Research | How to Find Information on Cannabis Oil and Your Ailment

What is Cannabis Oil?

To understand the various research that you read about neurological disorders you're going to need wikipedia and a good dictionary. I recommend these as places to start in doing research so you can begin to understand terminology. Understanding terminology is the very first and most important thing you can do when trying to understand if cannabis will help your ailment.

There are many places to start to introduce people to the vast amount of research that is readily available. I usually start by telling them to view:

Rick Simpson's "Run From The Cure",

Sanjay Gupta's "Weed",

and Sanjay Gupta's "Weed 2".

Then I recommend reading these articles:

1. The Chemicals in Cannabis
2. What is Cannabis Oil?
3. Meet Your Cannabinoid Receptors
4. Cannabis May Help Heal The Brain After Injury: Pretty important study that proves that cannabis helps in so many different areas of the brain

After reading these articles then I recommend googling "medical study", "your ailment" and "medical marijuana". I will be posting articles periodically that I find relevant, but it's important that you do your own research since there is so very little out there in comparison to western medicine. I still think we're way ahead of the game though, considering that we are all guinea pigs! Of course, not you or me! We're cannabis warriors!

Research | Cannabis Oil for Neurological Disorders

What is Cannabis Oil?

My quest for answers about my neurological disorder led me to cannabis oil. As many of you may or may not know, I'm an activist for marijuana reform in Texas. It's been a passion of mine for a little while now. I became a believer when I sought something more natural to help me with pain. I've been smoking it for the past year for medicinal purposes. It's amazing for pain relief and I don't feel as unhealthy as I did while I on Vicodin.

While doing research on Parkinson's, I came across cannabis medical studies on a regular basis. These studies are about patients not only smoking it, but ingesting cannabis oil. The entire marijuana plant, using alcohol as a solvent, is cooked down into a thick resinous oil. When ingested in this manner marijuana becomes a formidable and powerful medicine. Two good videos to watch are Run From The Cure and Weed.

Run From The Cure has a bunch of important patient testimonials and it explains what the oil is and how it is made. It's important to understand this so that you can understand how it heals the body.

Weed is Dr. Sanjay Gupta's explanation of why he changed his mind about medical marijuana.

According to many studies cannabis oil can prevent further degeneration of brain cells in Parkinson's. The research does not say that it cures the disorder, but it does say that it slows it down and that's pretty wonderful news when one is facing a death sentence. Let's be frank about it. Parkinson's is a death sentence. It's a slow deterioration of the body and the mind until the soul is merely trapped at the end gasping for escape. It's not a way any of us would wish to die. So, when there are alternatives that are surfacing that are showing promising results, then one must look at all alternatives.

I have been a smoker all but five years of my nineteen year smoking life. I began smoking at age 21. I was curious about it's relaxing qualities. It helped me a ton during stressful times in my life. I smoked it a lot when I was misdiagnosed with bipolar and it was very helpful. I stopped smoking it because I started listening to my critics about what a horrible mother I was for smoking marijuana. I didn't understand at the time that cannabis has many medicinal qualities. I was still hearing the old programming and myth that marijuana is an evil drug. What people should've been saying all along is, "Marijuana has been used by people for centuries and it's a wonderful, natural alternative to pharmaceuticals."

I am not fond of pharmaceuticals. I think they're pure poison. They are wrapped up in a wholesome package, and they are far from natural. They cause more disease and I refuse to put any more chemicals into my body. I may not know what I have, but I do know that whatever I have I got from a chemical toxin.

So, I received my cannabis oil on August 15, 2014. I've been documenting it so that I can share my progress with you. I can't deny that the progress is pretty interesting and certainly contains a wow factor...

Follow my personal short term cannabis study!

Research | What is Parkinson's Disease?

I have many questions...

