Category Archives: Crohn’s Disease

[MEDICAL CANNABIS].

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“The cannabis plant has been known to humanity for centuries as a remedy for pain, diarrhea and inflammation.

Current research is inspecting the use of cannabis for many diseases, including multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, dystonia, and chronic pain.

In inflammatory conditions cannabinoids improve pain in rheumatoid arthritis and: pain and diarrhea in Crohn’s disease.

Despite their therapeutic potential, cannabinoids are not free of side effects including psychosis, anxiety, paranoia, dependence and abuse.

Controlled clinical studies investigating the therapeutic potential of cannabis are few and small, whereas pressure for expanding cannabis use is increasing.

Currently, as long as cannabis is classified as an illicit drug and until further controlled studies are performed, the use of medical cannabis should be limited to patients who failed conventional better established treatment.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27215115

The endogenous cannabinoid system protects against colonic inflammation

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“Excessive inflammatory responses can emerge as a potential danger for organisms’ health.

Our results indicate that the endogenous cannabinoid system represents a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of intestinal disease conditions characterized by excessive inflammatory responses.

The major active constituent of the plant Cannabis sativa (marijuana), Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, and a variety of natural and synthetic cannabinoids have been shown to possess antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities.

For millennia, Cannabis preparations have been used in folk medicine for the treatment of a wide variety of disorders, including those affecting the gastrointestinal tract. A century ago, extracts of Cannabis were used in the US to treat gastrointestinal pain of different origins, gastroenteritis, and diarrhea. There are also anecdotal reports suggesting that marijuana may be effective in alleviating symptoms of Crohn disease.

In conclusion, this study shows that the endogenous cannabinoid system is physiologically involved in the protection against excessive inflammation in the colon, both by dampening smooth muscular irritation caused by inflammation and by controlling cellular pathways leading to inflammatory responses.

These results strongly suggest that modulation of the physiological activity of the endogenous cannabinoid system during colonic inflammation might be a promising therapeutic tool for the treatment of several diseases characterized by inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract.”

https://www.jci.org/articles/view/19465

“A mouse study demonstrated that endogenous cannabinoid system signaling is likely to provide intrinsic protection against colonic inflammation. As a result, a hypothesis that phytocannabinoids and endocannabinoids may be useful in the risk reduction and treatment of colorectal cancer has been developed.” http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/cam/hp/cannabis-pdq#section/_7

ENDOCANNABINOID SYSTEM: A multi-facet therapeutic target.

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“Cannabis sativa is also popularly known as marijuana. It is being cultivated and used by man for recreational and medicinal purposes from many centuries.

Study of cannabinoids was at bay for very long time and its therapeutic value could not be adequately harnessed due to its legal status as proscribed drug in most of the countries.

The research of drugs acting on endocannabinoid system has seen many ups and down in recent past. Presently, it is known that endocannabinoids has role in pathology of many disorders and they also serve “protective role” in many medical conditions.

Several diseases like emesis, pain, inflammation, multiple sclerosis, anorexia, epilepsy, glaucoma, schizophrenia, cardiovascular disorders, cancer, obesity, metabolic syndrome related diseases, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and Tourette’s syndrome could possibly be treated by drugs modulating endocannabinoid system.

Presently, cannabinoid receptor agonists like nabilone and dronabinol are used for reducing the chemotherapy induced vomiting. Sativex (cannabidiol and THC combination) is approved in the UK, Spain and New Zealand to treat spasticity due to multiple sclerosis. In US it is under investigation for cancer pain, another drug Epidiolex (cannabidiol) is also under investigation in US for childhood seizures. Rimonabant, CB1 receptor antagonist appeared as a promising anti-obesity drug during clinical trials but it also exhibited remarkable psychiatric side effect profile. Due to which the US Food and Drug Administration did not approve Rimonabant in US. It sale was also suspended across the EU in 2008.

