My mom has advanced Alzheimer's disease. We had to sell her home and move her in with my sister a few years ago, as she just couldn't handle living alone any longer. Most care givers for Alzheimer patients will tell you that theirs isn't a smooth decline, rather there's sudden drops in cognition followed by plateaus (if they're lucky). I care for my mom on the weekends to share the burden with my sister, and we noticed another noticeable drop in cognitive functioning coupled with an inability to sleep for more than a couple of hours at a time. She is on several meds, including Donepezil as an ACHE inhibitor for the Alzheimer's. I took her to see her doctor a few weeks ago for a check up and full blood work up, and the doctor is keeping her on the same meds. I've been very curious to see how marijuana would work for her, but each time I had brought it up in the past, she poo-pooed it, stating that it's illegality make her to nervous. I decided to plan a ruse in order to entice her to try it (I'm her medical proxy): I showed her that Illinois just passed a medical marijuana bill (the most restrictive to date), and that her doctor thought it would be a good idea to try some MMJ. I stuffed some of my awesome homegrown OG Kush (this pheno has a nice heady euphoria, followed by a nice all over body stone) into one of her other med bottles, and I told her that I just picked it up from the dispensary on her doctor's prescription. She decided that she would try it! Now, she knew for a long time that I smoke, so I had no trouble breaking out my thick, glass bong with precooler for her: I would start it and get it milky, then have her inhale the smokey tube. She took 3 hits like a champ. In about 5 minutes, she became very verbose and extroverted, and even admitted for the first time that she had smoked when she was in a dance tour company when she was young. That was a revelation
She seemed more lucid, too, talking about things I haven't heard about from her in years, (she's usually like a broken record with the same old sayings week after week). It was the most enjoyable conversation we've had in many months. I asked her about her hip pain and her arthritis, and she said they weren't bothering her at all. She asked for her doggie bag of take out, and she never does that. That sucked, I was looking forward to polishing off that half a Ruben and fries myself
She slept like a log last night, and is sleeping like a log again right now. I texted my sister about all of this and she was thrilled! It will be no problem for me to supply my mom with free dank, Ill let her try all of my strains to see what fits her the best. Do any of you guys have experience with treating Alzheimer's with weed, and do you know of any specific strains that are usually recommended for the disease? Thanks!