1. Early signs of Parkinson disease included smaller handwriting, a soft voice, reduced facial expression, slowness of movement, tremor, and changes in walking (shuffling) and posture (stooping). Not all Parkinson's patients have all of these symptoms. To be diagnosed with Parkinson disease, a person needs to exhibit at least two of the four "cardinal" symptoms, which are tremor, bradykinesia (slowed movement), rigidity, and postural instability. In order to be diagnosed you must have bradykinesia.

• Tremor: shaking of a hand, arm, foot, leg, chin or lips. In Parkinson disease this happens while the limb is at rest, but sometimes happens also with movement.
• Bradykinesia: Unusually slow movement of the limbs or entire body.
• Rigidity: Stiffness of the muscles in the hand, arm, foot, leg or the trunk and neck. People may experience righty as muslce tightness, but they may also experience it as painful, cramp like sensation in the muscles or as muscle spasms. Sometimes an achy, died feeling may be the only indication of rigidity, and often, in the earliest stages, rigidity may be misdiagnosed as having a pinched nerve in their neck or lower back. 
• Postural Instability: Wobbly or unbalanced standing or walking. *People living with Parkinson disease sometimes fall as a result of orthostatic hypotension (also called postural hypotension). This medical term means that on arising, a person's blood pressure drops precipitously. Parkinson disease affects the autonomic nervous system, which is the party of the nervous system hat controls functions of our body that are not under voluntary control, such as stomach and intestinal motility, beating of the heart and production of sweat and saliva. The autonomic nervous system is also in charge of making sure our blood pressure remains stable when we stand up from a reclining or sitting position.

This list of four symptoms does not by any means describe the whole spectrum of motor symptoms of Parkinson disease. Many patients may have other motor symptoms not explained by these such as dystonia or dyskinesia, which are erratic, involuntary movements of the arm, leg, trunk or face muscles. 

patient note: I do notice that I have slower movement in my left hand and when pinching my fingers together the movement becomes slower over time. I also believe I have rigidity.

2. What is Parkinson's? Parkinson's is a neurodegnerative disorder that causes the dopamine producing neurons of the substantial nigra to die prematurely and the result is loss of smooth, full-range motion.

3. Patient Note: Am I going to have dementia? I'm suffering from memory loss and trouble continuing my thought process... which is the cognitive function called executive function of the brain that includes the ability to make decisions, solve problems and multitask. A big part of the executive function is working more and loses the ability to maintain important information in the brain while engaged in complex tasks.

For example, a healthy person is usually able to cook and read a recipe at the same time. While reading the next step in a complex recipe, the cook can remember to stir the vegetables that are gently sautéing in the pan. However, a person with Parkinson disease may have trouble juggling two tasks because of lapse in working memory.

Wellness Journal | Symptoms, Pain Levels and Photos

My hand looks relatively normal lately even though my pain level was kind of off the charts... Extremely difficult time sleeping... I'm hoping these journals will detail my progress so that patients can benefit from my experiences.

July 30, 2014

Today is Wednesday.

Pain Level:
7 out of 10 (10 = worst).

Symptoms: 

Morning: Burning in my fingers alleviated only by pressing my left middle and ring fingers into the mattress. High tone in relaxed state of left wrist. Right shoulder spasming, pain radiating down into my elbow. Cutting an onion hurts my right bicep and elbow.

Evening: it's 10:23pm. I'm settling down for the night. I find that my left hand is cramping and moving a lot. So is my shoulder. The best thing I can do to help is to put my hand under something so that the movements don't create further cramping. I'm not sure if that's even the right thing to do. Sometimes I wonder if I should just let it do it's thing and not worry so goddamned much if people will think I'm a freak.

Progression notes:
I've noticed that I don't wake up screaming in pain anymore since I broke in my IKEA pillow with dents for my neck. I don't think I've had any episodes of shooting pain and painful numbing sensation except once (after a trip an hour away in Austin) in the last 30 days. This does not mean, however, that my illness has stopped progressing. I do believe that my Illness is getting worse because my trembling is getting worse, not to mention having trouble remembering things and feeling like I'm going to faint.

