Category Archives: Crohn’s Disease

Marijuana may help patients with Crohn’s disease, study says

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“New research published earlier this month might have more patients with Crohn’s disease turning to medical marijuana for relief.”
 
Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease that affects around 500,000 people in North America.

 

In a first-of-its-kind clinical trial, an 8-week treatment regimen involving daily smoking of marijuana ‘cigarettes’ resulted in a reduction in overall disease severity in 10 of the 11 patients that were studied. 5 of these patients experienced complete remission of their disease.

 

The results were published online in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology and authored by scientists at the Meir Medical Clinical in Israel. Israel has one of the most fastest growing medical marijuana programs in the world, with over 11,000 registered patients as of today — up from just 400 in 2009.

 

While the researchers say that their study was the first placebo-controlled trial — the “gold standard” when it comes to medical research — to investigate the effects of marijuana use on patients with Crohn’s disease, other studies have produced similar results.

 

Based on findings from both animal and human research, experts suggest that cannabis could play a role in the treatment of Crohn’s and other inflammatory bowel diseases by regulating intestinal hyperactivity, inflammation and pain.

 

Marijuana’s medical properties come directly from compounds known as cannabinoids, including the well-known tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) molecule. Interestingly, the cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant have been shown to mimic the activity of endocannabinoids – cannabinoids that are produced naturally by the human body.

 

Similarly, studies have identified a variety of digestive functions that can be modulated by cannabinoid activity, especially in inflammatory disease states.

 

Although the findings of the current study provide considerable support for the use of marijuana as a Crohn’s disease treatment, the authors call for more studies to “look into the role of cannabinoids in controlling inflammation and symptoms in inflammatory bowel disease.”

 

Indeed, larger studies may be able to provide stronger confirmation or perhaps refute the findings of the newest study, which failed to demonstrate complete remission of Crohn’s in the majority of the treatment group.

 

Still, the authors concluded their research by stating, “a short course of THC-rich cannabis produced significant clinical, steroid-free benefits to 11 patients with active Crohn’s disease, compared to placebo, without side effects.””

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/350495

Smoking Marijuana Causes ‘Complete Remission’ of Crohn’s Disease, No Side Effects, New Study Shows

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“Marijuana – scientific name “cannabis” – performed like a champ in the first-ever placebo-controlled trial of the drug to treat Crohn’s Disease, also known as inflammatory bowel disease.”

 

“The disease of the digestive tract afflicts 400,000 – 600,000 people in North America alone causing abdominal pain, diarrhea (which can be bloody), severe vomiting, weight loss, as well as secondary skin rashes, arthritis, inflammation of the eye, tiredness, and lack of concentration.

Smoking pot caused a “complete remission” of Crohn’s disease compared to placebo in half the patients who lit up for eight weeks, according to clinical trial data to be published the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Researchers at Israel’s Meir Medical Center took 21 people with intractable, severe Crohn’s disease and gave 11 of them two joints a day for eight weeks. “The standardized cannabis cigarettes” contained 23 percent THC and 0.5 percent CBD (cannabidiol). (Such marijuana is available on dispensary shelves in San Francisco, Oakland, and other cities that have regulated access to the drug.) The other ten subjects smoked placebo cigarettes containing no active cannabinoids.

Investigators reported that smoking weed caused a “complete remission” of Crohn’s Disease in five of the 11 subjects. Another five of the eleven test subjects saw their Crohn’s Disease symptoms cut in half. Furthermore, “subjects receiving cannabis reported improved appetite and sleep, with no significant side effects.”

The study is the first placebo-controlled clinical trial to assess the consumption of cannabis for the treatment of Crohn’s, notes NORML. All of the patients had intractable forms of the disease and did not respond to conventional treatments. Still, the United States government claims that marijuana is as dangerous as heroin and has no medical use. U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag is waging a war on safe access to medical cannabis in the Bay Area.”

http://blog.sfgate.com/smellthetruth/2013/05/14/smoking-marijuana-cured-crohns-disease-with-no-side-effects-new-study-shows/

Marijuana Put My Crohn’s Disease Into Remission and It’s Not A Joke

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Marijuana Put My Crohn’s Disease Into Remission and It’s Not A Joke

