How Cannabis Oil Can Help in Chron's Disease

It’s a painful, the sometimes debilitating condition affecting millions of people in the United State. But cannabis oil offer relief for people with Crohn’s disease? A recent Israeli study suggests it can. “Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), that is characterised by inflammation and may have an effect on any a part of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, however most typically the small intestine,” explained Dr. Timna Naftali, the study’s lead researcher and a specialist in gastroenterology at Meir Hospital and Kupat Holim Clinic in Tel Aviv, Israel.

The symptoms include:

1. bloody diarrhoea

2 Fever

3. Rectal bleeding

4. Abdominal pain

“Medications are often prescribed with the aim to control the inflammation. These usually include antibiotics like ciprofloxacin, aminosalicylates (a type of anti-inflammatory drug), steroids, immune modifiers, or biological therapies,” Naftali told Healthline.

In the initial of its kind, randomized, placebo-controlled study, researchers found that cannabis created clinical remission in additional than half patients after eight weeks of treatment. Researchers recruited 46 people experiencing moderately severe Crohn’s disease for the study. The severity of the participant’s symptoms and their quality of life was measured before, during, and after treatment.

Gut inflammation was checked using an endoscope instrument and by checking markers of inflammation present in blood and stool samples. Some received a placebo while others were given cannabis oil containing 15 percent cannabidiol and 4 percent THC (THC). Both are naturally present substances in cannabis oil.

Reducing symptoms

After 2 months, researchers said the participants given cannabis oil experienced a significant improvement in their Crohn’s disease symptoms and quality of life. About 65 percent of the cannabis oil group strictly met the criteria for a full remission of symptoms, whereas 35 percent of the placebo cluster did.

“We have previously demonstrated that cannabis can produce measurable improvements in Crohn’s disease symptoms, but to our surprise, we saw no statistically significant improvements in endoscopic scores or in the inflammatory markers we measured in the cannabis oil group compared with the placebo group,” said Naftali in a press release.

Naftali said this finding indicates that it wasn’t the well-known anti-inflammatory effect of cannabis oil that helped relieve symptoms. “We know that cannabinoids can have profound anti-inflammatory effects, however, this study indicates that the development in symptoms might not be associated with these inflammatory properties,” she said.

Cause is unknown

Crohn’s will have severe complications like malnutrition, bacterial overgrowth, intestinal blockages, and ulcers. “Sixty to 75 percent of Crohn’s patients might need surgery at some stage due to possible complications. The sort of procedure can vary depending on the severity and location of the disease within the intestines,” said Naftali.

Naftali added that Crohn’s disease is poorly understood. “The actual reason behind Crohn’s disease continues to be unknown,” she explained. “What is known is that Crohn’s disease is chronic and it may be the results of an interaction of factor. These include heredity, environmental factors like such as bacteria or virus, or an overreaction of the immune system.”

Not a cure

The conventional treatments used to relieve Crohn’s symptoms include antibiotics and corticosteroids. Naftali cautioned that these treatments will go along with “possible side effects that include susceptibleness for infection, allergic response, and rarely, autoimmune disease and even lymphoma (cancer of the lymph system).”

Recent research suggests that cannabis oil includes a far better safety profile and no serious side effects compared to other drugs used to treat this condition. None of these treatments (including cannabis oil) may be a cure. However, cannabis oil could also be ready to improve the quality of life for a some people with Crohn’s disease.

And growing numbers of people with Crohn’s are turning to cannabis as a complementary or different theraphy. “Patients are using cannabis because it merely makes them feel higher,” Naftali said.

And growing numbers of people with Crohn’s are turning to cannabis as a complementary or alternative therapy. “Patients are using cannabis because it simply makes them feel better,” Naftali said.