How to Be a Cannabis Advocate w/ Liz Whiting
Diving Deep into Her Journey with Endometriosis, Liz Explains the Importance of Being Your Own Advocate in a Healthcare System that Dismisses Women in Pain
Tammy: Hey, what's up everyone? It's your girl Tammy aka The Cannabis Cutie, and I'm back for another episode in our series on How to Be a Cannabis Advocate.
Today I have with me the amazing Liz Whiting @thatsbizzy of the Send Us Flowers Podcast. Welcome to the show. I'm so glad to have you here today.
Liz: I'm happy to be here.
Tammy: So you know why we're here–we’re here to talk advocacy.
So I found Liz during the pandemic. There were a lot of cannabis conversations that were happening on the Clubhouse app.
But the thing that I loved about you–you were giving great business and marketing advice in the space.
And I really loved seeing that you’re talking about how you use cannabis to deal with endometriosis–which is a very common disorder that many women are living with and struggle to find relief for.
And when you look at the science, we have CB1 receptors in our body, and we're always taught, “They're mostly in your brain.” But they're actually concentrated in your uterus.
So are we even paying attention to these receptor sites?
Liz: No. Absolutely not. And this is such an interesting conversation today and a little cathartic, honestly because I have been going through a lot personally with my advocacy of endometriosis and my own personal battle with it.
Because it's such a forever thing. I got surgery. And I've used weed for my period for a long time now. And that was a journey in and of itself, which is too long for this interview. But you know, it's been just that: a journey.
There's always trial and error, seeing what works, seeing what doesn't and finding balance of access.
I'm not always in California. And cannabis strains move and change and things aren't always the same. I'm like a lab rat.
Tammy: Yeah, exactly. Well, I mean, that's the beauty of this plant, you learn to become your own doctor. You have to learn your body and what works with your body.
Liz: Being an advocate for yourself, even.
Tammy: Ooh, how is that with doctors? Did you ever disclose that you were using cannabis?
Liz: Ah, so the doctor journey. I don't even know how many doctors I've seen at this point. It took a really long time to find someone who would believe me.
I've realized there's so many things that I've become so used to and desensitized to.
I was hanging out with this group of women, and I was on my period–I was super late to joining them. I felt like shit. I barely made it.
And this girl was like, “Ha, man, I don't even know when my period comes. Like, it's just there.”
And I was like: I have a week just of my body prepping for the period.
I just couldn't even imagine that. And so you know, a lot of people are very used to a healthcare system where you go to a doctor and you're like, “This thing is wrong with me and they're like, sweet, we'll fix it.”
But I was put on Wellbutrin. I was told I was depressed. I had to go see a therapist, which everyone should do anyway.
But we were addressing all these things that were exacerbated by the problem.
I had chronic UTIs. For a long time, I just had a forever prescription of antibiotics.
And, you know, my relationship with weed started to develop, but there were so many things I was self medicating on that I didn’t even realize.
And there's so many weird things about endometriosis that other people experience that it's these weird correlations that I'm like, “Okay, there's trends here.” So I'm sorry, I got on a tangent.
Tammy: No, you're explaining a lot. Because that is a common gripe about feminine issues and why black women specifically, their mortality rates are so high.
Doctors just do not believe us when we say there's something wrong, we're in pain, like we haven't been walking around in these bodies our whole lives. And we know something is completely wrong.
But again, trying to convince your healthcare system of that is difficult because pain is such an American issue—and how we manage that pain.
Liz: It's not preventative!
Tammy: It’s not preventative. It's not healthy.
Liz: And they don't look for the source. It's always a bandaid. I don't want drugs actually. Like, that'd be cool. But I actually don't want those.
I found out very early that painkillers and I did not vibe. So weed was always super important. There were some doctors I told that I smoked weed. Especially if I was going into a surgery or getting imaging done. I did try to be upfront.
There were definitely some doctors that were like, “Well, that could be making it worse and blah, blah, blah.”
And I was like, “I promise you, this is not making it worse.” It's actually the only thing that's helping me.
So for a long time, I had to get so many scans done. I would go and see different doctors. And they just got to a point where my body was freaking out. And when that happens, there's other symptoms that show.
So I would have chronic - not even acne - but cystic acne. Like I would just go to work. And throughout the day, my face would just explode. It would be so puffy. I'm like, “Am I having an allergic reaction? Like, should I go to the hospital?”