Choosing pot over pills may be the way to go for Crohn’s sufferers – MSN

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A man smokes medical marijuana (© Rick Bowmer/AP)

“A new study published in the Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology journal shows that marijuana reduces the symptoms of Crohn’s disease, a condition affecting the bowel. Researchers at the Meir Medical Center in Israel rounded up 21 sufferers, 11 were instructed to smoke marijuana twice a day, while the other 10 were given placebo pot. Although that’s a fairly small test group, the results were pretty miraculous: Eight weeks later the stoners showed significant improvement and five had gone into remission. Unlike ingesting an endless stream of pills, researchers also revealed that partaking in a little ganja had “no significant side effects,” other than helping the group to sleep better and increasing their appetites.”

http://now.msn.com/marijuana-reduces-crohns-disease-symptoms-in-meir-medical-center-study#scpshrjp2

Cannabis Linked To Crohn’s Cure

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“Smoking cannabis may be key in treating Crohn’s disease, research suggest.

In a recent trial marijuana was shown to induce ‘complete remission’ for patients suffering from the condition, which is also known as inflammatory bowel disease.

Scientists at Meir Medical Center, Israel, studied 21 people with severe Crohn’s disease who did not respond to various therapies.

They split the patients into two groups: 11 were given a joint to smoke twice a day for eight weeks, while 10 were given a placebo cigarette which contained no trace of cannabinoids.

A ‘complete remission’ of Crohn’s disease was recorded in 5/11 (45%) of the cannabis group and 1/10 in the placebo group.

A total of 10/11 patients in the cannabis group responded to the clinical trial with Crohn’s symptoms (which include pain, diarrhoea, tiredness and weight loss) significantly reduced.

In addition, study authors wrote: “Subjects receiving cannabis reported improved appetite and sleep, with no significant side effects.”

“Further studies, with larger patient groups and a non-smoking mode of intake, are warranted,” they added.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/05/21/cannabis-treatment-inflammatory-bowel-disease-crohns_n_3311278.html?utm_hp_ref=uk%3Fncid%3DGEP

Please Note: The title of this article has been changed to “Could Cannabis Cure Crohn’s Disease?”

Now they’re telling us smoking weed will also help fend off diabetes – MSN

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Man smoking a joint (©RL/KEYSTONE USA/Rex Features) 

“The magical weed that helps us stay trim, be less crazy, control seizures, cure Crohn’s, rescue the economy and make watching TV game shows more enjoyable is now being credited for possibly reducing the risk of diabetes, too. Analyzing statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey,” researchers uncovered the good news that current marijuana users had 16 percent lower fasting insulin levels and 17 percent lower levels of insulin resistance than their nonstoner friends.

Bonus: Scientists found that pot users also had slimmer waistlines and higher levels of “good” cholesterol.”

http://now.msn.com/marijuana-may-fight-diabetes-researchers-say 

Using medical marijuana to ease pain

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“NORWICH, Conn. (WTNH) –The 31-year-old Norwich man was arrested for growing marijuana inside his home, but says he was only trying to ease his pain.

Tuesday, a Norwich man was in court facing drug charges. Wednesday, he felt comfortable enough to show News 8 how he uses medical marijuana to ease his pain.

31-year-old Joseph Tamborra says the effects are immediate.

“What is the difference after you take a hit,” asked News 8’s Tina Detelj.

“Uhhh it just takes my nausea completely away. It’s like night and day,” Tamborra said.

Relief from nausea caused by his Crones Disease and the pain from a hip and back injury after a car accident.

“I don’t have any cartilage in my hip,” Tamborra said.

It was too much to take, so he took matters into his own hands growing pot plants in a second floor bedroom of his Norwich home. However, that’s illegal and he was arrested for possession and operating a drug factory.

While his court case continued he received his medical marijuana card in March. A picture shows him after losing 90 pounds, unable to smoke after his arrest and too nauseous to eat.

“That helped me out like tremendously,” he said. “Once they realized okay there’s a reason for him doing this.”

At New London Superior Court Tamborra was ordered to perform community services and the charges will go away, but he’s still faced with a dilemma. He says because the medical marijuana law is so new there’s no process in place for him to buy the medical marijuana.

