"I Feel Like Myself After Nine Years..."

It goes back to her being 9 years old. When a little boy put handcuffs around her ankles as a magic trick.  That weekend her foot began to turn shades of purple and swell. Rebecca was diagnosed with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, a chronic pain nerve disease. She spent 3 years on crutches, going to water therapy and being on several pain medications. Having a hard regimen of physical rehabilitation, she was able to regain proper use of foot. The doctors thought she went into a remission.

  Over the next 6 years she went on with her life. Graduated from high school and got accepted into the University of South Dakota. While she was there anxiety and depression started to set in. Rebecca sought help through therapy but noticed it was not working. The doctors proceeded to hand out prescriptions as if they were candy. With all the different anti-depressants, anxiety, and sleeping pills her anxiety and depression only worsened.

                                   top left : highschool  bottom left : today right : mid twenties

Rebecca’s depression got so bad. She would find herself fantasizing about taking her own life. Then she took it a step further. amazed at how many pills she had, she started swallowing them handful by handful. The next morning Rebecca was confused. she thought as many pills as she had taken it for sure would have put her to sleep forever. Rebecca was rushed to the hospital by one of her dorm mates. The doctors estimated that she took around 70 pills and were shocked that she even woke up at all. The doctors told her that she needed to commit herself to a hospital or the state was going to do it. She was an inpatient for 2 weeks. The depression and anxiety still wasn’t any better.

In need of a major change Rebecca applied to FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) in New York and was accepted. At 22 she was hired as an analyst for Ross Stores. She was the youngest analyst at Ross. She was able to control her depression and anxiety by going to the gym. While going to the gym she got a stress fracture in the same leg. Her foot/leg started swelling up, turning purple and was causing severe pain. Rebecca was diagnosed with RSD again. At the age of 23 she was accepted for Social Security. She moved out of New York and moved back in with her mother in South Dakota. 

  

At one time she was on 14 different medications and a morphine pump. She was wheelchair bound for one year. From taking all the medication it rotted her teeth. By the time she was 29, Rebecca was on disability, in a wheelchair, weighing 200 pounds and had dentures. Needless to say the depression and pain was not getting any better.

Needing another change Rebecca’s mom suggested they move to California. In 2012 they moved to Sacramento, California.

Then something happened that no one could predict. Rebecca had met someone. He loved her when she didn’t love herself. He introduced her to medical cannabis. They begin dating. The longer they dated the more cannabis she consumed. She found herself feeling better and better. Rebecca felt alive again. She had energy again. She decided to get off every single medication prescribed to her. 

As she was consuming more cannabis and less medication her health started to come back. She lost weight, thought clearer, and became regular. Cannabis has helped her pain, depression, and anxiety more than any medication has in the past.

“ I now feel like myself after 9 years. I want to live each day, I want to get up and try. I want patients to have a choice on how they want to medicate.”

As of today Rebecca is on no prescribed medication. She is out of a wheelchair, off pain medication and currently working in the cannabis industry. All of which she credits to cannabis.