How CBD Can Help You Cope With Cancer Treatments
CBD is one of the latest claimed remedies for many of today's discomforts. CBD which stands for Cannabidiol, is a derivative of the cannabis sativa plant. It's actually the same plant that produces THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol (via Harvard Medical School). While THC is the active ingredient in marijuana that produces the high you get from ingesting or smoking it, CBD doesn't produce any kind of high.
CBD has been growing in popularity at a phenomenal pace in recent years. This is largely due to its claim to help relieve several medical ailments, including seizure disorders, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson disease, Crohn's disease, pain, and anxiety (via WebMD). While CBD has been touted as a cure-all, it's really not. There are some things CBD can and can't do for you like relieve anxiety but it can't help cure disease.
However, it can help you deal with harsh treatments. CBD has been singled out as helping people undergoing cancer treatments in particular. Here's why.
How CBD may affect cancer
CBD has been thought to alleviate pain, it's not currently recommended as a cure for cancer but there is ongoing research into how CBD may potentially affect cancer.
Yet new research suggests that there is a possible link between CBD killing cancer cells in studies done in animal populations. Still, there hasn't been sufficient research performed on humans to recommend it as a treatment option (via National Library of Medicine).
However there have been early encouraging studies in the realm of slowing down tumor growth in pancreatic cancer, reducing the risk of bladder cancer, and reducing the spread of cancer cells in breast and colorectal cancer (via Healthline).
While potential strides are being made in studying how CBD can possibly aid in helping kill or reduce cancer, CBD should never be used in place of cancer treatments or as a cure.
CBD for chemotherapy and radiation
One thing that CBD has been recommended for is helping to alleviate the effects caused by harsh cancer treatments. Chemotherapy and radiation typically causes nausea and vomiting, something CBD has been known to lessen and possibly ease.
According to Everyday Health, there are currently two fully FDA-approved drugs that contain cannabinoids that are targeted to help reduce the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
Marinol, also known as dronabinol is prescribed for nausea and vomiting as well as loss of appetite in those receiving cancer treatment and those who have acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) (via MedlinePlus). Cesamet (nabilone) is a synthetically made drug used to model the effects of natural cannabis (via WebMD). Both drugs work by helping quell the area of the brain that controls nausea and vomiting, as well as appetite. CBD can also help calm your anxiety associated with treatment.
It's important to be very careful about what you ingest when being treated for cancer, so check with your doctor before taking any supplement or drug on your own.