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Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Progress | Dysfunction Junction Part 3




 Continued from Dysfunction Junction Part 1 and Part 2

Another scary night. Bill and I had just finished making love when I had a seizure. I think these are seizures after talking with my sister and with my nurse friend.

I arched my back, pushed my neck into the mattress and lifted my hips. I felt the tremor start at the base of my spine and travel up to my neck. I gasped from anxiety then struggled to breathe. I felt my temples swell and bright lights pulse while my eyes were closed. It was hard to hear Bill ask if I was alright. I tried to answer, but I couldn't get any words out. My body convulsed and it drew into itself in the fetal position. It was scary to say the least.

 I gasped for air and started to get panicked. Something told me to calm down, so I let go of my control. I finally was able to tell him, "No," and my body relaxed.

I cried for a bit afterwards. This is so scary. I'm losing control of both my brain and my body at the same time. 


Monday, September 8, 2014

Wellness Journal | Symptom: Itching


Horrible itching going on...on my legs only. They feel like they're pulsating. It's a horrible feeling almost like I almost don't have legs. I scratch my legs so much lately that they're bloody messes. 

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Wellness Journal | Canna Oil Longterm Study Day 3



Pain Level: 
7 out of 10. (10 being the worst).

Symptoms: 
right shoulder pain, a big tic woke me up in my neck, some slurred speech, but not too bad.




What's going on in my life today: 
Bill and I set a wedding date! Shhh!

Happiness Level: 
3 out of 10. (10 being the worst.)

Stress Level: 
3 out of 10. (10 being worst.)

Bedtime and Sleep issues from last night: 
not tired until am.


Saturday, September 6, 2014

Progress | Dysfunction Junction Part 2




The train continued its fast past by making today the very worst that I've ever had in terms of tremors. This morning I woke in terrible pain in my right shoulder and neck. I woke up, stiffly got up out of bed and stumbled into the shower. As soon as the scalding water hit my neck and shoulder I started crying. I was in serious pain. 

I stood in the shower as long as I was able and then I made it back to the bed and waited for 8 am. It came slowly. Bill brought me my morning dose of Cannabis Olive Oil (my healer had authorized an increase) and I was almost in tears again when I saw it. I desperately needed relief. I waited one hour and then I gave up and smoked three bowls of marijuana.

I made love to my significant other and then got up to get dressed. My movements did not get better after smoking, but my mood did and I got ready for breakfast. During a normal Saturday morning conversation my spouse and I converse in a lively manner and today was no different. As I was trying to put on a shirt and yoga pants I began to notice pretty severe tics that I could not control. It seemed like the tics were going to happen today no matter what I had planned.

They are just as weird and odd looking as you could imagine. My neck kept jerking to the left and my speech was noticeably slurred. I could tell that Bill could tell, but he never said a word about the cognitive dysfunction. He made some half ass joke about my tics, but other than that said nothing. He held onto me and asked me constantly if I needed help. I can tell often when he's feeling overwhelmed with everything. He's such a special intuitive and empathic man. I don't often have to tell him how I'm feeling because he just knows and he sometimes knows before I do.

I found an Austin 420 magazine in the car and I began reading aloud an article that Tracy Ansley wrote about the Texas Exodus to Colorado because neurological disorder patients seeking medical marijuana are moving there. It was about this young boy who had to move to Colorado without his father and how much he misses him and wishes that marijuana were legal in Texas so he could be home again with his family. My throat caught in a sob the minute I ended the paragraph. I looked at Bill and saw tears rolling down his cheeks just like mine. We smiled at each other and then Bill helped me into the restaurant. 

My legs began doing a very odd dance as we looked for a booth. Walking that short walk was interesting because I found myself stopping a lot. I also started doing this thing with my feet where I stand up on my tip toes as I walk. We ordered and talked a little. My speech was slurring and I found myself almost stopping quite a bit. Some of it was because I couldn't start a word. Either I couldn't remember it or I couldn't get it out of my mouth. There was a bunch of stuttering. Stuttering has been going on for quite a bit now, but this was new and more pronounced.

