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Educated Stoner: Shrooms to Regulate

Educated Stoner: Shrooms to Regulate

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A personal account of microdosing psilocybin mushrooms to regulate high blood pressure and manage symptoms of heart disease.

Super sensitive, that’s what my mom called me. HSP is what the therapist said I was, a Highly Sensitive Person.

Also known as an Empath, or someone who feels intense physical pain and empathy for others. It’s been both a blessing and a curse.

We now know, these intense emotional connections also affect our biological health, with stressors put on our central nervous and cardiovascular systems, where our heart conducts a symphony – until a cymbal is dropped.

HSP isn’t a psychological diagnosis, but just another acronym in a series of what I used to refer to as dysfunctions (Spectrum, OCD, ADD, CPTSD), from a list of quirky characteristics I’ve learned to live with since childhood.

Psychologist Elaine Aron introduced the concept of HSP as a personality type in 1996, stating that HSPs are neurodivergent, meaning our brains process differently than others.

Heartache has been a concurrent theme in my life, and it seems that in the end my heart has proven to be the weakest link to my lifeline.

Short Circuiting

At the end of 2021, I began having schematic episodes with high blood pressure, combined with severe symptoms that frightened me.

To give some context, this occurred after more than a decade of living and thriving in homeostasis using nothing but cannabis and other plant-based therapies.

The symptoms from these episodes were so intense they caused me to end a nearly 30 year run of being on constant deadlines, as I was unable to write for the first time in decades.

Conspiracies vs. Statistics

My knowledge of the beneficial compounds of plants working together synergistically with human biology has taught me that plants alone cannot only prevent serious illness, but can nip it in the bud, so to speak, before an ailment can become chronic or lethal.

That said, I am not idealistic enough to believe that the masses can do away with vaccines and/or pharmaceuticals cold turkey, after literally decades of being led away from the garden of apothecary (plants as remedy, pre-pharmaceuticals, 1930s), while simultaneously adding empty foods to our biological systems and toxins to our environment; traced through blood lines for generations.

It would be irresponsible of me to encourage anyone to do away with their pharmaceuticals, et al, without encouraging a healthier lifestyle and diet of superfoods.

But, history demonstrates that humans have been encouraged to eat their fruits and vegetables for a very long time, to no avail. The average diet today consists of more meat and potatoes (proteins and starches) than the natural immune system builders that grow from the garden.

But I digress.

The schematic episodes that led to a diagnosis of myocarditis began shortly after I received the Moderna vaccine(s) in preparation for an extensive farm tour in Northern California’s Emerald Triangle for my series, Weed Traveler for Weed World UK.

Several papers published in the US National Institute of Health’s website report a spike in myocarditis after Covid/vaccines were given, with 150 people out of 100,000 presenting with the disease 21 days post Covid and/or the vaccine.*

Prior to Covid/vaccine, in the course of a normal year, the incident rate of myocarditis affected 10 to 20 people in 100,000, globally.*

I was tested for Covid twice, but never presented positive. An essay I wrote at the time detailed the fact that my plant medicine intake more than likely kept severe symptoms at bay.

Over the years, I’ve written of the quelling of typical symptoms that come with the flu or colds. In more than a decade, I’ve never had anything last longer than a couple of days, as most of the beneficial plants I use on a regular basis deal with infections and inflammation, with my successfully shunning antibiotics many times over the years.

cannabis world news psychedelics image of author Sharon Letts
Sharon Letts. Photo credit: Josh Fogel.

Protected from Stroke

My first serious schematic episode came via a vertigo attack that laid me down, just weeks after returning home from the farm tour.

While it’s not common for vertigo to be in correlation with a stroke, depending on the location of the stroke in the brain vertigo can be triggered (my diagnosis: vertebrobasilar arterial location mainly in basilar artery involvement).

Symptoms included lightening bolt flashes around my eyes, dizziness, nausea, and the inability to sit or stand upright.

