cystic fibrosis and getting high ?birdgirl?

[loki475]

hey my friend used to smoke weed but she has cystic fibrosis and cant smoke with us anymore. does anyone know how dangerous smoking with cystic fibrosis is? is it okay to use a vaporizer? baking and Marinol i know is fine, is there any other way my friend can get high with us?

loki

[birdgirl73]

Smoking of any kind is the worst possible thing anyone with cystic fibrosis can do. The smoke's not just irritating and dangerous, it also reduces their already limited pulmonary capacity.

I found this British article from 2001 on smoking and CF, which includes a mention of marijuana, which I'm sure they included because CF is a disease affecting the young. It said there've been no long-term studies on cannabis smoking and CF, but it gives plenty of persuasive reasons why a CF patient shouldn't risk it.
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1310584&blobtype=pdf

If I find anything else, I'll let you know, and Granny Storm Crow will likely do the same. The bottom line, I'm afraid, is that your friend needs to eat her cannabis if she wants to use it. CF patients have enough to worry about without irritating their lungs unnecessarily. There's apparently evidence that cannabinoids themselves (the active ingredient in cannabis but isolated and taken in another way than by smoking) are very beneficial for CF patients in easing broncho-constriction and stimulating appetite, but definitely not smoked cannabinoids. I found several mentions of the benefits of cannabinoids themselves. That may be why she has a prescription for Marinol.

Real sorry to hear about your friend, Loki. That's not a good disease to inherit. I had a childhood friend who had CF. My heart goes out to her and her family and friends.

[nofx12345]

"In cystic fibrosis, a defective gene alters a protein that regulates the normal movement of salt in and out of cells. This results in thick, sticky secretions in the respiratory and digestive tracts, as well as in the reproductive system. It also causes increased salt in sweat on the skin."
smoking should be fine as long as they are carfull with taking too big of hits. i wouldent advise allowing them to take the biggest bong hit that they can handle. or a even better idea would be to just cook up something.

and it also depends on if they are just carriers or if they were born with it
if the person is a carrier than they dont have any symptoms of it.

[Storm Crow]

Ester Fride has an article on this- "Cannabinoids and Cystic Fibrosis" Unfortunately, I can't access it. All I can find is references to it. Bird Girl? Any of your folks got access?

[birdgirl73]

I can get to the abstract, Stormie, but not the full article. Our library, being one associated with a traditional allopathic medical school, doesn't have licensing/permission to that publication, which is the Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics. I intend to ask our librarian why not the first chance I get.

Here's a link to the abstract:
http://www.haworthpress.com/store/ArticleAbstract.asp?sid=HPXKTEJVTP398J4DUFUDXSEX8U 4F5MH0&ID=1474

Basically Dr. Fride's article summary explains that endocannabinoids (for others reading, that's our body's own natural in-born cannabinoid system, not the cannabinoids we take in through ingested cannabis) are critical for milk ingestion and appetite in newborns and so are linked to how newborns thrive. Dr. Fride proposes that in CF patients, the lipid-regulator gene that regulates the endocannabinoid system, affecting fatty acid synthesis, is out of whack and so those patients have lower levels of endocannabinoids. Thus she proposes that THC treatment may help those CF patients with appetite stimulation in addition to having anti-emetic, broncho-dilating, anti-inflammatory, anti-diarrheal, and hypoalgesic effects.

For our very weed-eager non-scientists here, that doesn't mean cannabis smoking is recommended by any stretch of the imagination for patients with cystic fibrosis. It simply means that the isolated THC compound itself may be very good for relieving the symptoms of CF.

[biohazard]

she can still cook with weed and get high tho... but smoking is a no-no

[LIP]

Yeah, cooking with it should be good, [But not too much though, it's about 3 times stronger when eaten than smoked]