What Conditions Can Cannabis Treat?

What’s medical marijuana used for?

Scientists are learning whether medical marijuana can help treat several problems including:

• Alzheimer’s disease
• Appetite loss
• Cancer
• Crohn’s disease
• Diseases impacting the immune system as Multiple Sclerosis or HIV/AIDS (MS)
• Eating disorders including anorexia
• Epilepsy
• Glaucoma
• Mental health conditions such as posttraumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia (PTSD)
• Several sclerosis
• Muscle mass spasms
• Nausea
• Pain
• Seizures
• Wasting syndrome (cachexia)

What’s medical marijuana used for?

Persistent pain

Over 700,000 Canadians turn to cannabis for alleviation of continual pain – and also the scientific proof of its usefulness is substantial. In gold standard randomized clinical trials of individuals that had agonizing health issues – peripheral neuropathy (nerve pain from diabetes), spinal cord injury, HIV and complex regional pain syndrome, cancer, chemotherapy, joint problems and muscle, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis – cannabis diminished soreness by forty %, based on the 2017 NASEM report.

In a recently available Canadian study, cannabis soothed arthritic laboratory rats. Surprisingly, there is little evidence (yet) from human studies for the most popular type of arthritis, osteoarthritis – the wear-and-tear joint disease affecting fifty % of adults age 65 plus. Clinical trials are underway. But who is waiting? Arthritis was the best reason older adults utilized cannabis in a 2019 Colorado survey, followed by back pain. Overall, seventy-nine % said it helped.

BOTTOM LINE: It appears to help

Insomnia

The National Academies rate logical evidence for much better sleep on cannabis as just “moderate” in individuals with health issues that hinder slumber. But that is not slowing down older people. Over one in three individuals in a Colorado survey experimented with it for sleep; eighty-six % said it helped. By plugging into cannabinoid receptors on brain cells, CBD and THC might team in place for much better sleep, at the very least in the short term, in individuals with insomnia on account of discomfort, obstructive sleep apnea, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, and anxiety.

But beware: Choosing cannabis for rest could be challenging. A bit of THC helps, but a lot of it might keep you awake. Too tiny CBD might hinder good sleep, while a larger measure might aid you to snooze more with fewer overnight wake-ups, a recently available Palo Alto Faculty review says.

BOTTOM LINE: It appears to help

Depression, and anxiety PTSD

Lifting low moods and calming chronic tension brought one in five older adults in a recently available survey to medical cannabis. Over ninety % said it helped. Meanwhile, the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is emerging as an additional high use.

Up to now, information about these mental health problems is sparse. We will discover more soon. At least 7 research on cannabis in anxiety, as well as depression, are in the works in the Country and around the planet. So are a minimum of 6 studies for PTSD.

For the time being, small studies, as well as surveys, hint at problems and benefits – specifically for depression. The great news: In a 2018 Washington State Faculty online survey of 3,151 medical marijuana users with depression, in-the-moment symptoms improved by fifty % after only 2 puffs of usually low THC, high CBD pot. As with every drug, dosage matters: More was not much better. The bad news: Over time, their ongoing depression worsened somewhat. Regular use could transform cannabinoid receptors in the human brain, boosting vulnerability to dim moods, the scientists note. Stopping can easily overturn it.

The picture appears brighter for anxiety – in case you pick your cannabis carefully. In a 2018 study, volunteers that utilized cannabis reduced their use of their widely prescribed anxiety-reducing benzodiazepines by forty-seven %. Users are enthusiastic. “Anxiety can improve as you receive older,” notes Barbara Blaser, seventy-three, a nurse navigator that assists show older cannabis users at Magnolia Wellness dispensary in Oakland, California. “Your kids are far out, friends are passing out, and you do not understand what’ll happen next in your life. A little amount of cannabis can enable you to feel better. Today, I am making use of a gel pen that gives a small dab to my skin of mine. It sinks in and I relax.”
Quantity matters: Just a little bit (7.5 mg of THC, under the content of countless edibles) decreased anxiety in a 2017 study. But 12.5 milligrams (what you would get from a couple of puffs of the famous pot strain GSC (formerly Girl Scout Cookies) increased anxiety.

Cannabis has potential for individuals with Cbd and PTSD. THC may well soften “fear memories” which flood the brain in reaction to PTSD triggers (such as a sudden loud noise), say researchers from the National Center for PTSD in Palo Alto, California. Taking THC during the night meant fewer and less extreme nightmares for forty-seven individuals with PTSD in a 2009 clinical trial in Canada.

BOTTOM LINE: Depression – mixed success; anxiety – appears to help; PTSD – appears to help

Cancers pain

Cannabis is successful for cancer pain as well as the unwanted side effects of cancer treatment – nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite as well as weight loss, says Donald Abrams, an oncologist along with professor of medicine at the Faculty of California San Francisco with a longtime advocate of medical marijuana. “There’s no doubting in the mind of mine, it works,” Abrams says. “I was on the NASEM committee which reviewed the evidence.”
The applications together with the most powerful proof in the medical literature were for nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy and cancer pain. “I work with individuals experiencing cancer therapy,” Abrams says. “I let them know,’ Go to the dispensary, let them know what you are attempting to deal with, and inquire about the things that work best.’ ”

But cannabis should not be used to cure cancer, Abrams says. “The saddest and most frustrating problem for me personally is meeting individuals who may have delayed arriving for 6 weeks since they noticed marijuana treats cancer and they also needed to check it out first. For many, it is way too late for successful treatments such as radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery which extend and save lives.” Do not fall for tips online it does work, he notes – they are influenced by questionable research and sketchy anecdotes, like one tiny human study which dripped cannabis into the brains of individuals with brain cancer.

What exactly are cannabinoids great for?

Several of the present applications of cannabinoids include: Alleviating inflammation and pain, especially chronic kinds, from illnesses including arthritis, neuropathy, glaucoma, endometriosis, fibromyalgia, along with Crohn’s disease. Increasing appetite to stop the serious weight loss of AIDS.

What medical conditions will be addressed with CBD?

It’s most often used to cure chronic pain, inflammation, anxiety, and insomnia. One particular study demonstrated that CBD might relieve pain by affecting receptors of the endocannabinoid phone system, which assists control of pain, mood, and mind, additionally to numerous additional biological and also cognitive functions.

If you find this blog post about “What Conditions Can Cannabis Treat?” helpful please comment or share.