Chemical Imbalances: Balancing The Mind

Bipolar Disorder is a disease that commonly presents itself during adolescence and early adulthood. It is commonly known as manic depression and it causes extreme shifts in mood, functioning and energy. It is a disease that affects men and women equally. Bipolar Disorder is a chronic and generally a life-long condition during which one experiences recurring episodes of mania and depression. Such episodes last from days to months and often require lifelong treatment. Treatments include psychotherapy, support, education and the key element being medication. The latter being the more controversial treatment. There are different medications to take depending on the occurring episode. For manic episodes, FDA approved medications include lithium, divalproex sodium, carbamazepine, olanzapine and risperidone, to name a few. FDA approved medications for the bipolar depressive episode is a combination of olanzapine and fluoxetine. However, the drug that most patients are put on is effexor, also known as venlafaxine. When mixing effexor with cannabis, however, the results are unfit. And it just so happens that many bipolar disorder patients have a tendency to use one if not both of the former drugs. Especially if they are adolescents/young adults because the availability of cannabis is greater.

Effexor is a class of drugs known as antidepressants. It targets chemicals in the brain that cause imbalance, depression or anxiety. When starting the drug, the patient needs to be monitored for the first 12 weeks since there is an increased risk of suicidal thoughts or behavior. Since it is an antidepressant, side effects include mood changes, trouble sleeping, anxiety, panic attacks and mania. This is where most patients turn to cannabis and decide to mix the two. While taking effexor, and possibly experiencing the side effects, the cannabis “fixes” the side effects being felt. Since cannabis is a narcotic, it induces sleep, alters mental states and relieves pain, stress and causes a sensation of mental numbness. Putting the two drugs together causes many problems for the patient.

In most cases, the patient starts out taking effexor, feels no more anxiety yet instead feels hopeless. Combining effexor with cannabis causes a drastic change in the patients’ emotional state and causes ‘trips’ that could sometimes be life threatening. It would seem as though the patient was experiencing tunnel-vision. In one case, there was a patient who was standing knee deep in water holding a plugged in hair dryer and holding a butcher knife in the other hand, having no recollection of how or why she was there. Most patients become delusional, saying and doing things they do not realize they are doing. The effexor and cannabis are targeting the chemicals in the brain and therefore creating a ‘maddening high’ that is not safe for the patient or those around them. It is not safe to mix a psychosis medication with a narcotic, or therefore any drugs or alcohol since it counter-effects the medication and causes an already chemically imbalance individual to ‘trip’ and enter into an unsafe state of mind.

Bipolar Disorder affects more than 2 million Americans. It is a disease which diagnoses a chemical imbalance that causes the patient to be put on life-long medications to aid in both depressive and manic episodes. The medications that are administered are often affected by other medications, drugs and alcohol. Especially in the case of mixing effexor and cannabis, the results negatively affect the patient and those around them.

Posted by Michele Kenausis (2)

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If you follow the links, you will find the other medications and forms of treatment available, along with other links that I am sure you will find helpful and informative.

As far as the ethical standpoint, I have friends who are bipolar and I have seen how this affects them and those around them. I have also lost many very close to me to suicide which is one of the side effects of the drugs. I am sorry I could not give more on my standpoint at this time, but rather I wanted to educate people on the topic.

For mixing cannabis with other drugs and having a severely negative reaction, this is the one drug I have heard about and seen people so badly affected by it. Effexor is a serious drug that a lot of patients are placed on. I am sure there are other drugs besides effexor which causes a negative reaction because of what cannabis targets and what the other medications target. You can assume that the other drugs that are similar to effexor would have the same effects, however I was unable to find any information or instances which would provide you with sufficient information. However, I feel it safe to assume that mixing any medications is in itself a bad idea. You never know what kind of reaction you are going to get.