ulcerative colitis

[humedi]

Hi! Have been looking on the www to find info. Im 40 (you wouldnt know ;o) female and from UK. I have had UC (colitis) 18 odd years am a tad fed up with it. Huge flare 16 years ago, then another a year later, this was when I had my children. Settled ok since until 2 years ago, made the mistake of holiday in Tunisia, its outside Europe so coli different....since then been on and off steriods, take azacol all the time, tried azathioprine (yuk) Anyways, getting very sick of looking for answers, so thought I may try a bit of this! Have access to vaporiser. What sort of amount should i be thinking about using how many times a week?? I had some on Saturday but was wiped all Sunday as had too much, even tho it was fun! Do work, so need to be practical! Lol. Dont smoke and never have and dont want to. Wouldnt mind cooking with it, dont really care as long as it works. How long is it til you notice any change? Thanks for listening and hopefully I'll get some answers! Kandii 'Im a Newbie'

right then. I medicate using cannabis only, am 20 from leeds. i was on asacol like you are, taking 6 tablets a day. i stopped these though they made me worse, same goes for colozide. prospect of taking any of these NHS meds now scares me so simply not an option anymore, not when i know weed works.
when i smoke this is what happens: INSTANT relief, pain and cramping disappear, slows gut transit so fewer stools (rarely find myself needing loo after smoking a spliff) and better formation. ideally i could roll big fat spliffs with strong indica strains all the time as i am sure this would be better, unfortunately i have to ration what i smoke and i don't know what strains/species i egt when i pick up. smoke half a spliff before food and half a spliff after is a good thing to go by.
I don't often bake with it as I cannot guarantee that the weed i get is free from pollution, smoking 'dirty' weed is less of a risk i think than eating it (though neither is desirable but this is the uk). if you know you have good clean stuff though i would bake with it > has a more subtle effect doesn't kick in straight away but definitely improves your colitis. In amsterdam i ate space cakes and had a great nights sleep, it does numb the pain as well and you'll experience fewer stools. in summary; probably provides longer lasting effect than smoking but is not as immediate and instant. put about 3.5 grams (an eighth) into about 12 buns, don't leave in oven longer than is necessary. before adding to mixture, melt pan of butter and sprinkle the weed in, leaving it on a low flame for 10 minutes as THC dissolves better in fatty solutions, then add to rest of mixure.
vaping is the way to go! i don't have one myself but it is the benefits of the herb without inhaling bacci or vegetable matter. had a go on a mates the other week- as effective as smoking i would say, but i'd had a biff as well so could not really distinguish.

Look up Sativex, we need more and more people in england to start asking about this. it is an oral cannabis spray you adminster under your tongue. i have tried getting it but the PCT are swines and won't let me have it, instead i must continue to street deal

[Kandii]

Haha thanks for that, I will take it on board. So it sounds like its an every day thing... Im a little scared! I have to remain coherant as I work, and run a home for my 2 kids! I tried just having a tiny bit from the vaporiser last night but it was late as I'd been out, so I didnt sleep well, vivid dreaming. But, this morning, only 2 trips to loo rather than 5-6.... and its was much more pleasant! I am thinking I'll do it when I dont have to work the next day, and see how it goes.Once I work out what I can have and be ok next day, I'll be sorted. Im really lucky at the moment, the only thing I suffer from is the frequency and urgency of loo trips, not pain, just uncomfortable quite a bit, especially at work cos I worry about it more there. At home Im more relaxed so not such a bother.
Currently coming off steriods and on 6 azacol a day.
The spray stuff sounds fab, Im not sure if I even dare mention it to my Dr tho! Then he'll know im considering this kind of thing. All a bit silly really, if it helps, we should have it!

[humedi]

Haha thanks for that, I will take it on board. So it sounds like its an every day thing... Im a little scared! I have to remain coherant as I work, and run a home for my 2 kids! I tried just having a tiny bit from the vaporiser last night but it was late as I'd been out, so I didnt sleep well, vivid dreaming. But, this morning, only 2 trips to loo rather than 5-6.... and its was much more pleasant! I am thinking I'll do it when I dont have to work the next day, and see how it goes.Once I work out what I can have and be ok next day, I'll be sorted. Im really lucky at the moment, the only thing I suffer from is the frequency and urgency of loo trips, not pain, just uncomfortable quite a bit, especially at work cos I worry about it more there. At home Im more relaxed so not such a bother.
Currently coming off steriods and on 6 azacol a day.
The spray stuff sounds fab, Im not sure if I even dare mention it to my Dr tho! Then he'll know im considering this kind of thing. All a bit silly really, if it helps, we should have it!

go in their with a bit of confidence and tell them how it is. people shouldn't be reluctant to confide in their doctor. They can't do anything, they are not going to call social services and have your kids taken away... you might even be suprised by their reaction, my GP fully supports me and concedes that the cannabis-situation at the minute 'stinks' (his words) and he said i should do what i have to (i.e. break these stupid laws). My doctors have known from the start, i even made them put it on my record down the hospital, i don't care who knows. it is pretty much all i will talk about with them now.