And I’d just be in so much pain. I'd have to bring a heating pad to work with me, which I realized wasn't normal.
I thought, “Oh, everyone has been on periods. And this just happens to everyone, right?” No, that's not normal at all.
Tammy: It's not normal, you're right, your period should not be painful, I read. No, it should not be painful.
Liz: And it shouldn't impact your everyday life. So if you can't go to work because of your period, please go see a doctor.
Start logging your period by writing it down on a pen and paper with a calendar. I promise you, it's annoying, but it's the most helpful thing to do. And it can be a part of your normal calendar.
But knowing what's going on with your body and taking the time to do those steps is going to be critical because I've gone to doctors with basically a log of my pain and symptoms and when you can be exact and forthcoming and say I was in pain for 20 of 30 days this month, that's not okay.
And they're like, “Yeah, that's not okay.” And you know, that way you're not like, “oh, well, like, I mean, I might have hurt here?”
You would write down: it was a sharp twisting pain in my side for a prolonged period of time.
They cannot argue with that.
And then also, this sucks to say this, but when you show concern over your fertility, they act quick. And it just makes me super sad. And I was told that by another person in the endo community, and I was like, “What?”
But it worked. It worked and people see you really quickly and because endo does affect your fertility. And they have to if it's affecting your tubes.
They also can't tell what it's affecting until they get in there. So if these things are affected, they have to take them out.
For example, if they can't flush your tubes, and they're so impacted by the lesions, then it's doing more harm being in your body. So they have to remove them.
And you can just wake up with missing shit.
So the whole thing is crazy. It took a really long time to find someone who believed me.
And it was only because I had a cyst that was so big, they were watching it.
And it kept growing. It was pushing into my ovary. I was constantly bleeding. I don't even know how many months it was. And that was my first surgery. It was emergency surgery.
This doctor was like, “I think you have endometriosis.” It was the first time I even heard the word. No one had even discussed the options of what my pain could have been.
PCOS. Endometriosis. Fibroids. PMDD. There's so many things that it can be. And no one even went through that range with me.
Also the resources just weren't as available. You couldn't go online and just Google it. You have to go through forums and all this stuff.
There were sparse things. And you know, anecdotal. But it's really only recently that there's as much information online as there is right now. But still not enough.
So it took a really long time to go through that process. And all through it, I was consuming weed. I had a very unhealthy relationship with alcohol that I had to end and I realized a lot of that was because of the pain.
And I was like, “I don't really want to be in pain anymore.” It's not that fun. And so, you know, when I drank, too, it would literally numb my body.
Tammy: Yeah, alcohol can numb a lot of things. Which is why this painful society and alcohol–there's no coincidence that we have an overconsumption of alcohol.
Liz: Absolutely.
Tammy: Now, when you were charting–because you said this was how you were able to present it to your doctors–how did that charting differ from when you were using cannabis to when you weren't?
Liz: So your usage, so your cycles–and I'm not a doctor, by the way, I'm not a doctor–but when I was using cannabis, and especially when I stopped using alcohol, a lot changed for my body.
Because of my cycle, I didn't realize how affected my body was by alcohol. Hangovers, your sleep cycle, everything is affected when you drink.
So my body had to readjust. That was shortly after my first surgery when I stopped drinking. And I drank very hard after my surgery because I was really depressed. And I was super confused.
I was given this life sentence. They were like, “This doesn't go away. And you could get cancer, your fertility could be affected, like all these other wealth of issues, and you're gonna maybe need more surgeries.”
So I had to really look at my relationship with things: food, alcohol, all of it. And it's still a process. All of this stuff is affecting my body. And it might not be the cause, but it's definitely exacerbating the issue.
So when I really started relying on CBD was when I moved to California. And I finally had more options.
When I could try bath bombs and suppositories, and CBD mixed with THC, and all these other things, I quit cigarettes, I stopped drinking, and I drank more smoothies.
I was fully keto for a while and just trying to monitor my body. And I was like, “Man, I have to work extra hard just to be at baseline.”
And I committed to that. The pandemic kind of shook that up, because then I needed a second surgery. That was nuts.
Tammy: You went through so much.
Liz: Yeah. I mean, you couldn't get surgery, you couldn't even get something at the hospital unless you were dying and in the ER.
The hospital was so overwhelmed. It was a crazy time, I’m still recovering mentally & physically.