Pic of left hand at 10:12am:

Pic of right hand:

What's going on in my life today: 

I worried half my day about the Central Texas NORML Alliance meeting today, spent way too much time on FB. More than half the shit I saw was negative. I was already feeling overwhelmed. I need to not look at it so much anymore. It's unimportant compared to my health.

Mental: 
Very scared to make a noticable mental ass of myself. I think I'm going to show my cognitive dysfunction by not being able to finish a thought, but although I found myself sost forgetting I didn't. Would it be really horrible if I did? I'm not sure. I do know that when it dies happen that I'm going to find a way to deal with it. Those that love me wouldn't fault me for it.

Happiness Level: 
I'm very happy with Bill, but I'm unhappy with the plan to move to Colorado. I'm going to miss so many moments in my girls' lives. I don't want them to think that they're not important to me. And it makes me cry every single time I think about it.

Stress Level: 
6 out of 10. (1 being no stress and 10 being the most.)

Bedtime and Sleep issues: 
I can't get my body to rest. I'm tired but too stressed to sleep. My hand is tired but won't rest either. Looks like my shoulder and neck are going to keep the hand company in Painsville tonight.

Marijuana consumption: 
Sporadic smoking. 3-4 bong hits all day. I could use more, but we're trying to conserve.

Private life and/or Sex: Bill and I are happy. No sex today bc Bill didn't feel good this morning and I woke in pain. Not screaming pain, but pain nonetheless.

Tomorrow's plans: 
Sleep and Watch Movies. Limit FB to two hours total for all day.

Notice my left hand at tonight's meeting. I'm so mortified that was caught on camera.

August 1, 2014

Today is Friday.

Pain Level: 
8.5 out of 10. 10 being the worst.

Symptoms: 
Awoke in pain. Smoked Cat Piss (a sativa) and determined it did not ease my cramping so I've decided that I'm going to stick to Indicas. I smoked a second bowl of Berry White and feel so much better even after four hours later. Dizzy spell.

Progression notes: 
Same pattern of pain starting in my left fingertips, to wrist, to elbow, to arm socket to shoulder to neck then moves to right fingertips, to wrist, to elbow, to arm socket to shoulder to neck. This process can take days before everything relaxes from the cramping. I call this a 'Storm'.

Pic of left hand: 9:10am: 

Pic of right hand: 9:10am:

What's going on in my life today:

Today I found out that cannabis oil will not regenerate my dead brain cells, but it will prevent further damage. I was upset, but worked through it. Here’s what I posted on FB about it:

"I learned some very disheartening news today in my research about Parkinson's and cannabis oil. According to what I read cannabis oil does not reverse the damage done to the brain cells. Cannabis does not cure it like it can cure cancer. It seems ludicrous to think anything can cure me at this point. I've lost my positivity and I'm not sure when I'm getting it back.

I saw a photo of me at the CENTEX NORML Alliance meeting where my hand was obviously twisted and cramped. That I no longer have control over it in public is humiliating.That I'm getting worse instead of better and my doctor has no clue how to help me because she's not allowed to officially diagnose me as Parkinson's, well...It's just more than I can bear right now. My mental health is competing with my ever existent excruciating pain.

I have all this wonderfulness going on with Bill and that is what I focus on the most. All this crap came to a head today. I know that i'm going to work through it and I know that whatever is meant to be will be. There's no way for me to know my best possible outcome. Worrying is pointless. i know all that. This information is new and it will take a bit of time for me to process it, that's all.

OH. One piece of news...I won't get any worse once I start the cannabis oil. Cannabis oil is quite expensive for those in illegal states. Sigh."
I have all this wonderfulness going on with Bill and that is what I focus on the most. All this crap came to a head today. I know that i'm going to work through it and I know that whatever is meant to be will be. There's no way for me to know my best possible outcome. Worrying is pointless. i know all that. This information is new and it will take a bit of time for me to process it, that's all. 

