Medical Marijuanna for UC and/or Jpouch

For me it has slowed everything down. I believe it has been a combination of healing plus mild use that has improved my symptoms incredibly over the past month.

when I had UC I noticed a more dramatic effect. Things slowed down, I was able to eat (when off pred, this was important), I felt less lethargic the next day. I couldn't give you quantifiable results as I did not record anything scientific despite my profession. I felt like it was working for me when I could get a hold of it and use it in mild quantities. effects seemed to wear off after about 48 hours. So I would maybe use twice every week.

Obviously I do not think it should be illegal and people should get to choose for themselves whether it is beneficial to them or if they just enjoy it. Why is the government constantly trying to rule our lives?

Interesting! So now do you use it with jpouch? Or you didn't do jpouch?

My son has UC with nausea and vomiting. He uses a glycerin marijuana to stop the nausea and vomiting. A few drops under his tongue and about 20 minutes later the vomiting stops. It slows down his bowels and allows him to eat. He has started gaining weight since he started using it. He believes it stops the cramping too. It has not decreased the severity of his uc.

So if it doesn't decrease the UC itself but only the symptoms, isn't it bad to take it? Because then the colon could be getting worse and worse and yet the symptoms make it seem like everything is ok?

Narcotics slow the bowel down and definatley improve frequency too. Risks outweigh the benefits of using them for symptom control. I don't know much about marajuana, does anyone know if there risks is using it? I have always assumed so as they are illegal.

The best long-term research on risks I found was a 10-year study done in New Zealand on the effects of marijuana on brain development. The study followed 1,000 people for 10 years starting at age 15. I no longer have the link but you could probably google it.

I also found three good studies that found marijuana use decreased intestinal inflammation. Again google it. By good, I mean the sample group was statistically significant and the paper was reviewed by professional peers. I think one was done in Canada and two in America.

I read about a dozen studies before I gave up trying to find a definitive answer. The research can be very biased depending on who paid for the study so I tried to find more than one study that had the same conclusions. I honestly could not find many studies that had the same conclusions on negative effects of use. I will continue to read the new research but right now the benefits outweigh the risks for my son.

The quantity he uses is so small and weak that it is hard to imagine any long term negative effects. I have not seen any short term negative effects. It does not even get him "high."

Remember, he does not smoke it but uses only a few drops of a glycerin tincture under his tongue.

The strangest study I found was by the Canadian government. They are having severe problems with patients showing up stoned for dental surgery and not telling their dentists. The interaction between marijuana and anesthesia can be very dangerous, especially for older patients at risk of heart attacks or breathing problems. I would never have imagined that combination of older (over 50) patients, marijuana use and dental surgery being called "a national health problem."
The study was published by their national anesthesiologists' association.

My son is almost 6 ft tall and had dropped down to 120 lbs. He is slowly gaining weight and an appetite since he started using the tincture.

I tend to be very law abiding and strongly anti-illegal drugs. I do not even jay walk but my son was throwing up on a pretty regular basis up to 14 hours at a time. We were in the emergency room at least every three weeks. It does not cover up the symptoms of ulcerative colitis. It simply relieves him of the vomiting and nausea.

We tried all the prescription meds for vomiting and they did not work quickly or long enough for his needs.

Our gi is still working on getting the uc under control. The intestinal inflammation is very small compared to the damage done by constantly vomiting. CT scans and blood tests revealed nothing unusual.

He will be having an endoscopy and a colonoscopy to determine where the problem is. The doctors keep thinking he is having some kind of intestinal blockage from inflammation but they have not found it yet.

There have been other threads on this subject so you should check it out. Each person must make their own choice as to what they want any drug to accomplish and then weigh the risks and benefits.

Where I live marijuana can be sold for medicinal use if you have a medical marijuana card so it is not illegal if you follow the law and go through all of the paperwork.

Back when I had UC, I did a lot of research on this topic of how medical marijuana interacts with the intestine and ulcerative colitis. This is all about IBD and not necessarily the J-pouch, but some of it might still be applicable. Here is what I found...

There are studies that show that medical marijuana not only helps symptoms but also actively treats inflammatory bowel disease, often better than prescription medications (see links below).

Medical marijuana acts on Crohn's and Ulcerative Colitis in four major ways:
1) It reduces inflammation (anti-inflammatory properties).
2) It actually interacts with the cannabinoid receptors on the intestinal wall, promoting and helping to rebuild healthy mucosal membrane.
3) It relaxes intestinal muscles, reducing the cramping and and spasms that cause diarrhea, in turn causing less stress on the GI tract (which worsens the disease).
4) It reduces stress (which triggers the disease) and helps treat physical pain and mental anguish.

Check out these articles (I cut and pasted the important quotes here if you don't want to read the whole article), especially the testimonies and personal stories in the last two links.