It was scary to realize that health care is really not guaranteed to you. And there are so many people that were impacted by delayed diagnosis during that time. It’s really horrible.
It's just crazy trying to do that and be an advocate for yourself and be an advocate for others and inform and educate while also having energy for yourself at the end of the day.
Because sometimes, like with my DMs, people will be like, “Oh, how did you cure yourself?” And I maybe get too emotional, but I’m like, “I didn’t. I'm sorry that it even comes across that way.”
And I've had a really hard time recently with talking about endo and my periods because of the shift in social media.
How we create content and how we talk about life has felt kind of like this weird never-ending meme. And I don't want to be depressing. But also not everything is a meme. I don't want to dance and talk about my endometriosis.
Tammy: Can we just say that for the people who've been creating content pre-TikTok that don't want to dance to get our messages across? It's so tough to try to compete with that.
Liz: As a marketer, I get it. It's a different game now. It's not our game anymore. We have to adapt. So you know, I've been really trying to find that balance.
Tammy: Yeah, we're figuring it out. Memes are the game right now for sure. And as an advocate, it is so hard because you're not an entertainer. I'm not here to entertain, I'm here to educate and inform.
But unfortunately, it’s the way the AI works. So you have to figure out that healthy balance of still being yourself and getting your message across while also playing to the algorithm.
What advice would you give a young woman who is using cannabis to heal or manage her PMDD or her endo or her PCOS? Or her fibroids–which is what I use cannabis for? What advice would you give them as an up and coming advocate?
Liz: So, trust yourself and your body. It takes a lot of work to do that–like journaling and writing things down. Doing that work will ultimately give you a stronger relationship with yourself and understanding of your body so that you know how to advocate for yourself.
Being able to track and all of that is amazing. Also find a community. It really helped me a lot. Go on Reddit or Instagram.
There's community everywhere. And if you need to vent and share your experience, it can be so isolating. Because you think, why is this happening to me? There's still a lot that you may not understand and finding community and people to have that support from is so crucial.
Because you can get support from family, from friends, from a loved one. But having people who understand it, like not everyone experiences pain like that, to that severity, and at that consistent level of daily impact. That is a huge stressor on your body that I think some people really overlook. And having other people that understand that is just different.
And so helpful to not feel alone because it's happening inside of you. Like you look at me, and you would never think that anything is wrong.
Tammy: Silent diseases, you look perfectly healthy. There's no way you have anything going on.
But yeah, finding your community. Even for me, I'm finding a vestibular community, and oh my gosh, what I deal with you get it at like 50 or 60 years old, and I've had it since I was a child. So I’m now finding a community.
So find your community, that is so important when it comes to being an advocate. And like Liz, you have to learn how to advocate for yourself before you can even advocate for others.
Thank you so much for telling your story and being so brave to stand up to doctors and demanding the help you needed.
Liz: That's what they're there for. And sometimes you have to do a little bit of work, though, too, because not everyone is versed on it.
Tammy: No, you have to literally play at their level. Every doctor that I have always asks me at the end of the conversation: are you a doctor? No. But I knew exactly what to say and which terms to use to get you to take me seriously.
Liz: You also have to recommit to yourself and the mission because it can get so exhausting.
Tammy: We don't talk about that. How many times I've quit.
Liz: I quit this morning. I was like: I don't even know what I'm going to talk about today on the podcast because I've honestly been the worst advocate lately.
Tammy: No, I have those moments, too. But you know what? You just need breaks. Your mission always comes back to you.
I'm like: I can't do this, I'm done with this, and then for whatever reason, I will get 20 DMs–people telling me how important this mission is and to please never stop.
It gets overwhelming dealing with what you're dealing with. Plus, trying to save the world in whichever way that you can.
Liz: So, take a break. And it's okay if you get tired and that's also what a community is there for because you can fall back on them and say, “Hey, I'm tired.” And they can be like, “We’re tired, too, we’ll try to hold you up a little bit.”
Tammy: Yeah, absolutely. You have to have that community that sees what you're doing and absolutely believes in it. Your allies that will say it's okay to quit right now. Go cry, go rest. Let's re-evaluate in about a week.
Thank you so much for coming through. And if you haven't already, please go ahead and download your free copy of How to Be a Cannabis Advocate for more tips and tricks and ways that you can get out there with your cannabis advocacy right now.
It's been a pleasure being here with you today.
Stay tuned for next week’s new episode in our series. Peace.
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