Hey all,
I've finally managed to get back on the forum after posting a few things a couple months back. Between getting very sick, doing a ton of research on my own medical conditions, diagnosing myself with Lyme Disease and having it confirmed via blood tests, getting the fall harvest in and processed (food garden), preparing for winter (it's here now!), and finishing up (finally!) watching Battlestar Galactica, it's been a busy few months! I'm not complaining, either - it's actually been a quite productive time, and after 22 miserable f-ing years, I finally know why my body started falling apart when I was 17.
Basically, everything I do these days has something to do with me trying to regain some of my lost health. I used to be a very active guy up until a few years ago, having lived and worked in some different places around the world, backcountry skiing and surfing and hiking and camping and exploring when I could. I recently moved back to Alaska, bring a family along this time, after spending the last 7 years in western Europe. Now, I have to spend 90% of my days sitting in a special chair or lying flat on my back - and those are the better days. When bad times hit, I can be knocked out of commission for weeks. The ebb and flow of Lyme……. it's destroyed my body.
I've always been pro pot. Although I didn't use much before I was 21, I never had anything against it. It was just really hard to find. I started using a bit more when I was finishing up my masters degree. At the time, my arthritis conditions were getting horrible and I was having other neurological complications that were mysterious to the doctors at the time. Thank God most people associated with the natural sciences are liberal - and many are pro cannabis and use. This is when I discovered that using cannabis made many of my symptoms subside. This was before the whole medical mj discussion had really even started. So, this was always in the back of my mind.
Since finishing school in 2000, my physical and mental conditions continued to decline, but I pressed on. I worked at good jobs and made good money, stayed very active, traveled, etc…. but I was falling apart. I finally did breakdown around 2009, and it's been a struggle for survival ever since.
Luckily, I was living only about 6 hours from Holland when this all happened. I convinced my girlfriend (wife now) to take a trip over a long weekend and drive me there so that I could get some pot and find some relief. Docs had me on so many narcs and other pills at the time, and I was really dying.
This trip started me on my journey to learning as much as I could about this amazing plant. Over the next few years, I made another 10 or so trips over to Holland, mainly to learn what I could about growing, the different strains, etc… I started with Dutch Passion White Widow under a 300w MH/HPS in the attic of the 150 year old farmhouse I was living in at the time. Thinking back, I really sucked at the whole process at the time. I'm a DIY guy, so I tried to build my own hydro system in a foreign land using weird parts from a weird hardware store, using weird soils and nutes and…..yeah, I was doing it wrong
I couldn't nearly produce the amount of meds I needed. Docs had basically told me that I had Fibromyalgia, Chronic Pain Syndrome, and a failed back surgery, and a bunch of other stuff and told me my future would be lived on narcotics and I'd need living assistance. When a doctor in Europe tells you this, you realize you might be pretty ****ed…….. But, I wasn't giving up.
My wife and I decided we needed to get out of Europe and back to the US. I needed to be somewhere where I could receive proper alternative treatment along with being somewhere where I could grow my own meds legally. I'd tried all of the alt crap in Europe and they'd given up on me, and what I was doing in my house wasn't exactly legal where I was, so…….back to Alaska it was (I was already a resident and we'd made my wife one two years earlier).
The trip over, along with the first few months, were brutal. I ended up in the ER thanks to the prescription meds I was on and had some other bad problems. Then I got my medical cannabis card, contacted a provider I was referred to to buy some meds, threw all my pharmaceuticals away, we found a house, and now I'm producing my own top-quality meds. After diagnosing my Lyme, I've found an incredibly good, Lyme-literate doc who is also pro-cannabis and anti-pharma, and started treatment. He approves of me trying Rick Simpson Oil alongside the Homeopathic regimen I've started.
Anyway, I'm feeling a lot better than I have in a long, long time. I'm still in bad shape, but my mood has definitely brightened. There is hope! But, today is a better day than usual, and each day is different, so let's see which side of the hard floor I wake up on tomorrow……. (yeah, it's how I have to sleep).
My goals here are to learn as much as I can about autoflowers and growing in general and to meet some like-minded people. I'm not 100% sold on autos yet, but they definitely have their upside for people like me and other physically impaired people who want to grow their own. I'm working on a system to make it as absolutely as easy and cheap as possible for a patient to grow, utilizing small smart pots, soilless potting material, basic nutes, and a low-watt led. I may be re-inventing the wheel here, but I get a lot of questions about how others can do what I'm doing - for a lot cheaper and on a slightly smaller scale. Not that what I'm doing is expensive or big by any means, but I like to experiment due to my inquisitive nature. This has become an awesome hobby that I love and am fascinated by. Some just want to grow a plant, harvest, and be done with it..…… to each their own.
Anyway, sorry for the lengthy post. Sometimes I can't control my verbal spewage
: Usually I can't type this much in one sitting either. My last batch of canna-coconut oil came out really good and has helped tremendously this morning!
*because of the lyme, each day is different. I can't always respond to messages or comments, so please don't take it as rudeness if it ever comes up. I truly mean no offense!
