Marijuana and Treatment of Anxiety and Depression
by 
Neil

About a year after I received treatment for alcoholism I started experiencing severe anxiety and depression. I lived with this for a while thinking I was still feeling the effects of my years of daily drinking and drunkenness.

I eventually went to my family physician. He immediately prescribed an anti-depressant, Prozac. After a week’s time I felt better, although there were some side effects to deal with.  I stayed on Prozac for about eighteen months, at which time I became increasingly worse. The medicine had lost its effect on me.

After that, my doctor tried several different anti-depressant drugs over a period of another eighteen months with little or no relief for me. During the second eighteen-month period, I thought of taking my own life as the pain was so great that nothing else mattered. I was to a point where I could barely face my day-to-day responsibilities, work, family, etc.

I decided to try a different tack. I stopped all synthetic drug use and tried acupuncture, message, naturopathic and holistic remedies, as well as vitamin supplements. I went with all this for over a year with minor relief. I did not know what to do next, so it was back to the family doctor, who prescribed Paxil. That was last year. Paxil works for me, marginally. If I supplement the Paxil with marijuana, I get total relief and I feel whole again. I have been self-prescribing this combination for about six months now. I have not felt this good in many years. The down side is the availability of the herb and it's legality. I don’t think my conservative doctor would be open-minded enough to consider prescribing for me. I also have these guilt feelings using marijuana, which I guess is my problem that I must deal with.

  Looking back I would say that I started drinking to combat my early depression. I have not had any alcohol in my system for over ten years and have no desire to go back to alcohol.

I know that the issues around marijuana are all political, and I don’t understand how the lawmakers can be so blind as to condone alcohol use but spurn a useful to society substance.

I am a white male, 50 years of age, married with two adolescent children. My wife and I have successful careers in different fields.

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