Can Medical Marijuana Help With Menopause Symptoms?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
From the WA and M Studio on the campus of
Florida A and M University.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
This is Mary Forum Radio, a weekly conversation on the
education and research of the medical marijuana being conducted at BAMMUI.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hi.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
I'm Heidi Otway, your host for this conversations on Cannabis
virtual form, brought to you by the Medical Marijuana Education
and Research Initiative at Florida and M University. In this conversation,
we're talking about medical cannabis as a treatment for women
going through menopause. So let's talk and learn about this

(00:34):
subject with our guests. Doctor Jenester Wilson King is a
frequent guest on this forum for her expertise as a
qualified medical marijuana physician. She is a board certified obstetrician
and gynecologist and the founder of Victory Rejuvenation Center, her
private practice based in Central Florida. Doctor Wilson King serves

(00:55):
on numerous boards and is also a nationally recognized speaker
on cannabis and wellness. Doctor Wilson King, Welcome back to
the Forum. I'm glad to have you back with us.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Thank you, Heidi. It really is a pleasure to be back.
It's been a while. Actually, and I was kind of like, oh,
I remember this, I remember that. So I'm really glad
to be here this week with you again.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
And to your audience, yes, and I'm looking forward to
this conversation and to everyone watching. Please share the link
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(01:42):
a drawing in May twenty twenty five to win a
one hundred dollars gift card provided by one of Mary's partners. Now,
let's start this conversation on cannabis, So, doctor Wilson King,
Before we dive into this discussion, let's start with the
basic question.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
What is menopause? Menopause is such a hot topic. Now,
I'm glad we're doing this. Menopause is one of the
several hormonal transitions that women go through throughout their lives.
It is just towards It is when the hormones the

(02:24):
ovaries no longer make hormones. The ovaries make estrogen, progesterone
and testosterone, and of course they don't do it your
entire life. You start making hormones in puberty, and then
there's more hormone intervention during pregnancy, and then when the
hormones start to decline, which is about the mid to

(02:46):
late thirties, then you start having lots of hormonal changes
until the final menopausal change at age fifty one, and
it's when your ovaries finally stop making hormones and you
no longer have menstrual periods. The definition is absence of
menstal periods for twelve months. And this can be a

(03:10):
natural phenomena. It can be caused by surgery, women who
have hysterectomies and they take the ovaries along with it,
or if, per chance, per unfortunate chance, you have chemotherapy.
Oftentimes chemotherapy will shut down your ovaries and you'll become menopausal.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Oh that's interesting, So you touch on it a little bit.
So what are some of the most common symptoms your
patients struggle with during menopause? And then also I want
to eat to touch on perimenopause.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
Absolutely, absolutely well. The most common symptoms of menopause are
hot flashes and night sweats.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
I remember those.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Those are the sudden feeling of heat, often accompanied by sweating,
and then occurs frequently at night. It won't occur throughout
the day, but it also mainly occurs at night and
can be a very a sleep disruptor. There also is
a such thing as cold flashes, when you get a
sudden surge of coldness and you shiver. That I don't

(04:17):
see as common. But some of the other common symptoms
of menopause are mood swings that consists of irritability, anxiety, depression,
and I already mentioned sleep disturbance. That's huge because women
will become tired. If you're not getting sleep, you're going
to manifest a whole different a whole lot of additional symptoms.

(04:40):
Vaginal dryness, weight gain, fatigue. Fatigue is a very common
symptom as well. Then there's joint pain and declining libido,
and libido is your desire for sex that goes away too. Now,
some of the lesser known symptoms are memory problems. Now,

(05:03):
that is one that is very, very concerning for women.
All of a sudden, they have difficulty concentrating remembering things.
Now we all experience, you know, you go to a
different room in the house to get something. Then when
you get there and you can't. Yes, but it becomes

(05:27):
a more frequent occurrence in menopause. Actually, and it all
starts during during perimenopause Perry menopause, as I mentioned briefly earlier,
start can start as early as the mid to late thirties.
But what does happen is you have a gradual decline

(05:48):
in the hormone production of the hormones. It doesn't turn
on and off like a faucet, like one day it's
making hormones and then the next day it is. It's
a gradual decline. And this can happen over a two
to eight year period or even longer. And it really
is the most tumultuous time for women because the hormone

