"Cannabis and Fibromyalgia"

Fibromyalgia is a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues.

Researchers believe that fibromyalgia amplifies painful sensations by affecting the way our brain process the painful and nonpainful signals.

They believe that the repeated nerve stimulation causes the brain and spinal cord of people with fibromyalgia to change.This change involves an abnormal increase in levels of certain chemicals in the brain that signal pain.

In addition, the brain's pain receptors seem to develop a sort of memory of the pain and become sensitized, meaning they can overreact to painful and nonpainful signals.

Fibromyalgia often co-exists with other conditions, such as:

-Irritable bowel syndrome

-Chronic fatigue syndrome

-Migraine and other types of headaches

-Interstitial cystitis or painful bladder syndrome

-Temporomandibular joint disorders

-Anxiety

-Depression

-Postural tachycardia syndrome

Many people with fibromyalgia are turning to the Medical Cannabis or in a CBD oil to treat chronic pain, anxiety and sleep deprivation or insomnia. Cannabis has properties that are known to help certain symptoms of fibromyalgia but lets see what the studies have to say about it...

"CBD & Liver Disorders"

Probably you'll have heard about an article in Forbes,  with title "CBD can cause liver damage"... 

Actually the article claims that CBD “could be damaging our livers in the same way as alcohol and other drugs." ... the evidense was taken by a study from researchers at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock.

Of course, they never mention that the drug that the researchers used was the EPIDIOLEX, wich is a prescription medicine that is used to treat seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome or Dravet syndrome in patients 2 years of age and older. 

Also the doses was extremely higher than the normal (20mg/kg)...

"Animals were gavaged with either 0, 246, 738, or 2460 mg/kg of CBD or with daily doses of 0, 61.5, 184.5, or 615 mg/kg for 10 days. A dose of 246 mg/kg was chosen as an initial dose as this is a MED analogous to those used in recent clinical trials (MED of 20 mg/kg CBD). 

Subsequently, researchers used doses of 738 and 2460 mg/kg CBD as 3× and 10× doses, respectively. Finally they demonstrated that CBD, when delivered orally to mice in the form of a concentrated CBD-enriched Cannabis extract, has the potential to cause liver injury...

So, on the basis of such an inaccurate article, we thought about doing our own research on CBD and the potential benefits it may have to the liver-related diseases...

"New Studies Reveals That Cannabis Helps PTSD Patients"

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that can develop after a person is exposed to a traumatic event.

This debilitating condition causes chronic problems like nightmares, panic attacks, hypervigilance, detachment from others, overwhelming emotions, and self-destructive behavior.

Unfortunatelly these overwhelming symptoms can even lead to suicide.

The current method of treating PTSD is to medicate the symptoms, not to actually treat the patient. In fact, many of the medications prescribed do the opposite and suppress the brain’s natural healing functions.

Because of this, many PTSD patients are stuck in a cycle: take pills, feel sedated, stop taking pills, then feel alive until the massive hammer of symptoms comes back. This is why we see so many veterans taking their own lives – not to mention the number of first responders who are suffering and who rarely get discussed.

Many PTSD patients have been saying for years that cannabis helps with their PTSD.

 

Previous research has shown that cannabis has the potential to reduce anxiety, or even prevent heightened anxiety in threatening situations. But up to this point, no studies had investigated this response in adults dealing with trauma - such as those with PTSD. 

Two new studies point to the way that cannabinoids may help treat PTSD. One shows how cannabis can reduce activity in the amygdala (part of the brain associated with fear responses to threats) andd the other suggests that the plant’s cannabinoids could play a role in extinguishing traumatic memories. Both effects could be therapeutic for those suffering from PTSD - according to those studies.

"The Antimicrobial Activities of Phytocannabinoids"

Novel antimicrobial drugs are urgently needed to counteract the increasing occurrence of bacterial resistance. 

Extracts of Cannabis sativa have been used for the treatment of several diseases since ancient times. 

It has been demonstrated that several cannabinoids show potent antimicrobial activity against primarily Gram-positive bacteria including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). As first in vivo efficacy has been demonstrated recently, it is time to discuss whether cannabinoids are promising antimicrobial drug candidates or overhyped intoxicants with benefits.

The worldwide spread of bacterial resistance against market antibiotics has been identified as one of the major threats to public health by scientists and healthcare authorities. Thus, new antibacterial strategies and antibacterial compounds are urgently needed to counteract the increasing occurrence of antibiotic-resistant and, especially, multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens, to keep the live-saving advantages toward bacterial pathogens. 

In 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) emphasized the crucial need for antimicrobial drug development against a group of 13 different genii, families, and specific species of pathogenic bacteria.The real problem is that the vast majority of these prioritized bacterial pathogens are drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria.

However, antimicrobial resistances are also increasing in Gram-positive bacteria and, among the high priority pathogens, the Gram-positive pathogen Staphylococcus aureus is the leading cause of both healthcare and community-associated infections worldwide, and a major cause for morbidity as well as mortality.

"CBD Improves Blood Flow to Brain’s Hippocampus"

Cannabidiol (CBD) increases cerebral blood flow to areas of the brain associated with memory processing, specifically the hippocampus. The findings identify a potential mechanism for the use of CBD to treat disorders associated with altered memory processing, including Alzheimer’s disease, PTSD, and schizophrenia.

A single dose of cannabidiol (CBD) helped increase blood flow to the hippocampus, an important area of the brain associated with memory and emotion, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.

Researchers say the findings could be an important discovery for conditions which affect memory, such as Alzheimer’s disease and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and could help better target therapies.

In the study, published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, researchers set out to investigate how CBD influences cerebral blood flow in different regions on the brain involved in memory processing.

Lead author, Dr Michael Bloomfield (UCL Psychiatry) said: “Cannabidiol is one of the main constituents of cannabis and is gaining interest for its therapeutic potential.