How Medical Marijuana Affects Your Body
How medical marijuana affects your body. In this blog post, you will learn about medical marijuana, what it is, what it does, and giving you the facts to know your body. First up, let’s get a dose of vocabulary; the wide world of marijuana can be confusing, and a basic understanding of terminology can help you navigate the facts.
Marijuana is often referred to as cannabis as it’s part of the cannabis family of plants that also includes hemp; the marijuana plant can take over a hundred different chemicals called cannabinoids. Cannabinoids are active chemicals that can alter the mind and body in various ways.
Some of them have proven beneficial to cannabinoids from the plant studied and used for their medicinal value. THC and CBD THC contain mind-altering properties associated with feeling high. At the same time, CBD offers health benefits without causing a high.
Medical marijuana is not currently considered a cure, but it is used for therapeutic benefits of symptom relief. THC can reduce nausea, increase appetite, decrease pain and inflammation and help with muscle control problems.
How medical marijuana affects your body
CBD has benefits, including pain reduction and controlling epileptic seizures, and it may even be used to treat mental illness and addiction. The therapeutic benefits of medical marijuana can help those who have multiple sclerosis, cancer, HIV, AIDS, glaucoma, and Crohn’s disease, just to name a few.
While the FDA has not approved marijuana as medicine, the study of its cannabinoids has led to two FDA-approved medications that use cannabinoid chemicals and a pill. Let’s dig deeper into how marijuana interacts with the body and tips on access with our expert, Dr. Caroline Heartridge
Dr. Heartridge, how exactly do THC and CBD interact with the body?
“The CBD and THC interact within the endocannabinoid system, which is the most extensive neurotransmitter system within the body, and it helps regulate or modulate.
Our homeostasis includes everything from temperature to appetite to reproduction to sleep weight cycles. In particular, those two chemicals work in a lock and key mechanism where receptors are the lock and CBD and THC or the different keys.
Once the CBD and the THC interact with that receptor, they can stimulate bone health, decrease blood pressure, and modulate your perception of pain and even your memory of an unfavorable event.”
The different ways to take medical cannabis?
In its whole flower form or whole plant form, people typically know that as weed or marijuana, and in this form, you can:
- Smoke it in a joint or a bong
- Vape it
- Cannabis oil
- Edibles
- Topical
- Sprat it
Advice for somebody wanting to use medical cannabis?
Go to your primary care provider, whichever doctor you see most regularly, because these products will interact with your regular pharmaceuticals. It might even decrease the amount of dose you need.
Start there and have an open and honest conversation with your provider. Let them know that you’re interested and you want to know about the risk to benefit ratio of the medical cannabis product versus some of the ones you might already be on.
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