Still judging.... back after a break

I took a two week unscheduled break from vaping for numerous reasons. One of the main reasons was that I was attending a hospital appointment to discuss anaesthesia for my potential weight loss surgery and in my head, I didn’t want them to think I smelled of weed and think differently about me. So I guess that means that my whole ‘judge not’ thing hasn’t worked it’s way out of my brain yet.

Unfortunately, it seems to have meant that my sleep has been absolutely awful – some nights, no sleep whatsoever, other nights a couple of hours before I wake up around 5 a.m. and can’t get back to sleep. I talked to Stripes about it and she suggested I try vaping again just to see if I could get a good night’s sleep.

So Sunday, Mother’s Day in the UK, I decided I would give it a go. I had what smelled like Big Narstie Moroccan Peaches in my Mighty that had been lightly vaped, so I decided to finish the bowl.

No word of a lie, within ten minutes I was out for the count and I didn’t wake up until around 7 a.m. and I was still high. I vaguely remember having a chat with Stripes and having to force myself to concentrate because otherwise I was speaking so fast I felt like I was incomprehensible. Then last night, I decided to see how the Sourdough would help. On the one hand, I was awake from 5 a.m. again and unable to get back to sleep. On the other hand, I did go to sleep just before 10.30 p.m. so that was nearly 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep so I can’t really complain.

I think I need to take it slow and try not to fall too deeply into it again. Partly because, as I think I mentioned before, my PIP is up for renewal and if I don’t get it again, I won’t be able to afford a lot of the Medicinal cannabis so I don’t want to get to the stage where I’m completely dependent on it in order to sleep. I also decided not to order any this month, which my wallet is thanking me for because £200 isn’t a small amount of money.

I guess if push comes to shove, I could ask Stripes to use the AVB to make brownies or cookies and use those to get to sleep? That way I can still use it but not have to worry too much about buying so much of it. Something to think about, although then I’d have to think about brownies vs cookies and what that might do to my weight loss efforts. Hmm.

Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged Thyself

High thoughts:

'Sophia said concussion would be fun'

Over the last few weeks, specifically since beginning to use semaglutide, I have found that I am judging myself for my useage of medicinal cannabis. It was like I’d forgotten ‘why’ I was using it – predominantly to handle pain relief for my arthritis – and somehow decided I was spending money unnecessarily just to chase the high.

I also felt like I was hiding behind the marijuana from life and that I spent all of my time high. That’s absolutely not the case and I’m not sure why I felt like I needed to be in pain. If I had a headache, I wouldn’t hesitate to take ibuprofen or something like that; I don’t hesitate to take the large handful of pills every morning and evening: antidepressants, pain relief, vitamins, gabapentin, etc. The only difference is the perception of marijuana – my own included.

I don’t need to prove to people that I’m in pain. I don’t have to justify my use of MC to anyone. I’ve done all of the correct things in terms of meeting the assigned practioners and physicians, etc. A bit like the whole thing surrounding using semaglutide like Ozempic and Trulicity – lots of people think it’s cheating or wrong, taking the easy route, etc without considering the side effects and how those drugs work and why they work.

It’s also difficult because casual drug use is not the norm in my family. It’s not something that’s encouraged or generally accepted. It was bad enough that I smoked cigarettes for so long, let alone using marijuana. It doesn’t matter that I’m vaping it rather than smoking joints; that I’m getting it from a reputable pharmacist rather than the black market; that I’m following medical advice. It’s just not considered the norm – it’s out of people’s experience so they distrust and judge it. Sometimes that messes with my head and that’s not even taking into account just how much I’m spending on it every month.

I use my PIP to pay for it and that it up for renewal this May. If I don’t get it again, then obviously the MC will be the first thing to be cut from the budget. But that doesn’t change the fact that it makes a huge difference to my pain levels and how much it has helped me.

And in the meantime, I’ll stock up on the strains that help me and keep it going for as long as it helps me.

I feel in a good position to choose my current favourite strains now and will try to do a secondary review of each of them. At the moment, I would say my go-to strains are Cannatonic for the daytime, with Big Narstie and Sourdough for night-time/going to sleep.

Strains Review ⟫ Aurora Pedanios Sourdough ⟫ February 2024

Aurora Sourdough ⟫ 29% THC

Well, I’d read a lot about Sourdough but couldn’t get hold of it until now.

First time trying it was like being hit by a truck. A gentle truck, but a truck nevertheless. A soft glow around my knees, much less aching all over, and muffled brain noise. I would have slid into sleep with no effort whatsoever if my brain hadn’t suddenly decided to start firing on all cylinders, bouncing from plot bunnies for my latest fanfiction to plans for things to do around the house. I fell asleep whilst still plotting.

The second time was very similar – enough ‘sense’ left to take my night time meds, brush my teeth, brain whirling with ideas and then out like a light.

I can very much understand why its’ so popular – it causes a lovely lightness, with very little taste or aftertaste, long lasting effects and very relaxing.

Two side effects I wasn’t expecting were the munchies and an awakening of the libido. The munchies are not awful – I can resist them – and I just need to make sure I have a banana or yoghurt to hand. As for the other, I hadn’t even realised how low my libido had gotten until this and that’s all I’ll say about that!

Mamedica Repeat Prescription ⟫ Part 2

No, I hadn’t forgotten that I was going to do this – it has simply taken 9 days for my prescription to arrive. 8th February, I received the emailed invoice from Mamedica asking for payment. I had seen on reddit that some people were waiting so I assumed I was just one of those people.

Because Grim was here and she banks with one of the banks accepted by the Crezco system the dispensary use, I asked her to pay the invoice and transferred the money to her. So, we paid on 8th February and I waited to hear back from them – the pharmacy are meant to send you notification that your order has been processed but I’m going to be honest and say that this has never happened for me. It didn’t happen this time either.

