It is because of that reason that so many experts recommend journaling. They encourage medical cannabis patients to keep detailed records about their consumption. A journal helps patients, doctors, and pharmacists travel the journey in a safe and productive way.
Not a Traditional Prescription
Using cannabis as a medicine is sometimes described by those in the community as a ‘journey’. Unlike taking traditional prescription medications, which tends to be structured and straightforward, little about medical cannabis is black-and-white. Patients often need to follow a trial-and-error process in order to figure out what works best.
To understand just how helpful journaling is, a simple foundation must be laid: a medical cannabis recommendation is not like a prescription. When the doctor writes you an antibiotic prescription, the prescription comes with explicit instructions for you and the pharmacist.
The pharmacist dispenses both the drug and dosage as specified in the doctor’s orders. Instructions for taking the medication are printed on the bottle. You follow those instructions as written. Things are quite different with medical cannabis.
Medical cannabis is not dispensed by prescription. It is recommended by doctors and then managed by patients and their pharmacists. But dosage, delivery method, and frequency are not encapsulated in black-and-white instructions. The patient has plenty of flexibility to self-medicate as needed. This is where journaling comes in handy.
Journaling Creates a Record
Journaling creates a record of your medical cannabis consumption. Looking back at that record can help you better understand how well cannabis is working for you. But it does not just help you. The same information informs your doctor and pharmacist. When you have questions or need advice, they can use the information from your journal to determine how to advise you.
A good journal includes the following four elements:
- Date, Time, and Method – Date and time refer to when you medicate. Method refers to the form of medical cannabis you used. It could be vapes (inhalation), edibles (like gummies), or a tincture placed under the tongue.
- Product Details – Product details include things like name, strain, dosage, and THC-CBD ratio. These details are important to a pharmacist.
- Symptom Ratings – Rating symptoms on a scale of 1-10 can be extremely helpful. Ideally, you would want to record both pre- and post-medication ratings. Also include any side effects you might experience.
- Contextual Notes – Contextual notes consist of additional information that might impact the medication experience. They include things like unusual exercise, food intake, a lack of sleep, etc.
The information in your journal helps both your doctor and pharmacist understand how well medical cannabis is working for you. At the Beehive Farmacy in Salt Lake City, Utah, pharmacists work hand-in-hand to make sure patients a realizing maximum benefit from medical cannabis. So the pharmacist might look at your journal and recommend a different dosage or delivery method, for example. Visit BeehiveFarmacy.com
Not an Exact Science
Journaling is almost a necessity due to the fact that medicating with cannabis is not an exact science. There is still so much we don’t know about it due to a lack of research. So until we have hard-and-fast data that allows doctors to write detailed prescriptions, we need to rely on collaboration between patients, doctors, and pharmacists. That is what journaling is all about.
If you use medical cannabis but you are not keeping detailed records, why not change things up? Journaling your consumption can help you make your way along the medical cannabis journey more smoothly and with greater success. I am betting your doctor and pharmacist would appreciate having access to a detailed journal.
