"Of the 30 patients [with Crohn's Disease] 21 improved significantly after treatment with cannabis…
The mean number of bowel movements decreased from eight to five a day and the need for other drugs was significantly reduced… the number of patients requiring steroid treatment was reduced from 26 to 4. Fifteen of the patients had 19 surgeries during an average period of 9 years before cannabis use, but only 2 required surgery during an average period of 3 years of cannabis use…
The observed beneficial effect in this study may be due to the anti-inflammatory properties of cannabis, but additional effects of cannabinoids may also play a role. Cannabinoids influence gastrointestinal motility and, in particular, have an anti-diarrheal effect..."
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I don't think that the people conducting these studies look at discussion boards. If you want to participate in a study, you need to contact them.
Jan
Marijuana definitely helps my pouchitis, but i can only use it sparingly as regular use gives me negative effects of mood swings, memory loss and a lack of drive.
Drone 3 I would love to know how it helps your pouchitis and how often you have to take it to see improvement. Thanks
Hi clouseau, just for context i'm not taking any western medicine, instead i use diet and several alternative methods to manage my pouchitis, one of these is marijuana, but it is not a magical cure by any means and has some serious negatives. So my results are largely dependant on my personal context. If i smoked a joint tonight my gut would be very happy tomorrow, everything will slow down and i would have less frequency and urgency, it would probably last 1 - 2 days at the most.
I only use marijuana once a month as it has major effects on the mind and half the battle of living with pouchitis is being strong mentally in order to deal with the hard times.
I hope this helps
-d
Hi there,
I have had a j-pouch for about a year now, after being diagnosed with FAP ~15 years ago. I appreciate the post from closeau, and what others have shared. I would like to share part of my journey and some additional info. TL;DR at bottom
The last year has been rough, including many painful episodes of intense naseau and pouchitis that i feared were, and appeared to be, becoming chronic. Either that or SIBO, but either way it was extremely painful and depressing and was breaking me down, both physically and emotionally. At wits' end, I even considered having the pouch removed, among other things...
Doctors kept wanting to throw drugs at me, and after around 6 months of taking all different types of (some heavy) meds that seemed to just be masking symptoms and causing more problems, i had had enough.
I stopped all prescriptions and switched to a strictly cannabis regimen. I have self-medicated with cannabis for 20+ years, but now focus on more CBD (cannabidiol) based medicine. I have been nearly symptom free since; unfortunately it does not cure being a glutton...
What it does cure: CBD is primarily non-psychoactive and displays many medicinal properties (anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, anti-ischemic, anti-nauseau, etc etc), without the negative side effects typically associated with THC dominant cannabis/medicine, as mentioned by some in this thread (memory loss, mood swings, etc).
While THC may not be for everyone (studies have shown that high levels of THC may excite the same neuronal pathways associated with bipolar disorder, important to consider if you are having strong/frequent mood swings), CBD based medications have proven safe and effective for patients of all ages and diverse medical needs.
Here are some links to get started:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabidiol (general info and links)
http://www.projectcbd.org/colitis-crohns-disease (links to medical journal articles)
TL;DR - Pouchitis sucks, strong cannabis/THC isn't for everyone. CBD (cannabidiol) might be exactly what you're looking for; its working for me (and many others)!
Feel free to message or reply here with any questions or requests for links etc!
Thanks, hope this helps,
Lance
I'm in the same boat as Lance 619. Except I had my 1st Jpouch surgery 12 years ago when I was 20. I did the handfuls of meds everyday for 5 years before I ended up needing a emergency colonectomy. I did everything the doctors wanted me to do and they still couldn't and can't help me. I occasionally try a new med thats working great for others. But it's never successful for me. So I have chose to manage chronic pouchitis with diet and a healthy knowledge of cannabis strains. Its gotten me farther than the docs have been able too. And they admit it. Unfortunately I'm now dealing with a painful kidney mass on one kidney and another functioning at around 50%. And docs still uncertain of what avenues to take due to the massive amounts of scar tissue and adhesions I've had over the years. The point of that was sometimes everything keeps falling apart. And if you need to eat a cookie to get through it. Well then eat a cookie and laugh about it
Good luck everyone
does marijuana just help with the symptoms of pouchitis or does it actually heal the inflammation too?
marijuana will help with the symptoms in general; medicine with cannabidiol (CBD) will actually help heal and protect against inflammation.
here's an article from nih about CBD as a novel anti-inflammatory drug:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2828614/
sorry for late reply, was on a road trip for a couple months
Does anyone know the best brand of CBD to try? thanks
Where in the UK can I obtain CBD products that will have beneficial effect on pouchitis? Have had chronic pouchitis since 1987 and average 15 times a day. After 30 years of antibiotics they have stopped being effective. Looking at other solutions that I can get in the UK or travel abroad for treatment. Can anyone recommend a CBD therapist? Thanks in advance.
Ever since my diagnosis of UC some 25+ yrs ago, I no longer get great sleep as before UC. With my chronic pouchitis, good sleep has been even harder to come by. I recently was given a week sample of CBD extract capsules (~14 mg each) to take before bedtime. It is still pretty early in 'treatment' but I have had multiple nights of good sleep, without waking to empty my pouch. Could this be the solution I've been looking for? Time will tell!
Greetings to Jan and others that helped me thru the 'rough spell' during my jpoich surgeries way back in 2001!