Is this a possible cure?

Before I get to the conclusion I need to explain my past.

For almost 3 years my Crohns has been active. 2012 - 2014 my crohns was so bad that discussions of surgery were constant. In July 2012 my Crohns flared to the point that 75% of the time I was laying in bed in extreme pain. I tried everything to stop the flare and at one point was only eating soup broth and bread. My doctor first put me on Steroids which seemed to help for a short term period. I decided to take matters into my own hands while enduring what seemed like a slow painful process by my doctor to find a drug that would put me into remission. My first attempt was Marijuana which gave me instant pain relief but I did not like being high. I decided to make the Rick Simpson Oil and take it before bed. This worked very well at giving me a good night sleep, that combined with over the counter sleeping pills, I was getting 8-10 hours a night with this combination. The problem was the next day I was still dopey and my brain was not functioning as efficient as before. January 2014 I was hospitalized because my pain was so severe. Steroids were increased and a scope was taken. The scope showed my Illium was badly infected with crohns and at this point my GI suggested Immuran. This worked but my body could not metabolize it properly so I was immediately taken off of it. Methotrexate was next. During this whole process I could not help to think about the relief I had from Marijuana so I started looking into getting a prescription for this. The Methotrexate did nothing for my crohns and 2.5 weeks ago I saw my GI, my crohns was flaring again. My doctor decided to increase steroids more and then look into a new study drug, he does not favour the biologics very much because they reduce the immune system of the whole body and this new study drug only reduced the immune in the gut. Quite frankly I did not want to increase steroids as it was already making my emotions crazy and my blood pressure was up due to the steroids. on the same day I saw my doctor My Medical Marijuana prescriptions arrived. I had ordered two types. One was very high in THC 25% the other was mostly CBD at 5.5% and 2%THC. I decided to try the CBD first. I used a vaporizer and after 20 minutes my body became very warm, this is rare because usually I am very cold and in fact by 9pm I usually am sitting in front of the fireplace due to extreme shivering, body tremors. That night for the first time in 11 years I was not cold and honestly I was shocked. I knew the Marijuana helped but the stuff I was taking before was high in THC and likely very little CBD. The next thing that I noticed was the next day I did not have any stomach pain and my stool was formed. I decided to not take anymore CBD and see how long this lasted. 3.5 days later the stomach pain returned, during that entire period I was not cold, not even once. I continued to take the CBD on a 2 day cycle and I am amazed at the results. Currently I have a bad cold that is in my lungs, throat and sinus. Normally I don't get sick but I guess because of all the immune suppressants I am taking the sickness takes hold and lasts longer. When I do get sick it usually means my crohns is going to torment me. Well I have been sick for 5 days and no stomach pain or chills. Great
I will continue to update this post for other Crohns patients. In the meanwhile a friend of mine sent me these links which seems to explain alot of what I am experiencing.

http://www.hightimes.com/read/beating-crohns-disease-cannabis-journey

http://theleafonline.com/c/science/2014/06/cannabinoid-profiles-crash-course-cbd/

http://www.crohnsforum.com/wiki/Medical-Marijuana

Thanks for listening to my journey

Personally I don't think that recreational MJ helps crohns patients very much with the exception of pain relief, sleep and appetite. High CBD strains have definitely caught my attention and seem to have removed my symptoms for now,,, time will tell I think.

It also helps with slowing the bowels down and therefore having less bowel activity (urgency and frequency, for me at least) which is huge for me and which are 2 huge things for me along with the great sleeps I have at night when I smoke before bed. If I smoke, then I can get quite a few hours of not having to use the toilet and tons of hours of undisturbed sleep, without it I can eventually fall asleep but it takes loner and sometimes I'll still have to get up and "go" in the middle of the night...with MJ those issues don't happen. I generally smoke just before we go out to have supper or do some shopping so that my time out isn't constantly being interrupted with having to use the toilet all the time...nothing more annoying than being in the middle of eating your supper (in public or home) and having to constantly get up to relieve either just gas or mucous or a full out BM, while at home I don't care as much although it's still very annoying, but in public it's down right embarrassing and I hated it.

No, just the same regular stuff, but I'm smoking it less, just sticking to smoking before bed for the most part and the odd time here and there if I'm going to be away from home for a long time (always have someone else driving of course). As soon as I can get this IBS-C under control then I'm going to try to quit smoking it all together and see how things go...I don't like it (the taste and smell and how goofy I get) but because it helps with my sleep and my guts I do it...and if I can get my guts under control then I'm going to stop smoking it before bed and see how that goes...never been a very good sleeper though so we'll see.

