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This is the hardest thing I have found getting patients off of.
Any techniques or meds that are helpful?
Any techniques or meds that are helpful?
Not a toke of evidence.Naltrexone?
This is the hardest thing I have found getting patients off of.
Any techniques or meds that are helpful?
My experience has been more that certain people slide into addiction, whether it's benzos, opiates, cannabis, etc. It may be that certain individuals are less prone to addiction and can utilize the beneficial aspects of a substance without slipping into chronic, compulsive use. I have certainly seen patients smoking 2 grams of marijuana a day who find it extremely disruptive to their lives and mental health, and they can't quit anytime they want. Just like I know people who have 2 beers on Friday to 'relax' and this causes them no problems.I've read in the benzo communities that people who use gabapentin or pregabalin to help get off benzos sometimes have a hard time getting off those, as well (though not as hard as getting off the benzos). I would wonder if an intervention like gabapentin is possibly just as "addictive" as marijuana (I use addictive in quotation marks not to be facetious but because I really don't know if either of those is in any official capacity considered addictive). I can say from personal experience that I went to a very high stress college, from which I had to do a medical withdrawal, and many years later I found out that some of the students I knew were using marijuana to get through the stress. They're all very high-functioning, successful adults now. Of course that's only anecdotal, but I can also say anecdotally that it seemed to do them more good and less harm than the interventions that were used on me (Klonopin and Ativan).
Chronically observantI see what you did there.....
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Psychotherapy: any of the evidence-based modality for substance abuse will do. Particularly factor in the unique challenges that come with social acceptance of a drug with addiction/abuse potential (e.g.: folks will often get more social support when quitting alcohol or nicotine than cannabis).
Pharmacotherapy: I've used gabapentin before, particularly in patients who have underlying anxiety anyway (very common in folks who smoke MJ to point of addiction). I've also been using NAC for a little while now, particularly in young adults.
This is the hardest thing I have found getting patients off of.
Any techniques or meds that are helpful?
The last patient I got who was on fish oil ended up needing an antipsychotic and had two inpatient hospitalizations...Fish oil was not enough..This post is evidence as to something that I've found to be a significant trend and it is very upsetting. This is not against anyone on this thread because I too have my own problems that can be pointed to me.
The medical education curriculum is heavy biased towards FDA approved meds and commercialization.
What am I talking about?
N-Acetylcysteine has good data showing it helps one go off marijuana. There are faults with the study, but it is a very good study w/ over 100 people and it was double-blinded.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22706327
This IMHO should start a new trend among physicians to consider N-Acetylcysteine for the treatment of cannabis abuse but 1-there's no pharm company that will profit off of this so they're not sending drug reps to us 2-how many practicing clinicians actually read journals? I'm not talking about people on this forum or in academia, I'm talking doctor in the community? I've rarely ever had a conversation with one where they could point to a recent journal study.
It is the only pharmaceutical agent I know of that could have a benefit here. Another issue is this same agent could help in mental illness across the board but again, no pharm company will push it because it's available OTC.
Of course there's other things too such as motivational interviewing, making sure the person doesn't have a comorbid mental illness that the cannabis could be relieving (e.g. pain disorder, an anxiety disorder, etc).
While we're on the topic, I recommend everyone here start looking into SAM-E for depression and joint related pain, milk thistle for liver diseases, SAD lamps for SAD, Vitamin D for autoimmune/cancer/depression/psychosis, and fish oil for mental illness. All of these have tremendous amounts of data supporting their use but few psychiatrists are utilizing them, some more than others but in the case of Vit D and fish oil the price and risk factor are almost non-existent, pushing that even weak to moderate data should factor in their use.
The last patient I got who was on fish oil ended up needing an antipsychotic and had two inpatient hospitalizations...Fish oil was not enough..
But I do see the point of your posting.
Vitamin D and fish oil are not harmless. Vitamin D increases serum calcium, and there was at least one study linking fish oil to prostate cancer (I don't think this relation is clear yet, but certainly needs investigation).but in the case of Vit D and fish oil the price and risk factor are almost non-existent, pushing that even weak to moderate data should factor in their use.
Thank you all for your comments. What I have noticed is that all of their friends smoke mj too so they feel ostracized for the decreased substance use just like you said...
This is the hardest thing I have found getting patients off of.
Any techniques or meds that are helpful?
If they have something like ADHD and take a stimulant for it, you could mandate monthly drug tests. I remember reading that people with ADHD are more likely to smoke marijuanna. If the patient has it, they would not want to give up their stimulants once they try them. For people with ADHD, stimulants are life-changing medicine. As a requirement of the stimulant prescription, make them take a drug test and be clean every month. Two birds with one stone, because you can (for the most part) verify they are using the stimulants properly.
Believe it or not, that method is very effective and should be utilized much more often. The problem is many people do not want to rx a schedule II substance to people with a history of drug abuse. I think it should still be considered.
Another physician has prescribed this patient stimulants but it made him too jittery. It's a lot more anxiety with him than anything else.
D-amp produces less anxiety than mixed salts (adderall). Dexedrine. In fact, d-amp has a calming effect on a lot of people. I wouldn't give up yet because if you find a stimulant he likes, he won't want to keep smoking marijuana. Was he smoking marijuana with the stimulant? That could definitely cause bad anxiety.
I don't think giving him a benzo would benefit him. While you could mandate drug tests with that, the benzo addiction would be harmful in the long run. Probably worse than the marijuanna.
Anxiety can have a lot of causes. Dietary issues, gastrointestinal issues, sinus issues, toxins etc.. maybe look into that stuff... At least he is not using liquor.
