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Crohn’s Disease

Medical cannabis can significantly reduce Crohn’s disease activity, hospitalizations and your need for other medications.

What’s Crohn’s?

Crohn’s Disease is a gastrointestinal (GI) disorder that’s in the same family as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and colitis.

This PET/CT scan shows inflammation around the small and large bowel segments; and a follow-up colonoscopy confirmed this later.

What’s IBS?

Irritable bowel syndrome is a common problem and targets your intestines.

How many people are affected?

1 in 5 Americans suffer from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s and colitis.

Symptoms

IBS leads to cramps, pain, gas and bloating, as well as constipation or diarrhea, and sometimes both for some extra lucky people. [cite]

Prognosis

Varies widely, from benign to very severe. 13-20% of patients experience chronic Crohn’s. It can’t be cured even with surgery, treatments are now available that can offer significant help to most patients. [cite]

Causes

  • not enough fiber in diet
  • not enough exercise
  • eating too much dairy
  • travel/changes in routine
  • stress
  • overusing laxatives as they weaken bowel muscles
  • using antacids with calcium or aluminum
  • certain medicines (antidepressants, iron pills, and strong pain medicines such as narcotics)

How Cannabis Helps

In gastroenterology, cannabis has been used to treat anorexia, emesis, abdominal pain, gastroenteritis, diarrhea, intestinal inflammation, and diabetic gastroparesis.

Cannabis and Crohn’s Disease Research

  1. 2013: Cannabis induces a clinical response in patients with Crohn’s disease: a prospective placebo-controlled study
  2. 2011: Treatment of Crohn’s Disease with Cannabis: an Observational Study

Medical Marijuana as an Alternative to Prescription Drugs?

Different drugs used for Crohn’s disease range from sulfasalazine, to antibiotics in mild cases, to oral corticosteroids, azathioprine, methotrexate, and tumor necrosis factor-α inhibitors in moderate and severe cases. The use of tumor necrosis factor-α inhibitors has revolutionized the therapy of severe Crohn’s disease. [cite]

From the Elsevier medical textbook “Abdominal Imaging” by Dushyant V. Sahani and Anthony E. Samir.
This same study finds: “Cannabis may have a positive effect on Crohn’s disease activity, as reflected by a reduction in disease activity index and in the need for other drugs and surgery.”

“Of particular interest is the observation that cannabis may have a steroid-sparing effect, since the number of patients requiring steroid treatment was reduced from 26 to 4. Fifteen of the patients had 19 surgeries during an average period of 9 years before cannabis use, but only 2 required surgery during an average period of 3 years of cannabis use.” [cite]

References

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What Vaporizers Do You Recommend for Medical Marijuana Patients?

Key features you want to look for are fast warm-up time, consistency in dosage and efficient use of your medicine. Also we're looking for devices that are easy to use and require minimal maintenance.

Herbalizer

Herbalizer ✗ No Longer Recommended Fastest & most-accurate temps; use bag or whip; but… serious reliability issues; requires frequent cleaning and expensive bag/whip replacement; needs improvements

Arizer Solo

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Volcano Classic

Volcano Classic ✓ Highly Recommended The most reliable of the high-end vaporizers; consistent temps; very easy to use; large bags allows vapor to cool and last for months; great for groups; very good long-term investment and value