Monday, June 4, 2012

Getting High to Balance out the Lows


More and more I find myself surrounded by people “self-medicating”.  Whether they’re prescribed drugs from their doctor or get their medicine from the street pharmacists, the purpose is commonly for the same reason: an escape.  But when does self help become more detrimental than beneficial, more of an addiction than a treatment plan?
            One could argue that the answer to that question lies within which drug a patient chooses to medicate with.  For example, fighting pain after surgery or some trying medical treatment with opiates like codeine or morphine can prove to be successful in escaping the inconveniences of the hospital hallways.  However, dabble to heavily with these highly addictive psychoactive drugs and you could find yourself searching for rehabilitation for more than the bum knee you started with.  But what if you choose marijuana to help you self-medicate, that not addictive or risky right? Well Dr. Gabriel Nahas would say “nobody can argue that habitual use of marijuana does not exists” and regarding behavioral responses “the appropriate response to an extremely wide range of stimulus demands, all can be impaired by marijuana”.
            Recent times have transformed the general fear that most people have about using marijuana to self-medicate into more of a small concern, though abusers of opiates are not so well received.  However, an even greater danger that either of these two methods alone is the hazardous combination of marijuana and prescribed antidepressants.  Studies have found that it is “impossible to precisely define the effects produced by cross-medicating marijuana with antidepressants”( USA Today).  Going to the doctor is the best way to seek medical attention for any number of alignments from depression to insomnia, but when your doctor prescribes you a drug it is important to inform them of what else your taking at home, or are currently on.  Continuing to self medicate through marijuana while ingesting prescribed antidepressants is reason for concern and can lead to accelerated heartbeat, hypertension and transient delirium (USA Today).  So next time you fill up the prescription from your family doctor, be sure you tell him about what you bought from the neighbor hood physician.


Sources: 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/spotlight/2001-01-24-tyson.htm

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