Recent discontinuation of clinical trial related to FAAH inhibitor due to occurrence of serious adverse events in the participating subjects could be discouraging for the research fraternity. Despite of some mishaps in clinical trials related to drugs acting on endocannabinoid system, still lot of research is being carried out to explore and establish the therapeutic targets for both cannabinoid receptor agonists and antagonists.

One challenge is to develop drugs that target only cannabinoid receptors in a particular tissue and another is to invent drugs that acts selectively on cannabinoid receptors located outside the blood brain barrier. Besides this, development of the suitable dosage forms with maximum efficacy and minimum adverse effects is also warranted.

Another angle to be introspected for therapeutic abilities of this group of drugs is non-CB1 and non-CB2 receptor targets for cannabinoids.

In order to successfully exploit the therapeutic potential of endocannabinoid system, it is imperative to further characterize the endocannabinoid system in terms of identification of the exact cellular location of cannabinoid receptors and their role as “protective” and “disease inducing substance”, time-dependent changes in the expression of cannabinoid receptors.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27086601

Dietary Supplement Therapies for Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis.

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“Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) including ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are chronic relapsing and remitting chronic diseases for which there is no cure.

The treatment of IBD frequently requires immunosuppressive and biologic therapies which carry an increased risk of infections and possible malignancy.

There is a continued search for safer and more natural therapies in the treatment of IBD.

This review aims to summarize the most current literature on the use of dietary supplements for the treatment of IBD. Specifically, the efficacy and adverse effects of vitamin D, fish oil, probiotics, prebiotics, curcumin, Boswellia serrata, aloe vera and cannabis sativa are reviewed.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26561079

[Cannabis – therapy for the future?]

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“Despite all the progress achieved in the treatment of chronic gastrointestinal diseases, in some patients the treatment does not reach long-term optimum effectiveness. Therefore a number of patients have turned to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

Of the different types of CAM patients with GIT diseases tend to prefer in particular homeopathy, acupuncture and not least phytotherapy, where therapeutic use of cannabis may also be included.

The pathophysiological basis of therapeutic effect of curative cannabis has not been fully clarified so far.

Many scientists in many fields of medicine and pharmacology have been engaged in the study of effects of cannabinoids on the body since the beginning of the 20th century with the interest significantly increasing in the 1980s.

The discovery of CB receptors (1988) and endogenous molecules which activate these receptors (1992) led to the discovery of the endocannabinoid system.

Pharmacological modulation of the endogenous cannabinoid system offers new therapeutic possibilities of treatment of many illnesses and symptoms including the GIT disorders, including of nausea, vomiting, cachexia, IBS, Crohns disease and some other disorders.

Cannabinoids are attractive due to their therapeutic potential – they affect a lot of symptoms with minimum side effects.

Experience of patients with GIT disorders show that the use of cannabis is effective and helps in cases where the standard therapy fails.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26375695

Cannabinoids drug for inflammatory bowel

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Medindia

“Researchers from the University of Bath, UK has found that Cannabinoids derived from Cannabis has found to be effective in the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

“The system that responds to cannabis in the brain is present and functioning in the lining of the gut,” lead researcher Dr. Karen Wright, of the University of Bath, explained to Reuters Health. “There is an increased presence of one component of this system during inflammatory bowel diseases,” she explained.

The report of the study was published in the Journal of Gastroenterology in which she has explained the location of CB1 and CB2 receptors in human colon tissue which binds to the Cannabinoid. She has used Human colon cell lines to establish the binding of the cannabinoid compounds and in her wound healing experiments.

Increased CB2 receptors are found in colonic tissue characteristic of inflammatory bowel disease. They found that the Cannabinoids helps in wound healing of the surface by CB1 related receptor mechanism.

“Cannabinoids, which we make ourselves, as well as synthetic Cannabinoids, can promote wound healing in the gut, which is extremely interesting given that inflammatory bowel disease involves damaged gut linings,” Wright said.”

http://www.medindia.net/news/view_news_main.asp?x=4578

More Evidence Pot Treats Auto-Immune Diseases

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“Researchers at the University of South Carolina have another clue as to why patients with auto-immune diseases like multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s and celiac disease sometimes respond to medical marijuana therapies, according to Science World Reports.