(06:13):
levels are surging, declining, or they're all over the place.
So you get to the point where you're not sure
whether you're coming or going. That can be very disruptive,
very disruptive.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
So I would think that through all these experiences of disruption,
and I can speak for myself, how do you see
the emotional and mental health shifting in women during menopause
and perimenopause.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
Wow, the emotional health certainly is going to This is
when women question their emotional health, they may questions when
they experience PMS. That's the week or two before your
menstrual period when you have changes physical and mental. But

(07:11):
then when it's in, when you're close to menopause, and
then in menopause it's it's more intense and it's different.
Like some of the things I've already mentioned, the mood swings,
the anxiety, the depression. Women can experience paranoia, they can

(07:31):
and be very, very irritable. Now, as we look at
it physically, the hormone levels estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. Estrogen
and testosterone come from other sources than the ovary, so
those levels don't decline as rapidly. Progesterone, on the other hand,

(07:53):
only comes from the ovary, and because the ovary is
declining and its production hormones overall, the first hormone that's
going to feel it is progesterone. So up till the
age of menopause, which is fifty the average age of
menopause is fifty one. Up until that point, really your

(08:16):
estrogen make decline thirty percent, but your progesterone declines seventy
five percent up until that time, so you become estrogen dominant,
and estrogen dominant is the two weeks before your period constantly.
If you can imagine feeling pre menstal constantly, that's what

(08:39):
very menopause is and it's it's a very difficult time.
Also when women go through hormonal changes, various hormonal phases
are the most common times that women are diagnosed with
chronic diseases. This is when the chronic diseases seem to
show its ugly head, fibromyalgia, rheumatoried arthritis, things like that. Now,

(09:05):
the hormonal stages and women consist of one puberty. You
go from not having hormones to having hormones. And we
know how kids in puberty are, Yes, who is this child?
They don't know who they are themselves dealing with the

(09:27):
onset of hormones which they've never had before. So if
a child is predisposed to developing arthritis or chrome disease
or something like that, it often comes out during that time.
In females, the next hormonal stage is pregnancy. That's a
lot of hormones. Then you go through the perimenopause and

(09:51):
then finally menopause. And the reason menopause is such a
hot topic is because we are now spending at least
one third of our lives in the postmenopausal stage, and
we want to be able to do the things we've
been used to doing. So we want some help, Yeah,

(10:16):
deal with all of this. Yeah. And it sounds like
a hot topic. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
And it sounds like like all the symptoms and everything
that you described earlier that women experience. It sounds to me.
And I'm not a qualified medical position as you are,
but it sounds like these could qualify for a medical
marijuana use in the state of Florida. So can you

(10:41):
talk a little bit about that. Is menopause considered a
qualifying condition for a medical marijuana in the state of Florida.

Speaker 1 (10:50):
It is not on the basic list, okay, the word menopause,
but some of its symptoms are some if its symptoms
can be included in some of the categories. You have
the anxiety, you have, the depression, you have the insomnia
because cannabis is an excellent sleep medicine. Then you have

(11:13):
the decreased libido. Cannabis can help with that joint pains
similar to arthritic type feelings. That is a component of
one of the menopaug One of the qualifying conditions, so
it can fit into a category. You just have to
be creative.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yeah, So when did you first start incorporating medical medical
cannabis into your wellness practice? And then how do you
help women who are going through those hormonal changes?

Speaker 1 (11:46):
Well, I probably started when we were allowed to, which
was twenty seventeen, but I certainly enough study and investigation
into it to see how I could do that. There
are women who well, first of all, menopause is a

(12:09):
deficiency of hormones, as I described, but I didn't put
it in those terms. But it is a deficiency of hormones,
not a deficiency of cannabis. But the deficiency of hormones
produces those symptoms. So most people, since I'm a specialist,
most people coming to me, they're going to know why

(12:29):
they're coming, and most of them are going to come
to me for hormones, but there are over the last
several years, they come to me for cannabis as well.
And if I see a patient is very fearful of
taking hormones, I'll offer them cannabis. If I see a

(12:53):
patient despite hormone balancing, and that's treatment with hormones so
that your level's look really good and you're feeling good,
but you still may Some of them still may not
sleep as well as they like, even though they are
hormonally balanced. I'll offer them offer them cannabis because cannabis

