The story of my cannabis "allergy"

This isn't really just a story about cannabis per se - which I'll probably refer to as pot or weed for the rest of this post, seeing as how I'm Canadian and to my mind "cannabis" just sounds pretentious - so much as it's a story of discovery. About what works, and what doesn't, for my particular allergy symptoms, and about how I figured that out. (hint, painfully).

For you see, although "they say" that an allergic response is a matter of histamine, that's actually kind of meaningless information when you're going through it. When one person gets runny eyes and nose, another will get dry sinuses and headaches. Where one will have a wet cough, another will get a swollen, dry throat. And if, as happens to me, antihistamines only make you feel sick and spun out and the symptoms don't abate under the influence of the drugs, the point is moot.

And no, I haven't been tested to see if this is, in fact, a true allergy. It might instead be - as many so called allergy symptoms are - a healthy response from my body to get rid of an irritant.

A very strong response that if I I ignored, it would be to my peril.




Once upon a time - for a very long time - weed was a friend of mine. She lifted my spirits, helped me stop the thoughts that would go around and around and around in my head .. you know the ones I mean, I call them the "what if's"; we all get them. Once those were silenced I could be more creative.

Or at least I felt more creative.

Then along came the beginning of the cannabis-as-medicine bandwagon, and like any good herbalist, I started to experiment with it as a (potential) healing plant. I made a tincture, which certainly was pain relieving and showed some promise for menopausal difficulties. But the people I gave it to to try liked it a little too much. I could see it was really more recreational than medicinal. The effects were enjoyable, but temporary. That's palliative medicine, not curative. The best Medicine Plants are the ones that cure; you stop taking them because you're better, and the symptoms of your difficulty don't return.

In more recent years as the strains of weed changed rapidly, bred to have ever higher levels of THC, she started to bring clouds into my consciousness where once she brought sunshine. My mind felt dull, the creativity was stifled, and the effect would last for a couple of days after consumption. What? A hangover? That's not what herbal medicine does, that's the effect of a drug .. hmmm, I thought.

Hmmm.

But as anyone who knows pot knows, she's a social creature. Passing a joint around is a cultural ritual, ingrained in my generation's traditions at social events. I continued to imbibe, although not as often .. and then it began.

It took me forever to realise what was happening because, well, I was a little stoned every time it happened. My mouth would get painfully dry in a way that no amount of water could resolve. I blamed lipstick, and stopped wearing it. Then a new symptom; my throat started to swell, just on one side, like something was stuck there. It wasn't entirely clear what was going on, since the symptoms lasted days and days past consumption, and since it was late summer, I began to blame pollen or, well, anything I could think of. I knew I was having some kind of an allergic response, and deep down maybe I knew to what, but to admit it, to think of losing an old friend, it wasn't easy.

Now came the Big Mistake - and then the breakthrough. Remember, I was stoned or hungover from being stoned, so I wasn't thinking clearly. I'd read, as we all have, that "nettles are good for allergies". So one day - it's funny, looking back - while visiting with friends and smoking rather a lot, my mouth so dry I could barely speak and unable to swallow that lump in my throat away, I started sucking back the nettle tincture I happened to have in my purse. (I carry some strange things in my purse!)

Oh Lordy.

Nettles are drying in tincture form. That might be helpful for drippy, wet allergic symptoms (and I know for a fact that used topically they work for hives) but they only make a dry mouth drier. Stupidly, the worse I felt the more nettle tincture I sucked back. LOL! I know that when it comes to herbs more does not equal better. I know that if something isn't giving the desired effect in small doses it won't give it in larger - but yeah, stoned = stupid. What a horrible day that was.

By the time we got home I was wondering if we should get me to the ER. My tongue was starting to feel thick and I could see the swelling on one side of my throat in the mirror. Fuck! My heart was pounding but not from the allergic response, it was because it had finally sunk in what was happening. It was the pot.

Automatic pilot took over and all the reading I've done over the years kicked in. Mullein compresses bring down swollen glands - or at least so saith Jethro Kloss in that classic tome from the early 20th century, Back To Eden - so I went out, picked several leaves, ripped them to shreds, poured boiling water over them and put them on the stove under gentle heat to steep. As soon as the water changed colour I soaked a tea towel, held it against the side of my throat and .. magic. Instant better. I kept it up til I could swallow fairly comfortably, then headed back out to the garden in search of something for my poor dry mouth & swollen tongue.

There I chewed on the leaves of mallow - yessssss! It was soothing, hallelujah! But as soon as I swallowed my mouth went dry again. Next I tried violet leaves and they worked too, and this time I felt my inner bell ring. This was the remedy. I was not only trying to counteract the pot, I had all that nettle coursing through my system, making me pee out what little moisture I had. I needed to moisten and soothe my whole damn self at this point. I made tea with the violet leaves, holding it in my mouth before swallowing and kept doing so for a couple of days, just to be sure. I only had to use the mullein compresses for that evening, by morning the throat was back to normal. (see? A cure, not just palliative).

Well damn.

Over the next couple of years, even being exposed to second-hand smoke brought out the same symptoms, worse each time, too. Our social life suffered; if you have to kick your friends outside when they want to smoke a joint, they stop coming over as much, and visiting anywhere that there's liable to be pot in the house is out of the question - just the buds in a bag in the same room and I'm in trouble. When just the smell on your husband's jacket can make your throat swell up, it can lead to some anxiety for both of you!

I tried mullein tincture for the symptoms but it didn't do the trick, it had to be a compress. That was a problem in winter. Violet tincture didn't work either, it had to be tea. I tried red clover, it stimulates the saliva glands, and it kinda did the trick but again, only in tea form, not tincture - I needed something I could use instantly. Eventually, I hit on cleavers. The tincture, taken right away, nips all my symptoms in the bud (no pun intended!).

Now that they're about to start selling pot in stores here in Canada, that tincture is something I'll have to start carrying in my purse at all times. Raggin' fraggin Liberal government. There's a big grow-op & edibles operation just got licensed for our little neck of the woods, too. I better not catch whiffs of that crap on the breeze .. but that's a rant for another day.

They say that marijuana is a teaching plant, and it's so true. As the years had gone by and the levels of THC became stupidly high, making me stupid whenever I smoked it, it really was time for me to stop. If I hadn't developed this "allergy", I'm not sure I would have. I might be jumping on the 420 bandwagon, thrilled to be able to buy it legally (then again, the idea of buying from Big Cannabis likely wouldn't have appealed to me any more than buying any other plant from Big Herb). Still and all, never having that kind of brain fog (that we used to call a buzz) again is a wonderful thing. A truly wonderful thing. I don't miss it at all.

And I'm not entirely sure I'm allergic to all pot. I've been exposed to the older strains, outdoor grown and with reasonably low THC and that didn't affect me as much. But why take the risk? I suspect it might be a combination of factors - I might well be reacting to the antifungals used in greenhouse growing; or maybe something about the new strains is different, not just the higher THC, something I can't put my finger on.

Now it begs the question - what would I have done that fateful day if I didn't have a garden full of healing at my fingertips? Gone to ER and been pumped full of drugs, I suppose, drugs I've had when I succumbed to a bad mold exposure (my only other allergy), and they were really, really hard on my system. The racing heart rate from one round of the drugs was easily as frightening as the closing throat and it was weeks before that settled down. Me and drugs are not a good match.

But the mullein and the violet did nothing but heal. The experience taught me more about nettles, more about mullein, violet and eventually cleavers. Pretty sweet.

Thanks, weed, for that one last teaching.