Cannabis, thoughts?

That was what I said when this came up before - Tommy Chong is a prime example of cannibis not preventing cancer or really curing it.

sflgirl said:

Happy Birthday

hope you raised a beer on that day!

I toasted both Tommy and myself. 

I belong to another cancer board.  I was doing some searching for another unrealted topic.  I came upon this one and thought hey, why dont I put my 2 cents in.  I do not believe that marijuana is a cure all for cancer.  Just like I dont believe tumerac, cinnamon, honey or ect.. does either.  I dont not even believe that a doctor can say without a shadow of a doubt they cured your cancer with radiation or chemotherapy.  There is no guarentee of anything.  It is a crap shoot.  They may get it to go into remission, but just like that cell was sitting in your body and woke up to cause chaoes and destruction, it is still there.  Sometimes it wakes again and sometimes it don't.  You just keep on going on with your life and you fight fight fight when you have to.

However, I do think and am thankful that marijuana is out there for cancer patients to help aid them with the nasty side effects.  However the person chooses to use the aid is totally up to them.  I don't think it is going to cause them any harm in doing so.  I for one have used it for some side effects of my chemo treatments.  It does ease pain.  I dont need it to increase my food consumption, unfortantly, the steriods do that.  Like one of the gentlemen above said, it does help those first days or weeks after chemo or side effects and pain from the radiation to ease the pain and help with sleep.  And you dont have to take another pill into your body and another pill to counteract that pill's side effect.  I for one am thankful for that reason to use marijuana as a medical aid.

I also do not beleive you will become a "pothead" because you use it.  I am not.  As most cancer patients I have talked to who use it, they are not.  They use it responsably and sparingly.   And I tell you, they wont have to worry about what most people who have to use strong opiates to ease their pain do.  They wont end up with a chance of fighting a horrible addiction later when or if their cancer goes into remission.  We all pray for remission for all.

You cannot compare us to those people that smoke pot all the time just for the thrill of it.  Those people have what is called addictive personalities.  If it is not pot they abuse, it is alcohol, or other types of drugs.  It usually is not their only flaw in life.  This is like comparing apples to oranges.

So if you can get it and want to try it wll go on and smoke it, chew it, drink it, slather that goodness on your toast.  I hope it brings you relief like it has me.  To each his own!

Hugs to all. 

Annie

carrieh said:

Base Opinion on Legit Studies

I smoked when I was put in hospice in 2013. Long story, but in a nutshell 17 surgeries, feeding tubes, radiation enteritis, 5'11 and weighed 89 pounds. No, it didn't cure my cancer but it did save my life. Literally. I was vomiting so much I couldn't even keep the nasty liquid from my feeding tube down. NPO for months. Not even ice chips..bad way to go. There is a lot of disinformation out there..super frustrating. However, for those who are interested, there is info available from legit sources like Harvard Medical, National Institutes of Health etc. Human studies are lacking...evidence of cancer cell death or tumor reduction is mainly on mice and in test tubes..so, correct dosage is a toss up. IMHO (very humble)..I think sharing good info is important...but basing life and death on RSO or a certain diet is dangerous. Even oncologists will tell you we don't truly understand cancer yet. 

I talked to an onc at Mayo about it last October, my oncologist etc..and the advice I got was do what we know works best..meaning chemo and surgery etc., but marijuana therapy does not counteract with treatment so it's ok to combine. If it helps you eat and you've ever literally almost starved to death, or makes you happy when your seratonin drops from chemo...no shame. Although, smoking it isn't recommended. Here's a good read from a legit source (not some random guy on FB LOL)..and an abstract from Harvard Med..(sorry about the bold) .there are tons out there if you know where to look and can decipher medical jargon (yawn). There is evidence..but lots of questions and variables too...and some studies even link cannabis inhalation to cancer..it's a personal choice, but one I think we should all have the right to make. Best Wishes to All

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3366283/

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Healthday/story?id=4506595

Δ⁹-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the primary cannabinoid of marijuana and has been shown to either potentiate or inhibit tumor growth, depending on the type of cancer and its pathogenesis. Little is known about the activity of cannabinoids like THC on epidermal growth factor receptor-overexpressing lung cancers, which are often highly aggrjessive and resistant to chemotherapy. In this study, we characterized the effects of THC on the EGF-induced growth and metastasis of human non-small cell lung cancer using the cell lines A549 and SW-1573 as in vitro models. We found that these cells express the cannabinoid receptors CB₁ and CB₂, known targets for THC action, and that THC inhibited EGF-induced growth, chemotaxis and chemoinvasion. Moreover, signaling studies indicated that THC may act by inhibiting the EGF-induced phosphorylation of ERK1/2, JNK1/2 and AKT. THC also induced the phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase at tyrosine 397. Additionally, in in vivo studies in severe combined immunodeficient mice, there was significant inhibition of the subcutaneous tumor growth and lung metastasis of A549 cells in THC-treated animals as compared to vehicle-treated controls. Tumor samples from THC-treated animals revealed antiproliferative and antiangiogenic effects of THC. Our study suggests that cannabinoids like THC should be explored as novel therapeutic molecules in controlling the growth and metastasis of certain lung cancers.

 

 

Its good to see you back here. I am so sorry that your journey has been so rough. 

Tru

I'm 49 and I never used drugs before. I hardly even drink alcohol, so I really didn't expect to start cannabis at my age.

I think I'm with most people in that I don't think it is a miracle cure the way some people think it is. I've read a TON of real research similar to what CarrieH has on her post, and for my comfort zone, I would at least put it in the category of things that might help. I agree with Jan that smoking it seems like a bad idea, although I do have a vaporizer for mine that was really helpful while I was on my chemo. That was the only thing I was taking regularly for my nausea, and I was happy to have it. Between my surgeries and chemo I lost 61 pounds, so eating enough calories was a problem for a while. Not anymore (thankfully?)

This will be more information than I really feel comfortable sharing, but as nobody else has mentioned it, I thought I would at least put this out there. There are actually 3 ways you can take it. You can inhale it, you can use edibles, and you can use it as a suppository. If you use it as a suppository, you don't get high at all. If you can get past the ew factor on that, and lets face it, I think that is pretty minor compared to what most of us with CRC have been through, then that is an option for someone who wants to use it without the psychoactive side effects.

I have a legal prescription for mine (I'm in Canada) and I buy the dry herb from a licensed producer. I extract that into oil which I store in oral syringes. If I take an oral dose of that, I can only take between .1ml and .2ml and I'm off to sleep. Done! By comparison, used as a suppository I can take a full syringe, 1.0ml and not feel ANY psychoactive effects whatsoever.

I heard about the technique from a fellow cancer club member who made a YouTube video about her experience with it. At the time of her video, she believed that it had cured her cancer and she had some happy PET scans that showed she was NED. Sadly she has since passed on from an agressive recurrance, so I'm not a member of the club that believes it can cure cancer. I've seen enough early studies to make me think it may have SOME benefit beyond helping with chemo side effects. It really really does help with chemo side effects by the way.

My opinion is: it's good for side effects, and if it isn't interfering with your life or other frontline treatments, then it is OK to use it as an addition if you believe it would help you.

I wouldn't bet my life on it curing me by itself though!

Thomas