(13:13):
is one of the best sleep medications. If they've got
various joint pains. Now, hormones help a lot of this.
Hormones are anti inflammatory, just as cannabinoids, cannabis is cannabinoids
and end of cannabinoids. Hormones are relievers of various symptoms

(13:36):
in menopause. Cannabis can relieve the joint pains, can relieve
the anxiety and depression. CBD is fabulous for that. Really,
really a good medication to take. Cannabis the anxiety, the depression,

(13:58):
the mood swings, the lack of desire for sex. Cannabis
is very helpful for that, and as are hormones. But
like I said, there are some women that are fearful hormones,
or some women that may have conditions that preclude them
from using hormones. Cannabis is a good alternative. One of

(14:21):
the other you don't necessarily experience symptoms from this. One
of the other signs is osteoporosis loss of bone, and
there's some really small earlier studies that have looked at
some of the cannabinoids and feel that cannabinoids can help

(14:42):
with bone loss, but the studies aren't there and it's
really not something that we depend on. Hormones, on the
other hand, can replace bone loss, prevent and replace bone loss.
So there's that. I said all that just to illustrate. Yes,
there are some things that only hormones can solve, but

(15:05):
there are other things that cannabis can help effectively and
instead of hormone use, so you don't have to feel
bad because you don't want to take hormones. Say if
your mother had breast cancer and you feel your risk
for breast cancer is significant because of that, and it
is increased when you're a close relative like that has

(15:27):
had breast cancer. Your rate goes from one out of
eight to one out of four. So those women don't
want to take hormones, and cannabis is a very nice alternative.
There are people who have had blood cloths can't take hormones.

(15:48):
They certainly can't take estrogen. They can take progesterone and tustopterom,
but not estrogen. So there will be some things that
cannabis can fill in the gap there. For sure, they
work together. They can work together cannabis and hormones. I

(16:08):
think I told you before that I have a saying
that a hormonally balanced woman who uses cannabis is a
brand new woman. I like that.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
Well, I want to ask a question about So we
know that cannabis is plant based hormones, what's in that?

Speaker 1 (16:33):
Yeah, many of the hormones now are plant based as well,
because the pharmaceutical companies, well I don't use a lot
of pharmaceuticals period. Yeah, but the because of the surge
in the use of the bioidentical hormones which are compounded
in a compounding pharmacy, and those are plant based, and

(16:57):
the popularity of those have inspired the pharmaceutical companies to
also create plant based hormones. They've been doing that for
twenty years. Not as necessarily as as the compounding hormones are.
And I'll tell you about those in a second. But women,

(17:19):
i'd say, starting in the nineties, wanted to get away
from the synthetic hormones, and the pharmaceutical companies tried to
sell us on premarin, which has been around since the sixties.
Primar they said, oh, well, this is a natural hormone.

(17:39):
We don't, you know, we don't just have synthetic hormones.
This is a natural hormone. Well, they said it was
natural because it comes from a horse. And if you
look at the word tramarin pre for premarent. Pre stands
for pregnant mayor, murine stands for the mayor, which is

(18:03):
the female horse, and then in stands for urine. So
premarine is the reason is derived from pregnant forces urine. Okay.
And they tried to sell us that that exactly. They
tried to sell us that that's natural. It is not
natural to the human body. It's about a hundred times

(18:26):
more potent. We are not were oh mind exactly. So
women rejected that. I mean a lot of women took it,
but there was a whole faction of women who said, no,
we want something different. And compounding pharmacies they'll use the

(18:50):
same similar ingredients, but they use plant based ingredients and
they can tailor the dose of the medication medication for
that person the individual. Say, let me give you an example. Progesterone.
The pharmaceutical companies make prometrium, which is the bioidentical progesterone,

(19:12):
but it only comes in one hundred milligrams or two
hundred miligram doses. I may be someone that needs seventy
five milligrams or one hundred and fifty. The way they're made,
you can't cut them in half. They are these little
balls that have oil in them, and sometimes the oil
is peanut oil, though I think they've changed that now.

(19:32):
But compounding, a compounding pharmacy can make a seventy five
milligram progesterone or one hundred and fifty milligram progesterol, so
you can tailor this to the patient patient's needs. So
that's why compounding pharmacies became so popular and widely used.

