diabetes type 1 patient smoking marijuana

Hi, diabetes type one is very serious condition. I can understand your friend is under a lot of stress because of her situation. However, marijuana is definitely not the answer. She may think that this substance is helping her, but I believe she is wrong. Marijuana is an illegal substance so therefore there are not any valid studies that show it can help with lowering blood glucose level. You have every right to worry about her condition. I think you should try talking to her about her habit and the effects of marijuana smoking. This is a drug that alters person's state of mind. Under the influence of marijuana your friend can even endanger her health, because she might forget to take her insulin injection on time. If she refuses to listen to you, you shouldn't hesitate to talk to her parents. Believe me, it is for her own good.

Actually it is not true that marijuana does not help. It does not alter one's state of mind, nor is it habitual. You need to look at research being done. I don't have the facts on hand, but I would definitely look into otehr points of view before I went and told my 19 year old friends parents that she is smoking weed. The knee-jerk reactions to say that marijuana is bad and lump it in with hard dcrugs like heroin, etc. is really disengenuous at best. Go to your university and do some research, especially from countries where it has been researched quite a bit, like the Netherlands. BTW I have type II diabetes and I find it helps relieve the pressure off my eyes to smoke medical marijuana.

I am diabetic and have neurothapy. My doctor put me on nurontin which helps but the only thing that stops the pain is smoking marijuana. If you dont smoke marijuana and you think it is bad because the government says its bad and has made it illegal, you just dont know. It is not illegal because it is dangerous to your health or state of mind, it is illegal strictly for monetary reasons... but thats another topic.
I am just posting this to offer my advice to people who may be going through the pains of neurothapy. Marijuana really does help

i am 15 years old i was diagnosed with diabities when i was about 12.
ive been smoking weed for abut 3 years now and let me tell you, it has no effect what so ever all weed is..a plant FROM THE GROUND THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY AND MAKES YOU HUNGRY THATS ALL, ITS MEDICINE REALLY....SOO DONT WORRY JUST SMOKE IT EAT IT WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR BOAT YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE RITE...

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 just because something is outlawed doesnt make it immoral or bad. in fact the criminals are the ones who invented the law against delta 9 tetrahydracannabinol. its been used for thousands of years, no records of death, it does not cause cancer despite the scares those drug commericals try to convey. there are mircale properties to marijuana i will discuss later.

just make sure your friend uses marijuana responsibly. there is always a way to remain above the influence.

peace out

I am an eighteen year old male living in southern Ontario. I was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 13. Also I have been experimenting with cannibis for a year. I keep my blood sugars under control but when I get high I tend not to care about it. 2 months ago I was hanging out with my friends smoking pot, and my blood sugar started to go low. I felt something happening but I figured it was just the high. It must have been the lowest blood sugar I have ever had because after a while I felt like I was going to die. when this feeling came I realized what was going on and I asked my friend for a Pepsi. Then everything went black and I don't remember what happened. Later my friends would tell me that I had a seizure. THC is a great drug that releases stress and lets you look at the world through a different perspective. However diabetics need to be careful. THC tends to cause the "munchies" and can throw off your blood sugars. But refusing to eat can result in a low blood sugar which is even worse when your high. If your a diabetic and smoke pot, or you know someone who fits this, the most important thing you can do is check your blood sugars.

My husband was diagnosed with type 1 many years ago and has since suffered all of the side effects that it brings with it....the neuropathy, eye pain, pancreatic failure which brings a great deal of pain. He is unable to eat because of the pain but needs to because of the diabetes. He uses marijuana and it helps him a great deal. The government works for us and they should allow us to heal ourselves. For those who want to learn more look up Pheonix Tears on the net

the original post for this was 6 years ago but i know people "google" things they are curious about.
i have been a diabetic for 9 years, im 21, and i smoke pot.
i noticed that if i was sober for about a day [haha] and then smoke, my blood sugar always dropped as my high kicked in. which in a way corroborates with the guy that had a seizure. it kinda blends in with the effects of the weed. which, in my opinion, is wonderful, because it gives you the freedom to have a snack with out worrying about taking insulin for it. you should know how many carbs you have to eat to compensate for your blood sugar level and not make it go over, you should always measure your glucose level religiously. i suffer from minor kidney pain, dont let something like weed keep you from checking your blood sugar because the only "bad" thing about weed is that it may make you lazy if you already lack initiative. being a disciplined diabetic will insure that your body doesnt fall apart regardless if you smoke pot or not.

and as for the moral and legal aspects of weed:
i have two older siblings, 9 and 10 years older, so they went through college a long time ago, which resulted in my first hand experience with weed and people. my siblings received degrees architecture and engineering and have been expanding on their professions in those fields ever since. the fact that no one has ever overdosed on bud alone should raise some eyebrows. marijuana has been illegal for just about 70 years in the united states, under completely racist pretenses, targeting mexican migrant workers and the raising rate of mexicans that fled to the united states during and after the mexican revolution and afro americans. the widespread negative believes that a lot of people have are all from a smear campaign that has been bombarding the public with lies and scare tactics since the 1910's. and the "public" is pretty naïve and persuasive, i know it makes me sound "douchebaggy" but im a graphic/commercial arts student and a musician, so i have to know how to approach the "public". no lie.

as always, it is a good idea to use credible sources when you research medical and drug information.
thanks for your time.

your honestly a m***n diabetes causes alot of pain with constant injections and nerological damage common pot really helps the pain as well as Getting your b.g. up you fool its called munchies and the fact that most diabetics cannot drink cause alcohol screws the blood sugar up hardcore makes pot a very reasonable option its a plant it grows it should NOT be against the law its a gift from god truly. it helps anxiety depression and pain aids and cancer patients reap the benefits why shouldnt everyone. the fact that you assume that pot is evil means your ignorant to the wonderfull things that it allows you to do not every smoker is a stoner being high opens mental channels that if not high you could never have conceived you have a pure and free flow of free thought

I wish I could find some solid information on the impact of pot-smoking on type one diabetes. My son, who developed diabetes at age 5, has smoked marijuana since he was 13. He smokes at least once a day, and claims it helps control his nausea and that it prevents glaucoma. (Nobody has told him he has glaucoma, but he is afraid of it.)

