Does cannabis oil work?

[mankhodam]

Hi 

is there any one here that had success or knowa any one else with success from cannabis oil for PC?

[BrentW]

I tried it, but it merely made me feel nauseous while not slowing the rise of my PSA. 

[cesanon]

That is the wrong question.... almost guaranteed to get a non-useful answer.

The right question is: Is there any peer reviewed research indicating the cannabis or cannabis oil has any effect on prostate cancer.

[timemail50 in reply to cesanon]

There are no 'wrong' questions. And from a review of replies to Mankhodam, he may have already received some useful answers. Also, not all cures and remissions are documented in peer reviewed research. If 10 men say that they resolved their PCa using 'x-y-z' I'm not going to dismiss their experience just because it's not documented in the medical literature.

[Neal-Snyder in reply to timemail50]

Also, our federal government is heavily interfering with cannabis research, preventing us from having the answers we should have by now.

[mshariff]

I recommend you go to FB Cannabis site. Lots of good info. For me I used it during Kemo and the nights having trouble sleeping, and it worked for those occasions.

[Charlean]

I am not sure if you were on the old site, advanced prostate cancer, 

groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups...

Search the old messages and you should find many replies about this subject. Many of us truly believe that cannabis oil has done so much in the relief of symptoms of the cancer as well as other isses..if nothing else but there are also those who feel it has truly slowed the progression as well. My husband was able to get off blood pressure meds, antidpressants, most of the diabetic meds, he could finally sleep, and he was able to stop taking hydrocodone and fentanyl for his neuropy as it wasn't really working anyway. It took a few weeks to get used to it and so he slept for quite awhile but that was how we cut back on the addictive drugs for pain.  For us, this made such an improvement in his life, that even if it didn't cure his cancer, it helped him immensely in other ways. Others have used certain varieties to help with appetite with great success. No appetite is a serious problem for many. You will certainly have others who feel it is of no benefit or feel its not a good option, but you are on the right track by researching. 

Charlean and Harley

[joeoconnell]

i started on Hemp oil 1st of Feb and then switched to Cannabis oil during March so far it has it has stabilized my PSA. it may be to early to tell for sure, but i figure it is worth a try

  

[Scmaggi in reply to joeoconnell]

Joe,

It has stabilized your PSA since March? That is not much time to acumulate data.    Can you tells how much your PSA was moving before and aftet and if you were doing anything else in the way of treatments that might have been a contributing factor? 

Thanks, 

Stan

[mankhodam in reply to joeoconnell]

NICE TO HERE IT, WHAT IS YOUR RATIO AND FROM WHICH CANNABINOIDS? 

[MauriceGuiney in reply to joeoconnell]

Hi Joe, about to get my dad on CBD and THC and would like to understand your condition at present if you wouldn't mind ?

[joeoconnell in reply to MauriceGuiney]

i went to see a Dr to get a prescription ( here in Colo you skip some of the tax, if you have a prescription ) the Dr told me that due to other things wrong with me, that dying from cancer should not be a concern

[Kevin69 in reply to joeoconnell]

can i ask, how much canabis oil you were using per day?

[joeoconnell in reply to Kevin69]

i am unclear wether i was taking it one at a day or or two. but it was i,000mg each time. also i tried CBD 2:1. i did not feel any benefits from my trial run

[joeoconnell]

please check back with me in 6 months or a year, maybe by then i will have more to go on

[cesanon]

"Also, not all cures and remissions are documented in peer reviewed research." 

True

"If 10 men say that they resolved their PCa using 'x-y-z' I'm not going to dismiss their experience just because it's not documented in the medical literature."

What we have learned over the last 100 years or so, is that without statistically verified results.... you have nothing. Not a thing. ZIP. 

Relying on anecdotal evidence is risky behavior. I would put it on the level of your daughter saying its OK to sleep around and she knows who she is sleeping with.... so what could possible go wrong?

What do you say to a daughter who is talking like that???

[cesanon]

Ohh one other thing.

Anecdotal evidence of the effect of cannabis should be expected to be particularly unreliable.

People use it with a belief system which predicts it will be helpful. This can produce a measurable placebo effect that is reproducable or is not reproducable. Or a placebo effect of perception that is nothing more than a mirage.  

Given that cannabis has a lot of complex components of complexity not unlike that of hormones that can have a negative effect. It is fully possible that despite the anecdotal evidence to the contrary it may be harmful.

But without the statistically validated results, how can you know?

ANSWER: You can't. You just can't. 

[wellness]

When I first got diagnosed, I use cannabis oil for 2 months at a dose of over 1 gram per day. This is a fairly high dose and I was optimistic that it would bring my PSA down, but it did not. The PSA remain stable. I then went on Lupron therapy. I have continued to take the cannabis oil for sleep and to counteract the side effects of the Lupron. It is very helpful for that. In fact without the cannabis oil I cannot sleep due to the side effects of the injection.

[Robertleeb in reply to wellness]

I am also on Lupron and casodex, the hot flashed was scary. so I take the casodex pill before bed and doing canaby oil also in high doses to relieve the hot flashes ,it seems to be working , not to much wet shirt in the middle of the night and having to change my tshirt. I am also interested to see if any positive changes as a protocol with my Hormone therapy . I read that casodex and CBD work great together,I know canaby oil has CBD and THC probably more THC but the high doses should make CBD work. I'll find out on monday for my CT scan.

[Hidden in reply to Robertleeb]

Hello! How are you doing? My question about less hot flashes: did you take CBD or THC and how much?