(19:55):
And every year the pharmaceutical companies try to get the
FD to outlaw compounding hormones, but it hasn't done it yet.
So yeah, that's the compounding farmies have served us very well.
The reason compounding pharmacies exist. And actually this is the
way pharmacies started out long ago. They were called apothecaries,

(20:17):
and the pharmacist was like a mad scientist. The pharmacists
could come up with a concoction that works for you.
If a kid was given a medicine, kids won't take pills,
so we have to put it in liquid form, and
some of them just don't come in liquid form from
the pharmacy, So the compounding pharmists can turn it. Pharmacists

(20:41):
can turn it into a liquid form and flavor it
with bubblegum or something so the kids will not refuse
to take it. That's how pharmacy compounding pharmacies came about.
It's really very very cool, that's very fascinating.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
So I'm just curious. You know, you mentioned that for
some women they may have to take both products. You know,
they could use cannabis and then they can use the hormones.
So what are the risk and the side effects that
women should be aware of when they're using cannabis alongside
these other medications.

Speaker 1 (21:16):
Great question, Great question. The first thing I'll start with
is that you shouldn't take any oral medicine at the
same time that you use any oral cannabis compound, okay,
because you want to avoid drug interaction. So the rule

(21:37):
of thumb is two hours after taking any medicine, that's
when you can take your oral cannabis product. Many people
use the inhalation. The inhalation does not interfere with the hormone, okay.
It's not going through the same pathway, so the at
least through the same rout of administration. The pills and

(22:01):
the oral cannabis all go through the gastrotestino track, and
you don't want them to go through it at the
same time. So that's one of the items. And I
say that that's for any patient who's using cannabis. Don't
take any of your medicine, your blood pressure, medicine, etc.
At the same time that you take your oral cannabis
products if you're using them, And that includes the tinctures,

(22:24):
the liquids that you put in your mouth, because you
do eventually swallow that and you don't want to take
medicine at the same time. The risks for cannabis if
you take them with hormones are pretty minimal as long
as you don't take them at the same time. The

(22:48):
same risks for cannabis is Actually I'm going to say this.
This is not controversial, but it may be unknown to
some people, but cannabis is probably the safest substance known
to mankind. It's even safer than sugar, so I don't
worry too much about side effects. Now, something that some

(23:09):
people will consider as a side effect for cannabis of
cannabis is not a side effect to most and that's
the impairment aspect of it cannabis. It's mediated by THHC,
and some women just don't want to feel impaired, so
that's fine. You can take products that have a combination

(23:31):
of CBD and THHC and make the THHC a lower component,
a lower dose, or you can take the products without THHC.
So that's easily solved, so you won't have to worry
about that aspect of cannabis use. Really, there aren't a

(23:52):
lot of risks, you know. There sometimes people will Sometimes
people think, well, now, I won't say that. There have
been some studies that have been reported that talk about
using cannabis and having heart disease, or cannabis interfering causing

(24:17):
worsening of heart disease, or cannabis maybe triggering something. It
really doesn't. I think it's exaggerated if you read the studies,
there's really not much there, so I don't put too
much into that. However, I'm not a fan of the

(24:41):
seventy five and up, eighty and up patients using the concentrates.
Concentrates are high dose THCHC there is, there're eighty percent
plus THCHC. That's a lot of THCHC. Concentrates are are
effective and helpful, but you have to know how to

(25:05):
use them, and most people don't know how to use them,
and those that are using them enjoy the high aspect
of it. But what you don't know is that if
the concentrates can speed up your tolerance, tolerance is such
that when you want to take more and more cannabis

(25:27):
because you're not getting the effects you received when you
started out taking it. Cannabis is a plant that does that,
So people take more and more and more, and when
really what you should do if you become tolerant at
your cannabis dose, you don't take more. You just stop
it for three days or more. You figure out what

(25:49):
works for yourself and don't use that method of medication
for three days and then because that allows your receptor
is and whatnot time to replenish, regenerate, et cetera. It works,
and then when you go when you go back to
using cannabis, you can use less than half the amount

(26:11):
you were using before you stop. So this will keep
your your usage low. It also will keep a few
dollars in your pocketbook because taking more and more and
more these these things are not cheap. Cannabis is expensive.
Cannabis use is an expense, so you want to try

(26:33):
to keep it within the budget, so to speak. Yeah,
so that that's an issue there. But as far as
interfere with hormones, there have been a lot of animal
studies that show cannabis interferes with hormones or hormones interfere
with cannabis. There's some interaction, but we haven't seen detrimental

(26:54):
interactions in humans yet. You know, animal studies do not
always trans late into the human experience, so we have
to be careful sometimes saying okay, well this is an
animal study and okay, so humans, you can't use this either.
Doesn't work like that. The animal studies are a guide

(27:19):
to future human studies, so we can see what's going
on in humans and then proceed from that perspective.

