The past few decades have created an increase in curiosity and use around more homeopathic treatments for chronic illnesses. Many are considering an alternative treatment for several reasons, namely because the traditional medicines create intense side effects, because the prescriptions aren’t having the desired effect, or they are becoming too expensive.
Medical marijuana for Crohn’s disease has become available in Boca Raton, Florida because of its potential to ease pain, stimulate appetite, and relieve neuropathic pain.
Those with Crohn’s disease have started to shift to using medical marijuana to help with the symptoms.
Crohn’s Disease: What it is and how it may affect you
Unfortunately, Crohn’s disease is an incurable chronic disease. It is the inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract that can influence any part of the GI tract, however it is most often found in the small intestine.
This is an unpredictable disease with the symptoms changing in severity. Periods of remission are common, where you have few if any symptoms. Flare-ups tend to be painful and they may come on quite suddenly and unexpectedly.
Because it affects the lining of the GI tract, it can cause incredible amounts of pain. Though the symptoms may range from mild to severe, even the mild symptoms are unpleasant.
These symptoms have a negative impact on your body, directly influencing your digestive health.
It can often lead to malnutrition or the lack of vitamins and nutrients in the body. Those with Crohn’s disease may experience malnutrition from blood loss in the GI tract or the failure to absorb the proper nutrients since the GI tract is inflamed. Others may experience malnutrition simply because it is too painful to eat. Sufferers may be afraid of triggering the symptoms by eating.
It can also cause depression and anxiety. The low energy levels and malnutrition may begin to affect Crohn’s disease patients’ mental health. Anxiety and depression are often experienced within a year of diagnosis. It may be because they are unable to do the same activities and enjoy the same social life when they are in the middle of the debilitating symptoms.
If you are a first-time patient or returning to LifeBoost please fill out this form to schedule your medical marijuana evaluation with Dr. Stratt.
If you have symptoms like abdominal pain, significant weight loss, anemia, fevers, vomiting and even intestinal obstructions, it is incredibly important to speak to your doctor about creating a treatment plan.
What Causes Crohn’s Disease?
Regrettably, doctors are still unsure about what specifically causes Crohn’s disease. It used to be believed that it was triggered by diet or high stress. And while those may be aggravating components, they are not directly responsible for triggering the disease.
Instead it may be a combination of a variety of factors such as your family history and your immune system health.
It may be a faulty response of your immune system that is triggered by a virus or bacteria in the GI tract lining.
There are also several risk factors such as cigarette smoking, eating a diet high in sugar, obesity, lack of exposure to sunlight, and a family history of inflammatory bowel disease.
Understanding Medical Marijuana
Cannabis has a variety of known health benefits when applied in a medicinal capacity. There are two known compounds that are particularly helpful in treating a disease. The first is tetrahydrocannabinol, better known as THC, and the other is cannabidiol or CBD.
The Benefits of THC
THC is the compound in cannabis that creates the pain relief. Studies have shown that THC is what creates the pathway in the central nervous system that blocks pain signals from being sent to the brain.
THC is also the compound responsible for relieving nausea and vomiting. Many THC pills have been developed and prescribed to help chemotherapy patients reduce their nausea and vomiting.
It is also known to stimulate the appetite for both the healthy and the sick.
The Benefits of CBD
CBD can relieve inflammation. The Journal of Experimental Medicine published a study in 2012 that suggested CBD can suppress chronic inflammatory pain.
It is also able to reduce anxiety by creating an anxiolytic-like effect.
Using Medical Marijuana to Treat Crohn’s
Numerous studies show that using cannabis may alleviate symptoms of Crohn’s.
According to the article “Cannabis Alleviates Symptoms of Crohn’s Disease”, participants reported that their symptoms had a marked improvement. Depression, fatigue, pain, nausea and appetite were all improved with the use of cannabis.
Another article suggested that cannabis works well when treating colonic inflammation particularly because it is an anti-inflammatory.
The study, “Treatment of Crohn’s Disease with Cannabis: An Observational Study” showed that most the patients felt that consuming cannabis decreased the flare-ups caused by the disease.
The Next Step
If you are curious about the possible benefits of medical marijuana for your Crohn’s disease, call LifeBoost of Boca Raton today to be pre-qualified for medical cannabis. You may be qualified to use medical marijuana to ease this debilitating disease.