Need Advice

1st time posting here and I need your advice. Long story short. I'm a disabled vet, married and father of 4. The V/A has me on a ton of meds that are fuqing me up. A few of my issues include PTSD, TBI, severe depression, insomnia, migraines and I'm in pain 24 hours a day. In july I was admitted to the hospital. During my "vacation" I spoke with some fellow vets and they STRONGLY endorsed MMJ. Now here's the thing. I haven't touched weed since the '80s. I don't have any "connections" and I don't leave the house so finding some isn't a option. So my 1st question is this. Giving my disabilities, what strain would you recommend? Secondly, I would need to grow my own on the down low in my basement. I can't afford to buy a stealth grow box. So I don't know what to do. Any suggestions?

Something Indica-dominant.
With a clear head.

The indica 'body' will help take away the pain, the migraines, help you sleep and make the PTSD easier when alongside a clear-headed sativa 'head' that will help alleviate the depression.

Something 'Hawaiian' is what comes to mind.
Something a little more indica than Pineapple Express.
An afghani x mexican cross.

I wish I was close enough to come help you out with your basement.
Our vets shouldn't have to feel like this.

What's the budget?

Welcome ImFuct

Well, the first thing you'll notice is that weed got strong as fuuuuccckk compared to what you used to smoke .

Finding the right strain though, it's a tough one, I started going through that about a year and a half ago myself when I really started looking into strains and I found some great strains but I'm still not done looking. Plus I enjoy the different effects (even though I have given weed away to friends because i didn't like the effect at all).

A lot of basic stoners say there is little to no difference in effect, to medical users there is a GIGANTIC difference, I actually started training as a Master Herbalist after I rediscovered weed and that was a little over 3 and a half years ago.

In general I wouldn't suggest a pure sativa for you because you have PTSD and some people get paranoid, and some people don't (its still highly personal but the "general effect described" is roughly correct for everybody).
Most medical patients that suffer from pain are best off with a 100% indica strain (atleast I know I am when I'm in a lot of pain), for mental issues a hybrid might be a better idea though, say something like White Widow for example (I'm sure they had that in the 80's as well ) but, if you are prone to a mental condition having them as an autoflower (which mixes with sativa and indica with ruderalis) seems to take the edges off (for me, and most people I know).

Also, there are excellent medical 1:1 strains with equal amounts of CBD and THC. Those are definitely worth the try and will come closer to the high you used to have then a 25% THC 0.3% CBD Amnesia Haze or something.
Even though I do know people who medically benefit from that, it stays highly personal with descriptions of the high/stone as a guideline.

Judging your symptoms I'd say 100% landrace Indica for at night, 1:1 strains for during the day (so you can properly function) and maybe test around with some autoflowers to experience different effects of hybrids.

As for stealth growing for cheap, check this out https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=21514

Its easy, cheap, and all you need is a closet and some random parts, plus seeds (fairly expensive), and food for your plants.

But grow wise I'm pretty much a beginner as well, at least, I know how to successfully grow something but I can't do it inside right now so I'm stuck with outside moldy weed (the place I'm at is not ideal for outdoor grows but they do yield the most) either way, I'm sure there are a ton of people that can give you grow tips here though and if something goes wrong you can just post pics (don't forget to not use a camera that has GPS in it giving out your exact location if growing isn't legal where you are at) and people will be more then willing to help .

Also, there are quite a few people here that might be able to send you clones or samples if you are in the US (atleast, I think there are ).

Anyway, hope that helps a bit

I too am a vet and suffer from every thing you listed and then some. Mmj has allowed me to get off the 13.5 pills I had to take daily.Critical kush at night and pineapple express during the day is what works for me. Those are what a caregiver sold me and they work for me. Now I grow my own.

What state are you in?

Coughie, Medstone,

Thanks for the quick response! Unfortunately I'm in a state where all weed is illegal :-( Budget wise I'm limited to a couple hundred bucks at the most. My main concern is that the grow box is lockable and the kids don't know about it. IE smell it. I'll vape it when they're at school and when they go to bed.

Nk,

Thank for the reply brother (or sister). I'm in Wisconsin by way of Arizona.

I know what you mean when it comes the pills. They got me taking meds 3x a day. I'm right at 20 on a good day. I'd be happy just to cut that number in half.

Just get an old fashion closet like Pipedream has in the link I gave you.

That's lockable (if you get one with a lock), it looks like a closet, you can make sure no light escapes with mylar (costs a couple bucks) and white plasic strips.

You can choose if you want to either grow on soil or hydro then, if you want to go on soil you'll need 6 pots, hydro 6 buckets and a dual membrane fishtank pump (15-20 bucks), then a clip fan (15 bucks), a cheap reflector with HPS input and the wires needed for it (50ish bucks, or cheaper maybe), you need a tube fan (50 bucks because its a small area, 300cm3 should do) a 150w or 250w lamp (the first one really is the least noticeable heatwise and easiest to keep cool, plus it uses little power etc.). Then the most expensive thing, I highly highly suggest you get an EVSA as your light starter, mainly because it just saves a lot of power and you don't have to worry your house is on fire every time you go out (lol I'm overreacting but they really are safer), a cheap one from ebay will do, and then you can either DIY an airfilter (put a box on the tubefan with a lot of carbon filter plates in them, its really cheap, and line the sides with that noise canceling stuff, that makes the sound absolutely 0) ehhmmm I think I got everything now. Just a timer (digital, a good one, because of, well, fire lol). Think that's it, maybe some minor things I missed but thats just a couple bucks worth.

The fact that it isn't LEGAL doesn't mean they check the mail btw *cough cough* lol.