There are a lot of nootropics and prescription drugs that help with anxiety but is the issue his anxiety or that he simply doesn't want to stop smoking marijuana? If he is set, in his mind, on continuing to smoke it (regardless of what he is telling you), there is nothing you can do if you can't find a way to mandate drug tests.
He has been seeking benzos from many other docs. I'm starting to cut off his supplies and he is pissed.
You can't really mandate drug tests for benzos anyways because there are legal ones he can order online. I'm out of ideas. As he cuts back on the benzos he is going to get rebound anxiety and smoke more.
As a physician, I can mandate any drug tests for anything I want to for patients under my care.
However, you do make a great point regarding the rebound anxiety.
Poor coping skills... etc.D-amp produces less anxiety than mixed salts (adderall). Dexedrine. In fact, d-amp has a calming effect on a lot of people. I wouldn't give up yet because if you find a stimulant he likes, he won't want to keep smoking marijuana. Was he smoking marijuana with the stimulant? That could definitely cause bad anxiety.
I don't think giving him a benzo would benefit him. While you could mandate drug tests with that, the benzo addiction would be harmful in the long run. Probably worse than the marijuanna.
Anxiety can have a lot of causes. Dietary issues, gastrointestinal issues, sinus issues, toxins etc.. maybe look into that stuff... At least he is not using liquor.
There are a lot of nootropics and prescription drugs that help with anxiety but is the issue his anxiety or that he simply doesn't want to stop smoking marijuana? If he is set, in his mind, on continuing to smoke it (regardless of what he is telling you), there is nothing you can do if you can't find a way to mandate drug tests.
Sorry, whopper, I may be missing something here, but several of us mentioned NAC specifically for THC withdrawal symptoms. I'm not clear what you're pointing to?This post is evidence as to something that I've found to be a significant trend and it is very upsetting. This is not against anyone on this thread because I too have my own problems that can be pointed to me.
The medical education curriculum is heavy biased towards FDA approved meds and commercialization.
What am I talking about?
N-Acetylcysteine has good data showing it helps one go off marijuana.
I hope this is not taking away from the thread, I will move it if it is, but I am curious about the perception of marijuana from practicing psychiatrists. Anyone here seen the recent documentary The Culture High? It features several psychiatrists including addiction psychiatry on the accuracy (or rather, inaccuracy) of our views on marijuana especially compared to the psychotropics currently used.
This post is evidence as to something that I've found to be a significant trend and it is very upsetting. This is not against anyone on this thread because I too have my own problems that can be pointed to me.
The medical education curriculum is heavy biased towards FDA approved meds and commercialization.
What am I talking about?
N-Acetylcysteine has good data showing it helps one go off marijuana. There are faults with the study, but it is a very good study w/ over 100 people and it was double-blinded.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22706327
This IMHO should start a new trend among physicians to consider N-Acetylcysteine for the treatment of cannabis abuse but 1-there's no pharm company that will profit off of this so they're not sending drug reps to us 2-how many practicing clinicians actually read journals? I'm not talking about people on this forum or in academia, I'm talking doctor in the community? I've rarely ever had a conversation with one where they could point to a recent journal study.
It is the only pharmaceutical agent I know of that could have a benefit here. Another issue is this same agent could help in mental illness across the board but again, no pharm company will push it because it's available OTC.
Of course there's other things too such as motivational interviewing, making sure the person doesn't have a comorbid mental illness that the cannabis could be relieving (e.g. pain disorder, an anxiety disorder, etc).
While we're on the topic, I recommend everyone here start looking into SAM-E for depression and joint related pain, milk thistle for liver diseases, SAD lamps for SAD, Vitamin D for autoimmune/cancer/depression/psychosis, and fish oil for mental illness. All of these have tremendous amounts of data supporting their use but few psychiatrists are utilizing them, some more than others but in the case of Vit D and fish oil the price and risk factor are almost non-existent, pushing that even weak to moderate data should factor in their use.
Sanjay Gupta also gets paid millions per year by CNN and will do whatever the producers want to keep the cash coming in."Doc, Sanjay Gupta has a lecture online about marijuana...he totally saw the light...and he is a well respected neurosurgeon...."
Sanjay Gupta also gets paid millions per year by CNN and will do whatever the producers want to keep the cash coming in.
When I run into situations where a patient has chronic depression or anxiety, smokes marijuana on a daily basis, and despite having spoken to them about the possibility that their chronic use could be maintaining their depression they remain pre-contemplative about quitting, I say something like, "So I just want us both to be clear - what you are saying is that right now your depression (or anxiety) is not enough of a priority to you for you to be willing to try stopping marijuana for 2-3 months in order to find out if it could help your mood or anxiety improve, is that correct?"
Then, each time we try a new antidepressant, I couch expectations by saying, "I'm willing to continue trying to help you with your depression with medications. But remember, to whatever extent marijuana is maintaining your anxiety and depression, it doesn't really matter what antidepressant we try, and we won't really get a sense of how effective the medication could be as long as you continue using."
I find that some patients, after several months, come to a position where they either are willing to try stopping or else already have.
The last patient I got who was on fish oil ended up needing an antipsychotic and had two inpatient hospitalizations...Fish oil was not enough..
Some cases of marijuana induced psychosis. At least as best as I can tell. Usually people in their early 20's smoking hash oil.Anyone here from a newly legalized area? I'd love to hear what they are seeing since laws changed.
Anyone here from a newly legalized area? I'd love to hear what they are seeing since laws changed.