His early test scores as far and intelligence and math were very high -- definitely in the upper ten percent. But at age 32 he has had more and more problems intellectually and in terms of organization and keeping on task. He almost didn't graduate from high school because of poor math scores and not completing what I thought were simple assignments in all his subjects. He has been taking college courses for 13 years and always seems to wander away from them in the middle of the semester. He is living in a really really messy disorganized house and has arguments with all of his friends. He sleeps on a very irregular schedule -- stays up all night one night and rises at five PM, and then gets up early on other days. He only seems to eat one meal a day. I really hate visiting him because his house is disgusting. He has had jobs, but often he seems to wander away from them, and now he says he can't find a job. He had a girl friend who was very very unfaithful, and they recently split up. He threatens suicide all the time, and I never know which times to take him seriously. I tried checking him into a hospital several times, but he just checks himself back out. He hasn't been checking his blood sugars -- I finally bought him another meter and he says he can't figure out how to use it.

I have two theories. One is that his marijuana habit has caused him to lose focus and also intellectual ability. The other is that repeated insulin shock has damaged his brain. I really wish it were the former, but I can't tell. People who post about using marijuana seem to be very positive about it, but my experience is that it isn't helping my son very much.

He recently found out his kidneys are now failing. I am heartbroken. He was such a sunny, intelligent kid, and now he is depressed and having trouble concentrating or passing even one course at school.

I wish somebody could give me a definitive answer on whether this is "just" pot, or whether he has permanent cognitive damage that will never heal.

Medline is no help! But surely somebody must have done population studies --

hi my name is derek i have had type 1 diabetes for a little over 23 years, been insulin dependant since i was six, i started smoking pot at the age of 13 and still do, i take pretty good care of my disease but not always have been this way, i think the pot helps, it keeps stress down, its good for the eyes, and i have had no complications, so i can't see any problems, its not hurting me and i think something would have developed if it was hard on me.

Dear Derek,

Thanks for replying. I am encouraged, because your case is so much like my son's. He did figure out how to use the meter, and actually he seems to be pretty coherent when he's not actually high. I just wish he'd spend more time trying to figure out how to solve his problems and less trying to de-stress, by whatever means.

It sounds like I'm critical of him, but I'm not. He's hung on and done his best all these years --

Thanks for your kind words.

M

As we all know, type 1 diabetes is a very serious and complicated condition.
I am 24 and was diagnosed at age 13. I have smoked since age 17. Here is the low down... Marijuana has been reported to reduce insulin resistence, help with the eyes, reduce pain, reduce stress/depression. It is listed as an acceptable condition for receiving medical marijuana. However, smoking has some side effects to consider. More than 95% of people diagnosed with diabetes become depressed, and while smoking may help reduce that stress/depression it can also become an unhealthy habit of escaping the reality of the situation. It may reduce motivation, which would be necessary for exercising, schooling, and a general healthy progression for a person (however, this is subject to debate, as I personally know quite a few people who smoke more than the average bear and are extremely driven.) at 14 years of type 1 diabetes, I have never been hospitalized and my eye site is 20/19. During the first 4 years after my diagnosed my blood sugars consistently ran 300-500. About the same time I started smoking, my blood sugars regulated, but I could not say one way or the other whether that was due to smoking or a greater responsibility/familiarity with my condition.

If you or someone you know is smoking with type 1 diabetes try to help them stay healthy and responsible while using. Dissuade them from constantly smoking to escape their misfortune, and keep them social, active, and furthering their education.

I have done research papers pertaining to the medical benefits of marijuana and its illegal status. The results basically indicate that there are many known medical benefits and very few serious harmful effects. It is a less toxic substance than asprin, which is sold everywhere over the counter. Most of the harmful effects come from the actual smoking of the plant, which can be eliminated if using a vaporizor or reduced using filtrations. The most difficulty I've had associated with marijuana use is fighting off the 'munchies', and this is a serious endeavor for diabetics. I find that most of my complications in life are due to external factors (such as society, the school system, etc), things that everyone has problems with, rather than diabetes. Diabetes makes it all more complicated, but diabetes can be blamed for these social issues. *an example would be someone who smokes and sits on the couch all day.. it may not be that they're depressed about their diabetes, but external social circumstances in general. After all, more than 50% of Americans are taking anti-anxiety or anti-depression medications, and they all do not have diabetes.

Again, keep your friends and family afloat. Do not patronize them for anything, because life is difficult for everyone and infinatly more complex for people with type 1 diabetes. Just be sure they are not smoking their troubles away, but using it responsibly for its recreational or medical purposes.

marijuana is a medical miracle and should be legalized and taxed to get america out of its recession