I don't know how to get access to that type of mj unfortunately but that must be nice to have lol!

Thanks for the info Matthew!! Very helpful....I'm going to start the FODMAP diet tomorrow to get my IBS-C on track now that my CD is in remission so hopefully I won't have to rely on MJ anymore for relief from my gut issues...hopefully a redesigned diet will be enough to do the trick! My dietitian (whom also has CD herself) is going to design a diet for me that will also aid when I flare with my crohn's again so that my body can handle the next flares better and not take me down so hard....she basically said that my current diet was borderline with an eating disorder so she wants me to become a healthy and proper eater lol so that I can carry it through the rest of my life and hopefully keep my IBS under control and have the upper hand for any future CD flares.

We'll see how it all goes I guess, then I'll know if I have to rely on MJ or not just to try and have better behaved guts.

Matthew Sawrie said...
The hemp plant is very high in CBD and almost zero THC, meanwhile the stuff sold on the street is bred for High THC and low CBD. For CBD to work there must be at least 1%THC. The easiest way to accomplish this is to grow a hemp plant then dry it and mix it with the street stuff. Or I believe CBD oil is now sold in the USA legally because it contains no THC so you can buy the oil and mix it with the other stuff to get the same effect.

Thank you very much. Great idea.

Does anyone from NY use MM for their Crohn's? This was passed as a legal medicinal use for Crohn's a while back, but my doctor has never brought it up as a possibility to add to my treatment (he is a pretty conservative doctor though - I think I have the most severe Crohn's he treats and the most he is willing to do to address pain is 2 50mg tramadol a day). I have obviously used marijuana recreationally in the past but have never really liked it as a recreational drug and never noticed it helping my Crohn's pain (even when I smoked it specifically to see if it would help). But I have heard that there are different medicinal strains that may be more beneficial. I'm wondering how this works in NY?

Myrne said...
Does anyone from NY use MM for their Crohn's? This was passed as a legal medicinal use for Crohn's a while back, but my doctor has never brought it up as a possibility to add to my treatment (he is a pretty conservative doctor though - I think I have the most severe Crohn's he treats and the most he is willing to do to address pain is 2 50mg tramadol a day). I have obviously used marijuana recreationally in the past but have never really liked it as a recreational drug and never noticed it helping my Crohn's pain (even when I smoked it specifically to see if it would help). But I have heard that there are different medicinal strains that may be more beneficial. I'm wondering how this works in NY?

This is the strain I take. https://aphria.myshopify.com/collections/strains/products/wilbur it is a Sativa as you can see in the link.

That's great Mathew!!! Wishing you continued success with this combination for you, I think I'm going to try the digestive enzymes after each meal and see if it helps with my constipation issues (that have gotten somewhat better but it comes and goes daily, some BM's are easier to pass than others but there's no rhyme or reason I can figure out why it's not more consistent at this point with the dietitian's help) I still smoke every night before bed to help with my sleep and on occasion when hubby is driving (I won't drive while under the influence of MJ) us out for errands/dinner...sadly the MJ doesn't aid with my constipation, but I'm glad it's not as severe as it was since the dietitian's help.

I agree NCOT, it's stupid that it's not legal everywhere yet and that booze is especially when you consider booze kills in many ways, like your liver for one and drunk drivers for another example.

Yes, sadly I know this all to well, hubby is an alcoholic and I've been watching him slowly kill himself with it for over 30 years, he started young (his idiot mother thought she was some cool mom buying her 14 year old booze!!) and he doesn't get why I resent her so much cuz she's so loving with me (she's an evil cheating B)...his whole family are drunks, all recovered (or dead) but he's still plugging away at suicide by booze, that's the only way I can see an alcoholic. I don't think he has many years left (he just turned 47).

Had my colonoscopy and crohns is drastically reduced. No longer have crohns in my colon only a small amount in my illium. My GI wants to do an endoscopy to see if there is any crohns at the previously infected area close to my stomach. I highly doubt there is any there as I no longer have any crohns symptoms. Thanks God because before I started this natural approach I was about to have surgery.

Post Edited (Matthew Sawrie) : 7/3/2015 9:34:08 AM (GMT-6)

All crohns is now gone, even my illium is crohns free now. A person I recently met has flaring Crohns and we both share the passion for fishing. I shared my experience and he started my program, so far he is progressing the same as I did. It is pretty cool to help people with this terrible disease. I don't know if it will work for everyone but it certainly is worth trying IMO.


6%CBD 1%THC once daily, Align Probiotics once daily, 4 Lychee per day, 2 digestive enzymes pills with every meal. Do not eat any type of bean, especially soybean oil.