This morning (13th February) I get an email from Royal Mail saying that my order from Mamedica will arrive by 1 pm. That’s literally the only notice I received. Fortunately, I didn’t have any appointments and Stripes was here to answer the door. So I am the proud recipient of 10 gm of Sourdough, 10 gm or Equiposa and 10 gm of Big Narstie. (I’ve never had the Sourdough so will try to do a review when I’ve tried it a couple of times.)

I believe that their terms and conditions state that you will receive your order within five working days of payment being received, which I think gives a skewed idea of the timelines involved. Some people have been very lucky and once they’ve placed their order, things move quickly but I do know that there are people who are waiting quite a bit longer. I think I am on the outskirts – 13 days from placing the order to receiving it. By the time the order has been received, it’s almost time to make the next repeat prescription which just seems a bit ridiculous to me.

I can’t complain – after all, I haven’t had to leave the house for it or go through the black market – but it does put into perspective that this isn’t a simple process even once you’ve been doing it for a year. And that doesn’t even take into account what delays might have been caused if any of the items I ordered were out of stock. Mamedica have proven themselves to be not brilliant at keeping the customer informed!

Mamedica Repeat Prescription

It’s that time of month again when I receive an email from Mamedica asking me if I need to renew my prescription. Having been through a few of these now, I think I’ve got an idea of how it works and how long it takes.

From the initial email, I use the Mamedica portal to go to the patient section at the top and choose repeat prescription. You need to state if you are doing a repeat, need a new appointment with one of the clinicians and if you are making a change to the amount or the specific product.

Then, from the drop-down boxes, you choose the product you want and how much. In the beginning, I found it confusing as there are just products listed by manufacturer, name and potency – I normally go to medbud.wiki but at the moment, it keeps coming back as not giving the correct handshake so I can’t link it here. Once you’ve chosen the things that you want, you have to confirm that you are aware that if you choose substitutions that they might call you to discuss them, make sure you know the amount you are going to be charged then click submit. (Note that at no time does the Mamedica portal tell you if something is out of stock)

In this instance, I sent the repeat prescription request off on Thursday 1st February.

The next step is for the (physical) prescription to go through to the pharmacy who will then send the invoice. They use a system called Crezco which doesn’t accept my bank, so once I have received the invoice, I have to contact the dispensary and request a different method of payment. Once this comes through, I pay the invoice and wait. What should happen next is that they mark the payment as received (this doesn’t currently happen automatically if you do not use Crezco), then if all of the items are in stock, they get sent out via Royal Mail.

So far, I haven’t ever received a notification from Mamedica that my order has been despatched – instead, I receive an email from Royal Mail letting me know that my delivery is due. All being well, it’s delivered and that’s all sorted for the next month.

Last month was a whole thing whereby all of the items I had requested were out of stock and I only found this out because I called to find out what the delay in receiving my order was. I then spent a chunk of time on the phone with a member of their staff who could tell me then and there what was in stock at that time. It’s important to note that it’s about what’s in stock at that time because by the time the replacement script has been created and sent to the pharmacy, any of these items could become out of stock. It would appear that the system is strictly first come, first served which sucks a little when you’re at the mercy of the person responsible for sending off your prescription and the dispensary can only do it from the physical copy – they can’t do it from an emailed copy of the prescription.

All in all, last time it took approximately two weeks to sort out from the time of placing my repeat prescription to receiving my order. I’ll try to update this with how things go this month.

Strains Review ⟫ Gelato ⟫ January 2024

LOT 420 GLT Gelato33 ⟫ Very High THC

I admit, I wasn’t sure about getting this one. I’d seen a few posts and reviews on Reddit which were mixed and it just wasn’t on my radar. However, the whole ‘thing’ with Mamedica where everything I ordered and paid for was out of stock meant I had to close my eyes and pick something! So, the Gelato.

It’s got a bit of a slow burn kick to it. It’s a slow, steady relaxing of all of your muscles that creeps up on you until you’re locked and kinda zoned out. Activities such as reading and watcing TV are fine as long as it’s not something you need to retain – light entertainment only.

The mellow lasts for a good couple of hours and is an all around pleasant experience. Given the choice at this point in time, I’d still probably choose the Powdered Donuts but the Gelato is a pretty good substitute and I’m glad I tried it.

Strains Review ⟫ Curaleaf Cannatonic

Curaleaf Cannatonic ⟫ 12% THC 9% CBD ⟫ Hybrid Flower

Oh this packs a punch! I chose it for my daytime strain as the Equiposa was out of stock, as was the Tilray Warlock that I have tried in the past. I was wary due to the THC level but decided it was the best I was going to do so I should give it a go.

First of all, from the very first inhale, this one gives you such a glow it’s actually a little scary. I’m handling some anxiety-inducing situations at the moment (doctor stuff and children-related stuff) and the sudden absence of the weight that is constantly on my chest was disconcerting. It’s very easy to feel like everything is slowing down whilst you’re actually moving/talking quite fast, which proved disconcerting to my daughters on at least two occasions. It definitely handles the pain aspect of things, but the brain-whirl it induces makes me wonder if it’s an appropriate strain for the daytime.

To be fair, I’m writing this having vaped a bowl and I feel that I am being coherent. Possibly a little verbose (editing B00K420 might have to get involved after the posting of this one) but nevertheless, I’m making sense. Perhaps I just need more exposure to it so that its’ effects are blunted? I think I will try to update this review as I continue to use this one.

I'll also try to upload a photograph of what this looks like - I have decanted it into a jar with a boveda pack as it originally came in a pouch which is far too easy to lose under my bed!