Speaker 2 (27:28):
Yeah, I'm so glad you touched on dosing because that's
always a topic that comes up when we do these
shows because folks think you got to take a lot
of medical cannabis to help, but really.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
Medical cannabis less is more, you know what We're it's
not all the people's fault, but because we've been in
a pharmaceutical society such that if five miligrams doesn't work,
let's give you ten, and if ten grams doesn't work
to bring your blood pressure down, let's increase the dose
that way. So we've been fed that mode of operation

(28:07):
for a long time. So quite naturally, when you're taking
cannabis as a medicine, you think, okay, well I'll just
take more if it doesn't work like it should at
this point. So it's you know, it's it's a societal ill,
so to speak, because cannabis is not like that.

Speaker 2 (28:25):
Less is more, And that's why we're having this forum
to educate the.

Speaker 1 (28:30):
Public exactly exactly exactly.

Speaker 2 (28:33):
So, doctor Wilson King, are there women who may have
conditions that you would not recommend cannabis use for?

Speaker 1 (28:45):
Certainly, just like there are conditions I wouldn't recommend hormones
for there or yet I wouldn't recommend hormones and women
with certain conditions I wouldn't recommend cannabis use, and some conditions,
but not many cannabis, Like I said, it's so safe.

(29:06):
One of the conditions is people undergoing cancer treatment have been.
We have a new arena of products that are used
to combat the cancer and they're called biologics, and what
they do is they enhance your immune system. One of
one of the things functions of them is they enhance

(29:27):
your immune system to fight the cancer. Well, cannabis is
an immune modulator, so you don't want to fight what
the drug is supposed to be doing to the cancer. Now,
most doses that people use, it probably doesn't matter. Most
doses of cannabis that people use, it probably doesn't matter.

(29:51):
But if you're fighting cancer, you want to give yourself
the best chance to win this fight. So you might
want to consider not using cannabis in the beginning. But certainly,
should you develop some of any side effects, the biologists
don't have those type of side effects usually, but should
you at least not the nausea and vomiting, there's other

(30:15):
side effects. I would wait until wait a little bit
before doing that. I have a good friend who is
a cannabis physician clinician who also deals in in the cancer,
the use of cannabis with the side effects, and he

(30:38):
developed cancer and he was given biologics and he did
not use cannabis initially in the treatment because he wanted
to give himself the best shot at beating this cancer.
So if you're undergoing treatment with biologics, you might want
to check with your doctor or a cannabis clinician and

(31:00):
to see what you should do in that situation. So
women undergoing breast cancer in general, I would not use cannabis, certainly,
not high doses. Women who who else would I not?

(31:24):
Women with significant heart disease. I would probably we could
do a low dose because I've seen people do well.
Now a lot of this is anecdotal. I've seen people
do well with low doses of cannabis and it be
very helpful, particularly if you want to sleep. Low doses

(31:48):
are effective for sleep, So I wouldn't hesitate to do that.
I just would really have them avoid large doses. So
as you can see, really this is safe. Sometimes you
need to stay on the low side. But really there
isn't much contra contraindications to using cannabis. Now, if you

(32:14):
have cannabinoid hyperremesis syndrome, which is being overdiagnosed, what is that.
It's a syndrome where people who have been chronic long
term cannabis users develop severe nausea and vomiting when they

(32:35):
use cannabis, and the only thing that stops it is
taking a hot shower. We don't know the physiological basis
of all that, but doctor Ethan Russo did a study
looking at this, and he found that there were some
geneticency tendencies. People with certain genetics that have a tendency

(33:00):
need to develop cannabinoid hyperreemeesis syndrome. So those people should
stay away from cannabis. But there are they can be.
They can use it maybe on occasion, just can't chronically
use it. There are people that are using cannabis on
a daily basis and pretty good amounts, and I don't

(33:23):
know how they function doing that.

