Image credit: dfbailey

By Herb Green

Last Thursday, I awoke with an acute pain in my gut. It felt like a heart attack is rumored to feel, but then I rolled over on to my back and pain moved to my back. Then I belched and felt the air from the belch pull from whatever was happening in my stomach, reducing the pain about 3% for about one second. Then it surged back. I felt like I would or should puke, but nothing happened. I thought it might instead come out the other end, but again nothing happened.

I did not eat that day, minus a couple of pretzels and some water, as I just couldn’t stomach the thought of food. I was still waiting for the big barf to come, but it never did. So I laid down in anguish most of the day. This then went on through the night. Sleeping was done in two hour increments. It was if an alarm went off every time I fell into deep sleep. Then I’d spend 30 minutes trying to find a sleeping position that didn’t hurt. And then sleep two hours and repeat.

It was a nightmare known as viral gastroenteritis, or intestinal flu, which was a gift from my wife, only hers’ wasn’t nearly as severe as mine. By Saturday, after two days of pure suffering, I finally reached out for some help, but not from a traditional doctor.

My wife and kids had left for the day to visit the zoo and I stayed home to rest and hopefully get it together. No luck, however. I was so tired and queasy, and my stomach felt like there was a lava rock burning in there. I was five seconds from putting my head to the pillow at 10:00 a.m., but my pain was just too much to endure. It got me up and out the door and in the direction of my favorite neighborhood pot shop, Canna West. Once there they suggested a Sitka Fresh & Terpy, terpene-infused pre-rolled joint, plus a Harlequin CBD-dominant pre-roll from Washington Bud Company.

Once back home, I smoked the delicious Fresh & Terpy – just a couple of hits – to see what would happen. Bam! I felt better instantly. Seriously. I immediately put the pillow back in the bedroom and launched into Bohemian Rhapsody (best sick day movie ever? see trailer below) with full surround sound, sitting up and comfortable the entire show. Then I got hungry! I hadn’t eaten in days, at least anything more than crackers and some bone broth (avoid!), and these hunger pains were real and needed to be addressed. They had been masked by the virus’ associated pain, but were somehow uncovered by the THC.

So I ate some simple, plain pasta with olive oil. 30 minutes later I had energy from the food! In fact, I made it the whole day with no naps. None! I was on my feet or sitting upright all day. It was a breakthrough, but I wasn’t out of the woods entirely. Cannabis doesn’t take the pain away. It makes it manageable. I knew that the effects of the pre-roll I smoked would wear off overnight and likely I’d spend another night doing laps in my bed every two hours, killing my sleep and making my wife extremely uncomfortable with the whole thing.

Rather than leave it to chance, I smoked some of the 1:1 TCH/CBD pre-roll and while I can’t say I slept like a baby, I did wake up to a happy wife the next morning. The CBD effect was so gentle physically. The pain melted away and those nightmare laps around the bed were soon over and done with. By Sunday evening my symptoms were pretty much gone. It was a great learning experience and one that I’ll never forget. The next time I’m in that type of pain, I’m hitting up an infused pre-roll. And I know we can’t make medical claims about marijuana, so don’t take this as an endorsement. This is just my story and my experience.