take us off our medical salvation are horrible people what do they know or care that we were going through horrible symptoms in our minds and bodys that only mmj alleviated. now they want to send us to rehab for something which a doctor recommends.
these pychs or dr.'s get the dirty bum of the week award, shame on you!

Is he on a witch hunt or has he given you some reason why he believes you are a candidate for rehab?

I've been around psychologists and psychiatrists as friends all my life. From what I know of the world of psychs, there are some whose wells have been poisoned and are on a witch hunt for pot-smokers. Then, there are the very skilled and thoughtful psychs who might still tell you that MMJ is bad for you, not because they are afraid of it, but because they see a course of treatment for you that would be interfered with by the use of MMJ.

Is the purpose of going to your psych to get better?.. because I think all of us as responsible patients need to be willing to at least contemplate whether our "miracle drug" could potentially be to our detriment.

My suggestion is to find a Doc who is receptive to dialog about your MMJ use. If you cant have a civilized conversation about all of the possible implications (good and bad), how can you even come close to treating whatever it is you're seeing a psych for? Once you've found someone who you can be honest with, without being frowned on, you might find that there is some middle path between the extremes.

[cephas]

Gotta agree it is best to find a doc who will work with MMJ as a treatment, if that is what you want. Trying to change a doc's mind isn't going to happen, and there are at least descent reasons as to why (education, etc.).

I have had problems with doctors in this regard also, but still think honesty is the best policy....If you can't trust your doctor, you should not be treated by that doctor IMO.

I also think anybody who would suggest rehab for MJ is an idiot. Unless the person is having real negative problems due to the MJ, such as ditching school and flunking out, or losing a job due to smoking instead of being responsible, etc...

[iTokeSmoke]

Me being as young as I am,the best advice I could give you is to consider letting your son go to rehab not because he is any kind of addict.Im not saying that.Im simply suggesting that he go because it is really informative on drugs and thier consequences in life.And why not?A few weeks in rehab to see what medications he might need to help with his anxiety could be really helpfull.Oh,and by the way I'm currently on Lemictal and it is working great even with pot in me.So after all this is said and done I would get a new doctor because he is a dick!