Birdgirl and others please respond.

[chillinoutblazebowls]

Is there any long term smokers on this forum that truly felt marijuana affected your brain function? To be more specific, did anyone feel as though it was hard to retain information? Trouble thinking clearly? Trouble with speaking or listening skills? Ive been experiencing a lot more mental fog than i ever used to and all of these affects have been taking place; especially during the daytime. I absolutley love smoking pot and i would hate to give it up. But, i have a lot more respect for my brain than i do about getting high; especially now that im older. I usually dont smoke more than 2 bong tokes a day; usually just one. Also, when im sober for about 6 strait days, all of these problems go away. Is there any kind of supplement that i could take with marijuana that would lessen the brain fog?

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

chillinoutblazebowls Reviewed by chillinoutblazebowls on 07-25-2008. Birdgirl and others please respond. Is there any long term smokers on this forum that truly felt marijuana affected your brain function? To be more specific, did anyone feel as though it was hard to retain information? Trouble thinking clearly? Trouble with speaking or listening skills? Ive been experiencing a lot more mental fog than i ever used to and all of these affects have been taking place; especially during the daytime. I absolutley love smoking pot and i would hate to give it up. But, i have a lot more respect for my Rating: 5

[birdgirl73]

The longterm smokers here report different effects from what I've seen, Chiilinoutblazebowls. Cannabis affects different people different ways, of course, and how it affects people depends on the strains and the methods of ingestion/inhalation, too. It may be that you're one of the ones for whom it causes some memory impairment and brain fog. I'm convinced that some of that may be simply the action of the smoking itself and the way it challenges oxygen saturation, too.

The last time I smoked was about two years ago when my older sister was using it for her chemo symptoms. I didn't notice this when I was in college and smoked weed, but as a middle-aged adult, it definitely caused me some memory interference and slight brain fog. Enough that it wasn't something I could continue and successfully function at a high level, but that's just me. I'm also perfectly willing to believe that I was under a tremendous amount of stress at that time because my sister was basically in the early stages of dying, so I'll never really know if the memory impairment or brain fog was attributable to a few hits of weed. I do know that while it made me feel sorta cloudy in some ways, in others, like in the area of creativity, it seemed to enhance my abilities.

Some people report good brain clarity results with ginkgo biloba supplement, which seems to contain antioxidants and thought-to-be-beneficial ingredients like flavanoids and terpenes, assuming you get a bottle that accurately contains the supplement it says it does. There's no testing of nutritional supplements so you know you're actually getting what you're buying. Ginkgo enthusiasts believe it enhances blood circulation, which it does appear to do, and it also provides some anti-coagulation effects. This can either be a good or a bad thing depending on what other medicines you take because its anti-coagulative effects can be a bad combination with prescription anti-coagulants or anti-platelet meds (like Plavix or aspirin). I don't know that there are any specific reports on the benefits of offsetting cannabis brain or memory fog with ginkgo, but ginkgo is thought to have good brain effects in general.

Exercise has many of the same benefits in boosting brain circulation and helping brush away neurological cobwebs! It's been found to be one of the most helpful tools in staving off Alzheimer's and/or symptoms of age-related mental impairment.

It'll be interesting to hear what others have to say here!

[mmjnoob]

I do know that while it made me feel sorta cloudy in some ways, in others, like in the area of creativity, it seemed to enhance my abilities.

This sums up my experience as well. I particularly had problems with memory. Long-term, short-term and everything in between.
This seemed to improve quickly and markedly when I stopped smoking and reappeared after returning to smoking for awhile. Hard to say what the long-term effects are.

Birdgirl, you look to have done some homework. Can you share some reliable sources on the marijuana/memory connection?

[Storm Crow]

Ginkgo helps get rid of the cobwebs. During summer vacation, I sometimes skip it, but during the school year I take it faithfully. I can notice the difference after about a week without it. It can take a while to take effect, so don't expect an overnight change. - Granny:hippy:

[chillinoutblazebowls]

Well as of late, iv'e occupying my brain with a lot more mental challenges. Iv'e been reading and writing a lot. I haven't really felt much brain fog.

[birdgirl73]

Birdgirl, you look to have done some homework. Can you share some reliable sources on the marijuana/memory connection?

Here are a few, MMjnoob, and I apologize in advance for the length of this!

Cannabis: learning and memory
This is only an abstract. From a Journal of Neuroscience article. Mighty technical. The conclusion of what this article says is that cannabinoids donâ??t affect long-term brain plasticity, meaning its ability to adjust and compensate in other areas, which the brain is amazing at, but that it does apparently affect potentiation and depression in the hippocampus. (Depression here doesnâ??t refer to emotional depression.) Explore the other links at the bottom.

Cannabis and memory
Another article. Includes good links at the bottom.

Marijuana wreaks havoc on brain's memory cells - health - 20 November 2006 - New Scientist
Fairly good general, written-for-the-masses article about why cannabis does what it does.

