Sunday 20 January 2019

Cannabis oil treatment (THC)

Dear Stephen, dear all!

What do you think about using cannabis oil with a high content of THC component to treat glioblastoma. (Exact component concentration is not known (but declared as high).

Based on recommendations of one doctor, the oil should be applied according to the following scheme (it's also known as Rick Simpson's scheme):
* first day - one drop x 2 times a day;
* then every three days increase intake by one drop in the morning and evening
* reach 24 drops (approximately 1 ml) and take this amount x 2 times a day.

There are a lot of wonderful stories about its anti-cancer effect in the Internet, especially in case of brain tumor. But then I found this research http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/64/6/1943.long#sec-10.

"Treatment of the glioblastoma cell line U373-MG and the lung carcinoma cell line NCI-H292 with nanomolar concentrations of THC led to accelerated cell proliferation that was completely dependent on metalloprotease and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) activity."

"In the light of these results, the use of cannabinoids in cancer therapy has to be reconsidered, because relatively high concentrations of THC induce apoptosis in cancer cells, whereas nanomolar concentrations enhance tumor cell proliferation and may, therefore, accelerate cancer progression in patients."

"Smoking of THC is the most effective route of delivery, as THC is rapidly absorbed after inhalation, and the effects become fully apparent within minutes. Pharmacological activity of smoked THC depends on the depth and length of inhalation. Maximum serum concentrations up to 267 ng/ml (850 nm) are measured after smoking THC, whereas maximum serum concentrations of oral or rectal administered THC or its derivatives as a drug are lower (35–350 nm). Here we observed a proliferative response of glioblastoma and lung cancer cells at concentrations of 100–300 nm THC, whereas THC at micromolar concentrations induced cell death in agreement with previous observations with neuronal cell types and immune cells. These findings indicate that the biological responses to cannabinoids critically depend on drug concentration and cellular context. Taken together, these results have to be taken into account when considering therapeutic applications of cannabinoids. The risk in the medical use of THC or cannabis for the treatment of patients with established tumors is the further acceleration of tumor growth due to the proliferative potential of cannabinoids."
Questions:

1. Has anyone tried to measure THC concentrationt in the blood? Are there any tests for home use that can show the quantitative content of this component in the blood? I know that there are tests for saliva and urine, but how to compare blood concentration and saliva/urine?

2. Perhaps it is easier to measure the THC concentration in one oil drop? And then to estimate what concentration it causes in the blood?

3. Do I understand correctly that THC has a cumulative effect when using daily and in principle it is real to achieve micromolar concentration after some time?

4. Is it possible to avoid the psychotropic effect with micromolar concentration?

5. Is THC effective by itself or only with radiation therapy or chemotherapy?

6. May be it's really better smoking if it allows to achieve more THC concentration? 

I am looking forward to your answers! Thank you!


And please accept my late congratulations with New Year! Let it be full of wonders! Health to all of you and your loved ones!

Irina

7 comments:

  1. Irina - My husband was using CO with a 1:1 cbd:thc ratio for about 7 mons. along with a PD-1 blocker immunotherapy until he was diagnosed with a recurrence and had a second craniotomy.

    I am wary now until there is more research and a clearer picture concerning dosage and drug interactions.

    Have you investigated Optune? I think that's what's kept him alive for the past two years.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for offering! Unfortunately, this method of treatment cannot be paid by the insurance company, since I am from Russia. It is very expensive (about 20,000 euro per month).

      Delete
    2. What scheme did you take the oil, what was the dosage?

      Delete
  2. Insurance for an Optune was an issue for us for a year. The company is very accomodating. Have you contacted them? He took about 30 ml daily of CO at the height, I think, after working up to it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. THC and CBD are a very complicated topic. The research is pretty immature at this point and is just barely getting into what the direct effects of are cannabinoids on cell receptors, let alone the secondary and significant effects on modifying function of the immune system, effects on vasculature, etc. To further complicate it there is tons of funny business going on with people promoting it for profit in less than transparent ways.

    I have oligodendroglioma and have flipped back and forth with whether or not to try it. I so far have decide a weak 'no' based on some info showing that it can have significant effects on shrinking micro vasculature and also reducing inflammation, which then has a serious risk of falsely making MRI's look better and essentially hiding cancerous growth.

    Hopefully more studies will start to clear the issue up some and the Sativex trial in the UK is starting to show some promise.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I thought to share this one, just published:
    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-08271-x

    I also found this to be of particular interest: https://virtualtrials.com/pdf2019/wong.pdf

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi everyone. I am diagnosed with glioblastoma brain tumour grade 3 and i wonder which % and dose to use of cbd oil? Right now im in a period using temodal in a circle of 5 days a row then rest 3 weeks then it goes on like that for months. Is there any problem using the cbd the same time as im having my treatment? Does anyone have further information about the cbd? Would be thankful for all help i can get. Sorry for my bad english. Thank you

    ReplyDelete