I’m taking anti depression medication (celexa, & Bupropion) for couple of months now. I also have pain in my joints that I have been taking pain medication with little improvements. Now I was thinking of using alternative relief like medical marijuana. Would I have to stop taking my other medications in order to use it?
2006-12-28 08:35:04 · 6 answers · asked by chorsad 1 in Health ➔ Other - Health
Only a doctor can answer that question. It is unwise to stop those kind of medicines cold turkey without a doctors help anyway. Medical marijuana has many potential beneficial outcomes, but its not used enough on a widespread basis to know how it might interact with other medications.
**JENN
2006-12-28 08:43:03 · answer #1 · answered by Air Head 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
My partner suffers from trigeminal neuralgia, an extrmely painful condition related to Multiple Sclerosis. You don't say what your diagnosis is, or whether you actualy suffer from depression, but my partner takes strong antidepressants and an anti convulsive, (both prescribed by the pain clinic at our local hospital) Not because he suffers from any of the conditions they were designed for but because the side effects of these drugs seem to provide some relief. (Ordinary painkillers are not effective for neurological illnesses) He has also been self medicating with marijuana for a couple of years. We told the pain clinic that he had been doing this as we had the same concerns as you have. The consultant said to be careful as the dose cannot be regulated if you are 'doing it yourself' but that if it helped, to go ahead and he wouldn't criticise. He has since told us that there is a cannabis based painkiller for such conditions being developed at the moment that can be taken sublingually (you spray it under your tongue like the glycerol trinitrate that is prescribed for angina) We hope to start with this as as soon as it becomes available in a few months. I think that you should be honest with your doctor as the medical profession is well aware of the pain relieving benefit of marijuana and are as eager to make it available in a safe way as the people who might benefit are. If there is a conflict between your prescribed drugs and the marijuana, then he may, as he did for my partner, change the prescribed drug so that he can take the marijuana, even though he can't yet have it legally prescribed. You will be surprised at how reasonable and understanding the medical profession is on this issue. Just be careful and remember that taking the unprescribed medication is not now illegal in the UK, but that you can get into trouble fo buying and selling or supplying it. You have my sympathies, pain is a difficult thing to live with and affects the whole family. If you want to contact me by email and tell me a bit more about your condition, I may be able to help with some useful websites etc. We've been coping for quite some time now and I think we've been down every road possible so we may be able to give you a bit of support. Hope I've helped.
2006-12-28 09:04:28 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Okay, this time you spelled it right. Merquina....and you meant marijuana. If you're thinking of smoking pot, speak to your prescriber as I already advised you to do. Tell your prescriber the pain med is working. There are other pain meds you can try. Your provider may not even wish to prescribe marijuana and you use it on your own, it's not "medical". Your prescriber is the only one who can tell if she or he would recommend you discontinue the antidepressants but I'm guessing that the answer will be "no" to pot and don't discontinue the Celexa and Wellbutrin.
2006-12-28 08:53:39 · answer #3 · answered by TweetyBird 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you are truly using medical marijuana you would get it form the DOCTOR!!! and they would tell you what medicine to stop taking!
2006-12-28 08:42:52 · answer #4 · answered by Wondering 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No
2006-12-28 08:42:27 · answer #5 · answered by jafman2000 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
your an idoit. of course not
2006-12-28 08:41:26 · answer #6 · answered by Ugly George Bush 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