Medical Marijuana and Nausea

Medical marijuana, and marijuana in general, is experiencing a massive boom in popularity, ever since 2012 when Colorado and Washington lead not only the nation, but the world in an historic first: statewide recreational cannabis. Ever since then, the country has followed suite, and Washington DC is no different! Thanks to this work in legislating new laws around cannabis, its medical effects are able to be studied more rigorously now than ever before. Medical marijuana and nausea have been known to share a connection for some time now thanks to its ability to help relieve chemotherapy patients.

When a person contracts cancer, doctors begin the process of chemotherapy to try to kill off the tumors and stop those cells from constantly multiplying; this is an extremely difficult process for the patient and it comes with plenty of nasty side effects they must contend with if they hope to have a chance of staving off cancer. One of the worst symptoms is known as Chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting, or CINV for short. This is some of the worst vomiting and nausea that a human being can possibly experience, and it is also psychologically challenging as well; the chemotherapy process must be endured so these symptoms must be as well, taking a strain on the mental of the patient. These symptoms usually occur immediately after chemotherapy treatments, and range from about half a day to three days of consistent nausea.

Thankfully, there is where medical cannabis takes a stand to relieve patient suffering. The areas of your brain that are responsible for controlling nausea and the vomiting reflex are lined with endocannabinoid receptors (the specific receptors that the chemical compounds in cannabis interact with). As this area is known for intensive activity when a patient is experiencing symptoms of chemotherapy induced vomiting and nausea, endocannabinoid receptors provide a bright future for figuring out specific treatments to nail these symptoms down.

What is wonderful about this is that these treatments are helping doctors prove that medical marijuana is beneficial for all types of nausea, not just cancer related chemotherapy nausea cases. This is huge, as plenty of disorders, diseases, and conditions are famous for causing terrible nausea and vomiting in sufferers. Medical marijuana is slowly showing its worth in these situations as well; with the increasing deregulation of marijuana researchers are able to test the substance with a variety of other conditions, not just extremely important ones like cancer and chemotherapy. For example, those suffering from migraines and its associated nausea have claimed that cannabis has helped to eliminate nausea and even help dim the migraines as well. Those with weak stomachs that are more liable to suffer bouts of nausea have also had the same regards.

However, perhaps the best part about all of this for some is the fact that CBD appears to have more control in helping to assuage nausea, not THC. This means that patients do not have to experience the psychoactive high of THC to access the nausea-reducing benefits that CBD has to offer, they either can exclusively dose with CBD oils and products or use strains of cannabis that are extremely high in CBD with minimal THC contents.

Of course, more research is going to be needed to completely understand the effects of medical marijuana and nausea. However, until then, we’ll keep dosing to help stave away those nasty stomachs! Contact us today for more information on marijuana and its benefits on the body!