Can Cannabis Mask Symptoms?

[[co...]]

I'm mostly convinced my son is suffering with benzo withdrawal, but there are a few things that don't make sense.

He was definitely on clonipin when his backpack with his meds was stolen while traveling. I went to pick him up and at the time, he exhibited mania. Fast forward, he first started doing CBD and seemed to normalize, then switched to full strength pot, which again improved him more, but he smoked it constantly. Fast forward again, he stopped the pot and immediately was hit with a host of more normal, or typical wds.

To further complicate matters, the shrinks he's seen put him back on clonopin, which has had no effect. Now the question is does he taper what he's on, or wait out to stabilize on current dose, or even perhaps increase dose before tapering.

 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[[Pa...]]

Is he interested in tapering, how long has he been back on the Klonopin and what is the dose?

[[co...]]

Is he interested in tapering, how long has he been back on the Klonopin and what is the dose?

Thanks for responding, Pamster.

He was originally put on 1mg 3x per day, the same dose he CT'd from. That did no good. Then the Dr., who is worthless, cut him to .5 3x a day. So he already was in CT withdrawal, then got jerked around on doses.

He wants to taper and I showed him how. But I never CT'd so I'm not sure whether it's better to cut or to try and wait until he stabalizes. He was in full-blown WDs even on the higher dose.

He's probably been on the lower dose for at least a month.

[[Pa...]]

Do you feel he's gained any stability in the last month?  I hate to see him start a taper if he's already feeling horrible but given he's been yanked around so much, I'm not sure he will at this dose.  I'm assuming his doctor won't prescribe a higher dose to allow him to get stable?

 

And what about the cannabis and CBD, I've never heard of either making anyone manic, but if it helped, can he use that again as an adjunct medication?

[[co...]]

Do you feel he's gained any stability in the last month?  I hate to see him start a taper if he's already feeling horrible but given he's been yanked around so much, I'm not sure he will at this dose.  I'm assuming his doctor won't prescribe a higher dose to allow him to get stable?

 

And what about the cannabis and CBD, I've never heard of either making anyone manic, but if it helped, can he use that again as an adjunct medication?

 

It wasn't the cbd and cannabis that made him manic, it was going CT because his drugs were stolen. At the time, I didn't know mania was a WD sym[tom, learned that later. I certainly never felt good withdrawing, but he said he never felt better in his life but was talking 100 moh like a meth head, and saying he didn't want to sleep because he needed more time to think all the great thoughts he was thinking. The CBD and pot seemed to normalize him from that state, and that lasted a number of months until he stopped the cannabis. That is when he suddenly went into more traditional symptoms like anxiety, derealization, hypersensitivity, brain fog, etc. And far from being more stable, he seems to be getting worse as time goes on. Now hes become agaraphobic,

 

He can probably get the dr to go back up to the 3 mgs, but doubt any more. I remember when I had to reinstate to keep my job, I had to do double what I was previously stable on. For me that was only going from .19 to .5. I don't think anyone will put him on 6 mgs.

[[Pa...]]

Thanks for explaining and I'm sorry for misreading your post.  You know, I felt really good for the first 3 days after I quit Klonopin, I could think, I could see clearly, I felt like a veil had been lifted from my eyes and my mind.  But, by the third day, it all came crashing down, so I can kind of relate to how he felt.

 

Isn't is weird how we all suffer different symptoms?  My friend is going through this now and its so odd to see what he's feeling compared to how it was for me, it sounds like you're seeing differences too.

 

I hope his doctor will prescribe enough to help him get stable and I'm glad you're so knowledgeable about what he's facing. 

 

[[co...]]

Thanks again for your interest and help Pamster.

 

So you think he should updose back to the 3 mgs per day and try to stabalize there> Or perhaps updose beyond the 3 mgs?

 

The part that confuses me is that long period of time between the mania and the current symptoms, (at least 3 or 4 months)  when he was smoking pot and exhibited no symptoms at all. I have found studies that show that cbd and cannabis can ease symptoms, but to completely do away with them until he stopped, seems strange to me.

 

Of course the sheer amount of pot he was smoking was likely an indication that something was wrong. I mean, I'm from the sixties and I've never seen anyone smoke that much pot.

 

Thanks again for your input. I haven't much faith in doctors. The one he has now is just a pill p;usher, and I'm afraid anyone else he goes to will know nothing about benzos either and just put him back on.

[[Pa...]]

I don't understand how cannabis could provide such complete symptom relief, I've never seen that expressed here but I don't doubt what you saw with your own eyes, I just hope it can help him in the future.  This process is different for each of us so we have to accept (unlike most doctors) that one set of rules or expectations don't apply to everyone.

 

I don't know what dose will get him stable enough to begin a taper, he'll have to experiment but it sounds like his doctor might be willing to go higher if necessary.  I just hope he has the patience to take the updose slow so he doesn't end up on more than he needs to.

[[co...]]

I don't understand how cannabis could provide such complete symptom relief, I've never seen that expressed here but I don't doubt what you saw with your own eyes, I just hope it can help him in the future.  This process is different for each of us so we have to accept (unlike most doctors) that one set of rules or expectations don't apply to everyone.

 

I don't know what dose will get him stable enough to begin a taper, he'll have to experiment but it sounds like his doctor might be willing to go higher if necessary.  I just hope he has the patience to take the updose slow so he doesn't end up on more than he needs to.

 

That is exactly why I asked the question. I never heard of cbd or pot completely doing away with symptoms. Drinking to some extent, yes. that hits the same brain receptors, but not pot. It's the one nagging doubt I have that he might not be in withdrawal.

I guess I'll tell him to go back up to 3 mgs and try to tough it out until stable.

Can you confirm that? Should he go more than the three, since he didn't stabilize before at that amt?

I'm assuming he's getting worse because the dr. cut his dose in half when he wasn't even stable at the 3 mgs.

 

[[Pa...]]

Will his doctor support the increased dose, it sounds like that may be what he needs.