Lung cancer is one of deadliest diseases and is a lifelong battle for the person suffering from it. Lung cancer is a rapidly spreading disease and is common due to smoking and an unhealthy diet. Lung cancer spread very quickly through the body and have a greater chance of relapse. The diagnosis and symptoms of the disease are quite difficult to detect in many cases. Scientists all around the world are working on improving the prognosis and treatment of lung cancer. Aside from conventional medication and chemotherapy, some of the patients have opted for a more eccentric method for the cure of cancer. One of which is the use of CBD Oil or CBD tinctures. CBD is one of the compounds found in marijuana. It’s a nonpsychoactive component which works with the endocannabinoid system of the brain to relieve pain, stimulate appetite, and provide other medical advantages of marijuana. One of the recent studies has shown a greater relationship between the shrinking of a tumor in the lungs with the use of CBD cannabinoids.
Although this area of research is new and has room for a lot of exploration, we will today look into some of the connections between CBD and lung cancer.
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How CBD Shrink Cancer cells?
One of the studies demonstrates the case of an individual suffering from adenocarcinoma of one of his lungs and declined chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments because of his old age. He decided that the side effects of the therapy will worsen the quality of his life. They reported that the patients had shown an extraordinarily positive response to the self-administration of cannabis sativa. The tumor in his lung had drastically shrunk in size within three weeks of the administration (Watson, Sule-Suso, Jegannathen, Pittius, 2019).
The above mentioned is one of the latest research in connection with CBD and lung cancer. However, the first study of such type was done in 1975 with mice. The growth of the tumor was slowed or stopped in Mice when they were treated with CBD. Another study has shown that CBD serves as a catalyst to prevent the growth and proliferation of cancer cells in the body. As a result, cancer cells are not able to survive. It is also claimed by the National Care Institute that while chemotherapy is effective in killing the cancer cells it also kills the other surrounding unpolluted cells whereas CBD only works towards the death of cancer cells and in cases protect the healthy cells.
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Relief Lung Cancer symptoms and side effects
Use of CBD can cure of some the following side effects of cancer treatments:
- Nausea and Vomiting
- Chronic Pain in the body
- Neuropathy which is a feeling of numbness or tingling due to an internal nerve damage
- Anorexia or Loss of Appetite
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Avenues for Further Research
The subject of a cure for lung cancer and CBD is kind of raw at the moment as we are not aware of numerous avenues in this aspect. Some suggestions for further study can be:
- Clinical Trails to implement medical marijuana as real medicine
- Can CBD be an alternative to chemotherapy?
- The required dosage and regularity of the CBD medicine to be administrated to the patient for successful remedy
- Availability of CBD in the countries where marijuana is illegal
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Side Effects of CBD
The side effects of CBD are not as intense as of the other component of marijuana i.e. tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Some of them include decreased digestion, fast heartbeat, red eyes, and hypotension. However, it does not have any lethal side effects as other pain management medications as it does not directly affect the central nervous system. On the other hand, there might be a little possibility of addiction from taking CBD for a longer time. It is recommended by the doctors to withdraw from the medicine as soon as it has aided with the healing process. Some people might experience withdrawal side effects as well. They may comprise of insomnia, restlessness, nausea, hot flashes and irritability.
Conclusion
The concept of medical marijuana is becoming popular among the medical fraternity. CBD has shown relief in the symptoms in some cases, there is no concrete proof that it can be used as an alternative to chemotherapy or radiotherapy. It depends on how the drug reacts with the person’s body requirements. So far, it has only used complementary treatments to some to the people suffering from side effects of cancer medication. It is always a favorable suggestion to take the opinions of at least two different doctors before using the CBD for cancer cure as it can’t be an alternative to the conventional hospitalization procedure. CBD found in marijuana can protect the healthy cells, eliminate or stop the cancer cells growth but there is a greater need for clinical trials and scientific research to back this statement.