Remission with marijuana

Hello all, haven't been on here in a long time. I have been in full blown remission for a year and a half now and can't believe how much better life is. I have had severe UC for 16 years now. Up until a year and a half ago I had been in a constant state of flare for 2.5 years since last remission. It was bad, I was losing weight I was doing everything in my power that I knew to do eating wise, mediciation wise and nothing was working.

The only thing that had worked for me in the past was remicade but even that stopped working to full effect. My doctor had the conversation with me about having a colectomy and getting a j-pouch. This not only scared me to death but I just was not ready at my young age of 40.

Almost two years go I went to another doctor for a second opinion. This doctor wanted me to try remicade again. A slightly increased doseage from my previous (though my previous was high) so that I would be at max doesage used in the medical community. I also would go in for 6 week infusions rather than 8 week. So we did that, and there was some relief. The frequency was less and the stoll was not as watery and my weight loss slowed down but I was not in remission after 4 months and I know my body after all this time and I knew that was likely as good as it was going to get....

This was at the point I decided to try an alternative method of marijuana. I did not go into it lightly. I discussed the matter at length with my wife who is a nurse. I also discussed it with an alternative medicine practitioner we know. To that end I decided to try it. Just a small amount two to three days a week before bed time was what we decided. (While still doing remicade). The results were remarkable. I started getting formed stools and a somewhat more normal person's bowel movements within 2 weeks. The first year I would still have the occasional soft stool movement and while I stopped losing weight I wasn't gaining either but I could tell things were just continuing to get better.

Sometime around 13 months in I noticed I started gaining weight. I had not changed eating or excercising habits but I did start gaining weight. I was so used to ingesting large amounts of whole food and organic calories just to keep from losing weight my eating habits were healthy yet out of the norm and it had finally started catching up with me. Sufficed to say I have now gained 22 lbs in the last 6 moths and actually need to start looking at excercising harder and eating more strictly and worrying about calories for the first time in almost 12 years.

I realize it very could well be the combination of remicade and marijuana that is the cause for my remission and even the healing of the colon, but I can tell you I am certain remicade wasn't going to do it on it's own. I can also tell you the marijuana has had unbelieveable effects on that part of my body. I won't lie, there are downsides. I don't have access to the "oils" or other ways of getting the marijuana into my body without the psychotrophic effects so I have to be careful of when and where I do it. I also note that it isn't the greatest for the lungs. And our state has ot yet legalized it for medical purposes so I cannot even tell my gastro about it or it could really screw some things up in my normal day to day life. But I am a walking, talking breathing example of KNOWING it has positive effects. I can lead a normal life. Do you know I am now finally to the point that I do not even think about or worry about where the nearest bathroom is anymore. I don't get night sweats anymore. I have a normal regular bowel routine just like before I got the disease. I have my old life back. I was also becoming impossible to live with. I would lash out, fight and at times was just plain mean because I was so miserable. And the unfortunate part is it feels like if you do not have the disease you just don't understand and there seems to be little empathy from those who don't have it. They think it's comical, or whimsical, or that we are making more of it than we should. But it was an honest to god living nightmare that never went away and it made me a miserable human being. But I am now feeling so much better I can work on that and work on repairing the interpersonal relationship damage that was collateral damage of the disease.

Anyway, I know it won't be for everyone but there is something very very real about what marijuana can do for this disease (and potentially other autoimmune diseases) and it needs to be studied further and brought into more of a mainstream positive light. IMHO. I hope this helps some of you.

Hey, if it works, it works! I'm glad you finally found some relief.

sfc425 said...
I agree that this helps. It always has worked for me.

but I believe this topic is going to be locked and/or deleted because of the legality of it all, unfortunately

It might be but with so many states legalizing it for medical purposes maybe they will recognize that. I am not advocating recreational useage here. it is a very real medical thing with medical implications and this site can be seen in places where it is legal and where it is illegal still. I guess we will find out.I just want to share so that if there is someone it can help, even just one person, it's worth it

Couldn't tell from reading your story but it is possible that the marijuana has absolutely nothing to do with your remission and that the smoking part of it is what is actually responsible. There is much evidence that smoking (especially for ex-smokers) can put you into remission. Now I'm not saying that MM can't relieve some symptoms and make you better but I don't believe I've seen a case where it actually put someone into remission unless it was the smoking part of the process which was actually responsible.

garylouisville said...
Couldn't tell from reading your story but it is possible that the marijuana has absolutely nothing to do with your remission and that the smoking part of it is what is actually responsible. There is much evidence that smoking (especially for ex-smokers) can put you into remission.