I've finally managed to get back on the forum after posting a few things a couple months back. Between getting very sick, doing a ton of research on my own medical conditions, diagnosing myself with Lyme Disease and having it confirmed via blood tests, getting the fall harvest in and processed (food garden), preparing for winter (it's here now!), and finishing up (finally!) watching Battlestar Galactica, it's been a busy few months! I'm not complaining, either - it's actually been a quite productive time, and after 22 miserable f-ing years, I finally know why my body started falling apart when I was 17.
Basically, everything I do these days has something to do with me trying to regain some of my lost health. I used to be a very active guy up until a few years ago, having lived and worked in some different places around the world, backcountry skiing and surfing and hiking and camping and exploring when I could. I recently moved back to Alaska, bring a family along this time, after spending the last 7 years in western Europe. Now, I have to spend 90% of my days sitting in a special chair or lying flat on my back - and those are the better days. When bad times hit, I can be knocked out of commission for weeks. The ebb and flow of Lyme……. it's destroyed my body.
I've always been pro pot. Although I didn't use much before I was 21, I never had anything against it. It was just really hard to find. I started using a bit more when I was finishing up my masters degree. At the time, my arthritis conditions were getting horrible and I was having other neurological complications that were mysterious to the doctors at the time. Thank God most people associated with the natural sciences are liberal - and many are pro cannabis and use. This is when I discovered that using cannabis made many of my symptoms subside. This was before the whole medical mj discussion had really even started. So, this was always in the back of my mind.
Since finishing school in 2000, my physical and mental conditions continued to decline, but I pressed on. I worked at good jobs and made good money, stayed very active, traveled, etc…. but I was falling apart. I finally did breakdown around 2009, and it's been a struggle for survival ever since.
Luckily, I was living only about 6 hours from Holland when this all happened. I convinced my girlfriend (wife now) to take a trip over a long weekend and drive me there so that I could get some pot and find some relief. Docs had me on so many narcs and other pills at the time, and I was really dying.
This trip started me on my journey to learning as much as I could about this amazing plant. Over the next few years, I made another 10 or so trips over to Holland, mainly to learn what I could about growing, the different strains, etc… I started with Dutch Passion White Widow under a 300w MH/HPS in the attic of the 150 year old farmhouse I was living in at the time. Thinking back, I really sucked at the whole process at the time. I'm a DIY guy, so I tried to build my own hydro system in a foreign land using weird parts from a weird hardware store, using weird soils and nutes and…..yeah, I was doing it wrong
I couldn't nearly produce the amount of meds I needed. Docs had basically told me that I had Fibromyalgia, Chronic Pain Syndrome, and a failed back surgery, and a bunch of other stuff and told me my future would be lived on narcotics and I'd need living assistance. When a doctor in Europe tells you this, you realize you might be pretty ****ed…….. But, I wasn't giving up.
My wife and I decided we needed to get out of Europe and back to the US. I needed to be somewhere where I could receive proper alternative treatment along with being somewhere where I could grow my own meds legally. I'd tried all of the alt crap in Europe and they'd given up on me, and what I was doing in my house wasn't exactly legal where I was, so…….back to Alaska it was (I was already a resident and we'd made my wife one two years earlier).
The trip over, along with the first few months, were brutal. I ended up in the ER thanks to the prescription meds I was on and had some other bad problems. Then I got my medical cannabis card, contacted a provider I was referred to to buy some meds, threw all my pharmaceuticals away, we found a house, and now I'm producing my own top-quality meds. After diagnosing my Lyme, I've found an incredibly good, Lyme-literate doc who is also pro-cannabis and anti-pharma, and started treatment. He approves of me trying Rick Simpson Oil alongside the Homeopathic regimen I've started.
Anyway, I'm feeling a lot better than I have in a long, long time. I'm still in bad shape, but my mood has definitely brightened. There is hope! But, today is a better day than usual, and each day is different, so let's see which side of the hard floor I wake up on tomorrow……. (yeah, it's how I have to sleep).
My goals here are to learn as much as I can about autoflowers and growing in general and to meet some like-minded people. I'm not 100% sold on autos yet, but they definitely have their upside for people like me and other physically impaired people who want to grow their own. I'm working on a system to make it as absolutely as easy and cheap as possible for a patient to grow, utilizing small smart pots, soilless potting material, basic nutes, and a low-watt led. I may be re-inventing the wheel here, but I get a lot of questions about how others can do what I'm doing - for a lot cheaper and on a slightly smaller scale. Not that what I'm doing is expensive or big by any means, but I like to experiment due to my inquisitive nature. This has become an awesome hobby that I love and am fascinated by. Some just want to grow a plant, harvest, and be done with it..…… to each their own.
Anyway, sorry for the lengthy post. Sometimes I can't control my verbal spewage
: Usually I can't type this much in one sitting either. My last batch of canna-coconut oil came out really good and has helped tremendously this morning!*because of the lyme, each day is different. I can't always respond to messages or comments, so please don't take it as rudeness if it ever comes up. I truly mean no offense!
to help out with your health! 
iggy Hug:
and here is a :karma Cloud::karma Cloud::karma Cloud::karma Cloud::karma Cloud::karma Cloud::karma Cloud::karma Cloud::karma Cloud::karma Cloud:bomb to get ya started.
for being tough AND up-beat at the same time. 