It'd be brilliant to get sativex, it is already fully available in canada, and it is made by a British firm! if you read this article it says that 12% of all patients at the cannabis clinic in california medicate for intestinal conditions, and in those patients the doctor observes weight gain, comfort and less need for other meds.

i medicate as regualr as i can, and i am convinced it is the right decision not to be on any meds for the damage they can do in the long run. colozide made my hair fall out and gave me mouth ulcers, asacol made my colitis a lot worse, cannabis has saved me. sos for the rant! mention it to your specialist or gp, i bet they say you are not the first person to say so

[humedi]

oh yeah and if you eat it and don't notice anything, don't do the classic thing and eat a load more else you will be crashed out before long!

[Kandii]

Hmm maybe I shall mention it to my Dr at the hosp next time, he's a tad scary tho, thinks he knows it all, which ok he prob knows alot, but im bored of being guinea pig for which ever drugs they decide to give me to get the UC to stettle. No probs re rant, we all need one! I've got so fed up I've even posted a pic of my pred moon face today on a facebook colitis group! I've found them most helpful for info, and to be able to chat and read about ppl in same or worse situation is better than what I had before, about 14 years of keeping this to myself as 'embarrassing'. Now I've got to the point where its so obvious something is a bit wrong, Im not so bothered. My 14 yr old daughter is having trouble accepting im gonna be trying the vapouriser to help me, so funny as it should be me telling her she cant do that type of thing now shouldnt it!! Lol, my son uses a little so thats where im getting it from at the mo, but will have to sort myself out getting it if im gonna be using it alot.

[humedi]

Hmm maybe I shall mention it to my Dr at the hosp next time, he's a tad scary tho, thinks he knows it all, which ok he prob knows alot, but im bored of being guinea pig for which ever drugs they decide to give me to get the UC to stettle. No probs re rant, we all need one! I've got so fed up I've even posted a pic of my pred moon face today on a facebook colitis group! I've found them most helpful for info, and to be able to chat and read about ppl in same or worse situation is better than what I had before, about 14 years of keeping this to myself as 'embarrassing'. Now I've got to the point where its so obvious something is a bit wrong, Im not so bothered. My 14 yr old daughter is having trouble accepting im gonna be trying the vapouriser to help me, so funny as it should be me telling her she cant do that type of thing now shouldnt it!! Lol, my son uses a little so thats where im getting it from at the mo, but will have to sort myself out getting it if im gonna be using it alot.

'specialist' is a bit of a con, in my experience they do not research hard enough to be a true specialist. you'd think with their chosen subject they would commit day and night reading up all different possible solutions- but they don't, they read from one book all their life like it is drilled into them. Mine had never even heard of the specific carbohydrate diet (SCD), nor had he heard of sativex - a potentially revolutionary drug and he had no clue it was available in the UK. what a joke. they don't care do they, that is all i'm left to think. they'll give you shitty toxic drugs and send you away, problem gone for them and they think they are doing a good job... and to deny that diet doesn't have a role in colitis...!!??

honestly, at the moment the issues around cannabis are more stressful and problematic for me than my colitis is. if i were in canada, the US or amsterdam, i go to the local pharmacy and pick up whatever i wanted, totally different quality of treatment ove there. here are some sites you might find useful as you are in the uk...

UK420.com - The Cannabis Community
Humedi - Home
Ulcerative Colitis Forum :: Index

[Kandii]

Lovely I'll check them out after work later, thankyou!
I really cannot understand the whole diet doesnt make a difference attitude my Dr has too, of course it does! He said I didnt need to do 'any of these strange diets like SCD' but you get so desparate you'll consider these things! Mind you, I got as far as reading the food list, and really couldnt be arsed to cut all that out! Maybe Im just not ill enough! I've lived on bread only before now, just bread, toast, bread... lol nowadays I know from trial and error what I can and cant have. I'll ask my Dr about Sativex next time... but if this goes ok I wont have to see him til October! Fab

[humedi]