I have never smoked cigarettes a day in my life. I haven't read the smoking thing before but I have always believed stress to be a major trigger of the disease, so that might lend credence to your theory but the ex-smoker thing might be that smoking again does relax them and they feel less stress than when they are freaking out over the nicotine urges. I have no scientific evidence but I believe what helps is that it "slows down" everything when you smoke it. Your mind, your body, the immune system, everything slows down and able to take a breath and repair itself.. It also makes it so you sleep better and longer without interruption which is a major help in the healing process. Again, I don't know the scientific reasons why, which is why in my opinion it deserves to be researched and figure out why it helps.

Post Edited (butte1) : 1/22/2015 10:30:08 AM (GMT-7)

I use a vaporizer. Works great. Not sure it helps my UC, though. LOL

I'm not sure if this is allowed here if not. If not, I'm sorry. Just trying to help.

Here is what I do...
You have to pre cook your mj at 250f for 20 minutes. Just put however much you are going to make in some foil and lightly close it. Crumble it up a little before, but you'll be able to crumble it much better after cooked. Warning - it will smell for an hour or so.
While it's cooking spread some peanut butter or nutella (you need fat to bind to the mj, so the more fat the better) on a cracker. I've used graham cracker, ritz, Nilla wafer, so whatever really.
After the mj cooks for 20 minutes, crumble it as fine as you can. The best way to describe amount is for me to just say lightly sprinkle it so it is covering all of the peanut butter on the cracker. Then take a tooth pick and make sure you mix it up so that all of your mj is covered in peanut butter. Take another cracker and lightly spread with more peanut butter then put on top of the mj side to complete the cookie. Lightly wrap it in foil then cook again for 20 minutes this time at 300 f.

Store in freezer. Be careful with how much you eat, because they can be potent. There is a fine line between feeling good and "holy crap when is this going to end". By estimation if you're using a graham cracker, they come in fours per sheet. I make one cookie out of one rectangle for top and one for bottom. Start off by eating about an 1/8th of that and wait at least 45 minutes. That should be a good guide for how much you want to start with.

there are more ways out there where you can make oil or butter, but this is the most easiest and fastest way I have found while still giving great results.

gary, from my experience I feel that MJ definitely had a huge impact with my remission, I was already starting to feel better before starting Humira, then with Humira and MJ I went into remission...cigarettes never did that for me (although I do give credit to cigarette smoking as well since I was much worse off when I wasn't smoking compared to when I do smoke)...a big part of remission is relief from symptoms.

IDK Gary may be right, there might be something in the combustion....I'm a former smoker unwilling to go back to tobacco, willing to try MMJ if it would help but don't like feeling dumbed down high. If I could get a good dose and not get "high" I'd be willing to try it.

deeppowder, I have a question I wonder if you could answer, what about the powder from MJ when you put it through a grinder (grinder that has the shallow bottom that screws off, where all the powder collects from when you grind up your MJ...any info you have on that powder would be greatly appreciated thanks!

Thanks deeppowder, I didn't know it could be pressed into hash...I just sprinkle some on top of a bowl (as you mentioned) don't find a whole lot of difference and I was told by someone else that a little "goes a long way" so to speak, yet I never notice much of a difference from adding it to not adding it to a bowl...thanks again, I was just curious if there was anything more to the powder. Do you know if it can be added to food rather than smoked to get any positive effect from it without getting the stoned in the mind feeling? I want my body to feel good, not so much my mind to be stoned in the process lol!

I was diagnosed in 2010 had a resection late 2010. Was on 6mp for 2 years before i had to stop due to how groggy it was making me. So late December 2011 I started using the ole lady, and i have been in remission ever since, no drugs. I just had a colo in may, came back amazingly clean. Docs are quite baffled, but i haven't told them i use either. Stools went from leftout pudding to almost normal relatively quick. Now if they could only find something for arthritis, even with using the arthritis still kills me.