Category Archives: Breast Cancer

Majority of Clinicians Support Medicinal Marijuana Use

Posted on by
Reply

“A majority of clinicians appears to support the use of medicinal marijuana, according to research published in the May 30 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.”

Majority of Clinicians Support Medicinal Marijuana Use 
“(HealthDay News) – A majority of clinicians appears to support the use of medicinal marijuana, according to research published in the May 30 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
 

Jonathan N. Adler, MD, and James A. Colbert, MD, associate editors for the New England Journal of Medicine, describe the results of polling and comments in an interactive feature in which experts discussed the use of medicinal marijuana for a 68-year old woman with metastatic breast cancer.”

More: http://www.empr.com/majority-of-clinicians-support-medicinal-marijuana-use/article/295539/#

Most Docs Would Prescribe Marijuana to Cancer Patient

Posted on by
Reply

“The vast majority of doctors would prescribe medical marijuana to ease the pain of an older woman suffering from advanced breast cancer, according to a survey conducted by the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

In its February edition, the NEJM presented its readers with a hypothetical scenario of 68-year old patient named “Marilyn” whose breast cancer had metastasized to her lung and spine. Marilyn, who lives in a state where medical marijuana is legal, asked her primary care doctor if using marijuana would alleviate her chronic pain, nausea and fatigue.

The results of the online survey, published in the May 30 edition of the NEJM, found that 76 percent of the 1,446 doctors who responded would give Marilyn a prescription for medical marijuana.”

More: http://americannewsreport.com/nationalpainreport/most-docs-would-prescribe-marijuana-to-cancer-patient-8820152.html

Most Docs OK With Medical Marijuana: Survey – MedlinePlus

Posted on by
Reply
“Majority would give a prescription to an advanced cancer patient in pain.Three-quarters of doctors who responded to a survey about medical marijuana said they would approve the use of the drug to help ease pain in an older woman with advanced breast cancer.

….there are two FDA-approved prescription cannabinoid pills — dronabinol (Marinol) and nabilone (Cesamet) — that don’t begin working as quickly as smoked marijuana, but provide longer symptom relief without the high of marijuana.

 They also don’t appear to have any addictive properties, he said.

What many doctors would like to see, according to the survey, is more evidence on the use of marijuana as medicine, so they could make a better-informed decision one way or the other.”

More: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_137301.html

Most Docs OK With Medical Marijuana: Survey – US News and World Report

Posted on by
Reply

“Majority would give a prescription to an advanced cancer patient in pain. Three-quarters of doctors who responded to a survey about medical marijuana said they would approve the use of the drug to help ease pain in an older woman with advanced breast cancer.”

“The point of the vignette was to illustrate the kinds of patients that show up on our doorstep who need help. This issue is not one you can ignore, and some states have already taken matters into their own hands,” said Dr. J. Michael Bostwick, a professor of psychiatry at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

“There are no 100 percents in medicine. There’s a lot of anecdotal evidence that this is something we should study more. Forgive the pun, but there’s probably some fire where there’s smoke, and we should investigate the medicinal use of marijuana or its components,” Bostwick said.

Marijuana comes from the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. It’s a dry, shredded mix of the plant’s leaves, flowers, stems and seeds. It can be smoked as a cigarette or in a pipe, or it can be added to certain foods, such as brownies.”

More: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2013/05/29/most-docs-ok-with-medical-marijuana-survey

Most docs OK with medical marijuana, survey says – MedicalXpress

Posted on by
Reply

“Majority would give a prescription to an advanced cancer patient in pain.”

Most docs OK with medical marijuana: survey

 

 

 

 

“(HealthDay)—Three-quarters of doctors who responded to a survey about medical marijuana said they would approve the use of the drug to help ease pain in an older woman with advanced breast cancer.

In a February issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, doctors were presented with a case vignette, as well as arguments both for and against the use of medical marijuana. Doctors were then asked to decide whether or not they would approve such a prescription for this patient.

The results now appear in the May 30 edition of the journal.

Seventy-six percent of the 1,446 doctors who responded said they would give the woman a prescription for medical marijuana. Many cited the possibility of alleviating the woman’s symptoms as a reason for approving the prescription.”

More: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-docs-medical-marijuana-survey.html

Melissa Etheridge: Pot got me through – CNN

Posted on by
Reply
Singer Melissa Etheridge became <a href='http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/16/ac360.etheridge/index.html'>an advocate for the use of medical marijuana</a> after her 2004 breast cancer diagnosis. She's one of several stars who have battled cancer or been affected by the disease. 
 

“(CNN) — My friends have always told me that rock stardom was wasted on me.

To them it seemed that being a rock star was a free ticket to debauchery. It was sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, and I was only taking advantage of two. Drugs were not a part of my rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. I wasn’t even much of a drinker. I have never thrown up from being over intoxicated.

What kind of rock star is that? I had certainly encountered drugs during the ’80s, mostly cocaine, but nothing about grinding my teeth and rambling on about myself appealed to me. During the ’90s, I smoked an occasional joint. Those were usually fun social occasions. My work was a drug-free zone.

Then in 2004, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. The chemotherapy that was prescribed was called “dose dense”: a harsher, stronger chemo than the usual because I had the benefit of not having to work during the treatment. My close friends told me that, as an alternative, medical marijuana was a natural way to help with the excruciating side effects of chemo.

