Anxiety
It’s normal to feel anxious in certain situations. It comes and goes without interfering with your everyday life. But those with an anxiety disorder suffer from magnified symptoms that have a dramatic impact on their quality of life. Anxiety, like a dark cloud, can hover over a sufferer until it manifests into a physical sickness or other disorders such as depression, sleep disorder, IBS, PTSD and other physical illnesses. Anxiety is the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year (adaa.org). Wondering how marijuana helps with anxiety and can you get a medical marijuana card for anxiety in Florida?
Anxiety
It’s normal to feel anxious in certain situations. It comes and goes without interfering with your everyday life. But those with an anxiety disorder suffer from magnified symptoms that have a dramatic impact on their quality of life. Anxiety, like a dark cloud, can hover over a sufferer until it manifests into a physical sickness or other disorders such as depression, sleep disorder, IBS, PTSD and other physical illnesses. Anxiety is the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year (adaa.org). Wondering how marijuana helps with anxiety and can you get a medical marijuana card for anxiety in Florida?
First, Your Endocannabinoid System (ECS) and Anxiety
Your endocannabinoid system (ECS) is an extremely complex cell-signaling system throughout your body that regulates a range of functions and processes. Researchers exploring THC, a well-known cannabinoid, first identified the ECS. Cannabinoids are compounds found in cannabis. Though, the ECS exists in your body even if you do not use cannabis, and it plays a major role in regulating functions and processes such as:
- sleep
- mood
- appetite
- memory
- metabolism
- pain
- liver function
- stress
- motor control
- and many other processes
Think of the ECS like a network of roads in your body. When it’s functioning at peak performance traffic cruises along flawlessly (all the traffic lights are greeb and slower traffic actually stays in the righthand lane). Accidents happen, though. And when one does, endocannabinoids in your ECS signal for receptors to take an accident report and clean up the mess.
Anxiety disorders may be developed by a deficiency in the ECS system. This is called a endocannabinoid deficiency (CECD). Low endocannabinoid levels in your brain can contribute to an anxiety disorder. There are a multitude of reasons for this, like constant stress, traumatic events, and it may even be hereditary.
The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is constantly being researched. For more information on the ECS, this article from Healthline is a good place to start.
Does Medical Marijuana Help With Anxiety?
THC, the main cannabinoid found in cannabis, interacts with your ECS by binding to receptors where there is a deficiency, which allows it to have a range of positive effects on your body. Research has shown that cannabis’ interaction with your endocannabinoid system can reduce anxiety. It activates the endocannabinoid receptors in the brain and is helpful in regulating stress and anxiety.
According to one study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, marijuana can help in reducing self-reported levels of anxiety, stress, and depression.
Medical marijuana can also help in lowering the levels of cortisol. It’s a hormone, which is associated with stress, and lowered levels can relieve anxiety.
Can you get a medical marijuana card for anxiety in Florida?
In Florida, a patient must be recommended by a certified physician as suffering from one of the OMMU‘s qualifying medical conditions:
- Cancer
- Epilepsy
- Glaucoma
- HIV/AIDS
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
- Crohn’s disease
- Parkinson’s disease
- Multiple sclerosis (MS)
- Medical conditions of the same kind or class as or comparable to the others listed.
- A terminal condition diagnosed by a physician other than the qualified physician issuing the physician certification.
- Chronic nonmalignant pain caused by a qualifying medical condition or that originates from a qualifying medical condition and persists beyond the usual course of that qualifying medical condition.
Anxiety is not listed. All is not lost, though. Under the rule of “Medical conditions of the same kind or class as or comparable to the others listed,” doctors are allowed to certify patients who have symptoms and/or medical conditions that are both debilitating and similar in nature to the medical conditions named in the law. If your anxiety is debilitating, or causing chronic pain for example, we may be able to help.
Our Physicians certify that our patients really have a debilitating condition, having tried previous therapies without success, and that the use of medical marijuana outweighs the health risks. For a condition to be debilitating, it must interfere with, or limit, the patient’s life. We certify patients for medical marijuana treatments that have a wide variety of debilitating health issues.
Approval Process Requirements
Florida law requires that a patient and doctor have 2-3 medical visits/year.
Doctors are required to take special training for state approval to recommend MMJ. Doctors can prescribe MMJ after determining that medical cannabis is an appropriate treatment for a patient based upon examination and medical history.
After you get your license you may order from a state-approved dispensary.
Obtaining Medical Marijuana
Diagnosed with an anxiety disorder? Live in Florida? Interested in the possible benefits of Medical Marijuana? Take our pre-qualification survey and schedule an appointment.
