What Are the Medical Effects of Cannabis?
Interest in medical cannabis has been increasing for decades now. More and more research shows the variety of ways medical marijuana can be incorporated into effective treatments for people with a range of different conditions. New studies explore the effects of cannabis use on people with other conditions as well.
What are the medical effects of cannabis? If you’re wondering if you should incorporate medical marijuana into a treatment plan for yourself or someone else, you’ll want to know what it does.
The Science of Cannabis
The first thing to understand is how medical marijuana affects the human body. Cannabis contains substances called cannabinoids. These substances bind to receptor sites in the
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The most studied effect is the reduction of pain. When cannabinoids bind to receptor sites, they calm nerves. Those nerves then stop sending pain signals to the brain.
Cannabis has been found to provide relief from chronic pain, nerve pain, and even migraines. The effects also extend to shakes and tremors, such as those associated with Parkinson’s disease. The nerves are told to stop sending signals to the brain, which then calms the involuntary motion.
The Parasympathetic Nervous System
The medical effects of cannabis extend to what’s known as the parasympathetic nervous system, which controls the heart rate, intestinal activity, and gland activity. It’s sometimes known as the “rest and digest system,” since it conserves energy.
One of the medical effects of cannabis is to relax the parasympathetic nervous system. This slows the heart rate and helps people achieve a state of relaxation. This is one of the most commonly reported effects of medical marijuana. It helps those struggling with mental health conditions such as PTSD and anxiety. It also promotes sleep, which is useful for anyone suffering from
It’s proven that the use of marijuana can help people with certain illnesses and help them recover. In an article; it stated that using marijuana for a medical effect can help you with your sleeping disorders, aches, eating conditions and pains. It can also help relax muscle tension, chronic pain and seizure disorders. Marijuana has been successful at
There are at least two active chemicals in marijuana that researchers think have medicinal applications- tetrahydrocannabinol which impacts the brain and cannabinol is a pain relieving drug. The marijuana can help in getting many
Medical marijuana, also known as cannabis, is a controversial topic because many find it beneficial as others find the usage to be recreational. Throughout the years, medical marijuana has gone through periods of times in which it was legal and illegal. Over the years laws have been developed in order to try and regulate the usage of the drug. Studies have shown many the benefits of treating diseases and symptoms. Today it is used in treatment with many different diseases and disorders such as cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder, and multiple sclerosis. As medical marijuana has different species and uses of the product, it is important to depict where the drug can be used for treatment. The usage of this drug enables patients to have a more positive and livable outcome with treatments.
Marijuana also provides a great relief from nausea is an appetite stimulant, helps with depression and is useful for helping people with sleeping difficulties. Other conditions that marijuana may benefit include: seizures, glaucoma, peripheral neuropathy, asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, bipolar disorder, Tourette's syndrome, ADD, and panic attacks.
Glaucoma is an eye disease that causes pressure in the eyeball leading to the optic nerve becoming damages and causing vision loss. Marijuana helps the chance of by decreasing the eye pressure and slow the progression of the disease lessening the chance of blindness. Another serious issue that cannabis is showing great help with is presently seizures caused by epilepsy or Dravet’s Syndrome. The tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) controls the brain cells that are responsible for relaxation and excitability helping to rest the body from future epileptic seizures.
It contains over 400 chemicals of which 80 are only discovered in the cannabis plant. These are called cannabinoids. One of the chemicals called delta-a-tetrahydrocannabinol or THC is the most active medically from the cannabis plant (GALE). THC is also the most mind-altering chemical in the plant as well (DA). THC plus many other chemicals found in the cannabis plant regulate many things in the body while in use. The regulate things such as pleasure, memory, concentration, pain, and the sense (DA). This information will play a key role when reading through this research paper. Just like almost everything else in life, there has to be some risks and benefits that come along with medical
Until very recently the only research that has been conducted on the medical use of Cannabis has been for the relief of cancer patients. The primary use at this point has been for the relief of nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy (Nantional Cancer Institute, 2014). Some of the other uses have been for anorexia and cachexia in HIV/AIDS, chronic, especially neuropathic pain, spasticity in multiple sclerosis, and spinal cord injury (Nantional Cancer Institute, 2014). The scientific data collected over the years is precisely clear that the use of medical Cannabis is needed and should be allowed everywhere in the United States.