According to studies post Covid, the increase of schematic episodes or stroke 21 days after receiving the vaccine increased upwards of 57 percent.*

Stroke = High Blood Pressure

A year and a half after the schematic episodes/vertigo I found myself suffering from ongoing shortness of breath and fatigue, unaware of what it might be – brushing it off as being over 60.

An MRI showed that I had indeed experienced a severe stroke; followed by high blood pressure and subsequent severe symptoms, with the eventual diagnosis of myocarditis.

The severe symptoms of high blood pressure were textbook, causing chest pain, shortness of breath, nausea, blurred vision and night sweats.

According to the Mayo Clinic, myocarditis is described as permanent damage to the heart, typically caused by a viral infection. Severe cases weaken the heart, leading to heart failure and subsequent death. It’s a progressive disease with no treatment, albeit, medications to help keep blood pressure low.

The episodes slowed me down considerably and I was not able to write or work in my beloved garden for much of that year.

Doing as the Doctors Say

When the severe heart symptoms began, friends and family who are not fully on board for plant-based medicine talked to me as if I were a child, stating, “It’s time to grow up, listen to the doctors, and do what they tell you to do.”

When I presented at the emergency room at Sharp’s Mary Birch, a private hospital in San Diego, California, my pressure registered at an astounding 260/124.

The staff gathered ‘round, expecting me to have a massive coronary episode at any moment.

The intake person was astonished that I was sitting upright talking to him, as he shared that his numbers were about the same as mine when he was brought in on a stretcher from an ambulance, with saliva dripping out of the corner of his mouth, unable to speak, in full cardiac arrest.

The only explanation I could give was that my purposeful ingesting with chamomile and cannabis concentrates was actually regulating my cardio, even though the high THC spiked my blood pressure, initially.

I explained that I’m a serious cannabis patient with knowledge on dosing, and that I had merely upped my dose of cannabis/chamomile oil(s) as prevention and to calm throughout the episodes; further sharing that these were the remedies I had used for years.

What I did not emphasize was, I smoked that morning as per usual, along with ingesting my oils, and had a couple hits from a pre-roll in the car in the parking lot before presenting to the ER.

Important to note, I continued to take a 1 mL chamomile concentrate capsule, even while sitting in the emergency room to calm myself from the ordeal, and to take the edge off the THC that contributed to a spike in my blood pressure.

The ER doctor, Gregg D. Alzate, MD, immediately sent me in for an MRI, suspecting that I had had a stroke prior, causing my blood pressure to soar, with many other symptoms progressively added. This was concerning, as I had always presented with low blood pressure throughout my entire life.

As a side note, cannabis patients typically have lower blood pressure, as that’s a side effect of the plant regulating the cardio system.
Studies are conflicting, as high THC can immediately spike blood pressure, but combined with the hundreds of other beneficial compounds within the plant, supporting all of our systems, it lowers pressure and regulates overall.

As an example, studies show that high CBD Hemp, derived from cannabis, can lower blood pressure, while high THC cannabis users have been found to suffer from cardiac issues, anxiety, and panic attacks.*

The MRI showed that I had indeed suffered a stroke sometime ago. Due to its appearance on the scan the doctor was surprised I didn’t have subsequent negative side effects (paralysis, speech impairment, etc) and didn’t present to the ER at the time.

I can only surmise that the vertigo attack I‘d had a year and a half prior (weeks after the vaccine and farm tour) was a side effect from the stroke, with subsequent high blood pressure and symptoms progressively getting worse up until the time I presented to the ER.

To be humanly honest, my newly acquired habit of an infused dirty martini in the afternoons hadn’t helped, as alcohol is inflammatory, known to spike high blood pressure.

Thinking back to the vertigo attack nearly two years prior, the episode happened in the evening, and I did what I always do when not feeling well, I upped my dose of cannabis/chamomile oil in a few different deliveries* and went to sleep.

