Reader’s Column: Are You a Stress Shooter? Maybe this is the solution for you!

Marcel de Graaf

Yesterday, 14:00

Do you ever smoke a joint and do it mainly because it makes you feel more relaxed and easier to deal with? You are not alone, I can tell you.

I have been smoking for years, from 15 to almost forty-five years. It seemed like a godsend in a world that gave me so much stress and sometimes felt so difficult. I felt more comfortable in the groups of people I interacted with, I missed things that sometimes made me sober for an eternity, and I could hold out in the midst of severe depression. In short, I worked best by smoking a joint every now and then. I was obviously a little sleepy and lazy the next morning and somehow knew it wasn’t healthy, but the benefits clearly outweighed the drawbacks.

pros and cons

For me, smoking weed had clearly become a survival strategy; something I needed to be able to participate in society. If I didn’t light up a joint every now and then, the pressure would get to the point where I went crazy and even got sick. Stress is also very unhealthy.

Well, it more or less worked. I noticed that I was chaotic and had trouble working in a structured way, being on time or getting things done, but I thought it was. After all, every bird sings what it’s called, right?

But yes, smoking for years, even if it’s just one joint a day or every other day, obviously has consequences in the end. I felt it in my heart, in my lungs and eventually in my brain too. Sometimes, after years of smoking weed, your brain can suddenly stop working when you get high. Then you try to say something, but your head stays empty and sometimes it really only takes ten seconds or more for your brain to get going again. It was pretty scary the first time it happened. But yeah, you can’t just break a 20+ year pattern. And so I kept smoking weed and more and more often I found my brain stopped working. Combined with the other health problems, this was troubling to me. I regularly thought about quitting smoking altogether and did it a few times, but I always went back because I needed it. Until one day …

A happy accident

About three years ago I was emptying the dishwasher. I had left one of the kitchen cabinets above the counter open for quick storage. But I had forgotten about it for a while, after putting away a few pots and I got up at full speed. The blow my head made against the cupboard door was so strong that the cups and mugs fell into it … And this was a kitchen cupboard that is usually literally attached to the wall.

Consequence? A severe concussion, which left me out of circulation for at least two months and not even able to get out. The bright light gave me such excruciating pain that I fled in like a vampire. That really sucks.

But there was also an unexpected positive side effect: I could no longer smoke weed. When I tried to smoke a joint it felt like my head exploded, so I was forced to quit for two months.

During those two months not only did I feel recovering from the concussion, but the rest of my body became healthier and eventually, when I was able to smoke weed again, I didn’t want to do it again. Thus, in my case, the emergency has become a great virtue.

But why?

Obviously it was great for me to quit smoking weed. I was quite proud of it. Yet there were times when I felt my old grievances come back: tension, depression, uncomfortable social situations and nervous feelings. These were difficult times at times, but I persevered. However, there was a real possibility that at some point I would, like so many times before, succumb to my desire to be able to turn off all those things for a while. Because let’s be honest: Nobody wants to feel depressed or feel uncomfortable, nervous, or extremely tense.

After a difficult winter with moments of temptation, I happened to come across a Facebook video of a woman describing her weekend with ADHD. I had been diagnosed with autism a few years earlier (with which I had apparently been walking around for about forty years without knowing it), but when I saw that video I recognized a lot: like a headless chicken running in I go around, ten things at a time, trying to do and not finish them all completely, constantly distracting, no sense of time, great rush in your head.

I thought to myself, “Is this how a person with ADHD feels? This is how I always feel!” I discussed this with my mental health doctor, who had me screened for ADHD and yes: I have ADHD. Then I started taking methylphenidate (better known as Ritalin) and a world opened up for me. completely new.

Snow before the sun

Most of my remaining depressive symptoms, which I still suffered fairly regularly despite the antidepressants, disappeared like snow in the sun and my overall mood improved enormously. Moreover, since then I have been much more motivated, I finish my work and I manage to introduce structures where there was always chaos.

Before, I later remembered, everything I did felt like I was wading in a swamp while doing it: it was slower, I could never concentrate on the task because I was distracted by the environment and everything was much more tiring. Often after a while I had something in my head like: “Are you almost ready ?!” And sometimes I left things unfinished because I was just starting to get tired (maybe physically and mentally).

Nowadays I finish almost all jobs at once, constantly marvel at all the things I try and successfully complete and see the future with unprecedented positivity. It really is a difference between night and day.

Now I finally know why I thought I needed hash and weed all these years. And now I also know that there are much better alternatives for some people.

customization

So … If you recognize yourself in my story or part of it; Get screened for ADHD and ask about the possibilities of getting medications from a psychiatrist. There’s a real chance that health insurance won’t cover the full cost of ADHD medications, but whatever you have to pay extra – it’s totally worth it.

Well, I must say that the medications in this area are absolutely tailored and the results can vary from person to person. Some people don’t respond well to Ritalin and feel flattened, have lost their appetite, or have other unwanted side effects.

For those people, there are dexamphetamine and other drugs that can have the desired effect, but you often have to pay extra for these too. Anyway; the chance to become the best version of yourself that you can be in a healthy way … Isn’t that almost priceless?

Of course not everyone who smokes weed has ADHD and not everyone can be helped with medication, but if after reading these words you think “Hey, me too!”, Put that joint down and make an appointment with health care. mental health or psychiatrist And ask if you don’t also have ADHD. Who knows, a better and healthier life is just a pill away. Good luck!

From ADHD to the best.