Speaker 2 (33:27):
Yeah, I'm shocked. Well, it counds to me from everything
you said that anyone who is using medical cannabis in
the state of Florida needs to rely on your qualified
physician really and your primary care physician through this and
whoever is you know treating you for any ailments.

Speaker 1 (33:48):
They need to be working together.

Speaker 2 (33:50):
I mean, to me, that's my biggest takeaway from everything.

Speaker 1 (33:53):
You just absolutely that's I mean, I truly firmly believe
that cannabis access should be for everyone. But with the
eventual introduction of adult use. A lot of people aren't

(34:14):
going to be going to doctors and they're just going
to go to the dispensary and buy cannabis, and they'll
be using the concentrates and they may have some issues
that a physician could have helped them. People. Usually, many
of my patients will come in they just don't know
where to start, so we give them guidance for that.

(34:35):
And it's helpful because you can walk into a dispensary
and be so overwhelmed that you'll either walk out with
a whole bunch of products that you're probably never going
to use, or you walk out with nothing because it's
very overwhelming. You don't know where to start, you don't
know what to buy, don't know what to use. So

(34:56):
I use a simple formula that first we find out
if you've got a complex list of problems, We'll start
with the most pressing problem and then work down the list.
Sometimes what we start to on will help some other things.
As matter of fact, that's how cannabis can become medicinal.

(35:17):
People will use it in an adult use fashion, but
then realize, oh, you know, my hip pain that I
was getting is now decreased or gone after using cannabis,
so then they start using it medicinally. So that's interesting. Yeah,

(35:40):
that's actually how a lot of how many patients come
to using cannabis medicinally. They were using it in an
adult use fashion and then realize, oh, this is helping
those people that need appetites. If they're undergoing chemo or
have some diseases that decrease appetite, Chrome's disease, things like that,

(36:03):
they can use cannabis or i should say cancer treatment AIDS.
AIDS is known for its waste being wasting disease because
you cannot eat. Cannabis is wonderful for that. And in fact,
there was a very famous person in California when at

(36:25):
first when cannabis became a movement, Brownie Mary I think
her name was. She used to make brownies with cannabis
and pass it out to the patient, the people with
AIDS to help them eat and put on some weight
and start feeling a little better. So cannabis is good

(36:48):
for people with cockexia or any wasting diseases that impact
your appetite. Cannabis can be very helpful for that.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
That's interesting, So let's circle back to medical cannabis and menopause.
And I'm curious to know what are some of the
top questions you get asked by your patients regarding using
medical cannabis for menopause. What do they ask you when
they're considering that some of the it's interesting some of the.

Speaker 1 (37:20):
I'll say. The first thing is I don't want to
get high. It's interesting that I do get that I
don't want to get high, So I still let them
know you don't have to get high. There are ways
to use cannabis so you don't have to feel impaired.

(37:42):
I would like to refer to it as impairment for
intoxication as opposed to getting high. And believe, mind you,
I don't believe that getting high is a bad thing overall,
but it is something that some patients just don't want.
So then we give the cannabis or recommend the cannabis

(38:05):
in ways that they won't Okay, the how can it
help me sleep? I need to sleep? I just can't
get sleep. That's a common request question about cannabis use,
and it's very and I explained to them that yes,

(38:28):
cannabis helps you sleep and you won't wake up feeling
with a hangover or feeling drowsy. That's the beauty of
using cannabis for sleep is that it's it's let you
get a full night sleep as long as you know
how to use it. But you don't wake up still

(38:50):
feeling sleepy or drowsy.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
So the.

Speaker 1 (38:56):
So we start, we mentioned the how it may make
you feel that youph you. We've talked about how can
I get some sleep? The other is can it help
me relax? I have trouble relaxing. Cannabis will definitely help
you relax, And a lot of people really do have

(39:17):
difficulty relaxing. They're in a high stress job, they've got kids,
they've got home duties as well as work duties. You're
running around taking the kids.

Speaker 2 (39:28):
Here, there, everywhere, and then on top of that, they're
going through menopause.