I had initially taken just one of my (1 milliliter) chamomile/cannabis oil capsules, as I do nightly to aid in sleep, prevention, and as an immune system builder – but the vertigo episode was so severe it laid me down and I added a 1 gram (3 ml) suppository of the same formulation before falling asleep.

When I woke up the next morning I had extreme fatigue, but no other symptoms.

I listened to the doctors, and took the pharmaceuticals in an attempt to lower my blood pressure for several weeks, but my severe symptoms never subsided. I was waking up out of breath with dangerously high blood pressure, blurred vision, nausea, and the inability to do anything. In fact, after weeks of this, I found I had lost time and couldn’t remember many days gone by.

cannabis world news psychedelics a handful of cubensis mushroooms
Mushrooms: I initially took up to one gram a day. Photo credit: Sharon Letts.

Take two shrooms and call me in the morning.

With all my accumulative knowledge of how plants regenerate healthy tissue within our bodies, I never connected the dots between fungi possibly doing the same.

For the past year prior to my heart episodes, I had been occasionally microdosing small amounts of psilocybin mushrooms, successfully treating hormonal depression from the tail end of menopausal symptoms combined with thyroid disease.

But when the heart issues began, I never upped my dose of the mushrooms. Rather, I assumed (as one may with high THC), that the psychoactive effects of the psilocybin might spike blood pressure and/or complicate my symptoms.

I am happy to report that my assumptions were incorrect and this was not the case.

One morning, a friend announced she was having a gathering to paint rocks, and I literally said aloud, “Fuck it, I’m not taking this pharmaceutical today!”

Rather, I microdosed with just under one gram of fresh-dried psilocybin mushrooms and went off to smoke weed and paint rocks with my tribe.

As the great philosopher Doris Day once said, Que sera sera! If I died of a heart attack by the end of the day or the end of the week, at least I would be happy on my way out. That is honestly the only thought I had in my head that day.

Up until this point I had been writing about replacing pharmaceuticals with plants for more than 10 years, and now I was feeling the negative effects from taking a synthetic medicine firsthand. It was not good, and I’m used to feeling better after taking my plant-based remedies, not worse.

Remarkably, by the end of that afternoon my points had lowered by 30. Within 48 hours, my blood pressure was down to normal at 120/80, with severe symptoms quelled.

This was after nearly two months of feeling like I was going to die at any moment, causing me to get my affairs in order, with a press release written, a last will and testament drawn up; with instructions for the distribution of my ashes to John Casali’s Huckleberry Hill Farms in Southern Humboldt County, California.

Quality of Life

When I wrote this initial essay more than a year ago, I was successfully maintaining my cardio, keeping my blood pressure down and severe symptoms at bay.

Initially, I was taking a daily dose of psilocybin mushrooms, but found dosing with a half a gram a few days a week is enough.

Most importantly, I’ve found that if I go too long without dosing, symptoms return. As evidenced with a last bout after not following my own advice for more than a month.

I have not had any hallucinatory experiences with psilocybin mushrooms since I was 15 years old, swearing never to do them again. But with microdosing, the strongest effect is an overall feeling of well-being, with my mood (and endorphins) elevated better and longer than smoking a fine cannabis flower – one of my favorite things.

Sharon’s dosing during vertigo/stroke:
1-1 ml capsules cannabis/chamomile oil (alcohol reduction)
1-1 gram cannabis/chamomile oil suppository (alcohol reduction)
1 bowl of flower/bong
Topical salve at temples (coconut infusion, mixed plants, including chamomile and cannabis.
Chamomile saline eye drops (anti-inflammatory, relieves pressure)

All recipes on Sharon’s website under Apothecary. Chamomile eye drops were purchased over the counter (Mexico).

cannabis world news psychedelics image of BP gauge at 120/80
Blood pressure normal after 48 hours of microdosing. Photo credit: Sharon Letts.

Educating Moment Lost

When the MRI showed I’d had a stroke prior, the attending emergency room physician seemed confident that’s where and when my troubles began.

Why I had a stroke in the first place, prevention, or keeping it from happening again, wasn’t discussed.

