The Federal Drug
Administration has not cleared these medications for use with motion sickness. This does not mean that they do not show
promise for all types of nausea and vomiting even in the case of motion
disease. Medical marijuana has been proven utterly safe concerning overdose and
emergency side effects. With the rescheduling of marijuana underway, the
hope of more research and cure for several other illnesses is reassuring.
Cannabis,
treating Graves’ disease symptoms
Graves’ disease is an
immune system disorder that results in the overproduction of thyroid hormones
(hyperthyroidism). It is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism in the United
States with about 50% to 80% cases and often results in an enlarged thyroid. The thyroid gland is located on either side of
the Adam’s apple in a patient and can be easily felt on physical exam. Its main
function is to regulate the overall metabolism of the body. It also plays a
role in calcium metabolism.
Although the exact cause
is unclear, it is believed to involve a combination of genetic and
environmental factors.
A person is more likely to be affected if they have a family member with the
disease. Those with other autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes and
rheumatoid arthritis are more likely to be affected.
Signs and symptoms
Graves’ disease affects
both men and women. However, it’s more common among women between the ages of
20 and 40. Graves’ disease is
accompanied by a range of symptoms which include: irritability, muscle
weakness, sleeping problems, a fast heartbeat, and poor tolerance of heat,
diarrhea, and weight loss.
Other symptoms may
include thickening of the skin on the shins, known as pretibial myxedema, and
eye problems such as bulging, a condition known as Graves’ ophthamopathy. About
25% to 80% of people with the condition develop eye problems which involves eye
irritation, double vision and even protruding eyeballs.
Treatment
The primary treatments
have aimed at inhibiting the overproduction of thyroid hormones and lessen the
severity of symptoms. These include
radioactive iodine, antithyroid medications such as methimazole (Tapazole) and
propylthiouracil (PTU), and beta blockers. In some patients, surgery is done.
However, these conventional treatments re associated with a range of side
effects.
Radioiodine therapy may
increase your risk of new or worsened symptoms of Graves’ ophthalmopathy
anti-thyroid medications,
on the other hand can cause a relapse of hyperthyroidism at a later time. Side
effects of both drugs include rash, joint pain, liver failure or a decrease in
disease-fighting white blood cells. Beta blockers have been known to trigger an
asthma attack in addition to complicating management of diabetes.
Using medical marijuana
to treat the side effects
Graves’ disease causes a
great variety of symptoms, many of which can be easily treated with cannabis. According to research and several trails,
medical marijuana has been found to be an alternative to treat many of the
symptoms associated with Graves’ disease. Medical marijuana can reduce eye
pressure, reduce anxiety, relieve insomnia, reduce irritability, encourage
appetite/weight gain, relieve restlessness/nervousness, slow or relax heart
rate.
Studies have repeatedly
shown the effectiveness of medical marijuana as an appetite stimulant. Medical
marijuana can be used to help with any pain related to Graves’ disease. Conventional treatments often lead to painful
side-effects such as joint pain.
Studies have shown that
not only does medical marijuana significantly decrease pain levels, but it can
also work to reduce a patient’s dependence on opiate based pain medications
that are commonly prescribed for pain. By reducing the patient’s dependence
on opiate based pain medications, the patient is at less risk for overdose,
dependence or addiction.
Conclusion
Medical marijuana has a
long history as a viable treatment for loss of appetite, insomnia and fatigue
as well as for pain and anxiety. In addition, medical marijuana does not cause many of the serious
side effects associated with traditional Graves’ disease treatments. For the
many Graves’ disease sufferers in the US, the adoption to medical marijuana is
an excellent option.
Medical
cannabis, a fighting chance against autism
People living with
autism make up approximately 1 percent of the global population. As of the
year 2014, out of every 68 births in the United States, one child is autistic.
Autism, also referred to
as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a group of complex brain disorders,
described by National Autistic Society as a lifelong development disability
that affects how a person communicates and relates with others, and how they
experience the world around them.
How it all began
Debra started to notice
Roger’s autism symptoms at the age of three when he continuously failed to
articulate his words and regularly threw tantrums. On critically looking at him, she noticed a
dull look in his eyes and some occasional clumsiness where he could all of a
sudden swing his arms involuntarily.