“Hopefully mid-summer, by the end of the year, they might have a dispensary or two set up,” Tamborra said. “I’ve also heard they might just limit it to pharmacies, I’m not really sure.”

The state says it is still working on how the medical marijuana will be dispensed and who can be a licensed producer.”

-Tina Detelj

http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/new_london_cty/using-medical-marijuana-to-ease-pain#.UYu7Dcp48Qs

 

Cannabis-based drugs could offer new hope for inflammatory bowel disease patients

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“Researchers investigating anecdotal evidence that cannabis relieves some of the symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have discovered a potential new target for cannabis-derived drugs for treatment of the disease.

This finding, published in the journal Gastroenterology… could bring new hope for… sufferers of diseases like Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis1 with the possibility that cannabis-derived drugs may help to heal the gut lining, which is damaged during the course of disease. ”

Read more: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/28584.php

Cannabis for Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease treatment

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“Chemicals found in cannabis could prove an effective treatment for the inflammatory bowel diseases Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease, say scientists.

Laboratory tests have shown that two compounds found in the cannabis plant – the cannabinoids THC and cannabidiol – interact with the body’s system that controls gut function.

Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, which affect about one in every 250 people in Northern Europe, are caused by both genetic and environmental factors. The researchers believe that a genetic susceptibility coupled with other triggers, such as diet, stress or bacterial imbalance, leads to a defective immune response.

Dr Karen Wright, Peel Trust Lecturer in Biomedicine at Lancaster University, will be presenting her soon-to-be published work at The British Pharmacological Society’s Winter Meeting in London today (Thursday).

She said: “The lining of the intestines provides a barrier against the contents of the gut but in people with Crohn’s Disease this barrier leaks and bacteria can escape into the intestinal tissue leading to an inappropriate immune response.

“If we could find a way to restore barrier integrity in patients we may be able to curb the inflammatory immune response that causes these chronic conditions.”

Dr Wright, working with colleagues at the School of Graduate Entry Medicine and Health in Derby, has shown that cells that react to cannabinoid compounds play an important role in normal gut function as well as the immune system’s inflammatory response.

“The body produces its own cannabinoid molecules, called endocannabinoids, which we have shown increase the permeability of the epithelium during inflammation, implying that overproduction may be detrimental,” said Dr Wright.

“However, we were able to reverse this process using plant-derived cannabinoids, which appeared to allow the epithelial cells to form tighter bonds with each other and restore the membrane barrier.”

The research was carried out using cell cultures in a dish but, interestingly, when the team attempted to mimic the conditions of the gut by reducing the amount of oxygen in the cells’ environment, much lower concentrations of cannabinoid were needed to produce the same effect.

Dr Wright added: “What is also encouraging is that while THC has psychoactive properties and is responsible for the ‘high’ people experience when using cannabis, cannabidiol, which has also proved effective in restoring membrane integrity, does not possess such properties.”

The British Pharmacological Society (BPS) – the primary UK learned society concerned with research into drugs and the way they work – is hosting its annual Winter Meeting in London, attracting experts from across the world.

The three-day conference, running from 15 to 17 December 2009, will hear presentations on the latest pharmacological developments to tackle a range of conditions and diseases.”

http://www.news-medical.net/news/20091217/Cannabis-for-Ulcerative-Colitis-and-Crohns-Disease-treatment.aspx

Cannabis Induces a Clinical Response in Patients with Crohn’s Disease: a Prospective Placebo-Controlled Study.

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“The marijuana plant Cannabis sativa has been reported to produce beneficial effects for patients with inflammatory bowel diseases, but these have not been investigated in controlled trials. We performed a prospective trial to determine whether cannabis can induce remission in patients with Crohn’s disease…

Complete remission was achieved by 5/11 subjects in the cannabis group (45%)… Three patients in the cannabis group were weaned from steroid dependency. Subjects receiving cannabis reported improved appetite and sleep, with no significant side effects.

CONCLUSION:

Although the primary endpoint of the study (induction of remission) was not achieved, a short course (8 week) of THC-rich cannabis produced significant clinical, steroid-free benefits to 11 patients with active CD, compared to placebo, without side effects.

Further studies, with larger patient groups and a non-smoking mode of intake, are warranted. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01040910.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23648372