OH. One piece of news...I won't get any worse once I start the cannabis oil. Cannabis oil is quite expensive for those in illegal states. Sigh." 

"I do feel everyone's support and it means more than I can say. I woke up this morning with my mind set that the law if attraction, cannabis oil and a healthy diet are my prescriptions. I figure I have a good 20 years until my body gives way to disease IF that actually happens. I'm not going to spend the next twenty years of my life worrying about it. The probability of that happening is higher if I worry about it. I choose to believe that I'm not going to get any worse and I'm okay with living just the way I am right now, but I'm also going to believe that I'm going to be the first ever cure because belief, backed by love is a powerful, powerful weapon that I'm going to wield wisely."

Happiness Level: 
2 out of 10 (10 being the worst) until I heard about this news around 5pm. Then I cracked and the waterworks started flowing. I was deeply upset, unable to see the positive.

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

Bedtime and Sleep issues:
Couldn’t sleep. I was in too much pain.

Marijuana type & consumption: 
2 bowls at 5am (cat piss and Berry white), 11:50 am: bowl of Berry White

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

Conclusion/Question: 
I should take pics before and after smoking. Like I said, the law of attraction, an organic diet and cannabis oil are my future. They are all three of the utmost importance. Until I go to Colorado I’ll have to worry about positivity and the diet.

Sat, Aug 2:
long car drive day going into Austin for Lexi's bday party at the mall. Very tired.

Sun, Aug 3:
8 out of 10 pain level.

Mon, Aug 4:
7.5 out of 10 pain level.

8 out of 10 stress level. Stress due to kids testing my limits.

August 5, 2014:

Today is Tuesday.

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

Symptoms: 
Pain upon waking this morning. I remember crying out in my sleep early this morning.

Pic of left hand 8:40 pm Before smoking: 

10:00 pm After smoking:

Pic of right hand 8:40 pm Before smoking: 

10 pm After smoking: 

What's going on in my life today: 
Visited with Louie Minor, Running for Congress in 31st district in Texas, and told him that I was concerned about pesticides in our food. My girls are visiting and today I made my texmex black bean burgers for dinner. Both girls and Bill loved it!

Mental: 
I've been kind of depressed this past week.

Happiness Level:
4 out of 10 (10 being the worst)

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

Bedtime and Sleep issues: 
I had an extremely difficult time sleeping the past couple of nights.

Marijuana consumption:
Not enough today, but we just got my favorite: Blue Dream!

Private life: 
Bill is being very supportive and sweet and so are all my friends. :)

Recipe | CC's TexMex Black Bean Burgers

Omigawd. These burgers are DELISH and super easy to make! Your entire family including finicky kids will love you if you make these for dinner!

CC's TexMex Black Bean Burgers

Makes 8

Organic Ingredients
1/4 of a large, finely chopped red onion sautéed

1/2 c. finely shredded carrots
1/2 of a large, finely chopped red onion
1 can of black or kidney beans
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 c. cornmeal
1/2 c. breadcrumbs
1/2 c. flour
2 eggs
1/2 c. Water
Olive Oil

Sautee the 1/4 of large onion in a pan with 1 TB olive oil. When done, combine it with all other ingredients in bowl. 1/2 c. of water gets added at the end. Stir well. The mixture should look like this:

Fill the pan with olive oil and heat on high for a few minutes until the oil gets hot. Use a large mixing spoon and spoon the mixture into the pan. Flatten it out with your spoon. It should be the approximate size of a hamburger patty. Fry for three minutes before you flip them so the other side can brown.

Top with Guacamole and serve.