Speaker 1 (39:34):
Exactly on top of that, you're having your mood swings
and issues too. You get to the point where you
feel like I want to give the whole family cannabis
because this is a bit much, But we don't do
it that way. We got it all the rules. Yeah,
so cannabis and I believe stress and anxiety should be

(39:56):
one of the qualifying conditions. It doesn't spit into the categories.
But stress is huge in the United States. Stress with
menopause is huge, the stress of living with menopause is huge,
and the stress of functioning with menopausal symptoms is huge.
And cannabis can help, especially if you don't want to

(40:19):
take foremost. But you know what I want to say
one other thing. You don't have to always use THHC.
And I'm not demonizing THHC. I think you should use
the entire plant, but you can use it in the
way that you can function. You can feel good, but
you you aren't impaired. And I really want people to

(40:42):
understand that you don't have to be impaired. So cannabis
is something you can try without feeling like you're going
to be woozy all the time. So you really that
what Heidi said, I have to echo cannabis. You really
if you want to use cannabis, particularly well, whether you've

(41:04):
used it before or not. Just because you've used it before,
it doesn't mean you fully understand how to use the plant.
You should really go to a cannabis clinician who can
help you. And if you go to someone and they
don't give you the information you want, go to someone

(41:25):
else because you need to get the proper counseling and
the proper guidance needed so that cannabis can work for you,
because it is a very wonderful plant that can do
a lot of things to help you. There is a
a group of folks who use cannabis in its raw form,

(41:49):
that's the flower. They put the flower in a smoothie.
They you know they have. This is in California or
places where you can grow your own cannabis. You can
take that in Florida for everybody. Can't do that inside
in Florida exactly, don't even try to. I'm not do this,

(42:10):
but I'm saying that there are people that can use
the plant leaves and and and put a bud in
the in a smoothie and not feel high, but get
the medical benefits. So I want you to know that
you can per you can use cannabis without the euphoria,

(42:31):
but the euphoria is also medicinal. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:35):
So, doctor Wilson King, this has been a really informative conversation.
Do you have any closing thoughts.

Speaker 1 (42:41):
If over already? Yes, I feel like, oh I must
have been talking a lot. I'm really good well, the
closing would be probably what I just said, get help,
get proper counseling. UH. For menopause in particular. It really

(43:04):
can help you. You just have to know how to
use it and what to do. It can help you
with some of the symptoms. If you're really afraid of hormones,
or just can't take hormones, or just don't want to
take hormones, cannabis can be very, very helpful for you.
So don't leave that opportunity. Don't let that slip by you,

(43:32):
because you can get some relief. You do not have
to be miserable during menopause, and that certainly goes for
everyone else others, not even in menopause. If you're feeling
horrible over various situations, if you've got PTSD, viralmyalgia, pain,

(43:56):
joint pains, pains that aren't relieved with conventional medication. I'm
not a fan of opioids. Actually, that should be one
of the qualifying conditions just to get off of opioids
and use cannabis, but it isn't yet, So don't try

(44:16):
to use it for that, but just get help from
a physician who can really give you some good counseling.
And effective counseling and guidance for what to do and
how to do it. That's really what I want to say.

(44:37):
I really do well.

Speaker 2 (44:38):
Doctor Wilson King, Thank you for being our guests on
this Conversations on Cannabis virtual form brought to you by
the Medical Marijuana Education and Research Initiative at Florida and
M University. Thank you to everyone watching this program. Tell
us what you think about this form by completing the
survey posted in the comment boxes on Mary's social media pages.

(45:00):
If you complete the survey, your name will be entered
into a drawing in May twenty twenty five to win
a one hundred dollars gift card provided by one of
Mary's partners.

Speaker 1 (45:09):
We also want to be heard long too, Yeah, find
the right.

Speaker 2 (45:13):
We also want to encourage you to go to the
Florida Department of Health Office of Medical Marijuana Use website
to learn how to obtain a legal medical marijuana cart
in the state of Florida. We also encourage you to
go to Florida and M University's Merry website to learn
more about this initiative, it's educational programs, and about cannabis

(45:34):
use in Florida. Thanks everyone.

Speaker 1 (45:39):
The views and opinions of our invited guest are not
necessarily the views and opinions of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical
University or the Medical Marijuana Education and Research Initiative