In California it is legal so I assume it is ok to talk about it here. I have had a bad facial twitch on the left side of my face for at least 8 years now. I went in for Botox treatment a couple of weeks ago as per my Dr. At the last minute I backed out and decided to try something else first. I quit using pot. Today is 72 hours since I have used any and my facial twitch appears to be gone. Looking back over the years I can point to some things that I was 100% sure were associated with pot and other things I strongly suspect. I started using pot when I was about 14 yrs old and used until I was 40. I was never a heavy user, and my habit never changed over the years. I used a little bit once a day. On rare occasions I might use twice. When I retired 9 years ago at age 63 I started using some again. My habit went right back to where it was very small amounts once a day. Just for reference my total usage was less than 1/2 ounce per year. between the age of 20 and 40 I had almost constant gastro intestinal problems, mainly constipation and spastic bowel syndrome. I also had anxiety issues that mimicked heart attacks. Severe pain in left arm, left side of jaw and chest pain without the heavy pressure often described. The most severe symptom I ever had that I was 100% able to attribute to pot was a severe case of arterial fibrillation, My heart would skip a beat every third beat. All I had to do was quit using and within 72 hours the problem would go away. If I took a couple of hits it would come right back and I had to wait 72 hours for it to go away again. I switched to some different pot and that problem went away. Very often symptoms were associated with a particular batch of pot. In almost all cases 72 hours was the magic number for the symptoms to leave. Between the ages of 40 and 63 I had no medical issues of any kind. This is when I was not using. Now when I retired and started using again I developed a severe facial twitch. I often suspected it was pot related but never acted on it. With the exception of one article I found about a month ago I can’t find anything to even suggest that there are side effects associated with pot use? The one article I did find was particularly interesting because it was dealing strictly with people like myself who used very small amounts. I have made the claim for many years that less pot was more intoxicating and the effect would last much longer than someone who used more. This article supported my theory on that but now I can’t find the article. But they perfectly described the experience I have. It has nothing to do with building up a tolerance. I wish I could find some kind of study i could participate in if anyone knows of one I would appreciate you point me in that direction.
FWIW, marijuana downregulates your CB1 receptors, but about ~50% of the down regulation is reversed after about 48 hours of abstinence. Maybe that has something to do with it.
I am not sure about any studies you can do. I think your best bet is to talk to other weed users.
This is unrelated, but for years I had ulnar nerve numbness. I’d go to sleep and my pinky finger and ring finger were numb. Happened all the time. I spent a few thousand on various medical treatments and various forms of PT, all worthless.
I was also binge drinking at the time. I only drank one day a week but I drank a lot when I did. Then I quit drinking and I noticed the ulnar nerve numbness went away. When I did binge drink one day on a weekend, the numbness came back for a few weeks before going away again.
I do wonder if your facial twitch could also be due to anxiety. Weed suppresses release of GABA (an inhibitory neurotransmitter) and increases release of glutamate (an excitatory neurotransmitter). The twitching ‘could’ be due to that, I’m not sure.
It’s very possible it does make sense it does seem to be an anxiety related thing
My ulnar nerve numbness originates from poor left hand position when playing the cello. Stretching my pinky sideways stresses out the ulnar nerve when my left hand isn’t properly positioned. I’m trying to correct the bad habit I carelessly established when first starting to play cello. Last time I had ulnar nerve numbness, I looked up an exercise to correct it. Cubital Tunnel Syndrome Exercises: For Pain Relief
I had a friend who referred to this as “alcohol arm”. I didn’t know it was an actual thing.
Just a general comment about marijuana. It has well over 92 different physiologically active compounds in it, very very few of which have been individually studied. What studies have been done tend to show a wide range of psychological, neurological, cardiac, respiratory, and other effects. It’s difficult to assign an effect to a particular chemical in the stuff.
That might explain why I could usually just switch batches to get rid of an unwanted side effect. The facial spasm was gone for two full days and then last night I took a couple of hits without thinking. This morning the spasm was back but not too bad.