News-Medical.net: "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."

National Institute of Health: "Cannibinoids Cool the Intestine... Although the mechanisms underlying ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease are different, they share one pathological feature: chronic inflammation. In a recent issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Massa et al. provide evidence that stimulation of cannabinoid receptors protects against colonic inflammation3."

Israel Medical Association Journal: Cannabis use is associated with a reduction in Crohn's disease (CD) activity and disease-related surgeries, according to the results of a retrospective observational study published in the August issue of the Journal of the Israeli Medical Association. Investigators at the Meir Medical Center, Institute of Gastroenterology and Hepatology assessed 'disease activity, use of medication, need for surgery, and hospitalization' before and after cannabis use in 30 patients with CD. Authors reported, "All patients stated that consuming cannabis had a positive effect on their disease activity" and documented "significant improvement" in 21 subjects. Specifically, researchers found that subjects who consumed cannabis "significantly reduced" their need for other medications. Participants in the trial also reported requiring fewer surgeries following their use of cannabis. Fifteen of the patients had 19 surgeries during an average period of nine years before cannabis use, but only two required surgery during an average period of three years of cannabis use," authors reported."

I Have Ulcerative Colitis: The blog itself is just a guy wondering about whether it works, but read all of the responses below it...

Legal Marijuana: Check out the quotes and testimonies in this article.

Thanks this is great info!

doc prescribes this for me. blows smoking it away and lasts hours http://www.drugs.com/mtm/marinol.html

Sounds promising. Wonder if it would slow down bowel function with a j-pouch. I wouldn't even know where to get it, but has anyone found smoking it helps?

kiwi. i will experiment and let you know but every now and then i get too stoned from it. ask your doc for it. its a common prescription and my cvs stocks it.

Marinol is an interesting medicine. I see it as a way for a drug company to charge you for a compound that already readily exists in nature. And with vaporizers, there is no need to smoke the plant.

In U.S. politics, if you want to know why something is or isn't winning in Washington, just follow the money. It's about the money Lebowski! Drug companies can make billions off of drugs related to Marijuana. Private prisons make billions in putting people behind bars for using a relatively harmless, oft time beneficial drug. Police Unions also shell out money to shills who will pretend to be 'tough' on crime, when really it's about keeping the war on drugs going and going; hire more and more cops, make the corporations and unions more bloated It's all about the money, money rules politics and policy in America, and don't for one second think it's otherwise.

I'm moving to Colorado.

Thanks for all of the research Bootstrap. Thanks to everyone else too I'm getting tired of all of the pharmaceutical drugs and am ready to go back to nature.

Are you really moving to Colorado? I don't mind trying here medical marijuana for UC (it's legal here in California) but I only want to use it if it actually heals the inflammation too. I don't want to use it if it just covers the symptoms. So, it's a tough decision - I also am leaning towards not using it because what if there are side effects or addiction?

I'm not moving there but may go visit my bother and sister-in-law I never liked smoking it so am hoping to bake with it. But if smoking would help with my pain......

Just an FYI for those of you who didn't see my mention of this in another thread regarding medical marijuana:

If you want the medicinal benefits but don't like smoking it or the feeling of being "high," you can get a glycerin tincture from a dispensary or collective. It is a sweet, syrupy liquid that you squirt under your tongue (an eyedropperful) and hold there for about thirty seconds before swallowing. It has pretty immediate effects, and it will make you feel relaxed but not at all stoned - your head stays clear. I used to use it daily right before bed since the relaxation effect can also help with sleep. It works great. I need to get another bottle... or two.

Thanks bootstrap! Can you share how your situation is with and without the glycerin tincture? How many bowel movements with it and how many without it? Other effects (positive and negative)?

bootsrap?

Oh! Sorry, must have missed that. Other than the research I posted, I can't give you much info on the effects of it on UC specifically from personal experience. I didn't try the tincture until things were really pretty bad... severe pancolitis, and NOTHING was helping me: no meds, diet, supplements, etc, could get things under control (except prednisone). It DID ease the stomach cramping from my UC when I took it, but didn't seem to have a whole lot of effect on actually healing my colon... but I didn't give it very long to work before I was on to other methods, and like I said, nothing helped at that point. I believe if it was used on a somewhat milder case the effects may have been more noticeable. I didn't count BM's while I was taking it, so I don't really know if it actually slowed anything down... but I don't remember it having a hugely noticeable effect on frequency.

I ran out of it quite a while back but just stocked up on more of it yesterday. I now have an ostomy, so I doubt I will notice any effects on my output, but I will let you know if I do. I'm hoping now that the severity of the disease is out of the way, it will have more of a relaxing effect on my GI tract after I have my takedown and switch over to using my J-pouch... hoping it might ease some of the post-op issues I've been reading about.