We hear all the time about how marijuana can alleviate chronic pain and could have this or that benefit, but an experience with it really surprised me. First a little about me. I am a slightly overweight woman who is middle-aged and suffers from moderate asthma. Sometimes even carrying the laundry upstairs can leave me winded to the point it can take 2-4 minutes to catch my breath. Now, for those of you picturing someone large and thinking I am exaggerating, I will tell you that I’m not. I have a small frame and only want to lose about 30 pounds, though I could probably get away with losing only 20 to be in a healthy range for my height.

My asthma isn’t like most people think when they think of asthma. It’s not just stress induced or exercise induced where I go into a fit and can’t catch my breath. I can be sitting in my office chair feel it. It’s less like an attack where I feel totally short of breath and just can’t suck in air and more like a struggle to just breathe normally. It’s like when breathing normally, my body can’t seem to get enough oxygen. I’m not gasping for air, just yawning a lot because my body wants more air. But it is bad enough that I am on 2 inhalers twice a day and have a rescue inhaler besides.

On a trip to a state where marijuana is legal now with my boyfriend, we wanted to partake in the scene, so we made a purchase at a local dispensary that included a vape pen. I tend to take very small drags on vape pens or pipes, just because I always end up coughing a lot. I mean A LOT! So we partied, very much enjoyed ourselves, and had a good time. The next morning as we were getting ready for the day, I noticed something very strange.

I COULD BREATHE!!!

I didn’t feel the need to yawn to get more air. My lungs were wide open, even more so than with my inhalers. You wouldn’t think that sucking something foreign into your lungs that was smoky would help, but amazingly it did. I was blown away and so excited to not feel the need for my inhalers just to get through my day. I could take as deep a breath as I wanted. I was so excited and blown away I think I danced all over the hotel room.

What was even more surprising was after returning home from our trip and partaking of marijuana a few more times while on the trip, was that the effects were long lasting. I could breathe inhaler free for about 6 weeks after coming home. I was completely amazed. Sadly, asthma isn’t a qualifying medical condition for getting medical marijuana otherwise I would be in line.

It goes to show that there are natural ways to alleviate our aches and pains that can benefit us in ways we never even thought of. Smoking for asthma? Really? I’m a fan of alternative remedies, but have never found an alternative that really helped me breathe and have a feeling like my lungs weren’t constricted in some way. I don’t like the idea of sucking synthetic medicine into my lungs, but it beats the alternative of feeling like I can’t get enough oxygen.

I am hoping that someday our country will be more open to alternative remedies and less on remedies that will help what we want it to, but can cause a whole slew of other problems. Sadly, we are a capitalistic society that focuses on money (and drug companies are huge money for our government) opposed to one that focuses on our health. I hope for living sake that with more and more states approving marijuana (medical or recreational) that we will start to rediscover the benefits that natural plants can provide. How realistic is it? Probably not very, but one can dream!