Wat.
Mj suppresses nausea, the same effect as getting high and craving whitecastle which normally gives you terrible stomach pain lmao.
Mj is given to people getting chemo because of the intense nausea and sense of un-well being. Chemo is basically targeted toxins. Thats why it makes you sick, reduces your immune system, lose your hair, etc.
They generally mess with the cell cycle, poisoning your cells *just* enough to suppress their growth. The cancer cells, lacking any control on growth will try to grow and die because of it.
Cutting down your cell growth means: hair falls out, stomach lining stops repairing, skin stops replacing, cuts won't heal, kidneys start to fail, can't build new WBC's and RBC's.
If you can at least eat, it makes you stronger so you can handle more chemo to kill the cancer cells. Thats what MJ does.
Anyway I owe my quality of life to docs just once, so they might be full of shit for everyday stuff but they are useful.
There is far more to Marijuana (specifically, cannabinoids like THC and Cannabidiol, the latter most likely being more pharmacologically important) than simply serving as an antiemetic compound. It's a very useful property for those currently undergoing cancer treatment, and at that point other properties of marijuana won't really be a factor anyhow.
Numerous studies have already shown very statistically-significant tumor suppression and tumor-shrinkage results when cannabinoids are consumed. I do believe THC specifically (could have a different cannabinoid) is technically a chemical with anti-tumor properties. That is to say, it is not a tumor killer, but it has beneficial properties that can be demonstrated; this is in contrast to nicotine, that, while not a carcinogen by medical definition, has been demonstrated to have pro-tumor properties (which means it doesn't cause tumors to grow, but makes it more favorable for tumor growth in certain cells). THC, or cannabinoids in general, encourage damaged cells to undergo apoptosis.
Sorry to hear. Get your mom some weed. It helps with the chemo side effects and also helps shrink the tumors.
While cannabinoids in marijuana might not be a miracle 'cure' for cancer, it does help prevent it. AND the goddamn government his impeding research. It's not a shadowy conspiracy, but they sure as hell and opening the money spigots for research on MJ related cancer treatment, and the FDA, DEA, and NIDA all have veto points over MJ research.
Smoking weed won't magically make the cancer go away. Cannabinoids ARE a huge area that needs tons of $$$ for research. Of course, the NIH still would rather fund showing negative effects of marijuana.
But yeah, the REAL alternative approach to cancer should be to follow your doctor's advice and also vaporize a bunch of weed.
That's the thing: marijuana isn't the miracle cure for those currently diagnosed with cancer. It may possibly aid other anti-cancer treatments, speeding up results, but at that point the cancer has strong roots.
But, for those not saddled with cancer already, it does have the potential to help prevent tumor growth and may help the body kill off certain tumors that have begun to grow. One particular study I read specifically stated it only could help with tumors in tissues heavily influenced/controlled by the major hormones. That did include some/most of the worst offenders in terms of cancer types, however.
Even ignoring the cancer side of treatment, it has many wonderful pharmacological properties. Given the right strains of marijuana, just taking a toke or two when necessary will provide benefits but reduce potential "side-effects" like the associated high. This is consistent with many other heavily-abused pharms.
Take that toke or two (through a vaporizer), and the right combination of CB1/CB2 receptor activity will produce beneficial anti-inflammation and pain-mediating effects. There are also beneficial immune system gains that can be brought about through those receptors.
There is a wealth of information that needs further study to truly understand how we can best mediate these benefits, control any potential negative side-effects, and how to best bring about any benefits to be had (it may be through synthetics, as opposed to any natural marijuana strain).
