This was week we have the Limoncello strain up for review. Fair warning: You should know that in this review, I’m going to divulge more about myself than you want to know, so if you are not interested in hearing about my jacked up immune system, just halt right here. But if you are a person who suffers from a weird medical ailment, or you don’t find my GI tract talk offensive, you should stick around.
Still here? Great. I hadn’t wanted to discuss this topic in print, but since I’m not the only person in Durango suffering from a chronic illness, I’m coming clean. I have Crohn’s Disease, one of the two irritable bowel diseases that affect an estimated 3 million people in the United States. It causes inflammation of the digestive tract, amongst other not-fun symptoms, and it sucks. Sometimes I have easy weeks. Sometimes I have really rough weeks. My body is a total jerk.
There are ebbs and flows with symptoms, and this week, things have been pretty freaking rough. Over the weekend, my entire body started to hurt, and because I think I have superpowers, I ignored it. Well, that landed me in the emergency room for a CT scan and a couple of bags of IV fluids. I was in pain, totally dehydrated, and hadn’t slept in what felt like an eternity. I was a damn wreck.
You’re probably asking yourself what my intestines have to do with a review of Limoncello, a hybrid cannabis strain that smells and tastes a bit like the lemony liquor it’s named after. Well, a lot, actually.
The pharmaceutical options for IBD span from biologics, which stop your immune system, to corticosteroids, which are a temporary fix. There is evidence that cannabis can help the gut inflammation from Crohn’s, so I often try to temper the pain from flares with edibles or flower because, well, it helps. Since I had this review to do, I grabbed the Limoncello and crossed my fingers.
All I can say is thank the gods for this strain. Not only does it offer a potent head and body high – both good distractions when you’re bloody miserable – it can also act as an effective pain reliever. A couple of deep inhales and the stomach cramping, which had me doubled over in self-pity the night before, was pretty darn tolerable. I even managed to fall asleep. I had to ignore the munchies (apparently I only get clear liquids for now), but everything else finally felt all right.
That’s huge, you guys. If you suffer from some dumb chronic medical malady, you know relief can be hard to find. When you find it, it’s like discovering a unicorn. Limoncello is my unicorn.
So, sorry about the gut talk, but it’s important. If you happen to be dealing with something similar, know that your friendly pot writer feels you. Next time things get bad, it might be worth grabbing some Limoncello. Maybe it’ll help, maybe it won’t. Diseases are weird, and there aren’t blanket solutions. But it helped me, so maybe it’ll help you, too.
And for the rest of you, I promise not to talk about my guts next week. Maybe. I’ll try.
DGO Pufnstuf