Lovely I'll check them out after work later, thankyou!
I really cannot understand the whole diet doesnt make a difference attitude my Dr has too, of course it does! He said I didnt need to do 'any of these strange diets like SCD' but you get so desparate you'll consider these things! Mind you, I got as far as reading the food list, and really couldnt be arsed to cut all that out! Maybe Im just not ill enough! I've lived on bread only before now, just bread, toast, bread... lol nowadays I know from trial and error what I can and cant have. I'll ask my Dr about Sativex next time... but if this goes ok I wont have to see him til October! Fab

cannabis medication is a long-established tradition which makes pharma drugs look nasty it'd be great if it works for another suffering with ibd, i am in contact more and more with people using cannabis in the england for colitis, if we could do it freely and have safe access it'd improve a lot of people's lives. change is not far off i don't think. if you look at what's happening in europe countries are relaxing medicinal cannabis laws- in the last few months switzerland, spain, austria and czechoslovakia have eased laws on medicinal cannabis users, and the Supreme Court in italy letting the rasta man smoke his weed for religous purposes.

this scientist believes diet is relevant...

Ulcerative Colitis Genes Identified

Researchers at the University of Kiel have identified for the first time three genes that are associated specifically with the emergence of ulcerative colitis.

It is the same team of scientists who discovered the first-risk genes for Chrone's disease six years ago.

'... Overall, we can identify 31 genes which play a role in colitis... This means we have a beautiful piece forward... We are starting very slowly to better understand this disease... Today we know that it comes to the epithelial cells in the intestine and that diet has an effect also'. - molecular biologist Stefan Schreiber

[humedi]

source

Why Cannabis Stems Inflammation

ScienceDaily (July 20, 2008) â?? Cannabis has long been accredited with anti-inflammatory properties. ETH Zurich researchers, however, have now discovered that it is not only the familiar psychoactive substances that are responsible for this; a compound we take in every day in vegetable nutriment also plays a significant role.

People not only rate cannabis sativa L. highly because of its intoxicating effects; it has also long been used as a medicinal plant. Although the plant has been scrutinized for years, surprising new aspects keep cropping up. For example, researchers from ETH Zurich and Bonn University examined a component in the plantâ??s essential oil that until then had largely been ignored and found it to have remarkable phar- macological effects. The findings open up interesting perspectives, especially for the prevention and treatment of inflammations.

Completely different molecule structure

The hemp plant contains over 450 different substances, only three of which are responsible for its intoxicating effect. They activate the two receptors in the body CB1 and CB2. Whilst the CB1 receptor in the central nervous system influences perception, the CB2 receptor in the tissue plays a crucial role in inhibiting inflammation. If the receptor is activated, the cell releases fewer pro-inflammatory signal substances, or cytokines. The scientists have now discovered that the substance beta-carophyllene, which composes between 12 and 35 percent of the cannabis plantâ??s essential oil, activates the CB2 receptor selectively.

Unlike the three psychoactive substances, however, beta-carophyllene does not latch onto the CB1 receptor and consequently does not trigger the intoxicating effect. â??Due to the various effects of cannabis, we had suspected for quite some time that other substances could come into play besides the psychoactive onesâ?�, explains Jürg Gertsch from the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences at ETH Zurich. â??However, astonishingly we didnâ??t know what substances these were until now.â?�

Gertsch finds it remarkable that beta-carophyllene has a very different molecule structure to that of the classical cannabinoids. â??This is presumably why no one realized that the substance can also activate the CB2 receptor.â?� The scientists were not only able to prove that beta-carophyllene binds with the CB2 receptor in vitro but also in animal tests, where they treated mice that were suffering from an inflammatory swelling on their paws with orally administered doses of the substance. The swelling declined in up to 70 percent of the animals, even for deep doses. For mice lacking the gene for the CB2 receptor, however, the substance did not make an impact.

Common substance

The results are encouraging for the prevention or treatment of ailments in which the CB2 receptor plays a positive role. However, Gertsch explains that we are still very much in the early stages on that score. That said, the scientist can conceive that some day the compound will not only help heal certain forms of inflammation, but also be instrumental in treating chronic illnesses, such as liver cirrhosis, Morbus Crohn, osteoarthritis and arteriosclerosis. In all of these diseases, the CB2 receptor and the associated endocannabinoid system play a crucial role.

The beauty is that beta-carophyllene is not only found in cannabis but also often in plants as a whole and we consume the substance in our diet. The non-toxic compound, which incidentally has been used as a food additive for many years, can be found in spice plants like oregano, basil, cinnamon and black pepper. â??Whether we have found a new link between the vegetable diet and the prevention of so-called lifestyle diseases in our study remains to be seen in future studiesâ?�, adds Gertsch.

[Kandii]

you do find some interesting stuff!
I have been very well, been using the vapouriser every day, just a small amount, and its made a good difference. My daughter is upset about the whole thing, but I shall just keep doing it but out of sight! Been feeling really tired tho after, so trying to get dose and time of day right.