Imagine being diagnosed with stage IV cancer and being told your chances of surviving are slim. Then imagine the only treatment that may extend your life expectancy leaves you depressed and ill for days.
Chemotherapy is often the best choice patients are given, and of course, they are willing to endure the many side effects that come along with it. These side effects include headaches, body aches, fatigue, numbness, shooting pain, mouth sores, diarrhea, nausea/vomiting, blood disorders, tremors, difficulty walking, cognitive issues, sex and reproductive issues, appetite loss, hair loss, and even heart problems. I can think of hundreds of medications that could be prescribed to treat those potential side effects and often chemotherapy does come with a standard protocol of medications for pain, nausea, depression, and gastrointestinal disorders.
We know that cannabis can be used to treat many of those side effects, but can cannabis treat cancer? The patient I want to highlight today decided to not only fight cancer with chemo, but with high doses of cannabis. He wanted to give himself the best possible chance at surviving cancer and like most, was willing to do anything.
His treatment began with chemotherapy and a titration of cannabis oil included CBD and THC. After approximately 4 weeks of increasing his dose he was taking 1200 mg of cannabinoids daily in divided doses. Sure, the cannabis helped with the pain and nausea, but the intense effects left him unable to do the things he enjoyed. He couldn’t drive and couldn’t remember A LOT. However, these concerns were minimized when he would go in for his regular scans and was told his cancer was shrinking faster than the oncology team expected. Over the next six months he continued with this high dose of cannabis oil and chemo and at each scan received good news. Six months before he wasn’t sure if he would still be alive, but he was. Was it the chemo or the cannabis? That’s a question he often asked himself, his doctors, and me, but unfortunately no one was able to give him an answer. We just don’t know.
The current recommendations by practicing cannabis clinicians is to complement traditional cancer treatment with cannabis, not replace it. Some day we may know what doses of cannabinoids and terpenes can be used to fight cancer, but were still just guessing.
This patient is now on a much lower dose of cannabinoids, receiving chemotherapy 4 times a year, and is enjoying life again. For more information on using cannabis for cancer, please check out the link below.