When the blood test came back showing high tetrahydrocannabinol or THC numbers in my system, it was obvious the way the doctor began speaking to me that he assumed I was reacting to a non-therapeutic dose of the psychoactive compound.

In other words, after the test results showed I had THC in my system, he treated me like a typical stoner and all inquiries into my heart condition halted abruptly. I was soon sent home with a pharmaceutical meant to lower my blood pressure, with little to no further discussion.

I did not tell him who I was, rather, I asked him if he was educated on cannabis as medicine, to which he replied that he knew “everything there was about marijuana from working in the emergency room.”

Note: This experience caused me to file a complaint with a third-party agency, to which I received a generic response stating they would look into it further with the hospital. More than two years have passed with no follow up from the hospital.

All this doctor knew of cannabis was when someone ingested a non-therapeutic dose of THC and presented to the ER having a bad experience. That, it seems, taught him all he thought he needed to know about the plant. His only focus was on the negative side effects of this one compound, THC.

If this doctor cared to educate himself, he would have found that there are more than 400 beneficial compounds within the plant with absolutely no toxic or negative effects.

I chose not to tell him who I was, because of his arrogance about his own knowledge, or lack thereof, of the plant.

When he left the room I shared with the two attending nurses who I was and we discussed the plant intelligently as medicine. They accepted the information as a learning moment.

The American Nursing Association has accepted the plant as medicine. Nurses are the ones patients open up to when doctors don’t want to or can’t hear about its benefits, mostly due to federal laws restricting them to do so.

See Also
cannabis world news psychedelics cover of book, Meitzner, Explorer of Consciousness

Add this to the fact that doctors are not taught about the endocannabinoid system (Ecs) in medical school, the system that runs throughout our bodies, accepting plant-based compounds, addressing all of our biological systems, keeping us in homeostasis – or a place where illness cannot dwell.

It would have been nice to share that too much THC actually spikes blood pressure. I learned this after taking my own pressure with a cuff right after a bong hit, with points immediately raised by 30, although my pressure dropped substantially after a few minutes, due to the myriad other beneficial compounds delivered.

He might’ve liked to know this, since his only focus was on the negativity of THC. But where cannabis and some doctors are concerned, it seems that ignorance is truly bliss.

That learning moment would’ve been followed by another, as I would have let him know that THC is actually a beneficial compound that started out nowhere near the percentages we have today. The THC has been up over the years for recreation by human hands, giving us the non-therapeutic dose used against us that we must now defend.

Doctors can‘t legally prescribe cannabis because they don’t learn about its efficacy in medical school. They can only give a cannabis patient a recommendation for authorization to use the plant as medicine in states legal to do so.

Most of the doctors I’ve interviewed who are educated on cannabis have been initially enlightened to the plant’s benefits by their own patients, then they educate themselves.

Life with Plants

I honestly feel that my use of plants to regulate all my systems over the years protected me through many near misses with my health, including the stroke and staving off a heart attack.

I continue to microdose with psilocybin mushrooms by ingesting a half a gram of ground material in capsules at least 2 to 3 days a week as maintenance.

I also continue to take my cannabis/chamomile oil in capsules (1ml per) nightly and use my chamomile concentrate (1ml per, infused with coconut) in capsules to calm, as needed; with my diet leaning heavy in plants with many different deliveries.
Recipes on my website under Apothecary.

We don’t know what challenges will be handed to us in this lifetime. I honestly don’t know how much longer I will be here, as myocarditis is a progressive disease and my heart will give out when it’s ready. It’s not up to me, I won’t live forever and I’m OK with that.

The schematic episodes I’ve continued to have via the lightning bolts around my eyes in times of duress are quelled quickly with the chamomile saline eye drops, taking the pressure down.

Curious to note, during the time my pressure went up for lack of dosing the mushrooms, a friend of mine (on pharmaceuticals for high blood pressure) also measured her pressure with a cuff alongside me, with the same high numbers. This reminded me that while I was on the pharmaceuticals my own pressure had never lowered.