Some say that marijuana does not help with any medical problem that some people may have. However, marijuana has many natural healing properties, from curing lack of appetite to nausea relief. Anne Harding from WebMD Feature states that pain is the main reason why people ask for a prescription. Barth Wilsey, a MD at the University of California Davis Medical Center says that marijuana could be used for headaches, helping people with diseases like cancer, or long term conditions, such as glaucoma and nerve pain. Doctors who live in states where the use of medicinal marijuana is legal often prescribe people with a marijuana card if they think it will help them with their discomfort. Before an individual is allowed access to buy medicinal marijuana, one must be put on a waiting list. Approval allows them to buy from a legal seller called a dispensary. Doctors also prescribe marijuana to people who suffer from muscle spasms caused from sclerosis or cancer patients who are going through chemotherapy. People of all ages who struggle with seizures or Crohn's diseases. The Federal Drug Administration(FDA) also approved thc a main ingredient in marijuana that treat nausea and increases appetite. How does medical marijuana work on your body? 'Your body already produces marijuana like chemicals that deals with pain. Laura Borgelt, PharmD from the University of Colorado says that medical marijuana can be smoked, vaporized (heated until active ingredients are released, but no smoke is formed). It can even eat it usually in the form of food or taken as a liquid. Consuming marijuana can cause effects to the body such as dizziness, drowsiness, increase in appetite more serious effects can include anxiety. Even though medical marijuana is not officially approved by the Federal Drug Administration(FDA) as a medicine but
However, the most common medical benefits from this drug is the alleviation of the following: appetite loss, nausea, chronic pain, anxiety, sleeping disorders, muscle spasms, and intraocular pressure. This has been confirmed by a small number of controlled studies (Caulkins et al. 95). Medical marijuana largely works because of its main active ingredient, THC (a cannabinoid) . Endocannabiniods are produced in the body which help regulate the response to stimuli. Endocannabiniods have a large amount of receptors, mainly in the brain. THC binds itself to these receptors which give the various effects such as alleviating pain but this also results in the user becoming
The use of cannabis toward medicine should not be shocking to anyone, since it has been around for centuries. As a matter of fact, it has been under medicinal aid for an estimated 5,000 years. Western medicine truly grasped marijuana’s medicinal abilities in the 1850’s. Infact, doctors documented over one hundred papers about how marijuana helped numerous disorders, such as nausea, glaucoma, movement disorders, pain relief, depression, and anxiety. It also helps cancer patients and those with HIV or Aids. Currently, many American patients have access to marijuana use so that they can have effective treatments for their illnesses. Medical marijuana use is achievable because
Although medical marijuana is commonly prescribed by doctors to temporarily relieve pain and/or discomfort, it has been proven to cause a wide variety of negative side effects. However, just like any other drug, it affects each individual differently. Depending on whether the use of medical marijuana is short or long term, the effects vary. As reported by the Foundation for a Drug-Free World, the most common response to using medical marijuana is the strange behavior that occurs. This behavior ranges from severe anxiety to paranoia and hallucinations.
Marijuana is a drug that has the ability to alter people's mind . Each little bud and leaf of the marijuana plant is composed of hundreds of chemicals, but scientists have mainly studied just two main compounds: tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). THC is the psychoactive ingredient responsible for the psychological and physical side effects. It is what produces feelings of euphoria, relaxed inhibitions, fragmentary thoughts, lack of concentration, impaired memory, drowsiness, and even sudden panic or paranoia. CBD in the non - psychoactive ingredient and is responsible for making the consumer feel calm and relaxed. It also contains analgesic which contains pain relieving, anti-inflammatory and antipsychotic properties. These properties
Medical Marijuana isn’t something that should be used to cure any type of pain within the human body. There are many negative effects that can happen if someone uses medical marijuana.
Another side effect includes the mouth becoming very dry. The skin can also have a sensation of heat or cold or maybe even both it all depends on the bud. Cannabis increases your heart rate an extraordinary amount, which can be a major issue for people who have heart problems.(Marijuana: Medline) In some cases, one’s heart beat so fast it exploded. But if one is looking for a comeback to that bad side effect, the cannabis plant can be good. Cannabis can also help with aches and sores. In fact, the cannabis plant relieves cramps and aches in muscles. The THC in the plant relaxes the muscles and lets the lactic acid flow out of the body.(Marijuana: Medline)
Marijuana has been found to alleviate symptoms of serious diseases. Asthma, glaucoma, and muscle spasms are just a few. It has also been proven to help a