Cannabis for Mom’s Mental Health
The CannaMom Round Table Is Back With Part 3! Let’s Discuss Cannabis Use For Postpartum And Parenting
Shonitria: Welcome back to the Blunt Blowin’ Momma Podcast. I'm your host Shonitria, and we are joined by our canna moms for our Canna Mom Roundtable.
Ladies, please feel free to introduce yourselves.
Wendy: Hi, I’m Wendy Brazill, author of Why Mommy Gets High.
Cece: I'm CeCe Counts. I'm one half of Puff & Parley, and we are two moms that are on our journey of cannabis, and we want to share it with the world.
Renee: I'm Renee, I'm the other half of Puff & Parley.
Amber: I'm Amber. I am from Carpools to Cocktails. I am a creative director, producer, photographer, and freelance writer. And I'm just out here trying to be the best canna mom I can possibly be.
Tammy: And I'm Tammy, aka the Cannabis Cutie. I am a cannabis advocate and educator.
I'm also a mom of two. I have a twelve year old daughter and an eight year old son.
And I'm proud to be a canna mom.
Shonitria: I'm really excited to have this conversation about mental health with you guys today because I think it's important as a mom to take care of your mental health.
I often find, or have found, myself getting lost in my career. At one point in my life, I was getting lost in my relationship, getting lost in motherhood, and sometimes getting lost in all three at once.
I wanted to ask you guys, why would someone opt for cannabis as a medicinal option for their mental health?
Renee: The side effects of other options is my main reason. Pharmaceuticals can be rough.
And it helps me be a better mother. It helps me show up. It helps me be patient. And I don't have any side effects as far as not being able to be there for my kids at all.
Wendy: Yeah, I lost my mom, and within a couple of months, I was going through a divorce and it was not a wanted divorce. It was a surprise.
I was put on an SSRI for the first time. It was like walking in a haze. I would drop the kids off, and all I would want to do is get back in bed.
I went back and talked to my doctor and he asked, “Is there anything that works for you?”
I said, “Yeah, weed. Weed has always worked for me. I feel really good when I smoke it. I only use it when I need it.”
And he wrote me a prescription. This was before weed was legal.
And so I was given little tiny balls that have THC in them.
It changed my evenings. I was able to stay smiling and light some candles, put on some music, enjoy my children, and remember that it wasn't all so bleak. Weed really helped me.
Shonitria: Yeah. I've definitely experienced that. What about you ladies?
Amber: Cannabis is the one thing that brought me back to myself, particularly after my first pregnancy.
When I finally started smoking again, I felt capable.
And I remember someone asking, “Aren't you afraid you’ll zone out?”
So here's the thing—once this child came out, I was completely in tune with her, I heard everything. I didn't sleep a lot because I heard every single breath.
And I thought to myself that I'm probably more focused when I'm consuming because all I want to do is just be present.
It was nice to relax and do other things and not just focus on keeping this tiny human alive. I could do those little small things that felt like me.
So yeah, for me, weed is the thing that brought me back to myself.
Tammy: For me, I tried pharmaceuticals. And I just don't believe in the rebound effect, the idea that I have to feel worse before I feel better.
Or if I take Xanax, it makes me not care about what's happening in my life. But that means I also don't care about school. And that's an issue at the current cost of university.
So I was already consuming cannabis prior to motherhood for wellness, especially mental health.
And as women, we go through so much. We have periods. We deal with whatever else we're dealing with in our life. There's just not enough medicine to deal with all of these unique situations.
But cannabis can get me through anxiety and sleep issues. It can help me stay relaxed, help me laugh and smile, and help me open my mind.
As long as I set my intention with this plant, it can be whatever medicine I guide it to. 🙏
So none of that is the case with Xanax. If I'm going to take that, I'm not going to have any recollection for about two to three hours of my day.
Personally, I have the most visceral reactions to pharmaceuticals, whether it's an antibiotic, a painkiller, or whatever. So, I'm just not a fan.
Or maybe I've just reconciled with the idea that intoxication is our right because it’s completely natural. I mean, even birds are chewing on fermented grapes and fruits, getting intoxicated.
Cece: It does make this reality so much better.
Wendy: Well, I believe it's where we're supposed to be, you know? It's part of nature.
Shonitria: What signs should new parents look out for in regards to postpartum depression, anxiety, or PTSD? What was that like initially? Did you notice a shift in yourself? Or was it other people telling you?
Amber: So for me, it was more manic. It wasn't that I couldn’t get out of bed, it was the opposite. PPD can express itself in different ways like that.
So every day I was going hard, getting up early, working out, making sure that the kids were fed.
Even though I had more barriers and things in place to help me, I still put a lot of pressure on myself to be the ideal mom.
So it very much manifested as manic behavior, needing to get all the things done, being perfect, and having the kids look amazing while doing it.