It worked. The entire experience changed my life. It opened my mind to a new way of thinking about my body, my health and the future.

This herb, this weed that is so strong it grows wild by the side of the road, has always been with us. In ancient times it was highly regarded and has even been found in tombs. It has even been put forth from some biblical scholars that Jesus may have used cannabis oil to heal.” 

Melissa Etheridge

Melissa Etheridge
 
 

Melissa Etheridge: Pot changed my life, singer advocates legalization of marijuana

Posted on by
Reply
WPTV Melissa Etheridge
 

“My friends have always told me that rock stardom was wasted on me.

To them it seemed that being a rock star was a free ticket to debauchery. It was sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, and I was only taking advantage of two. Drugs were not a part of my rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. I wasn’t even much of a drinker. I have never thrown up from being over intoxicated.

What kind of rock star is that? I had certainly encountered drugs during the ’80s, mostly cocaine, but nothing about grinding my teeth and rambling on about myself appealed to me. During the ’90s, I smoked an occasional joint. Those were usually fun social occasions. My work was a drug-free zone.

Then in 2004, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. The chemotherapy that was prescribed was called “dose dense”: a harsher, stronger chemo than the usual because I had the benefit of not having to work during the treatment. My close friends told me that, as an alternative, medical marijuana was a natural way to help with the excruciating side effects of chemo.

It worked. The entire experience changed my life. It opened my mind to a new way of thinking about my body, my health and the future.

This herb, this weed that is so strong it grows wild by the side of the road, has always been with us. In ancient times it was highly regarded and has even been found in tombs. It has even been put forth from some biblical scholars that Jesus may have used cannabis oil to heal.

Now, this herb, marijuana, is at center of a debate within our society….

More: http://www.wptv.com//dpp/entertainment/melissa-etheridge-pot-changed-my-life-singer-advocates-legalization-of-marijuana

“Miracle” Cannabis Oil: May Treat Cancer, But Money and the Law Stand in the Way of Finding Out

Posted on by
Reply
“Cannabis oil, which cancer-sufferers credit with saving their lives, and which is supposedly useful in healing other ailments, from diabetes to skin rashes, is made by distilling raw bud down to its essential ingredients.”

 

8750250.t.png

“First it was a cough. Then it was bronchitis. Then it was time to say goodbye to Michelle Aldrich.

The year 2011 was supposed to be a good one for the 66-year-old. That June, she and her husband, Michael, were feted with a lifetime achievement award by High Times magazine for their four decades of work on marijuana legalization. Yet something was off. She was smoking a lot, maybe more than ever.

And she couldn’t get high.

In the fall of that year — a bad time for the local marijuana movement, as the federal Justice Department began shutting down hundreds of California medical cannabis dispensaries — Aldrich went in to see a series of doctors for what she thought was a flu that just refused to go away.

After six weeks of progressively worse diagnoses — flu became bronchitis, which became pneumonia — a CT scan revealed the cause behind the “heat” she felt in the middle of her chest. A tumor, “poorly-differentiated non-small cell adenocarcinoma.” In other words, stage 3 lung cancer.

Lung cancer is a killer, with nearly 70 percent of new cases resulting in deaths, according to statistics published by the National Cancer Institute. “I thought I was going to die,” Aldrich says from her Marina District apartment. But she didn’t. And now, she is busy telling anyone who will listen that, along with diet and chemotherapy, a concoction of highly concentrated cannabis oil eliminated her cancer in less than four months.”

More: http://www.sfweekly.com/2013-04-24/news/key-words-cannabis-oil-cure-cancer-constance-finley/full/

Evidence: Cannabinoid Therapy Reduces Breast Cancer Tumors

Posted on by
Reply
medical_cannabis.jpeg
 
“Warning: Many alternative treatments are shams with zero proof. Most alternatives make claims that are not backed up by any evidence or hard empirical medical studies, are are not peer-reviewed. 
 
Peer review means your study and its claims will be vetted by a panel of the best doctors and other medical professionals in that field, for critical review. They will try to find fault in its methodology before publication and its recommendations for possible human treatment.
 
For any cannabis-based study strong enough to stand up to this critical review, and for it to be published in a major journal within such a field as cancer research, is incredible. That’s exactly how strong the evidence for cannabis medicine is starting to become.
 
Imagine that. This plant, this “great friend of humanity” which has helped us survive by giving early humans food, fuel, fiber and medicine, and who ancient healers wrote about in 6000 B.C., more than 8,000 years ago, is now coming back to prove itself and to help save us again.
 
And this time we are starting to find the evidence to back up the claims made for this plant over the centuries…”
 

Fighting Cancer: Another Study Reveals the Cannabis and Cancer Prevention Link

Posted on by
Reply
“Does marijuana cause cancer? Revealing the link between cannabis and cancer yet again, researchers with the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco have released findings that further bolster cannabis as an anti-cancer solution.
The researchers have found a compound in the much-talked-about plant could “halt the spread” of many types of aggressive cancers, including breast cancer.

The Cannabis and Cancer Link

Cannabidiol is the compound, and while it fights cancer cells, it does not produce the high feelings commonly associated with cannabis. Instead, it seems to “switch off” the gene responsible for metastasizing breast cancer.

They reportedly found the compound doesn’t only stop the breast cancer cells from growing, but even causes them to return back to normal cells, cancer-free.”

More: http://naturalsociety.com/study-positive-cannabis-and-cancer-link/