Poll: Does your BPD son/daughter use marijuana daily/almost daily?

[Leaf56]

Take poll above ^^^ I'm wondering what the connection might be between marijuana abuse and the way BPD brains function. I've read so many posts on here that say that their adult son/daughter abuses marijuana that it's made me wonder about it. First, I wonder whether your child's symptoms started after they started abusing marijuana. Second, I wonder if marijuana is particularly good at calming a BPD brain. Any other thoughts/questions are welcome.

Our objective is to better understand the struggles our child faces and to learn the skills to improve our relationship and provide a supportive environment and also improve on our own emotional responses, attitudes and effectiveness as a family leaders

[Patpeach]

Yes, my daughter too has started to abuse marijuana. She says it “helps” her. I think it “helps” her to not deal with reality. I do not think it is a good thing. First off, it can interfere with the uptake of her other medicines. Secondly, she has been very lax about her self care, care of her property, work which is practically non existent to begin with, and our relationship has become more strained than usual. Her thinking has become even more distorted.  Lastly, it has put her in relationships with some unsavory characters to say the least. She thinks it’s “medicine”. I say that’s bunk!

[ILMBPDC]

Mine uses cannabis but this was not the cause of her BPD, that started way earlier. And I wouldn't classify it as abuse (in her case at least), its plant medicine, and she has a medical card for it.  TBH I've been known to use it for anxiety as well and its a miracle worker (I smoke very rarely, not that it matters, just trying to illustrate that use does not equal abuse)
Cannabis helps her anxiety and stress mostly, and seems to calm down her BPD mood swings. Example: A couple days ago her car broke down while she was driving it. Normally that would send her into a freak out at lightspeed and she was actually pretty calm and handling things really well so I commented on that and she said yeah well I smoked right before I left (now I don't agree she should have smoked right before driving but that's not the point here).
My daughter was diagnosed as a teenager (23 now) and had extensive DPT therapy and is a quite high functioning pwBPD now, so that may also make a difference.

[beatricex]

I think someone with BPD is paranoid without any drugs (they read into stuff that's not there) and it can set them off like a person paranoid on drugs.  Any drug.

My take is they are completely separate things and there's no correlation, but would be interested in reading an actual scientific study on it.  I don't think there will ever be one unfortunately, as marijuana has such a poor stigma associated with it (I grew up in the Say no to Drugs era in the US), so no one would believe the study was objective anyway. 

I think a better question to ask is:  my kid has BPD and they take [insert any prescription drug for anxiety], does your kid also abuse [insert any prescription drug for anxiety] and does it seem to work, yes or no?

That would probably be valuable, especially for those trying to come up with a treatment plan for their kid.

[Leaf56]

Thanks for the comments so far, everyone. For now, I really just want to know about marijuana use and nothing else, based on the many comments I've seen on here. I too would like to see a study and am not nearly as pessimistic that there will ever be one, especially since recreational marijuana use has been legalized in 19 states. I like my question as it stands because it asks exactly what I want answered. I think it's very interesting that many people with BPD use it daily. I think it could actually mean something. If I could make a poll with more than one question I would, but as that's not possible, I have to do it one at a time. I only wish more people would respond.

[ILMBPDC]

I think it's very interesting that many people with BPD use it daily. I think it could actually mean something.

IMO it just means they use it to soothe symptoms (or maybe they like getting high), I really don't believe it causes BPD symptoms in any way, shape, or form

[Leaf56]

Well, first you have to start with the question "do they use it daily." That has to be established first, because if they don't, and if not a large enough percentage do, then the rest of any speculation about it is a moot point. So, if it's established that a large percentage of pwBPD do use it daily, then you can start asking other questions about it. The first two that I wondered about, to be discussed anecdotally in the comments as opposed to influencing just the yes or no aspect of the question, were "did you notice any onset or uptick of BPD symptoms after your son/daughter starting using it daily" and then I'm interested in the idea of whether marijuana is particularly suited to soothing the BPD brain/symptoms. I'm not ruling anything out, and I'm not drawing any premature conclusions. The only way to tell anything at all is to collect data. I'm very interested to know just if most pwBPD use it daily or not. Unfortunately, not many people weigh in. We'd  need at least 100 responses to see if there's a trend. (FWIW, I've done some large national polling in my career, so I know a little bit about it. I'm not an expert, but I have worked closely with polling experts in developing my polls in the past.)

[beatricex]

This poll also doesn't allow for voting twice and most of us (me anyway) know more than 1 person with BPD.  Neither my mom or my step daughter use marajuana.  They are paranoid all on their own.

My brother who is not BPD has been using since highschool.  He gets super paranoid like a person with BPD.

Agree, how much, and what kind (there are many different strengths and kinds now) is important.  It's marketed in my state where it's legal as helping with anxiety, so perhaps your BPD would even be worse were they not on it?

[Leaf56]

Bumping up in the hopes that more people will take the poll.

[Flora and Fauna]

The response that the user "ILMBPDC" wrote resonates. My daughter smokes daily. I'm not crazy about the idea but I do think it calms her. She's more reasonable and more willing to talk to me (she goes through periods of what I call "shunning" me).  She just left for college. I started the process of getting a medical marijuana card for her. I should mention that she also has Tourettes. So the BPD along with Tourettes allows me to consider that marijuana helps her. I wish she smoked less, so I struggle with the fact that she smokes it all, yet I do think it helps.