Saturday 16 December 2017

Understanding Cannibas benefits/dosage (separating out CBD from THC)


Hello Lovely Group,

In need of some cannabis education!

There seems to be LOTS of info on using Cannibas in Brain Tumors for various reasons.  I'd like to understand this more so that my husband can get some relief (who's biggest issue lately is sleep disturbance).  However, I'd like to learn all the benefits of Cannibas for brain tumors and learn best doses to get the most healing out of this substance.

Here are the issues that we hope to improve and/or resolve with cannabis:
1. Improve night time sleep (less waking up and less trouble falling back to sleep)
2.  Decrease inflammation/swelling:  He's post 2nd tumor removal surgery and it takes longer to heal 2nd time around (especially after all that radiation and he was on plerixafor study which exacerbates radiation effect) so he's had lots of treatment swelling (results in speech stumbling and word finding issues).
3.  Improve Daytime alertness:  He's back to work at a busy job and could CBD give him more alertness and  energy for the day.
4.  Decrease risk of seizures (he hasn't had any lately, but hoping the cannabis on board will keep his seizure risk low. 

NEXT Question is How Much?  Dose, Dose Range, in what form-edible, oil, leaf, smoke, ingest?

I've heard that it's best to separate out the THC from the CBD.  (THC for night/sleep)\ CBD for Day use).  Is that a correct understanding? 

THC (Indica vs Sativa)
THC for Night (How much?  what dose? AND in what form?  Chewables?, Oil (is oil smoked or put into food?) other??? I know we'll probably have to play with this a bit, but is there a range to start with?  Also, should it be the Indica/Setiva combo or separate out Indika (just use that) or Just Setiva?  

CBD:  How much, what dose? What dose range? Chewables? oil? other ???  Especially for someone who is working all day and wants to maintain high functionality, focused thinking, good memory, good concentration?  

Best research literature on these topics that you recommend?  Please send links :-)


This Quote seems perfect for all my questions today:

"Perhaps the secret of living well is not in having all the answers but in pursuing unanswerable questions in good company."    Rachel Naomi Remen

Thank You fellow bloggers for your Good Company on this Journey.

Sending Love, Light and Healing to ALL.

Kelly

20 comments:

  1. I'm not sure where you live, but have you considered looking into working with a professional cannabis consultation practice, such as GreenBridge, Aunt Zelda's, or Green Health. All three of these have been discussed on this blog.

    http://www.greenbridgemed.com/
    https://auntzeldas.org/
    http://www.greenhealthconsultants.com/

    To review these discussions, you can click on the "cannabis_oil_consultants" label and the "cannabinoids_THC_CBD" label on the right side panel.

    http://btcocktails.blogspot.com/search/label/cannabis_oil_consultants

    There's a lot of conflicting information out there, and I think it would be good to talk to someone who has worked with a lot of patients using medical cannabis, who can help tailor a protocol suited to your husband's needs.

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  2. Thank You. This is helpful! Live in Northern Cal Bay Area, thus decent access.

    Kelly

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  3. Personally I had no luck with marijuana. I was hoping it would prevent nausea, headaches and relaxation. Not only did it not help, it gave me bad headaches and wiped me out. I tried it both as a tincture, Rick Simpson oil and edibles; all contained both THC and CBD.

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  4. My 21 year old son is using CBD (150mg/d) and THC (75mg/d) in Rick Simpsons oil or olive oil for 18 months now. We are in bay area and order these from Aunt Zelda's. He takes CBD in 2 doses during the day and THC 1 hour before bed. He will then sleep for 9-10 hours. He managed completing college and working full time while on this treatment. He was diagnosed with GBM 22 months ago.

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  5. Thank You! So grateful to hear these stories of what's working and not and the dosages, oils/edibles, etc. Very Very Helpful.

    Kelly

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  6. Canabis oil in my sister experience help not cure the brain tumor but help to avoid headache

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  7. CBD is legal in Texas and we used it very successfully to stop my husband's seizures. In fact, four drops would stop one in literally less than 30 seconds. I was amazed. As far as stopping the tumor, we got on board too late. Getting connected to the medical-cannabis underground took too long and after he hit his head, forcing him to go on Avastin, it went downhill. I was too scared to smuggle it into the hospital. I couldn't take care of him from jail.

    We did see enough improvement, though, when he first went on that I would do it again, but first I would consult with Mara Gordon at Aunt Zelda's. If the young man who answers the phone is stoned, don't let it stop you from making an appointment with her, like happened with us. We liked Dr. Frankel at Greenbridge and Eloise at Green Health Consultants but in retrospect and from listening to her lectures, we both wish we had not let her employee deter us from talking to her.

    Keep in mind that not all people react euphorically to CO. My husband was a Type A personality who liked to be in control. He became dysphoric, not euphoric, when starting his CO and I had to increase his doses upward painfully slowly. In fact, I very much wish I had put him on a plane and taken him to see Dr. Courtney (https://youtu.be/ztiXZ4T1WVY) because Dr. Courtney treats his patients with fresh cannabis, which has no psychoactive effect on the brain.

