Weed log
I think I'm familiar enough with the effects to be able to weigh in a bit more. I was hesitant to speak of the antidepressant effects earlier. Primarily since my experience with the different cannabis strains was quite limited. I feel more comfortable giving my two cents now. One thing that is frustrating with more traditional antidepressants is that it can be very difficult to gauge how well they are working, if at all, due to how long it takes them to begin working. Aside from potential side effects, you don't expect to see any effect from vanilla(?) antidepressants for two or more weeks. And similarly, they stay in your system, chugging away, for some time after stopping taking them. Cannabis seems to not work that way at all. I'd compare it to how, say, cold medicine or the familiar for me stimulant medications work: you feel it working in about 20 minutes, and in a few hours it's time for another dose. At first, I would have described the effects of cannabis as making me feel "like things are nice. Everything is okay and is going to be okay." Which was more of an induced-happy sort of thing. But now, it sure does seem to work better than my regular antidepressant. Perhaps through a different mechanism. If the dosage is correct, it actually lifts the doom haze really well, without hampering my memory or motor skills. The muck and gloom and miserableness kind of just stop, and I can carry on with my day. Mind you, you get the wrong strain for what you want or take too much, you will probably go on an adventure without moving. Which isn't super helpful for getting on with your life but like, you'd enjoy it, at least. Like with other antidepressants, I wasn't completely aware of what good or was doing until I "went back to normal" so to speak. Normal in this case being particularly miserable. I could be feeling good and having a nice day, then suddenly the gloom comes back. But it's subtle and I don't notice right away that I'm getting more anxious and upset. Until I'm feeling absolutely awful and I realize it's been quite a few hours since I last medicated. Oh. Oops. Then after I feel fine again. Which, after going through that a few times, I finally pieced together what I was feeling come and go. Which is how I found that, yes, for me at least, and this particular strain, it is functioning effectively as an antidepressant. I suspect that it may also have a cumulative effect as well, like with more traditional antidepressants. But I can't speak to that yet, personally. More time.
