It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything here. Whatever I might rant about (corruption in politics, corporate mortal sins, our malfunctioning Gestapo) is being satisfactorily covered by my Facebook friends. My goal here has always been to deal with my own interests from, what I hoped was, unique perspectives. Whether explaining how to fix t-shirts so that you don’t have to wear a bra, or chronicling my mother’s five last days, I tried to share an authentic experience, told from my gut and my heart.
The challenge, lately, has been to find something I want to share with authenticity and guts and heart.
I will be 76 in another month or so, and my life as an older person is nothing like I imagined, in both good and bad ways.
One of the bad ways is that I have had really bad insomnia since the fall of 2014. I’ve tried just about everything available — prescriptions, OTC, herbal concoctions, TENS stimulation, exercise, meditation, visual imagery. Some worked for a while then stopped and some never worked at all.
When the state I live in, Massachusetts, legalized medical marijuana, I decided to give it a try. And also to blog, from my unique perspective as a “gray lady,” about this new adventure.
Soon I will begin “Gray Lady’s Medical Marijuana Mystery Tour.” As the Beatles sang, “The magical mystery tour is hoping to take you away. Hoping to take you away.”
I don’t know where it will take me. Will take us. Keep in mind that I’m not a very private person; I tend to put it all out there, and, as usual, you will probably learn more about me than you really want to know. Or not. What I hope is that my experiences will shed some light on how medical marijuana might enhance the lives of the elderly, whether to help us deal with insomnia, or pain and inflammation, or simply to help us just feel all-round better.
I will try to link to specific and factual information where appropriate. But mostly this is about me. Because, you know, it’s always about me.
I am very interested to hear about your experience with marijuana. While my difficulties with sleep are not as severe as yours, sleep often eludes me for days on end. Sleeping pills, while they do put me to sleep, make me feel like s–t when I get up.
N.Y. State has just legalized marijuana for medicinal use (pill and liquid form only for now). So my interest in the subject has be heightened as of late.
Yes, I did read that NY State is getting with the program. There is a synthetic liquid variation called “Marinol” that has been available for some time, and I was about to get a prescription for my mother shortly before she passed away and ended the need for it. I have found that medical marijuana is very expensive, and I will blog about that fact. It seems to me that we elders should be automatically given access to medical marijuana at a reasonable price, but, of course, the authorities would be afraid that we would sell it to youngsters to finance our retirement. (Heh.) I don’t know what the solution is, but, obviously, I support its legalization, with regulatory controls the way it’s done with alcohol. I just looked at the NYS FAQ https://www.health.ny.gov/regulations/medical_marijuana/faq.htm, and it says that you can get it in capsules and liquid or oil form to use with a vape or inhaler. My problem is that I can’t take capsules/pills just before I go to bed, and if you use the inhaler stuff, it puts the smell into the air. I have a 13 year old in this house, and I err on the side of caution. I intend to post about the various choices available at my dispensary. NYS is much more stringent in what it allows.
Glad that you are doing this! And welcome back to blogging! I too have been on Facebook and have enjoyed the connections there, but am currently trying to do both. It’s so hard!! I seem to spend many hours a day trying to keep up with it all. Not too good for my back, arm and hips! Hope you get some relief for your insomnia soon!
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