Real Patient Voices: Never Give Up

Hello and welcome back to ‘Real Patient Voices: Medical Cannabis and Me’.

This week, we’ve celebrated Never Give Up Day, an international awareness campaign that promotes keeping a positive mindset to persevere through life’s strains and struggles. 

So, to continue our series sharing patient voices about medical cannabis treatments, we felt it’s only fitting for us to share insights from some of our resilient ‘Releafians’ who have battled with their mental health and wellbeing over the years. 

In this blog, we’ll hear from Maruis, Hannah, and Ben and hear firsthand how medical cannabis and other cannabis-based treatments have helped them to manage the symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, and grief. 

Maruis: Medical cannabis for PTSD, depression, and anxiety.

When Maruis approached Releaf, he was initially searching for a solution to his vivid night terrors that left him exhausted during the day. He’d previously tried a number of pharmaceutical options for PTSD, anxiety, and depression, but their impact on his mental and physical wellbeing had simply outweighed the benefits they were supposed to bring. 

Maruis said the whole ordeal made him feel as if he was going through male menopause. From hot flushes to heart palpitations, extreme bouts of sweating and dizziness, and issues with my libido, Maruis’ health was making day-to-day life incredibly challenging, and he was desperate for something to change. 

After watching a documentary on medical cannabis for veterans, Maruis saw an advert for medical cannabis clinics in the UK, and the rest as they say is history. 

During our interview, Maruis explained: 

“It took maybe two or three days from signing up to having my initial consultation, which was fantastic. Dr Michal Modestowicz saw me, and wow, what a great doctor. Dr Modestowicz made me feel completely at ease. From the very beginning, I felt comfortable sharing my experiences with him, and he really listened. On top of that, he made me feel like a human being. He didn't judge me, and he didn't make me feel like I was just another patient in the system.

We had an in-depth chat for about 30 minutes, going over my medical history and discussing my current health issues. He looked through my medical records and asked me all the relevant questions, and it just felt like he genuinely cared. He also explained everything I needed to know about medical cannabis, how it works within the body, and why it is potentially beneficial for my specific health conditions…. 

I'm blown away that I'm 45, and I live in a country where cannabis is now legal for medical treatments. With all the trauma I've been through, to be where I am now and to say that, yes, I can find something that works for me, and it's helping my quality of life. I feel quite overwhelmed by it, and thinking about it actually makes me a bit emotional.

I've only been with Releaf for six months, and then I think back to all the suffering and all the stuff I went through. I mean, I went through so many drug changes and was under psychiatric care for ages, and I'm proud to say today that I'm on no prescription drugs at all. Yes, I've learned about mindfulness, meditation, and exercise, and I'm doing all those things, but actually, getting something tangible that improves my life and makes things easier for me is amazing. 

Life is back to normal, libido is back to normal, orgasms are back to normal, my appetite has finally returned to its normal state, and the hot flushes have completely gone. I'm back to being me.”

If you’d like to find out more about Maruis’ experience with medical cannabis for PTSD symptom management, head over to his dedicated patient stories page.

Hannah: Medical cannabis for anxiety and grief support

Having chronic anxiety, working full-time, and being a mum to an active six-year-old is a lot for anyone to handle, but Hannah had an extra hurdle after her mother passed away: grief, and mourning the loss of her mum. 

Unable to leave her house for six months, Hannah went to a mental health hospital for support and was prescribed a cocktail of pharmaceutical options. They seemed to do the job, that was until she was told she had to stop taking them due to their long-term effects. That’s when she felt as if the rug had been pulled from beneath her. 

Hannah wasn’t aware medical cannabis was a legal and accessible option she could explore until a friend asked if it’s something she’d be open to considering. Intrigued to find out more, she cracked open her laptop and searched for medical cannabis clinics in the UK. 

Within one week, Hannah sat down for her first consultation with Releaf, and has since started her own personalised medical cannabis treatment plan. 

When we spoke with Hannah, she spoke candidly:

“I work full-time, and I'm a mother of a six-year-old, so I need a treatment that works for my condition but also allows me to get on with my day. I think my doctor and I have found a good balance, and my treatment with medical cannabis doesn’t get in the way of my job or being a mum. 

