Monthly Archives: November 2023

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Marijuana update

https://newsroom.heart.org/news/marijuana-use-linked-with-increased-risk-of-heart-attack-heart-failure

Marijuana is still illegal at the federal level, but some states have legalized it. I agree with legalization but I don’t think of it as benign or safe at all. It’s clear that it can be addictive. A study of teens (with parental consent and where they paid the teens to try to quit for a month) showed that the teens that smoked daily had real trouble stopping, even when quite motivated. The U of WA Pain and Addiction telemedecine said that about half of daily users have “overuse syndrome” and have trouble quitting.

I worked with two people who were trying to quit. The big issues for them in quitting were insomnia and anxiety. Marijuana can suppress both anxiety and help with sleep. However, our brains do not really like that sort of daily interference. The neurons can remove receptors from the cell walls if they are feeling overwhelmed. It is like trying to listen to music with ear plugs. You turn the music up. The drug is the ear plug: when the earplugs are gone, the music is way too loud. We can’t really “turn the music down”, so it is not much fun letting the neurons recover.

With the edibles and THC vs the other one, it’s even more confusing. I had many patients taking edibles or tinctures to sleep. Some said, “Oh, it’s CBD, so it doesn’t make me high. So it is not addictive.” We do not know it that is true. With opioids, people can have opioid overuse syndrome without ever getting high, just from being on pain medicine as directed. And marijuana does not have only CBD and THC. There are over 300 different cannabinoids in the plants, and CBD and THC are just two of them. I have no idea if the edibles and tinctures have the other 298 or more and what they do to the cannibinoid receptors in our brains alone or in combination.

I don’t want to have any overuse syndrome: alcohol, opioids, gambling, marijuana, whatever. I know I can get off caffeine in 24 hours, though it involves an awful headache. I am nearly off coffee now, because my body only likes coffee when I have pneumonia. I quit coffee from 2014 to 2021 and now am quitting again.

The two studies in the article look at people who do not smoke tobacco and who are using marijuana. They are seeing an significant increase in heart disease, heart attacks, sudden death and congestive heart failure. Congestive heart failure is pump failure, where the heart does not pump correctly. This is a major problem, as you might guess.

Be careful out there.

I took the photograph at Fort Worden last week on a day where both the wind and the tide were howling.

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Car situation

What did happen in my situation?

I am worried that a car will come around the corner and hit the car partway in the street. Plus, what if there is a medical situation? A heart attack, or drugs, or alcohol, or a seizure? I want help. I call 911. The dispatcher asks for the license plate and if I can see anyone inside. I give her the plate, but the car is fogged up, so I can’t see inside. This does make it more likely that someone is alive inside, but they could still be ill.

I wait, but I am anxious. I text my neighbor and ask if he will come back me up while I bang on the car. He comes out, but the police have just arrived. We wave and go back inside. I do peek out. There is a fairly young man and a dog, who get out of the car. He can walk without difficulty. They don’t move the car. The policeman leaves, then calls me. He says that the person is having an allergic reaction and is waiting to move his car until he can see. The car will be gone by the afternoon.

“Oh, thank you!” I say. “Can I take him coffee?”

“That would be nice.”

I go out and ask if he wants coffee. He does. I take him a cup and he leaves it on my steps. The car is gone later, so I hope he is much better. It’s lucky that he is on our side street rather than the faster main one. More chance of an accident there.

I did feel like a little old lady complaining about a strange car, but I was worrying about something medical more than a stranger. And with the possibility of alcohol or methamphetamines or opioids, I want help. We had an overdose death in our hospital parking lot within the last few years and our police have nalaxone to reverse opioids. I am very glad that it was not an overdose.

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For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: situation.

The photograph is my 1986 Honda Civic, not the car in the story.

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Under where?

Under the hazelnut tree. A squirrel alerted me to ripe hazelnuts this year and I picked all I could. Yum! Thank you, squirrel!

I have to watch Sol Duc when I am not holding the leash. She will sit for a long time and then suddenly trot off somewhere else. She has favorite spots where she can plot to catch birds.

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: underwear! I thought about using this photograph, but I am job hunting. It might not be the best choice for now.