Pamela

Baldwin, NY

Pamela is a 47-year-old mother of two from Baldwin, Long Island. When she was thirty years old, she was diagnosed with MS. At that time she was working as a production manager for Golden Books Family Entertainment Book Publishing in Manhattan. Today, she is a full-time mother and someone who struggles daily with a range of debilitating MS symptoms.

Pamela’s most serious medical problem is frequent seizures for which she has been hospitalized on several occasions. They are completely disabling and very frightening. She takes a drug called Tegretol twice a day to control her seizures. The side effects of this medication include nausea, vomiting, dizziness, drowsiness, and unsteadiness. Pamela also suffers from muscle weakness, loss of appetite, pain, fatigue, and memory loss. All of this causes her tremendous and often debilitating stress.

Pamela has found that smoking a small amount of medical marijuana relieves her stress and helps her to relax without significant side effects. It also stimulates her appetite which is important because she has experienced significant weight loss since the onset of MS. If Pamela had legal access to medical marijuana she would definitely use it to reduce her symptoms. “Nothing helps 100%,” she says, “but every little bit helps, and I need as much help as I can get so I can continue raising my kids and living my life.”