The food finally came. I was starving. I started filling my tortilla with eggs, potato and beans and found that I couldn't do it very well. I was moving so very, very slowly. My fork went toward the beans and slowly moved to scrape it into my tortilla. I tried to move faster, but I just couldn't. The eggs were a bit harder to scoop up, but I managed to get some into my taco. The slowness wasn't getting to me I kept repeating internally, but, then again, it was. Then there were three or four fried potatoes to place on top. Then there was the salsa. Then I had to stop and drink a bunch of water because I was so very thirsty. By the time I had finished loading up my first taco Bill had already eaten half his plate and I was sick of eating.

After breakfast we went and picked up my daughter for her weekend visit. Usually I try to not show my girls what I look like when I'm like this, but today I decided that I'm not going to try to hide it anymore in public. It's stupid really, because if I try to stop the movement from happening in one area then it just moves to another or the movements get out of control. I notice that if I just let them happen that I feel better. My muscles don't get quite as tense.

Today I showed my daughters my terrible movements. They were understandably not happy about the day's illness, but they were okay with it. My youngest told me that I looked funny when I did my head jerk movements which, thankfully, didn't last too long. I told her that I'm sure they looked funny, but they did not feel good and that I was embarrassed about what it looked like. My seven year old stopped and thought about it before telling me that I shouldn't be embarrassed and I was the best mommy in the whole world. That made me smile really big and it warmed my heart. She's such a wonderful, empathetic old soul!

After dinner my kid and I went to Kmart to buy her some clothes. There's only one handicapped shopping cart in the store, so M pushed the cart for me and we shopped. I was happy, but exhausted. My body had been through hell already with constant movements and it was tired, but I had a job to do for my daughter. 

While trying on clothes I noticed the attendant paying attention my conversation with my daughter. I wonder if the lady thought I was drunk when I spoke to her. My words were slurred, filled with stutters, and I bumped into stuff when I walked near her. 

My train is on a fast track, but right now I'm having a bit of reprieve. My body is finally slowing down and my brain is slowly lifting the brain fog alert. The aches and pains are at a higher level than normal, but it's manageable. I had someone ask me how I stay so strong which is very sweet. I thought about it before I replied, "It's not that I'm strong. I have belief that there is a reason why I'm on this blazing train. Maybe it's because this is what I'm supposed to be doing. Maybe this is my reason for living."

Friday, September 5, 2014

Progress | Dysfunction Junction


I remember the very first time that I couldn't feel my fingers. It began in my middle finger that morning. The finger just got increasingly numb until I couldn't feel it at all. Then it moved into my fingers next to it. Eventually it also moved onto my thumb.

The very first time I experienced it I cried out of pain, but by the third time I cried out of fear. I was scared that I was going to lose the use of my hand, but, of course, I haven't. My hand is still working, just not at full capacity.

For the past couple of weeks I've been noticing a pattern, but not recording it in my journals because I'm scared again. I'm beginning to lose feeling in my legs. It started with my feet going to sleep. I recall them doing that more a few years ago, but the doctor said that was due to having diabetes. Since I've been controlling my diabetes with an organic diet and marijuana I haven't experienced my feet falling asleep until a few weeks ago. It began happening daily. I massaged them and noted it in my head.

Then I started losing feeling in my legs. I noticed one day that I started scratching my legs and wondered briefly why that was. Went on my merry way until I began to notice that I didn't feel how hard I was doing it and my legs ended up with bloody scratches all over.

Tonight I massaged on some coconut oil onto my feet because they've been uncharacteristically dry lately. I didn't feel my feet really. It was like they were there but it wasn't my body part. I rubbed the rest of my body. Sensation has diminished significantly in the last two weeks in my entire body.

And, so, I cry out in fear again. But I'm not just crying over the loss of sensation.  I'm losing something worse. I'm losing my words and thoughts. I've been having memory problems for a while now. I'm having difficulty accessing commonly used vocabulary words. Instead I find myself hemming and hawing while I try to think of an alternative. I find these memory problems annoying and upsetting, but nothing prepared me for what happened today while I was writing.