Organic Guacamole Ingredients for Top
1/4 of a large red onion
1 tomato
1 serrano pepper
2 medium sized avocados
1 lime
salt and pepper to taste

Slice open the avocados. Use a spoon to scoop it into the bottom of a bowl. Smash with a fork. Chop the tomato, serrano and finely chop the onion and place both ingredients on top of the avocado in the bowl. Cut a lime in half and squeeze both halves over the ingredients in the bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste and mix.

Enjoy!

Research | Cannabis Oil Will Not Cure, But Will Help Parkinsons Disease

Today I found out that cannabis oil will not regenerate my dead brain cells, but it will prevent further damage. I was upset, but worked through it. Here’s what I posted on FB about it:

I learned some very disheartening news today in my research about Parkinson's and cannabis oil. According to what I read cannabis oil does not reverse the damage done to the brain cells. Cannabis does not cure it like it can cure cancer. It seems ludicrous to think anything can cure me at this point. I've lost my positivity and I'm not sure when I'm getting it back.  

I saw a photo of me at a NORML meeting where my hand was obviously twisted and cramped. That I no longer have control over it in public is humiliating.That I'm getting worse instead of better and my doctor has no clue how to help me because she's not allowed to officially diagnose me as Parkinson's, well...It's just more than I can bear right now. My mental health is competing with my ever existent excruciating pain.

I have all this wonderfulness going on with Bill and that is what I focus on the most. All this crap came to a head today. I know that i'm going to work through it and I know that whatever is meant to be will be. There's no way for me to know my best possible outcome. Worrying is pointless. i know all that. This information is new and it will take a bit of time for me to process it, that's all.

I'm going to take a step back from FB. I'm not going to be on here too much until next week. Tomorrow is my oldest daughter's birthday party and mine and Bill's first date anniversary is rounding the corner. That will keep me busy and focused for a bit.

OH. One piece of news...I won't get any worse once I start the cannabis oil. Cannabis oil is quite expensive for those in illegal states. Sigh. 

I do feel everyone's support and it means more than I can say. I woke up this morning with my mind set that the law if attraction, cannabis oil and a healthy diet are my prescriptions. I figure I have a good 20 years until my body gives way to disease IF that actually happens. I'm not going to spend the next twenty years of my life worrying about it. The probability of that happening is higher if I worry about it. I choose to believe that I'm not going to get any worse and I'm okay with living just the way I am right now, but I'm also going to believe that I'm going to be the first ever cure because belief, backed by love is a powerful, powerful weapon that I'm going to wield wisely.

Treatment Plan | The Secret: Understanding The Law of Attraction

The Wellness Wheel must be balanced in order for one's health to be balanced.  The greatest way to achieve balance in your life is to follow the secret of the law of attraction. I speak a lot about the law of attraction, but it's a difficult concept to really explain, so please listen to Bob Proctor explain it better than I can from the movie entitled The Secret.

You can watch the full version on Netflix.

Last year I was at a crossroads in my life. I didn't know what to do. My career was going well, but my love life was lacking. I applied the law of attraction and I attracted my partner. While in the middle of it I remember him turning to me and saying, "You are a powerful witch. You can make your thoughts happen."

I did make my thoughts happen. I applied the law of attraction. I listened to my feelings. They told me what I needed to do. Every time I started feeling sorry for myself, I believed that everything would work out according to destiny. I gave up control. I celebrated all the good things in my life and I just patiently waited. 

I began to believe in myself and my abilities. The belief is what really counts. If you're worried or in fear then that is what you will attract, but if you are happy and you believe in what you're doing and you create a beautiful feeling to go along with what you want, then anything can be achievable.

My health is not better yet. Part of the reason is that I don't believe it and that is what is holding me back from healing myself. The universe is responding to my feelings, my vibrations and that's what manifests. 

If I can learn to shift my awareness and believe I will get well, then that will happen. Like I said, it isn't an easy concept, but I KNOW that it works.

Think of something beautiful. Dwell on the thought. You'll start to feel better and you will begin to attract love and goodness in your life!