Marijuana has a reputation. For so many, the mere mention of marijuana brings to mind thoughts of great music like reggae, Cheech and Chong, and the munchies! But did you know that marijuana is good for you?
Marijuana has many medicinal benefits that help your mental and physical health. In fact, there are different strains of marijuana each one with different medicinal benefits. As a result, medical marijuana is changing the lives of people with chronic pain and illnesses.
Curious if medical marijuana could help you? Then read on to find out about the medicinal uses of cannabis weed.
Medical marijuana is well-known for reducing chronic pain.
It helps with neuropathy, spasticity, headaches, and joint pain, among others. These may seem like a very narrow list ailments, but they are the by-product of a wide variety of health and medical conditions. For example, neuropathy, or nerve pain, is caused by diabetes and cancer treatment. Joint pain is caused by arthritis, bursitis, bone cancer, fibromyalgia, and many other conditions.
Medical marijuana relieves pain due to its endocannabinoid system --a combination of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). THC stimulates receptors in the brain that activate the brain's reward system, and thus bring down pain levels. CBD also interacts with receptors in the brain to relieve pain, but it has anti-inflammatory effects, too.
It's a great resource for chronic pain sufferers because, unlike other pain treatments, it is not addictive.
Marijuana weed is showing some promise with Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's causes people to lose their memory due to the buildup of amyloid plaques between nerve cells in the brain. Over time, these nerve cells stop functioning and die. Studies show that there is potential that THC slows the growth of the plaques that kill brain cells and thus slow loss of memory.
In addition to that, early stages of studies show that THC can help slow down occurrences of behavioral disturbances in dementia patients. Another study performed on mice has shown that mixtures of CBD and THC can help preserve memory in Alzheimer's sufferers.
Marijuana is great for people with cancer for a variety of reasons. First, as previously discussed, medical marijuana is an excellent pain reliever when it is smoked or vaporized. Cancer patients frequently deal with neuropathic pain --pain that is caused by nerve damage --due to chemo and radiation therapies.
In addition to pain relief, marijuana helps patients deal with nausea and excessive vomiting as a result of chemotherapy. This is especially true of patients who smoke or vape indica or hybrid marijuana strains as they help stimulate appetite.
On top of smoking weed, CBD oil is showing some promise in cancer treatment. Preliminary tests show that it can help prevent cancer from spreading and slow the growth of existing tumors.
Insomnia is a very common ailment, and many of us suffer from it at one time or another. If you're currently suffering from insomnia, there's some good news! Medical marijuana can help sufferers finally get back to sleep.
The THC in found in cannabis is largely responsible for the alleviation of insomnia symptoms. Not only does it help users get to sleep, but they tend to spend more time in restorative deep sleep. Pot users are not only getting more sleep, but it’s deeper and better, resulting in users feeling more rested.
It's also great for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients because it reduces dream sleep and therefore reduces nightmares.
For optimum results, look for indica or hybrid strains that are high in THC.
Treatment of glaucoma is one of the most common uses for medical marijuana. People with glaucoma experience increased pressure in their eyes. This excessive pressure damages the optic nerve and can lead to a loss of vision over time.
The THC in medical cannabis reduces pressure in the eye when it is smoked. At this time, pressure is only reduced for about three or four hours after the patient smokes it. In order to keep pressure low, patients have to smoke 420 dope on a regular basis.
A 2009 study found that people who suffer from inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis can find relief with medical marijuana. THC and CBD both affect cells that have a role in how the gut functions and the body's immune responses.
Cannabinoids block compounds that increase the permeability of the intestines and thus prohibit excessive bacteria from entering the gut. It is also great at reducing intestinal inflammation from colitis primarily due to the positive effects of CBD.
More research is needed to find out exactly how effective it is, but things are looking promising so far.
Multiple sclerosis is a complicated disease that affects about 77,000 Canadians. There are many symptoms, but some of the more painful and debilitating symptoms of the disease include tremor, spasticity, and muscle spasms.
Many patients fail to respond to medical treatments, but studies have shown that smoking medical marijuana is an effective treatment for these symptoms if the patient smokes medical weed on a regular basis. Many patients note that it takes several days to several weeks for the medical pot to make a difference in their symptoms, but there is an improvement over time.
Patients who suffer from these painful symptoms tend to have insomnia as well. Indica-heavy strains of medical marijuana help patients reduce pain and achieve restful sleep.
Medical marijuana can also reduce MS patients' overactive bladder by easing the spasms that cause the condition.
People with epilepsy, a seizure disorder, may experience a better quality of life through the CBD in medical marijuana, particularly in liquid forms. It has been particularly helpful in patients who are resistant to other treatments.
One study found that patients taking doses of 10 mg of CBD experienced a reduction in seizures. It is even proving useful in rare forms of epilepsy like Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome.
More data is needed to understand what role, if any, CBD plays in the management of seizures, and researchers are making a big push to finding treatment solutions.
Marijuana is known for causing its users to relax, but in some cases it can actually cause anxiety. Despite this, medical marijuana is effective at relieving anxiety when taken in measured doses.
Researchers believe these symptoms are relieved by very low doses of THC and higher doses of CBD. Look for sativa strains or hybrid strains that are higher in CBD than THC.
If you're interested in reducing your anxiety with medical marijuana, start with a couple puffs and gradually increase your doses. If your anxiety increases, that's a sign to reduce your dose.
It's true, marijuana is good for you. It can help you relax, or it can energize you. It can help with pain, insomnia, or anxiety. Many of these things go hand-in-hand with each other, so it makes sense to use one natural medication to treat these conditions/ symptoms.
On top of that, the different strains of marijuana make it possible to function during the day and at night. If you're suffering from any of the conditions marijuana can help with… give it a shot as the results might surprise you.
Curious about what else marijuana can do for you? Check out our blog to learn about everything from how to roll a joint to eating edibles to using cbd and thc for pain management… told you, MJ is good for you!