The main active ingredient in pot, THC, regulates gene expression in immune cells, effectively switching off runaway inflammation at the DNA level.

The researchers used mice cells in vivo and the results suggest that “THC activates the expression of a subset of genes while suppressing the expression of another subset of genes.” The net result is less inflammatory response, which can severely damage and kill cells.

Autoimmune diseases involve an abnormal immune response of the body, causing immune cells to attack healthy cells instead of pathogens. Autoimmune diseases — a collection of about 80 diseases — are the 10th leading cause of death of women in all age groups up to 65 years old.

Despite the safety and efficacy of medical cannabis, providers remain under attack across America. California senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein currently support the war on pot patients and providers. The Drug Policy Alliance has started a new campaign today to help citizens lobby Senators to defund the war on medical marijuana.”

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/LegalizationNation/archives/2014/06/03/more-evidence-pot-treats-auto-immune-diseases

Shona Banda cured her terminal Crohn’s disease with cannabis

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“Shona Banda was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease… She underwent several surgeries and was put on several pharmaceuticals, but her condition worsened progressively until she was considered terminal. She was bedridden… wasting away… She was waiting to die.

She managed to see Rick Simpson’s Run from the Cure…” 

“RUN FROM THE CURE: The Rick Simpson Story – A Film by Christian Laurette”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGjC4HReFL0

“Although she had been smoking marijuana to ease pain and help her sleep and eat, she had no way of making the oil, which required a pound of marijuana to produce the two ounces of cannabis oil she would need to heal.

Shona was in a funk about the lack of enough hemp to make her own oil when her husband noticed specks of oil residue in the inside of the vaporizer’s glass globe cover.

So she took the inhalation tube out of the vaporizer and sealed it, then simply collected those little blobs of oil from the inside of the glass globe with a spatula.

She did this three times a day, putting the collected oil residue into a capsule and taking it. After a very few days, Shona could walk without a cane. Soon she began eating and sleeping better and putting on weight. It wasn’t long before she was completely weened off all her pharmaceuticals.

She started a journal as she began getting better. The journal has become a book called Live Free or Die. The title is a reference to health freedom. Now she is very healthy and active.”

http://www.naturalnews.com/043718_chrons_disease_cannabis_shona_banda.html

“Crohn’s Disease Survivor Shona Banda Tells How Medical Marijuana Oil Helps Her “Live Free””  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_otUB7pVMA

“Ben Swann Radio: Shona Banda Explains Her Remarkable Story On How Cannabis Oil Saved Her Life. After being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 2002, Shona Banda went through the struggles that many suffer with when battling the autoimmune disease. On the Ben Swann Radio Show, Ben and Shona discussed her tribulations while suffering from the disease and her immediate experiences after finding the cure to her disease.”
http://benswann.com/ben-swann-radio-shona-banda-explains-her-remarkable-story-on-how-cannabis-oil-saved-her-life/#ixzz32d6WqrPM

https://www.facebook.com/shona.banda

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shona-Bandas-Live-Free-or-Die/146496222049591

http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/category/crohns-disease/

 

Cannabis Proves Effective In Treating Crohn’s Disease According To New Study

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cannibis crohn's disease drug

“A new clinical study published in the journal Pharmacology and by the National Institute of Health has found that cannabis is effective in treating Crohn’s disease, which is a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)…

The study, entitled: “Cannabis Finds Its Way into Treatment of Crohn’s Disease”  is co-authored by Rudolf Schicho, PhD and M. Storr, both of the Institute of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Graz in Graz, Austria.

In the study abstract, Schicho and Storr note that In ancient medicine, cannabis was widely used to treat and cure bowel disturbances and inflammation, and a recent clinical study now shows that the medicinal herb Cannabis sativa lived up to expectations and proved to be highly efficient in cases of inflammatory bowel diseases.”

http://bionews-tx.com/news/2014/01/29/cannabis-proves-effective-treating-crohns-disease-according-new-study/

 http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/category/crohns-disease/