Effects of Cannabis on Memory and Cognitive Function
This I found on Google, and itâ??s British. Refers to studies that must be cited elsewhere. The interesting part isnâ??t so much what it says. Itâ??s the specifics about the memory testing itself that was done in Britain and what specific types of memory impairment seem to have been reflected. For this to be legit, we really need the real published results, though. So take this with a grain of salt.

Am J Dis Child -- Abstract: Short-term memory impairment in cannabis-dependent adolescents, October 1989, Schwartz et al. 143 (10): 1214
Article abstract on cannabis and adolescent memory/intellectual impairment from one of the Archives pediatric publications. See links at bottom. This is very mainstream medical anti-weed thinking, but these publications fact-check and verify like crazy so the science it cites is credible (if small-scale).

MARIJUANA'S EFFECTS ON MEMORY
Scroll down to the sections on memory and THC neurotoxic effects. One of the cool things about this info, although itâ??s only semi-literate and thus not wholly credible because it indicates it hasnâ??t been fact-checked or edited or reviewed in any way, is its claim that cannabinoids and the effects on the CB1 and CB2 receptors have helped us learn a great deal more about brain function itself, particularly in the hippocampus, than we knew before.

YouTube - Marijuana/Cannabis memory loss & Alzheimer's
Good CNN piece posted on You Tube about the compound cannabidiol that seems to offer promise for Alzheimerâ??s patients. Cannabidiol is one of the non-psychoactive compounds. It's the one that mediates the effects of THC, which is the psychoactive ingredient that can cause real problems for some vulnerable users (problems in the area of delusions and, in some, actual psychosis). This piece points out that there are both brain-beneficial and brain-detrimental effects.

Marijuana Use Affects Blood Flow In Brain Even After Abstinence
Marijuana makes blood rush to the head - health - 07 February 2005 - New Scientist
Interesting findings that weâ??ve talked about a good bit on this site about cannabisâ?? effects on the blood flow of the brain. In the small study that the articles refer to, smoked cannabis was shown to increase blood flow velocity and pulsatility even long after smoking. Whether this is what affects memory is really just scientific speculation, however. How it affects blood flow can be a bad thing for some and a potentially good one for others. I personally believe it may be this effect, the increased blood flow, that, in conjunction with CBD (cannabidiol) plays a role in possibly staving off Alzheimerâ??s. Makes sense to me that the effects of CBD and higher blood velocity could work together to keep the amyloid plaques that cause Alzheimerâ??s from forming. This is my med student speculation and nothing more!

You can find a lot about cannabis and memory loss on the NIDA/NIH site, but itâ??s largely very anti-cannabis. Theyâ??re one of the handful of places that are doing any real research on it, however. You can read some abstracts in Granny Storm Crowâ??s signature that reflect pro-cannabis opinions, largely, but these are generally studies, many on rats and mice, relating to the administration of isolated compounds like synthetic THC rather than the results of human studies with whole smoked, vaped or eaten cannabis. So youâ??re not always getting the full picture there because we canâ??t automatically conclude that whatâ??s true for mice who receive synthetic injected THC is going to be true for humans with whole smoked, vaped or eaten cannabis. Itâ??s a comparison of apples to, well, lab mice.
________________________________

I'm sure some people will want to claim that this other information above is anti-cannabis, but itâ??s actually just balanced scientific info. Itâ??s real hard for many people to get past their defensiveness of cannabis as an all-good substance and look at balanced science. The sad thing is we all need to be aware of both sides of the argument if weâ??re ever going to get anywhere in educating the general public about the stuff or make any real progress on its acceptance.

Two other sites with good links about cannabis and neurological effects are here:
Erowid Cannabis (Marijuana) Vault
Tons of good links at the bottom with sources cited throughout.

Medical Use - NORML
NORMLâ??s medical use area, which has good links to explore and read.

Hope this is enough to get you started!

[birdgirl73]

Well as of late, iv'e occupying my brain with a lot more mental challenges. Iv'e been reading and writing a lot. I haven't really felt much brain fog.

I find that both physical exercise and mental challenges like puzzles, memory games, and brain exercises really seem to help keep my brain sharp. I don't take ginkgo because it interferes with another medicine I have to take and would put me at extra risk of little brain bleeds and possibly a big one like a hemorrhage. But I find that if I work my brain out with mental challenges and keep blood pumping through it, I'm sharper.

I think middle age in general has been a very bad thing for my brain. I can only speculate what old age will be like. Bad news, I'm betting, at least for me.

[mmjnoob]

I think middle age in general has been a very bad thing for my brain. I can only speculate what old age will be like. Bad news, I'm betting, at least for me.

I'm in the same boat methinks. That's alright, thinking's overrated anyway. Ignorance is bliss and all. Luckily, I have my pc to remember to pay the bills, send the birthday cards and return the library books. Now where did I put the library books?

Thanks for the links Birdgirl, should keep me in some reading for awhile. I appreciate your taking the time.