22 year old smoking cannabis w/ asthma

[Yashi79]

Hello,

I'm new here and decided to post because I'm not ready to speak about this topic in real life. I hope that my post doesn't violate the community guidelines. I also want to apologize for my English, it's not my first language.

I recently found out that my 22 year old is smoking cannabis. Well, actually she uses a vaporizer, but that doesn't make it much better.

She was diagnosed with asthma at age 4 and suffered from episodes of brittle asthma. She recently went through a very difficult episode. I found out about her consumption through her brother (not my son, he's from another marriage of my ex-partner).

I confronted her today. She's well aware of the potential negative effects of recreational drugs and the fact that it's illegal. But she's convinced that the dope helps her staying much more relaxed and soothes her chest pain and chest tightness.

Technically she's an adult and it's her own responsibility. But I'm worried she might not take her medications properly. I myself tried pot when I was young and it gave me an extremely blurry mind.

Where can I find serious research (studies) about cannabis and asthma which could maybe help me convincing her to quit smoking?

I'm very grateful about any kind of help.

[Michael_AsthmaUK]

Hi there. The best place for overviews of peer reviewed research IMHO is the Cochrane collaboration - you may want to search on cannabinoid as well as cannabis for research on the therapeutic aspect (or otherwise) (eg cochrane.org/search/site/ca.... As far as the technology of vaping goes and it’s long term effects, the jury is still out.

The one thing that occurs to me is that cannabis does have psychological effects and the effects of excessive use aren’t great. I mention this because asthma has psychological triggers as well as physical ones as you know.

I wonder whether one approach might be to ask your daughter to help you learn and research it together?

Good luck! Parenting is hard work and it never stops, right?

[Hidden]

Hi Yashi79

Welcome to the forum, this is absolutely the right place for this sort of question.

Here are a couple of links on smoking (as Michael as explained there isn't much evidence on vaping yet):

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

You can do searches on pubmed ncbi.nlm.nih.gov by searching for terms together.

It might be helpful to call the Asthma UK helpline and talk to the nurse team - either on your own or with your daughter. They have years of experience of talking to young adults about the effects of smoking or drugs on asthma so might be able to help you come up with a way of explaining the risks to her. They can be reached on 0300 222 5800 (M - F, 9-5)

Let us know how you get on,

Dita

[Hidden]

I smoked dope on and off through my teens and it never affected my asthma once, if it had I would have stopped smoking it.

[Yashi79]

Thank you for your replies.

It's mainly the psychological effect of dope that I'm worried about. She might forget to take some medication or even skip it willingly.

I don't want to put her in a uncomfortable situation while confronting her further. We have a very trustful relationship. And so far if she had any secrets it were usually things that don't concern me. But this time I'm really worried... I fear that if I push her too much to talk to me about it she might feel forced to reveal this secret to me (although it's not a secret anymore since I found out about it). This might destroy her trsut in me..

[Jobar]

Hi I am in my early 40's who has had asthma since a baby. Spent most of my childhood in hospital and living on steroids....not the greatest of fun. At 14 I started smoking cannabis and never stopped, then it becomes and addiction. . To which takes over your life!!!! Iv always been ok mentally on it and Iv always worked hard. It's never really affected my breathing and thought the same that it relaxed me and helped...that was until now. So I had a shock last week when now I have been diagnosed with copd....So now I am quitting and it's hard, but now I know Iv got no choice. It will get you in the end. It takes your money, controls your life and will ruin your health.

[Michael_AsthmaUK in reply to Jobar]

Ouch! Much sympathy, Jobar.

[Yashi79 in reply to Jobar]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I'm sorry you got this diagnose. Do you know if vaping does also increase the risk of getting COPD?

[Jobar in reply to Yashi79]

I'm not sure, I have read that vaping is better for you....but is there really enough evidence out there to know that for definite!!! Just like the e cigs. Who knows in 10/15 years, you will be told they are a danger to health. The only way I can see it is..nothing should be going into your lungs. Either way cannabis is still a drug addiction and hard to stop....wether vaping, baking or smoking 🙁. Maybe I should of listened to myself 28 years ago 🙄

[Yashi79]

Just a quick update: My daughter was admitted to hospital on New Year's Eve with an asthma attack. Doctors first suspected her being drunk, but she had zero blood alcohol. Friends of her who know about her asthma told me she had been wheezing the whole evening. She didn't use her nebulizer because she was high, it's very obvious to me. She's still in hospital because she developed chest infection will come home on Monday.