We know that plants regenerate healthy tissue in our bodies. Whether the mushrooms have regenerated some of my heart muscle or not, would only be discovered after death during an autopsy.

cannabis word news psychedelics image of painted rock
Rock painted day I took mushrooms in lieu of pharmaceuticals. Photo credit: Sharon Letts.

My Legacy from the Garden

If you told me when I was young the focus of my life and the work I do would be on plants in general – especially cannabis and now fungi, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. But here I am, well into my 60s, acting as my own guinea pig going on 14 years now, dealing successfully with plants to the very end.

For the short time I was on the pharmaceuticals it broke my heart that I was unable to write. But this past summer (2024), I nearly finished writing my book, Educated Stoner, a compilation of essays that I’ve written for more than a decade, sharing my successful outcomes using plants, and now fungi, as medicine for serious ailments.

I used to identify with being a stoner, because that’s what they told me I was – until I got educated, now I am an Educated Stoner.

As of this writing, the US government still lists cannabis on Schedule 1, denoting no medicinal value, while psilocybin mushrooms seem to be garnering more acceptance.

With the misnomer that any reporting of cannabis as medicine is considered anecdotal, hopefully, one day after I’m gone my work will be acknowledged for what it is, an important record of successful outcomes with plants.

Blessings to the advocates, the influencers, the content creators, and the medical professionals who continue to advocate for the plant – and now for the fungus among us, a game changer in many ways.

Thank you to everyone who has allowed me to tell their stories; thanks to everyone who has followed me all these years; thank you for reading, thank you for sharing my work and keeping the conversation going.

One thing is certain, my quality of life has been better than it was for the 13 years prior to using plants, when I was on upwards of 10 pharmaceuticals, and still unwell.

Long after I’m gone the plants and fungi will prevail, as they have for centuries. Because you can’t stop the healing and the truth always prevails.

Original essay published by Weed World UK 2023, as part of Sharon’s ongoing series, Educated Stoner.

Fine Print: Educated Stoner is a series of essays detailing Writer/Producer Sharon Letts’ personal experiences in using plant-based remedies for illness and disorders.

“I identified as a stoner for decades, because that’s what they told me I was. Until I presented with cancer in my 50s and became educated. Now, I’m an Educated Stoner.”

Sharon is not a medical professional, nor is she a medical or technical writer. She is a storyteller and documentarian from television, and a features writer from mainstream media, interviewing cannabis patients on myriad ailments and disorders, globally, since 2011.

Duly Noted:

Sharon’s website, Apothecary; formulation chamomile/cannabis oil/recipes
http://www.sharonletts.com/apothecary

Information on HSP: https://www.health.com/condition/mental-health-conditions/highly-sensitive-person-empath#:~:text=HSPs%20are%20neurodivergent%2C%20meaning%20their,a%20personality%20type%20in%201996.

Connection between biological health and emotional well-being
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4449495/#:~:text=Neuroscience%20studies%20showed%20that%20some,role%20in%20happiness%20is%20undeniable.

Stroke symptoms/triggering vertigo
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9687911/#:~:text=The%20presence%20of%20vertigo%20in%20acute%20stroke%20is%20associated%20with,the%20patient%20may%20suffer%20vertigo.

Moderna vaccine warnings/myocarditis
https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/spikevax

Increases of stroke after Covid vaccines
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10337778/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10337778/

Increased rate myocarditis with Covid vaccine
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10286992/#:~:text=Primary%20and%20booster%20immunisation%20with,itself%20cause%20myocarditis%20or%20pericarditis.

Toxins found in generational bloodlines
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9563050/

How psilocybin mushrooms work with our biology https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8156539/

American nursing association and cannabis
https://www.aanp.org/advocacy/advocacy-resource/position-statements/therapeutic-use-of-marijuana#:~:text=The%20American%20Association%20of%20Nurse,to%20for%20health%20care%20treatments.

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