cannabis and advanced liver cirrhosis - British Liver Trust

British Liver Trust

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cannabis and advanced liver cirrhosis

artur23 profile image
17 Replies

Hi everybody

Looking for any proved information,studies,personal experiences etc. about this topic.Is it safe to smoke cannabis for liver patient with portal hypertension and low platelets?

Anybody heard of any recent studies? Any personal experience? Any reliable facts/information?

Thank you!

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artur23
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17 Replies
AyrshireK profile image
AyrshireK

Smoking anything at all is rather frowned upon if it becomes possible you will need a transplant - your lung health is one of the major factors of the transplant assessment and is actually one of the things that can stop you getting a transplant. If anaesthetist says no then it's no.

Smoking an illegal substance is also not going to go down well either since it perhaps shows a non-compliance tendency and they demand total compliance in the pre and post transplant medical regime.

There are also elements of the affects of cannabis i.e. the fact some can become psycologically affected that wouldn't be great combined with the mental health effects of your ill health generally.

Whilst there is some research into cannabinoids and their benefits - the cannabis used medically is generally an oil with a monitored and certified quantity and quality. Smoking cannabis will not give the same levels of the 'perhaps' beneficial chemicals which the medical stuff does.

Personnally I would suggest it is a bad idea.

RodeoJoe profile image
RodeoJoe

That's a great reply Ayrshirek,

I can't really add anything except to say that first off any intoxicant, drug, chemical has to be processed by the liver, and therefore can be damaging to some extent.

Also I'd like to enforce that compliance is everything if you're ever going to need to consider a liver transplant. Even smoking is considered to be enough to turn you down, as the drugs you have to take afterwards can greatly increase your chances of cancer.

H1ghtower profile image
H1ghtower in reply to RodeoJoe

Hows it going then dog face. You still working at Leeds Universiy? What happened to the great dane pic?

RodeoJoe profile image
RodeoJoe in reply to H1ghtower

Not Leeds my friend. And it was a Labrador. Thought you'd left us. How are you?

I agree with Ayshirek. That Is good solid advice! I'm on

a transplant list myself and I know you definitely have to comply with all the rules. Besides, street Canabis is cut with chemicals that your liver will not be able to filter or process. If you did the compassionate way(as it's titled in Canada) the weed is grown in a chemically, germ free environment. The catch is your doctor must fill out the forms to get it. The form is processed and you will receive a membership card to carry with you, as it's illegal in Canada to have or buy weed. I would suggest talking with your doctor as weed can be made in butter form so you don't have to inhale you just make cookies, brownies out of it. This will eliminate any smoke entering your lungs. I hoped this helped!! Be well❣🇨🇦

H1ghtower profile image
H1ghtower

I,ve done loads of private studies and research on smoking cannabis myself.....i,m usually too stoned to write it up or "doing studies" as you put it though...i wouldn,t call it very scientific either. Joking aside, theres seems to be too much ambiguity and subjectiveness where smoking marijuana is concerned, and, as Areshyre says, the tobacco alone makes it a non-viable treatment, but, the negative effects of the tobacco in the joint are rarely brought up as a measured factor unless its smoking tobacco on its own (cig) without the cannabis. On a more serious note, i dont seem to get "stoned" as it where myself and i don,t notice much change mentally when i smoke it. Ive heard some people say its the only thing that can take to relieve chronic back pain and its essential but ive never experienced any pain relief personally ever!

You're probably wondering why i bother with it at all myself. The reasons i still smoke it are a bit too positive for a forum like this and i don,t want to seem to be advocated it as i,m genuinely totally against it for most people.

RodeoJoe profile image
RodeoJoe in reply to H1ghtower

I hear you, if only we were making the rules. But the powers that be frown upon deviants ;). You just have to make your choices and know the risks. "They" just don't like it, it could jeopardize a transplant, and that's the cold hard truth.

in reply to H1ghtower

Home grown small pipe no tobacco only when the pain is too much. See odt.nhs.uk/pdf/liver_select....

H1ghtower profile image
H1ghtower

Never been refered to as a deviant before...you sound a bitchy.....i dont really think you have a "dog face" you know.

RodeoJoe profile image
RodeoJoe in reply to H1ghtower

Didn't you notice the ;)

H1ghtower profile image
H1ghtower in reply to RodeoJoe

Yeah, but, i haven't a clue what it means!

AyrshireK profile image
AyrshireK in reply to H1ghtower

He's just bantering with you after you referred to his previous profile picture of the dog. He wasn't calling you a deviant in any malice way just pointing out that 'they', the powers that be, the medical professions what ever you want to call them frown upon those who deviate from the path that they see fit therefore anyone who deviates - takes cannabis in this context would be seen as being deviant i.e. not following the rules (as 'they' put them). It was jest hence the winking face. ;)

Hope you are doing ok anyway H1ghtower. :)

RodeoJoe profile image
RodeoJoe in reply to AyrshireK

Thank you AyrshireK, perfectly explained. Really no malice intended.

The internet is a tough place to be understood and a dry sense of humour and sarcasm can get me into trouble. After an initial reservation of the use of emoticons, for me they are essential tool for communication across the internet.

Unlike face to face where you can see a persons face and hear their tone, the internet is a very flat place in terms of communication. So for me emoticons give it an extra dimension.

Personally I don't spam them and prefer when the editor doesn't actually turn it into a smiley face :) and leaves it as :).

three I tend to use are :) ;) :(

cityman62 profile image
cityman62

Tough one this,and too big a question to answer meaningfully on a short message.Cannabis-case for legalising? Probably-great painkiller,organic-hopefully.Helps you sleep,stimulates appetite,chills you out,makes you appreciate life's pleasures deeply-sex/music/art/poetry etc.Alcohol, no case for legalising in a Civilised society-violence/deep addiction/kills appetite/prohibits sex/leads to neglect/child+family poverty.Just superficial,but objective thoughts from me.

cityman62 profile image
cityman62

Just on a lighter note-harking back to an article in 'high times',some years ago now,they pointed out there was only one ever death recorded due to excessive cannabis use-a 250kg bale fell on somebodies head!:-)))))

AyrshireK profile image
AyrshireK in reply to cityman62

A lot of people though also suffer a negative psychological effect - it might be they already have a predisposition to this and the cannabis acts as a trigger but I have personal experience of dealing with people with drug induced psychosis after using (only) cannabis for lenghty periods - sadly their suicides were also due to this predisposition to mental ill health combined with the cannabis so it isn't all "flowers and peace man".

However, I also totally agree that alcohol causes far more ills in society through violence, anti-social behaviour and crime together with its long term health effects than cannabis does.

cityman62 profile image
cityman62

Ayrshire, I agree totally,some peoples mental strength/health issues predisposes problems with cannabis use,the same applies to this very small group re alcohol, unfortunately,the purple press do love a 'reefer madness' story, we tend not to hear so much about the same issues/problems re alcohol-e.g.the shop windows kicked in/the head butts/ the 'broken glass'faces ruined,the youngsters sometimes literally kicked to death in our urban areas for fun.Why not??Because its 'normal',and therefore,unworthy of interest/comment....

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