I was working on my bio for a flyer because I've been asked to speak on GMOs. I had to take the bio off of this website and somehow get it down to two sentences and have it speak to who I am and somehow convince readers to attend the class. Kind of tricky writing, but not horribly difficult. I had to look at the paragraph several times. Not only could I not piece together the sentences, but I couldn't understand my own writing because my brain was confused.

It was truly devastating, but I haven't cried about it. I don't think I can wrap my head around the fact that this may be the best my writing will ever be. My brain will start deteriorating. It's a fact that happens with most neurological disorder patients. The sooner I accept it the better.  I have a family medical history of Alzheimer's, so it was going to happen anyway. I always thought I had more time, but it doesn't look like I do.

This illness seems like it's on a fast train with a missing conductor. All I can do at this point is get out of the way. I'm not going to cry about my writing. No matter how much it hurts me to see dyslexia type typos, no matter how many sentences I have to fix, no matter how many angry tears I brush aside I will never stop trying to get my brain to function and I refuse to give into fear. Fear is a small measly man sitting on a doorstop waiting to pounce on it's next victim and I solemnly refuse to let that be me.

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Wellness Journal | Canna Oil Longterm Study Day 1



New Therapy and Study: 
Combined 1 mL Cannabis Oil + 14 mL Olive Oil and take a measured dose according to my healer's instructions.

Pain Level: 
5 out of 10. (10 being the worst).

Symptoms: 
Right shoulder, bicep, Both legs very sore from walking yesterday in Austin, entire body sore. huge back cramp in the middle of my back last night before bed. Not feeling My ankles and legs whole bunch right now. Pain everywhere, but centers in my neck on left side. Super sweet Bill massaged me this morning to help with all the soreness :)

What's going on in my life today:

Not much. Kind of a lazy Friday. This is the first day I’ve tried this new therapy. I hope it works out well. Bill and I keep discussing whether or not we should move to CO. It’s difficult because I know that I can get my therapy here, but I’m worried about getting caught. I guess I have to know that I’m on the right side even if I’m on the wrong side of the law. I hope that it can all be resolved. I’m probably just being paranoid.

Happiness Level: 
5 out of 10. (10 being the worst.)

Stress Level: 
2 out of 10. (10 being worst.)

Bedtime and Sleep issues from last night:
NONE. Slept soundly from 10 pm to 7:30 am.

See Day THREE.
Please note: This study will be posted sporadically.

Monday, September 1, 2014

Wellness Journal | Cannabis Oil Concentrate Short Study Final Day



Day 17, Final Day of concentrate short study


Pain level: 
5.5 out of 10. 10 being the worst.

1st cannabis oil dose: 8:30 am
Time I felt the dose: 8:45 am
Duration of dose: 8:45 am - 11:45 am
Thoughts: kind of a happy, mellow high. I felt a lot of pain upon waking and now I feel half of what felt then.

Pain level at 11:02 am:
3 out of 10. 10 being the worst.




2nd cannabis oil dose: 
12:30 pm

Time I felt the dose: 
1:00 pm

Duration of dose: 
1:00- 3:30 pm

Thoughts:
I'm feeling a little bit of pain, but this dose is pretty good. Helps with pain and anxiety, but still aware of what's going on.

3nd cannabis oil dose:
4:30 pm
Time I felt the dose: 
4:52 pm

Duration of dose: 
4:30- 7:30 pm






Symptoms: 
tremors, left shoulder tics, right shoulder quick up motion tic, wiping nose tic.

Progression notes: Right hand and arm feel better today! For the last three days it's gotten progressively worse in weakness. Still sore, but better and stronger today.
What's going on in my life today: not much. Kind of a lazy day. Exchanged the girls with Daryl today.

Happiness Level:
2 out of 10. (10 being the worst.)

Stress Level:
3 out of 10. (10 being worst.)

Bedtime and Sleep issues: 
Slept like a baby!!