[Tak-Druk]

When I found out that I had metastatic PC I was really resistant to starting Androgen Deprivation Therapy.  I wanted to see if I could control my PSA with diet and other approaches first.  I took about 7-8 months to experiment on myself.  Along with major dietary changes and other naturopathic supplements and approaches, during this time I used cannabis oil, building up to over very high doses of oil with both CBD and THC for almost 3 months.  With the doses I was taking, I could be very altered and that was challenging... (fun sometimes, but in the long term it was challenging.)  I would take a smaller dose in the morning, and a larger dose at night.  Much of the time I could not safely drive.  I took time off from working to do it (there is no way I could have been working!)

My PSA was still rising at a steady rate through this time.  If it had stayed flat or dropped, I might have continued.  But I finally went along with Lupron.

The cannabis oil continues to be great for helping me sleep.  It was also really nice to take the edge off the chemo side effects when I combined docetaxel with the start of ADT.  I still often take it orally at night with a balance of CBD and THC.  I have a doctor at UCSF who fully supports continued use.  It wasn't a miracle cure, but she's been helpful and healing plant for me nonetheless.  And it's a personal thing, but I can and do enjoy the mental and physical effects

[wellness in reply to Tak-Druk]

I had a similar experience.  I am wondering how much cannabis oil you were using.  I went up to over a gram per day.  IMPORTANT:  you can take a lot more of the oil, with minimal side effects, if you take it rectally.  I made a rectal syringe by emptying a fleet enema bottle.  I mixed the cannabis oil with a bit of coconut oil and used it rectally.  This way there are little or on side effects.  I now take it orally at night by capsule, because I WANT the side effect of sleepiness.  I am depending on the lupron to bring down the PSA.  The only allopathic medication I am taking is lupron.  I am doing blood ozone therapy.  The only discomfort I have is the lupron side effects...severe hot flashes.

[Tak-Druk in reply to wellness]

Hi-  My intake was based upon the CBD and THC content of the oil, but I went up to about 500-600 mg of each... that was between 1-2g of oil per day.  I worked with a patient collective and learned some from others experience... I was going higher than most people (but not all: people have different reactions/tolerances and some people really seem to push themselves, perhaps like I did.)  I also had a misunderstanding of the recommendations... when clarified, I was told that the general feedback from others experience was that building up to a 4:1 ratio of THC to CBD was a good target.  It also depends on body weight... for somebody around 190 lbs, like me, we calculated a rough target of 400mg THC to 100mg CBD.

I'm sorry to hear about your hot flashes... I am on Lupron and bicalutimide for almost 2 years now.  My hot flashes are an annoyance, but not overwhelming.  They tend to be more frequent at night, and they do interrupt my sleep some.  Sex drive is GONE... though I still have some ability to have less-than-stellar erections; so I can actually have sex, and orgasms sometimes.

[wellness in reply to Tak-Druk]

Thanks so much for this thorough reply.  I was able to start out at 1.25 mg oil per day by taking it both orally and rectally.  That amounted to about 450mg  or more per day of THC.  I don't have a clue how much CBD was in there. And yes, I have the same experience, can actually have sex but the desire is not there, and the hot flashes are mostly at night.  I sweat so much the bed is drenched, then I freeze from the evaporation.  Sheesh.  Looking into herbal remedies marketed to women.

[tclementi]

Here's a video that might help! patientpower.info/video/dea...

[wellness]

It seems to be a mixed bag.  Just heard of a guy who reduced a large tumor to next to nothing with cannabis oil.  I used it at about 1.25 g per day, mostly rectal doses, for 2 mo.  The PSA remained high and stable.  I then went on lupron.  I continue to take the cannabis oil for sleep.  I have found other holistic interventions much more helpful, personally.

[Neal-Snyder]

Which other holistic interventions? Did any of them reduce your PSA?

[AlanMeyer]

I'd like to emphasize something Cesanon said.  It is not possible to get good information about the curative effects of any treatment from anecdotal evidence.  There are many reasons why this is so, and he pointed out some.  Here are some more:

1. If five million people do something and five of them say it cured their cancer, does that mean anything?  You have the evidence of just one person in a million.

2. What else have the anecdote reporters done?  I once saw a website made by a man who said he had "compelling proof" that a macrobiotic diet cured his prostate cancer.  Down in the weeds in his website I saw that he also had treatment with radiation and Lupron.  I asked him how he knew that diet cured his cancer, surely it was the treatment.  His answer amounted to, "I just felt that it was the diet that did it."

3. What did they actually take?  Cannabis comes in many forms and doses and some things sold as cannabis may not even be cannabis at all.

4. How is it administered?  Do we know absorption rates?  Some take it orally.  Some smoke it.  One person posting here took it rectally.  How do we compare the doses in these cases?  Anecdotes provide few or no standards of comparison.

My feeling about cannabis is that there are in vitro (i.e., "in glass", or test tube type) experiments that show that cannabis has some anti-cancer properties.  It has also been used, relatively safely, by many millions of people.  I know of know trials that have shown that it cured anyone, however there is documented evidence that it can help with side effects of cancer treatment such as sleeplessness, nausea, and poor appetite. 

So I think it's reasonable to believe that it won't make your cancer worse, and it is worth trying if you suffer from sleeplessness, nausea, or poor appetite.

[paulofaus]

I have been looking into the following. I know there are loads of charlatans on the web, but this one appears legit and they are not selling anything. Has anyone else looked into this?

patients4medicalmarijuana.w...