    Best of luck to you. I encourage you to continue to think outside the box. GBMs love the "box".

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  8. My husband has been taking full extract cannabis oil since 1 month after his craniotomy. Unfortunately his tumor has returned in a new place 8 months later, whether the CO slowed it down or not who knows? It took awhile to get his body accustomed to it and he was often dizzy and not able to function from it even with taking the THC at night. We started with a grain of rice size and worked up to about a tenth of a gram. We have a wide selection of oils with varying percentages of CBD and THC. I just rotate them because who knows what does what, there are also other compounds, CGG, CBN etc. I try for as much THC as possible, usually around 75 mg and same with the CBD. I have read different things about Indica and Sativa making a difference and have not noticed one with my husband. Overall now it puts him in a good mood, he often gets the giggles. He has never had a problem sleeping so I can't say it helps but it did help with nausea. He did not like the way it tastes so I put it in empty gelatin capsules and add MCT oil to help with fat solubility. Good luck.

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  9. Who knows where possible buy Perillyl alcohol? Thanks in advance

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  10. I spoke to Green Health Consultants, this is the dosage they'd recommended to me for GBM per day for highest impact:
    200 mg THC
    200 mg CBD
    50 mg THCa

    Rick Simpson's protocol of 1g per day, they said isn't really needed and is slightly outdated.

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  11. I had a consultation with Dr Allan Frankel and for a massive and diffused AA3, he has advised:

    30 mg THC
    30 mg CBD
    1 gm of Cannabis flowers a day (hand crushed) to get THCa. Not to be grinded since heat could convert some THCa into THC

    Dr Frankel's views was that 30mg of each is exactly Sativex that has been shown to be effective in a Glioblastoma trial when it was administered with Temozolomide (that's what my wife is on at the moment).

    How does that sound for dosage of a massive and diffused AA3?

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    1. See previous discussion and comments here:
      http://btcocktails.blogspot.com/2017/02/sativex-dosage.html

      That maximum dosage of Sativex in the GBM trial (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01812603) was based on its approved usage in multiple sclerosis and cancer pain management. It is not necessarily the optimal dose for anti-tumor effects, and higher doses might be even more effective. The phase 1/2 GBM trial is a good starting point but isn't the last word on the matter.

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    2. Thank you Stephen. Interestingly the following wording in the trial imply that the dose can be 12x starting dose (which would make it 360 mg of CBD and THC each) as long as it is well tolerated. Let me ask Dr Frankel again as to what it is about.

      Administered orally as a spray to the cheek according to a standard dose titration regimen, until patients reach a maximum tolerated dose (maximum 12 sprays per day). Each spray delivers 100 μl (Δ9tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), 27 mg/ml: Cannabidiol (CBD), 25 mg/ml).

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    3. The approximately 30 mg of CBD and THC is what you would get from the maximum dose (12 sprays).

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    4. Each spray delivers 2.7 mg THC and 2.5 mg CBD.

      The math is like this:

      "Each spray delivers 100 μl (Δ9tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), 27 mg/ml: Cannabidiol (CBD), 25 mg/ml)."

      100 μl (microliters) = 0.1 ml (milliliters)

      27 mg/ml = 2.7 mg per 0.1 ml (THC)
      25 mg/ml = 2.5 mg per 0.1 ml (CBD)

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    5. Gotcha, very clear. Thank you Stephen!

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  12. It seems low to me but, as flighty as Dr. Frankel can come across, he is actually very well read and I do trust him. If you are in a state that allows you to get whole cannabis, I would heartily agree that you should take the whole flowers. In fact, I'd even more heartily recommend you put raw cannabis leaves in your daily smoothies and/or juice. https://youtu.be/7xPmR8j4plw

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    1. Thank you SJ, very helpful advice. And have you got a view on an appropriate/effective dosage for anti-tumour effects?

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  13. My husband's goal toward the end was (if memory serves) 100mg THC, 20mg THCa, and 200mg CBD. The high CBD was to control seizures after he hit his head playing with the dog. Fresh cannibis, if I could have gotten it, would have worked better because it is not psychoactive and we could have given it to him in larger doses, and he would have benefited from the entire spectrum of the cannabinoids. He was too type A to get to those high dosages of the pure oils easily, experiencing dysphoria, not euphoria with the THC. I would have preferred to grind up the cannabis leaves and flowers whole, in whatever quantity Dr. Courtney (see the referenced video url above) said to. If I could not have gotten my husband to see Dr. Courtney, I would have started with four whole leaves and kept going upward, adding more leaves and flowers, as far as I could. You just have to play it by ear and "read" the patient's body when going it alone. It can be scary but fortunately, the docs in the cannabis community are usually willing to consult via Skype or FaceTime. Best of luck to you.

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  14. An afterthought...I have seen various videos of doctors who lecture on the use of cannabis and have been quite impressed with Dr. Mara Gordon's thoughts on the various strains' effects on different cancers. Have a look at this lecture she gave: https://youtu.be/7ljl7d44yOA She gives a good overview of using cannabinoids, in general, and starts to discuss GBMs around the 13-second mark.

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