Edit:
As for the amount of pills, i know the feeling, I'll trump you on that one, 28 pills, and I'm 28 years old lol 5x a day gooo modern medicine
I got to decrease my pain meds and benzo's by atleast half if not more when I started goinga more natural way, and it isn't legal in my country either, just to grow it outside and blah our weather sucks around harvest time so you have about 3KG worth on your plants and you're literally throwing half of it away.

MedicalStone I was thinking of soil. Hydro may be exceeding my abilities.

I don't know what KG stands for but it sure sounds like a lot. lol

Actually, it is a long standing debate what is better and what is easier hydro or soil. Personally I think they're both very doable but hydro seems to be a lot less work. Especially if you can catch rainwater outside in your yard because you don't really NEED to measure PH then

You should read Pipedreams topic a bit, go through the pages a little, it's really a nice project which is very reasonable in price and is pretty stealthy if you ask me!

KG stands for Kilogram which is 1000 grams, you usually get a gram in a baggie if you buy 10 bucks I think (not sure what the going rate is). And I'm counting cutting waste as well btw, those beautiful buds are usually what you smoke and the trim you can use to cook or make topical creme for pain et cetera .

Quick edit:
If you have a 150w lamp and you know what you are doing (after about a grow or 5 or something) you will get a gram per watt so 150 gram (atleast i've seen multiple people do that) if you don't know what you are doing, maybe 30-40 grams of bud and some trim, slowly increasing to 80-100. I think you could medicate yourself with half a gram a day to start with unless you start cooking with it because that just takes up a lot more, it is, however, far stealthier around your kids. You can make cookies or whatever and stash those away and be medicated for 9ish hours. It does require a lot more bud though.

If you want something easy to start out with, look for a good indica autoflower. They are generally ready in 3-4 months from start to finish. I medicate mostly for anxiety and sleep, Northern Lights is a good choice. I also really enjoy higher CBD strains, especially for daytime use. Stephen Hawking Kush is a good one, very low THC so don't expect much of a buzz.

Gotcha! I thought you were referring to a currency. I'll have to read up on hydro.

MtnSkunk, Thanks for the input! I'll add those to my list.

Hijacking this a little @MtnSkunk, how is the Stephen Hawking? I have a bag from them laying around (m/f unstable genetics) which I wanted to use to cross as soon as I started growing indoors.

Plus I thought it would be a great strain to mix with something extremely high in THC because of their redonkulous amounts of CBD.

@ImFuct, A medical strain 1:1 might be where you are going but as most people already said an autoflower is easy to begin with plus if you get a pure indica/ruderalis (ruderalis is what makes the plant autoflower) you get most of the medical benefits.
I can highly advise Mazar Kush for your insomnia, I'm out like a light even during the day if I smoke that haha, its a 100% indica landrace (as in, plant ripped from Mazar area and one from the Kush area and those crossed, no special genetics, just indica).
During the day, maybe something like Critical Cure from Barneys Farm (low in THC equal amount CBD) and maybe something like Painkiller XL from Royal Queen Seeds (even though the havest is horrible) and something along the lines of auto flower indica hybrids.

Edibles are a great idea.

You'd have to make them, when can sometimes stink up the place, but once they're made, you just store them properly and safely and they're as stealthily consumed as they are stored.

The effects of edibles are different than smoking though, so start slow with low doses until you get a feeling for the strength of the butter/oil you make, and how that translates into your recipes, and then into your body chemistry. You can dose to a point where you dont hurt, but you can also dose yourself into a serious nap.

Sometimes just physically feeling better, is enough that for a time, you can mentally feel better as well. You have those, "Wow, I dont hurt!" moments, and find yourself smiling... Edibles can do that, without making you feel 'high'.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Rice Crispie Treats
Chocolate Fudge

.. all taste great; the rice crispies are where you can taste the cannabis the most, but I like the flavor myself so I dont mind; chocolate melds well with it though.

Oh and a small addition to Coughie's. If you strain your cannabutter (which you will learn to make) you can either throw it away or you can buy capsules, like pharmacy capsules size 00, you can put your "waste" in that and still enjoy the medical benefits from it, you just need a little more because you extracted a lot making cannabutter.

If you vape your weed you can do the same thing, some people make edibles out of it but in my opinion it tastes like old socks if it has already been vaped so mixing it with coconut butter or cocoabutter and putting it in capsules lets you enjoy your vaped goods again!
Some people think its a bit of a "poormans thing to do" but why waste a good product?
Just my 2 cents ofcourse.

As for the pills, they look exactly like normal acid reflux capsules (for example) so nobody notices.

Hi imfuct, have been using weed to treat PTSD and ADHD for years.

For me a mildish sativa has worked the best, had a mex/col cross and African strain that a friend grew that really made a difference, with me my mind gets stuck in a time place and couchlock indicas make it worse. I find the sativas unlock the mind, but I do mix indica in for when its time to come down and relax, but always a mix of both. Some of the equator strain can have paranoid effect. Not much help with space you have.

I am in Australia so we don't have as many strain options, have found NL5xHaze and most of the hazes do a better job than strong indicas.

Just about to start growing again after a 6 year break, just wrote all the reasons in my intro so wont do again. But if I ever find employment again will be looking at some strains ace seeds have for treating my PTSD.

The Stephen Hawking Kush unfortunately was not grown by me, so I can not speak to that. The pain relief was not as good as I was hoping (tested at about 7% CBD / 6% THC). Anxiety was dramatically reduced while medicated though. Kept me in a peaceful headspace.

Sativas cause problems for me, but there are some like Jack Herer which dont give me too much racing thoughts.