{"componentChunkName":"component---common-build-question-tags-template-js","path":"/question-tag/smoke/15","result":{"data":{"allQuestion":{"edges":[{"node":{"id":"Question_10686-markdown","title":"My sister has Tourette's. Is any evidence that smoking pot can help reduce the symptoms of this?","slug":"my-sister-has-tourettes-is-any-evidence-that-smoking-pot-can-help-reduce-the-symptoms-of-this","content":"\"I am wondering if I should help her get a medical card as she struggles with social interactions. Is this a good idea to try this?\"\n_____________________\nTourette's syndrome (TS) is a complex neuropsychiatric disorder that manifests itself in vocal and motor tics, and may affect mood (anxiety) and behavior (obsessive-compulsive disorder).  There are well-established medications for the treatment of TS; however, their efficacy varies from patient to patient. \n\nIf your sister has failed conventional therapy, she may benefit from cannabis.  Several studies have been done that demonstrate patients have decreased severity and frequency of tics, an improvement in obsessive-compulsive disorder, and lessened anxiety.  \n\ndredmunds","image":null}},{"node":{"id":"Question_10681-markdown","title":"Is there a specific strain of marijuana that will not make me paranoid? ","slug":"is-there-a-specific-strain-of-marijuana-that-will-not-make-me-paranoid","content":"\n_____________________\nI am not a doctor, but I have struggled with this same problem and have found a solution for myself that I am happy to share. You have been consuming for a long time, so perhaps you already know this information.\n\nI have noticed that strains that are much higher in THC (almost all of them!) absolutely cause anxiety and that paranoid feeling for me. Everyone is very different in this regards, and I happen to be very sensitive to the effects of THC. I smoke or vape to help control the pain when I feel the onset of a migraine, so my primary motivation is to stop pain and not to get the feeling of being 'high'. Your body changes over time and tolerance levels can go up or down as well.\n\nThe strains that I will list here are lower in THC and in two cases the THC content is almost non existent. I also find that if I smoke it is imperative to only take one puff at a time and evaluate how I feel. For me, 2 puffs on a pre roll with even a lower THC profile, such as Canna Tsu, is more than enough. Everyone is so different in this respect, I just happen to be very sensitive, and perhaps so are you.\n\nThe following are low THC, around 5% and higher in CBD:\nCannatonic, Canna-Tsu, Harle-Tsu\n\nSuper high CBD profile with almost no THC (zero psychoactivity):\nACDC, Charlotte's Web\n\nHope this helps!\n\npamelahadfield","image":null}},{"node":{"id":"Question_10675-markdown","title":"Is it safe to smoke marijuana after cataract surgery?","slug":"is-it-safe-to-smoke-marijuana-after-cataract-surgery","content":"\n_____________________\nWhile it has been shown that cannabis can lower the pressure inside your eye, medications to lower the intra-ocular pressure has been shown to be far more effective with few if any side side effects.\nAfter cataract surgery surgery itself, there has been no research that shows cannabis can help or not with recovery. That said, there is the generalized anti-inflammatory effects that a high CBD strain can provide.\nHowever, if you decide to use cannabis I would avoid smoking or vaping since you want to avoid coughing, as well as the smoke that can get into your eyes and cause irritation. Tinctures, capsules or edibles would be the best route. You also should discuss this decision with your physician.\n\nPerry Solomon, MD\n_____________________\nI recently had cataract surgery and I did not quit smoking at anytime, before or after, infact 3 hours after. I do believe it affected the procedure itself since my eyes are really not any better. I was afraid to ask the Dr. \n\nLinda s","image":null}},{"node":{"id":"Question_10668-markdown","title":"How do  I prepare cannabis for consumption?","slug":"how-do-i-prepare-cannabis-for-consumption","content":"\"I am a medical marijuana user and I use it for my insomnia.\nI currently smoke it but I really hate doing that. How can I prepare cannabis in food and how do I know how much to use?\"\n_____________________\nOn our HelloMD Health & Wellness we started to address this question as the demand for recipes and understanding how to cook with cannabis is very high! It seems that it is often a natural progression that when people smoke or use cannabis products they start to wonder how they might make an edible or an oil for themself. One word of caution however, if you do make your own products please be sure to keep the item labeled and ideally out of reach and locked away, both so you recognize it contains THC but also so a pet or child will not accidentally ingest it.\n\nThere are hundreds of ways to cook with cannabis. We created a Cannabis 101 on cooking and here I will highlight some of the most important aspects, taken from a recent published post:\n\n\"Cooking with cannabis is a little more complicated than taking the entire plant and tossing it into brownie batter. In addition to producing some unfortunate-tasting brownies nobody would want to eat, doing so would also defeat the purpose of cooking with cannabis, as the herb needs to be processed (via heat) in order to decarboxylate and become psychoactive. Left to its own devices, the human body can't digest the THC found in raw cannabis. Because of this, most cannabis recipes require a form of cannabis extract, such as cannabutter or cannabis-infused oil.