Starting a Medical Marijuana Journal and Treatment Plan

Keeping a Medical Marijuana Journal

Are you new to medicating with medical cannabis? Whether you’re just getting started or you’ve been growing your own cannabis for years, keeping a journal could greatly help enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of your cannabis treatment plan. This journal should be personal and may change over time as you become more accustomed to medicating with cannabis. One of the best things a journal can do is help you accurately recall how much medication you took at a given time. A journal can also be an aide to help you differentiate between strains, types of edibles, and brands. Journaling can even be used to help you budget and plan the best time to refill your medicine cabinet. This will help reduce the stress of wondering when, what type, and how much medication you should get next time.

Keeping a handwritten notebook just for your medical marijuana treatment is simple and a great option. You can use this in a narrative format, writing to tell your future self the story of your past experiences with cannabis. You can also be a bit more concise, listing the important qualities and data regarding your treatment. For some, it might be more useful to use a computer or smartphone to record this information. An online journal created in Google Drive will allow you access to your treatment plan and history wherever there is internet available. However you start journaling, make sure that it is convenient and easy to maintain.

The most important things to keep track of while medicating with cannabis are:

• Date and time of use
• Dose of THC in milligrams
• Dose of CBD in milligrams
• The strain or combination of strains
• Duration or a timeline of the effects
• A basic description of the overall experience

Starting a Medical Marijuana Treatment Plan

Medical marijuana treatments are gaining popularity across America, and standard practices are beginning to appear on the internet. Cannabis, however, comes in an extraordinary amount of variance. People react to cannabis in many different ways, making standardized treatment plans somewhat unpredictable. This means that, for most patients, forming a personal treatment plan is essential to maintaining a positive relationship with cannabis. Before starting a cannabis treatment plan, it is important to consult with a doctor or other medical professional. Once you and your medical professional have determined that a cannabis treatment plan is right for you, here are some recommendations on how you can get started:

• Start small. Although cannabis does not come with deadly risks, too much can make you feel nauseous, paranoid, anxious, and overly lethargic. When trying a new flower to smoke, limit yourself to one or two tokes, wait at least fifteen minutes, and then assess the overall effect. You can even use this fifteen minutes to write flavor profile of the strain in your journal. If you’re new to trying edibles, check out our article “Are Medical Marijuana Edibles Right for You?”

• Diversify your medication options. Most cannabis patients are familiar with smoking a joint or eating pot brownies, but there are so many more options out there. Topical ointments like Salus balms offer people muscle pain and spasm relief without any of the negative side effects associated with smoke or eating cannabis. Tinctures can help patients unable to smoke or stomach a brownie. Edibles with lots of butter or oil will aid in your bodies ability to absorb the medicine. On the other hand, edibles like Levitate gummies do not have butter and oil but can take effect more rapidly because the medicine will seep into your mouth’s blood vessels as you chew. There is also a great diversity in types of cannabis, which you can learn more about in our article “Difference Between Indica and Sativa”.

• Use the resources you have at your disposal to keep updating and reassessing your treatment plan. It is highly recommended that you have an open, honest conversation with your doctor about using cannabis. Especially if you use other prescriptions, your doctor will help you safely navigate the best possible plan to address your condition. Because the cannabis available to you depends on the local market, be sure to speak with friends and family that are also patients to compare provisioning centers, products, and strains. There are also several sites like Weedmaps.com and Leafly.com that provide cannabis reviews on a national and local level.

Whether you’re new to medical cannabis or have been medicating for years, a consultation with an expert can help improve your treatment. If you’re in the Ann Arbor area, contact the team at Arbors Wellness for a free consultation. 

Article Written By Al Moroz