What’s Wrong with Feeling Good?

Let’s say that you’re having to take blood pressure medicine – every day for the rest of your life – to treat your high blood pressure, and your medicine runs out. Instead of the pharmacy automatically notifying your doctor that you need a new script, you have to personally pick up your new prescription at the doctor’s office. (Only you can pick it up.) When you arrive, you are notified that you must go to the lab, pee in a cup, and then come back for your prescription. So you go back and you’re told that you cannot have your blood pressure medicine. Why? Because you had something in your system. Perhaps it was a double patty cheeseburger with bacon. Perhaps it was THC. So now you don’t have any blood pressure medicine. What does that mean? You could have a stroke and die. Is that right? Of course not. It probably seems ridiculous to you. It should seem ridiculous, because it is. We could take the same situation and apply it to cholesterol medicine, or any medicine that you rely on to keep yourself alive.

Having fibromyalgia and suffering from chronic pain shouldn’t be treated any differently than prescribing medication for your high blood pressure; yet we are subjected to random drug tests in order to receive our prescriptions for pain medication.

The imaginary situation I described? That’s exactly what we with chronic pain have to do. And that’s just not right. What happens to me when I don’t have any pain medication? Well, I’ve had to mete out about ten pills over the last three weeks, which means I’ve gone days without any pain relief. It’s been a terrible, excrutiating time for me. I’m now suffering a fibromyalgia flare because of no pain medication, and no marijuana, which acted as my natural sleep aid. Now I have insomnia and cannot get to sleep.

Remember, marijuana is a natural plant, which has been on our planet Earth for thousands and thousands of years. Who knows, maybe millions. And for over 4,000 years marijuana was used as a therapeutic medicine for all types of ailments. So I’ve got a double whammy right now – I cannot use marijuana in order to pass a drug test. I’ve been marijuana free for 18 days now and still test positive for THC, which makes me even angrier because I HAVEN’T USED MARIJUANA but I’ll test positive for it. And then I’ll be denied any further pain medication. I had to sign a drug contract! Do you have to sign a contract for medicine that you take daily? Of course not! So how is this the slightest bit fair?

That’s not all. Without that marijuana as my natural sleep aid, I cannot get to sleep at night. This is probably the worst side effect, and the absolute worse scenario for a fibromyalgia sufferer. We never reach that deep, deep stage of sleep, so our muscles never relax. Last night, I got less than four hours of sleep. The night before was about the same. Imagine this happening every night. Today I can barely function. I cannot just call out of work because I’m tired. I have very important work to do, but my head is full of “fog.” This is what it feels like on a “fibro flare.” Your ENTIRE BODY screams at you, and the pressure points and in my case, neck and shoulders, scream in agony CONSTANTLY. There isn’t one moment that I am pain free. And I might just face the situation where I run out of pills (I have ONLY TWO), and if I don’t pass that drug test, I don’t get my prescription, which means I suffer even more.

Marijuana is a plant. It is natural. It grows wild. It’s just like any other plant. But it’s therapeutic. It’s ALREADY been proven – thousands and thousands of years ago – that it IS therapeutic. So why in the heck aren’t we using it now? Why can’t I use it to help me sleep, to help my appetite (which I have none now), to help lower my blood pressure, to ensure that I don’t develop glaucoma like my mother and grandmother, it helps fight cancer (which my dad and other grandmother died from), it helps ease my pain, and so what if it makes me feel good?

What’s wrong with feeling good? Why is marijuana illegal? Because it makes us feel good. Again, I ask, what’s wrong if I want to feel good from using a plant?

Why do folks drink alcohol? Because it makes them feel good. But that’s legal. Why do folks smoke cigarettes, one of the most proven addicting substances? Because it makes them feel good. But that’s legal too. Why do folks drink coffee? Because it helps stimulate them. It makes you feel good. But that’s legal. But yet you cannot use marijuana, which isn’t addictive, nor is it debilitating like alcohol. But it makes you feel good.

It’s high time we got the truth out about marijuana. It’s a plant, it’s natural, and there’s absolutely no reason why a person shouldn’t be allowed to feel good.

And it’s a downright shame to make me suffer even more because I used a natural plant to help relieve my chronic pain. Gosh, I’m angry.

And I’m going to spread the truth.

Please help. Share this post – and any other blog post – that talks about this subject. Join me on twitter, @chronic_pain. You wouldn’t believe the number of people who feel the same way.

If you want change, you have to BE the change. Let’s make our voices HEARD!