Moin,
It's one of those things with the radio. It repeats pretty much everything all the time.
Now the vernacular is only too happy to claim that there are so many good musical, factual or other editorial alternatives that could be broadcast. Sure you could, but any station that does hasn't made it into the mainstream. But if you listen to the radio (okay, or Spotify or YouTube) all day and all night, like I do, you really just couldn't avoid the political debate about legalising cannabis in the news over the past few days.
That reminds me of my school days. I was allowed to vote myself for the first time then. Local elections. Exciting. As if anyone would take a serious look at their possible district councillors. Do you know - hand on heart - your current district administrator and his key points paper on his election promises? I voted for the FDP. Because I thought it was cool that they wanted to legalise cannabis. That was 25 years ago. Since then - typically German - nothing useful has happened. That's supposed to change now. Let's wait and see. We will see what will happen. By the time this article goes online - for the protection of all the people involved, I'm separating the date of the article from the date of reality - you'll most likely be smarter.
Of course, I don't just think back to my school days. Today I smoke weed for medical reasons. So, too. Wink smiley. Actually, not smoking, but inhaling through a cannabis vaporiser.
For me, it's part of everyday life. Today I smoked for the first time in the morning at about 10 o'clock. It actually helps me immensely. By vaporising (vaporising) medicinal cannabis, I have practically no cramps at all anymore, which I had to suffer at least daily before. That was a real problem at the time. Not a single fucking night went by that I didn't have cramps. Usually during the evening for the first time, then just before falling asleep. If it went really badly, even during sleep. Despite the appropriate medication, I couldn't really get a grip on it.
I had similar problems with the fasciculations that are particularly typical for ALS. These are practically spastic, involuntarily controllable contractions of the muscles. It looks pretty freaky because you can't imitate it if you try. Just as you can't imitate it, no matter how hard you try, I couldn't suppress it. The muscles are constantly in motion. In the long run, this is not only uncomfortable, but inevitably becomes a great strain. My fasciculations didn't stick to any schedule. They were present around the clock. Before getting up as well as after going to bed. At work, in the bath and in front of the television (I used to have one, now there's only one in the nurse's room). I never had any peace from these twitches. As if I wasn't already busy enough, especially in the initial months, trying to digest the diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, there is also this kind of crap that haunts me around the clock.
For far too long, we tried to get the difficulties under control with medication. It did not work. The cramps became less frequent and less severe. The fasciculations also became less. But that doesn't mean they were any less annoying. But the price for the little bit of relief seems too high to me.
- The drug that was primarily intended to attenuate the fasciculations was Apydan, an antiepileptic drug with a list of side effects, this page is not long enough for that.
- In the acute case, catadolone was taken for the cramps. A muscle relaxant whose most interesting side effect is that it makes you totally stupid in the head. No kidding, ten days of catadolone and I feel like I'm on drugs.
- In addition, painkillers and sleeping pills in different variations were used as needed.
Well. I would say that this is the way it is with the classical pharmaceutical industry. There's a tablet that might help a little. It may have some serious side effects and it's probably not cheap either, but that's all we have. And then the stoner comes around the corner and says he tried something. If I smoke regularly, it relieves everything. More than that. My cramps are completely gone. The fasciculations are contained to such an extent that I no longer feel them. Maybe a little very rarely, but then I have to concentrate very hard. They can still be measured, but you don't really see them any more. If you don't know, you definitely won't notice it.
It looks completely different when I stop smoking for three or four days. I wouldn't be me if I didn't question everything. It could all be a coincidence. Who knows, maybe something has changed in my body and I don't have cramps any more. I have to put it to the test.
And indeed, I can stand one day without it quite well. On the second day, my muscles start to get restless. That is stressful for me. On day three, it's almost unbearable. Soon everything is back to normal. The fasciculations are back in their old freshness.
In order to get an idea of how crass this actually is - both the fasciculations themselves and the fact that cannabis is the only effective therapy so far - I filmed it once. The video is a bit older. Back then I could still move my legs a bit. Well, and my hands and arms, obviously. Today I could no longer film myself. But the effect of cannabis hasn't changed. People who know me today sometimes don't believe that those are my legs on the video. As I said, as soon as I smoke weed, everything is quiet and relaxed there.
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