At first Debora thought
it wasn’t anything serious and that Roger would soon grow out of it. Little
did she know that this was just the beginning of her troubles of having to live
with a child suffering from autism.
As a mother of a child
living with autism, Debra Perkins always had to look out for her son Roger
who had become a home-bound because his levels of cognition were far much lower
than those of his age mates. For this reason, he could not go to school.
Need close attention
Autistic people have a tendency
of self-injuring and so they always have to be under the care of someone. For this reason, Debra, who was by then
working, had no choice but to give her work a break for a month as she sought
of a way she could have her son well taken care of.
Soon enough, Debra was
able to enroll Roger in a school for children with autism. With the doctor’s
recommendation, she started him on a dosage of drugs for improving the mood and
curbing psychotic behavior, although these presented some negative
effects like sleeplessness and tremors. He also lost appetite and by age seven,
he had lost a lot of weight.
What fellow parent has
to say
One day as Debra picked
Roger from school, she met a parent, also having a daughter there and he shared
with her the wonders of cannabis as concerns autism. “I was delusional at
first because I had grown up knowing that marijuana was like a drug for the
most notorious people in society.” Worse still, Debra could not imagine
introducing a narcotic to her little boy’s system.
After trying several
therapeutic treatments, all seemed to be worsening and by the age of six, Roger
had quite a number of scars from injuring himself. “He would frequently hit his head on the wall,
or even tree,” Debra recalls, “It always broke my heart to see him like that!”
There is hope
Out of desperation, she
decided to give it a shot – offered Roger a pot cookie. Alas, his behavior
intensely improved; he became more relaxed,
threw fewer tantrums and reduced on the self-injuring.
Discovering cannabis was
a great breakthrough for Debra. Something she took for a street joke actually
turned out to be the biggest reason for her smile. Roger is now on a dosage
of cannabis tablets and it suffices to say that he’s moving proof of the
wonders of the drug.
The dysfunction in the
production of proper levels of endocannabinoids, the body’s own healthy molecules very similar
to phytocannabinoids like Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) present in cannabis, may
be one of the primary causes of autism.
Studies show that the
cannabinoids from cannabis regulate emotional states and focus by redirecting
the neurons in a way that is more manageable for the autistic. This way, symptoms such as anxiety, mood swings
and hostility are dealt with. As earlier noted, autism is a life-time
disorder. Despite this fact, the lives of thousands of people can be
changed if they are to give cannabis a shot.
Cannabis
and HIV/AIDS
Many people in the US
living with HIV/AIDS have for long suffered with the disease alongside
its illnesses.
The Human Immune Virus
is a sexually transmitted infection that damages the immune system and
interferes with the body’s ability to fight off organisms that cause disease. This can eventually lead to development of
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
HIV can also be spread
by contact with infected blood or from mother to children or breast-feeding. Without treatment, AIDS patients live, on
average, about 10 years before they succumb to the disease.
The HIV virus enters the
bloodstream, then enters the cells that make up the immune system and
multiplies. It attacks the immune
system making it easier for a person to get a variety of illnesses known as
opportunistic infections.
Traditional Treatment
The anti-HIV drugs both
reduce the viral load and the number of infection present in the blood stream. Some of the commonly prescribed drugs are used
to help the body fight off opportunistic infections. Although these drugs are
available to help slow down the virus, there is no cure to eliminate the
virus from within the body. The major downside to antiretroviral therapy
are adverse side effects that can be so depilating that “patients will often
abandon their treatment.
Cannabis’ role in the
HIV/AIDS related illnesses
Marijuana is widely
recognized for its effectiveness in treating symptoms related to HIV/AIDS. Marijuana
has been known to help reduce the following symptoms in HIV patients: Nausea,
Lack of appetite, Nerve pain, Depression, Anxiety, Sleeping problems.
In addition to treatment
of common symptoms of HIV and side effects of antiretroviral drugs, research
indicates that cannabis may help fight HIV itself. An increasing number of
scientific studies, are revealing antiviral effects of cannabis against HIV.