For me, the treatment is sort of a routine, like a daily ritual: I get up in the morning before my son's up and getting ready for school. I get my coffee, use my vape pen, and then I get breakfast going. It’s just a normal part of my day—my new normal.

So far, I prefer the cannabis flower rather than the oil. There are some flower strains that work very well in both the day and then evening, so that’s what I’ve been using. … I’ve had no negative reactions to any of the different strains or treatments I’ve tried. Zero. None….

It's definitely been a big improvement since I started with Releaf, because I've been able to do so much more and not worry about things. I’ve been able to go out and just get on with things that I normally would have struggled with. 

Usually, with my anxiety, if I had to go somewhere outside the city that I live in, I would start to panic. Now, I'm able to do that without being stressed. 

Recently, I was even able to go for a little holiday out of town recently in Enniskillen, here in Northern Ireland, which I would never have done before I discovered medical cannabis. I was with my dad, my brother, my partner, and my kids, and it was amazing to be there and not be panicking all the time. The adults all knew I was taking medical cannabis, and they commented about how they had noticed a big positive change.  

I’d love to try and go abroad next year, which would be like a major step for me. I haven't been abroad since the anxiety started, so I'd love to be able to take my six-year-old on a summer holiday - that would be brilliant.”

If this snippet has made you want to read Hannah’s full account, you can find her testimonial of how medical cannabis is helping her anxiety and grief on our patient stories page. 

Ben: Medical cannabis for generalised anxiety disorder, depression, and fibromyalgia. 

Much like Maruis, Ben has tried a long list of prescribed conventional treatments to treat his depression and generalised anxiety disorder, but unfortunately, they didn’t agree with him. 

Diagnosed with these mental health conditions in his late teens, Ben got used to battling daily challenges with little to no help, but then at the age of 30 he was formally diagnosed with fibromyalgia, which led to even more prescription medicines, and a decline in his mental wellbeing. 

Natural alternatives were something he was keen to explore, and so he did some research and stumbled across other testimonials from Releaf patients. He took a leap of faith, and, Ben says he hasn’t looked back since. 

When we spoke to Ben last year, he told us:

“I have been on SSRI antidepressants for pretty much my whole adult life, and have been taking opioids to help deal with the fibromyalgia pain since being diagnosed. These both come with some pretty heavy side effects, and they can make me feel awful after taking them. Very lethargic, fatigued, thirsty - you name it. 

And so, for the last few years, I have been wanting to try a natural approach to my treatment, with the hope that an alternative treatment option might help to wean me off, and potentially discontinue, these pharmaceuticals I have been on for so many years. The idea of taking something more natural, as opposed to something artificially created in a lab, definitely appealed to me and is what led me to Releaf. 

It's been great. My sleep is more prolonged and waking up less. I just generally feel more relaxed before going to sleep, because usually when the lights are off, there's no stimulus. I'm not reading a book. These thoughts can come in, and I can worry about stuff. Whereas now, going to sleep is a bit more chilled, and my head's a little bit less chaotic, which is nice. 

It's early days, but I'm certainly feeling calmer, generally happier. My thoughts are more easily managed. I don't know if it's, it's some sort of placebo effect, since I did do so much research into medical cannabis before and since becoming a patient, but I do believe that it is the treatment actually doing exactly what the doctors said it would do…..

I found the sedative effects of cannabis to be much more natural, I can still function perfectly fine. It sort of gradually eases you into a relaxed state, as opposed to taking my SSRI, and suddenly I need to sleep.”

Read Ben’s full account of using medical cannabis to treat anxiety, depression, and fibromyalgia on his patient stories page. 

Want to know if medical cannabis might work for you?

Maruis, Hannah, and Ben’s journeys show that while challenges with mental health and wellbeing can feel overwhelming, the right support and treatment can make all the difference.

If you’ve been struggling and feel like you’ve run out of options, know that you are not alone, and, it’s never too late to take the next step. At Releaf, we’re here to help you explore whether medical cannabis could be an effective part of your treatment plan.

Don’t give up on finding relief. Assess your eligibility and book your consultation today to take the first step towards reclaiming your quality of life.