And then, looking back, I can tell I wasn’t doing well. I look at photos, and it’s obvious I’m holding on for dear life.
But you can't tell people that. They all think you look happy. I was masking really well. I was getting good at it.
Shonitria: So you're saying reach out to somebody? Don't be afraid to say you’re not okay?
Amber: Yes, especially if you have someone who you know. There is no shame in calling for help.
My best friend is a Virgo. So she's gonna get shit done. Like, regardless of if I want her to.
And she would call and be like, “I can tell you are not okay,” and I'm like, “No, no, no.” And I'm talking a mile a minute and doing all the things.
And she called and helped.
Wendy: Did you think about how it's gonna be hard again when the second baby's born? Because I didn't think about it at all.
Amber: Yeah, you're not thinking about how you still have to parent this other child.
Renee: I think it was a week after being home from my second birth, and my first daughter came and woke me up.
She was like, “‘Mom, you need to take me to school.” And I'm like, “Oh, yeah, you. Another child.”
Amber: Mine are nine years apart. So I had a three year old and a thirteen year old.
Shonitria: But, low key, the thirteen year old can help you.
Amber: At that age, they aren’t going to help, trust me.
Shonitria: Ah, for me, in my head, a thirteen year old is okay.
Amber: Yes, in a way, but also you're like…”You’re an idiot.”
And that's the thing, I tell people all the time that twelve to sixteen kind of sucks ass.
And then when you have a daughter, you are then looking at yourself through a different lens, and so you have to have done the work. And then continue to still do the work.
And then step back every time you want to yell at them for their idiocy.
Because they are a walking hormone. They have no idea what's happening. Every day is new for them.
So even though I've told them 750,000 times, and had six conversations about it this morning, we’re ok, I’m not going to get mad.
But this is also where cannabis comes in, right? It makes us patient.
Wendy: Yeah. Because if we take care of ourselves, hopefully we'll have children who won't have as many mental issues.
Women have really suffered at this point in time. We're trying to churn out people, human beings that are a little bit more grounded, a little bit more in touch.
Tammy: I know that when you're suffering from PPD, you don’t even know it, necessarily. I didn't even know I had PPD until people around me were having conversations about it after the fact.
But I wondered, “Why wouldn't you bring that to me?”
And I've learned now, as an adult and two kids later, whenever I go through a transition, I will have some sort of depression.
I mean, my body went from carrying a baby to not carrying a baby. I was mourning my old life, my old body, my old identity.
If there's anything that will send me to therapy quicker, it is parenting a daughter while facing your own issues.
I wish at the time somebody would have said that I should go to therapy. I was dealing with so much trauma that I wasn't even conscious of.
So much pain was coming up from when I was a little girl. It was like boom, boom, boom, boom, identity crisis.
And don't be afraid to be that friend for the people that you love. Do it with love. Go to them and talk to them when you see the changes.
Shonitria: Okay, so I want to move on to ask you guys this—how would you recommend someone mindfully incorporate cannabis into their mental health routine? What are some good daily practices?
Tammy: Journaling is good.
You need to really pay attention to how you feel before you consume. Start setting your intention before you smoke.
Thinking about the things that are making you mad or anxious or sad and then sparking up is a terrible idea. Because you're just going to expand on those feelings.
So you really want to set your intention. And that also makes you mindfully smoke rather than just smoking because it’s sitting there.
Smoking just to smoke is a terrible habit because you’re using cannabis as a coping mechanism and don't even realize it.
Shonitria: Journaling has been really good for me. And coloring, too. I bought myself a set of 100 colored pencils, and it’s very helpful.
Take care of yourself. Spark one up and do some coloring.
Cece: I find that if you have a friend, and if you guys are on the same wavelength, when you manifest and smoke, manifestation comes faster.
So if you have somebody like that in your life, I'm telling you, it's magic.
Amber: And it’s so good for your psyche, for your own mental health, because then you feel less alone.
And I think that's what it's about. We all just want to be connected with fellowship.
As moms, we feel like motherhood is the loneliest job in the world, even though so many people are doing the same job every day. We still feel like we are on these islands.
And it's always nice to be like, “Hey, you get it, too.”
I remember my first ‘mom friend’ who smoked. We started doing yoga on Tuesdays. We would get high.
Tammy: That's what being a public canna mom is about. What I love the most is all the moms at school that I smoke with, they know they're safe with me.
So I do love that about being a public canna mom. Smoking has such a stigma that makes moms hide.
I even went to Orange County, to my old neighborhood, and spoke to one of the moms alone.
And she said that she smokes, but that people don't know. And I knew that I just met this woman today and was like, “Oh, I'm gonna smoke. I should talk to her.”
So that's one of the perks about being a canna mom. You get to help people still in the canna closet.
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