The effects of cannabis
are as a result of interactions between cannabinoids and receptors located on
many cells. These include
macrophages (a tissue cell of the immune system), CD4 cells called cannabinoid
receptor 1 (CB1) and cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2). Researchers at New York
City’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine published data in 2012 demonstrating that
stimulation of CB2 with compounds called cannabinoid receptor agonists can
block the signaling process between HIV and CXCR4, one of the main types of
receptors that allow HIV to enter and infect a cell. CXCR4 is used by HIV
during advanced disease progression.
By stimulating
activation of CB2 with cannabinoid receptor antagonists, Mount Sinai
researchers decreased the ability of HIV to infect cells that utilize CXCR4, reducing the frequency of infected cells by 30
to 60 percent.
Cannabinoids may help
prevent neurocognitive disorders
Macrophages are
long-lived cells that are targeted by HIV and exist throughout the body.
Macrophages are present in the blood and all organs, including in the brain. Some researchers hypothesize that these cells
may be key to ongoing replication that creates inflammation, a damaging effect
of overstimulation of the immune system. Inflammation can greatly contribute to
many non-AIDS related illnesses, such as neurocognitive disorders,
cardiovascular disease, bone disease, and some form of cancer.
The study authors found
that anti-inflammatory compounds related to THC blind to CB2, effectively
reducing viral replication and inflammation in the brain.
Many research studies by
acclaimed medical institutions have found repeatedly, that Cannabinoids
(components of Marijuana) are effective in treating AIDS conditions of; nausea,
loss of appetite, anxiety, depression, wasting, and neuropathic pain. In
addition, Medical Marijuana has anti-bacterial and anti-cancer properties that
aid in battling associated opportunistic conditions.
Conclusion
There is currently no
cure for HIV/AIDS. However, there are medications that can dramatically slow
the progression of the disease. Cannabis has become an increasingly common
prescription to help patients manage the often devastating symptoms of the
disease and accompanying.
Cannabis,
the hope for viral hepatitis illness
Hepatitis is a series of
viruses that primarily attack the liver. These include, hepatitis A, B, C, D,
E, F (not confirmed), and G.In the United States, viral hepatitis is most
commonly caused by hepatitis A virus (HAV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and
hepatitis C virus (HCV). These 3 viruses can all result in acute diseases
with symptoms of nausea, abdominal pain, fatigue, malaise, and jaundice.
Chronic hepatitis may
simmer for 20 years or more before causing significant symptoms related to
advanced liver damage such as cirrhosis (scarring and liver failure), liver
cancer, or death. Viral hepatitis,
accounts for more than 50% of cases of acute hepatitis in the United States.American
liver foundation estimates that one in every 10 people in North America is
afflicted with a liver, biliary or gallbladder disease.This makes it a
worldwide health problem in humans for which pharmacological treatments
currently available are not adequate enough. With the letters representing the
different hepatitis viruses going up, the need to venture into more research on
ways to curb the illness has grown cannabis being one of the possible
solutions.
Cannabidiol suppresses
ConA-induced hepatitis
Cannabidiol (CBD) is a
major non-psychoactive cannabinoid component of marijuana (Cannabis sativa).
CBD has been shown to have potent immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory
properties and is currently approved for clinical use in some countries for the
treatment of pain in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. A research was
conducted where rats where used to experiment the effect ofCannabidiol on
suppressing the damage on the liver caused by the hepatitis virus.
Natural cannabinoids
such as Delta (9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) effectively modulate immune cell
function and have shown therapeutic potential in treating inflammatory
diseases. According to the
research results, THC treatment resulted into significant suppression of
crucial inflammatory cytokines in ConA-hepetitis. THC treatment in
ConA-injected mice led to significant increase in the absolute number of Fox3
(+) T regulatory cells in the liver.
Cannabis’ role in
improving Treatment Response in Hepatitis C Patients
Auto immune hepatitis is
generally treated with medications that suppress the immune system, such as
prednisone and azathioprine, although these treatments are not universally
effective and long term side effects exist.
Interferon-based therapy
for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is often limited by side effects
including flu-like symptoms, fatigue, insomnia, loss of appetite, nausea,
muscle and joint pain, and depression, which can lead to poor adherence, dose
reduction, or treatment discontinuation. However, research has shown that
Medicinal cannabis