\n\nBecause cannabis is fat-soluble (stored in fat), it must always be cooked with some form of fat -- like butter, an oil, or milk. This allows the compounds within the cannabis to release into the fat, maximizing the effects of the plant and creating a better-tasting edible.\"\n\nAs a general rule, 1 teaspoon of cannabis butter or cannabis-infused oil contains 10 milligrams of cannabis, which is a good introductory serving (people who have never used cannabis before will be more comfortable around 5 milligrams per serving). If the consumer would like to alter the serving size as they become more experienced with homemade edibles, they should be sure to start off slowly and move up gradually.\n\nI will provide some links to some great recipes we have collected:\n\nTincture:\nhttps://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/vegetable-glycerine-tincture-recipe\n\nRice Crispie Treat:\nhttps://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/marijuana-rice-krispie-treats-recipe\n\nGood 'Ol Brownie:\nhttps://www.hellomd.com/health-wellness/how-to-make-marijuana-brownies-recipe\n\nHope you find this helpful!\n\n\npamelahadfield","image":null}},{"node":{"id":"Question_10655-markdown","title":"I'm having open heart surgery soon and I want to reduce my use of opioids post surgery. Is the use of cannabis safe?","slug":"im-having-open-heart-surgery-soon-and-i-want-to-reduce-my-use-of-opioids-post-surgery-is-the-use-of-cannabis-safe","content":"\"if OK, is smoking or vaping OK?\"\n_____________________\n\nI think that's an excellent idea. Studies have shown that cannabis use with opioids can decrease your opioid use up to 25%.. However, there are several things to consider. After your surgery for several week, your medications may be changed, added or discontinued by your cardiologist or surgeon. These changes can affect your blood pressure and heart rate, so both should be stable before starting cannabis since it can sometimes cause changes in both. \n\nDuring this time you might need to take some narcotics that the surgeon has prescribed. Everyone's reaction to the chest wall pain after open-heart surgery is different and you may find that your pain is minimal by the time your medications, blood pressure, and heart rate are stabilized. \n\nWhen all is stable I would suggest speaking with the surgeon and cardiologist to tell them that you would like to take cannabis for pain, if in fact, it is still there, to decrease your use of narcotics. Cardiac surgery patients usually begin cardiac rehabilitation 2-4 weeks after uncomplicated cardiac surgery, but this depends on your physical condition prior to surgery and other factors such as any difficulties during or after surgery.\n\nWhen cardiac rehab does begin you may experience chest wall pain from the deeper breathing that you get from the exercise program to strengthen the heart muscle that you get from rehabilitation. It is this chest wall discomfort or pain that you might need to use cannabis for if anti-inflammatories do not work (which sometimes is all that is needed at this point).\n \nNow to finally answer your question. Since its usually the chest incision that causes the most discomfort after open hear surgery (verses minimally invasive cardiac surgery that can be performed if possible), I would avoid both smoking and vaping cannabis. The reason being, though both give the fastest effect, is that they both can cause irritation to your lungs if your not used to inhaling them, which can cause coughing. This of course can be painful with a fresh chest wall incision.\n\nI would tend to use a tincture that can start to take effect within 15-30 minutes. A capsule is another option. I would tend to avoid edibles, except perhaps in the evening for sleep, only for the reason that the effect can take 1-2 hours and you would like pain relief faster then that.\n\nSpeaking of cardiac rehab, it has been shown to significantly decrease your chances of another cardiac event and I would highly recommendation beginning it as soon as possible after your surgery. If you need cannabis to help tolerate it instead of narcotics, then go for it!\n\nPerry Solomon, MD\n_____________________\n\nI love Dr Solomon's answer and would add that the problem I have met is when the patient has a stent and has to be on blood thinners for that reason or for other heart reasons, then the cannabis does add to thinning the blood and the dose of blood thinner may need to be adjusted to accommodate the cannabis. \n\nMany doctors will tell you to stop the cannabis but because it has such profound pain relief without the addiction risk of narcotics I would encourage that you pursue talking with your doctor about your choices rather than their choices. \n\nOne of the major reasons for conflict in medicine is when doctors forced their choices on patients, and the patient suffers a bad outcome, then the patient is angry and takes action against the doctor. Sometimes it's up to the patient to teach the doctor to learn to listen. Good luck, we all want to be seen and heard, so be well centered and express your wishes with kindness but you can be firm and repetitive in order to be heard.\n\nDr Olson\n_____________________\n\nI agree, but do think the short-term opiates have their place in the immediate post-operative period. THC is not the best for acute pain and CBD works best for inflammatory and neuropathic pain.  \n\nCBD competes for metabolic enzymes at the cytochrome P450 level so one must be cautious when using it with medications (Coumadin) that rely on those enzymes for metabolism. So if high CBD strains are used, be sure to dose it at least a couple of hours apart from your other medication - most especially Coumadin.  \n\nDr Frye","image":{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"base64":"data:image/png;base64,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","aspectRatio":1.3986013986013985,"src":"/static/e9742025f013a85d88df5ed454ad08ea/ce37b/ab725c6fff57b15e1ccefc184a6267a8.png","srcSet":"/static/e9742025f013a85d88df5ed454ad08ea/69585/ab725c6fff57b15e1ccefc184a6267a8.png 200w,\n/static/e9742025f013a85d88df5ed454ad08ea/497c6/ab725c6fff57b15e1ccefc184a6267a8.png 400w,\n/static/e9742025f013a85d88df5ed454ad08ea/ce37b/ab725c6fff57b15e1ccefc184a6267a8.png 591w","srcWebp":"/static/e9742025f013a85d88df5ed454ad08ea/81574/ab725c6fff57b15e1ccefc184a6267a8.webp","srcSetWebp":"/static/e9742025f013a85d88df5ed454ad08ea/61e93/ab725c6fff57b15e1ccefc184a6267a8.webp 200w,\n/static/e9742025f013a85d88df5ed454ad08ea/1f5c5/ab725c6fff57b15e1ccefc184a6267a8.webp 400w,\n/static/e9742025f013a85d88df5ed454ad08ea/81574/ab725c6fff57b15e1ccefc184a6267a8.webp 591w","sizes":"(max-width: 591px) 100vw, 591px"}}}}},{"node":{"id":"Question_10653-markdown","title":"Is the medical marijuana the same as what I smoked as a teenager in the 80s?","slug":"is-the-medical-marijuana-the-same-as-what-i-smoked-as-a-teenager-in-the-80s","content":"\"I wanted to know if weed today is stronger, addresses specific needs, has different effects, etc...\"\n_____________________\nFor a variety reasons, the answer to your question is yes, but allow me to expand a bit:\n\nThe average content of THC and other chemical compounds in cultivated plants has changed quite a bit. Cannabis is easily cultivated and hybridized these days to develop strains with very specific characteristics and concentrations of the various cannabinoids (chemical compounds in the plant). \n\nThe average concentration of THC in recreational strains has increased significantly over the past few decades due to cultivation techniques and demand. \n\nMedicinal cannabis is cannabis used with the intent to treat medical symptoms. There are many preparations to choose from and despite strain concentrations, you can find products with a wide range of chemical profiles. Some with high concentrations of THC and some with much lower concentrations.\n\nProducts should be chosen based on their therapeutic effects and the users sensitivity to the side effects. \n\nSome users are very sensitive to the effects of the plant while others can tolerate much higher doses.\n\nHigher concentrations of cannabinoids may translate into smaller doses, but each individual needs to determine dosing that is optimal. \n\nI would caution you to start with lower than recommended dosing of all products if you are new to cannabis or returning to cannabis after many years of non-use. \n\nMedicinal products should be lab tested and labeled with ingredients, and cannabinoid concentrations so you can determine the impact and adjust your dosing optimally.\n\ndrgerhart","image":null}},{"node":{"id":"Question_10616-markdown","title":"I am pregnant and was diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum (HG). I cannot stop vomiting.","slug":"i-am-pregnant-and-was-diagnosed-with-hyperemesis-gravidarum-hg-i-cannot-stop-vomiting","content":"\"My midwife is recommending marijuana. Can this be harmful to my baby? Should I smoke it or is there a safer way? I'll do anything to get relief.\"\n_____________________\nThe current recommendation by both the American College of Pediatricians and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is to avoid marijuana both during pregnancy and while breast feeding.  \n\ndredmunds","image":null}},{"node":{"id":"Question_10614-markdown","title":"My husband just returned from serving overseas and is very anxious. The doctor's are treating him for PTSD.","slug":"my-husband-just-returned-from-serving-overseas-and-is-very-anxious-the-doctors-are-treating-him-for-ptsd","content":"\"He doesn't like the drugs they are prescribing. The side-effects are horrible! Some of his friends are using marijuana and having great results. Do you recommend this? Should he smoke it? What strains are best for PTSD? I'll do whatever I need to do to help him feel better and to get my \"old\" husband back.\"\n_____________________\nI have treated several patients suffering from PTSD that have found cannabis to be helpful for their condition. As you state that he is very anxious due to his condition, I would recommend indica strains. Indica tends to be sedating and relaxing and is also helpful for sleep.  If your husband has depression as a component of his PTSD, an indica dominant hybrid containing some sativa may be helpful.\n\nI discourage smoking cannabis, as the products of combustion (carbon monoxide, tar, carcinogens) contain compounds that may be harmful to one's health. Vaporizing is a great shorter acting alternative to smoking as are oral tinctures. Edibles are much longer acting and are therefore helpful for patients also suffering from insomnia.  \n\ndredmunds","image":null}}]}},"pageContext":{"limit":12,"skip":168,"numPages":15,"currentPage":15,"id":5754,"name":"Smoke","slug":"smoke","country":"US"}},"staticQueryHashes":["3949754563","4179947113","4202924991"]}