Is canabis tea any good for us?

[Research123]

I hear a lot of stuff about canabis oil etc and cancer - is it any help to us? Or no good at all? Look forward to your opinions!

[lankisterguy Volunteer]

Hi Research123,-

The entire subject of alternative medicines for CLL is controversial, as is anything associated with Cannibis and CBD.

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We have a number of pinned posts that attempt to separate the clinically proven treatments from those that have very limited clinical data, where testimonials and anectdotes are commonly used to "prove" the benefits.

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healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

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Len

[SofiaDeo]

Before I was on Venclexta treatment, I used CBD oil from cannabis (not hemp, hemp has almost zero CBD) to control pain. However, it affects liver enzymes. Since both my Venclexta and my simvastatin affect liver enzymes, I have stopped using it. Like many other things, it may or may not affect your CLL. If emotional stress is driving your CLL growth, and CBD helps your particular stress reduction, it may provide relief that's more acceptable than taking a pharmaceutical that can cause drowsiness or dizziness. I am unaware of any large, valid studies regarding cancer growth or suppression per se.

So I wouldn't recommend attempting to use it without advice from your docs. Also, the CBD oil I bought was a more expensive brand from a company that does quality control & testing. There are a lot of scammy products out there. Any cannabis product you are considering using is best researched for a high quality one.

[AussieNeil Administrator]

Read the relevant section in my research on the many treatments with little to no evidence here:healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

Note particularly the two fairly recent papers, which found respectively that the cannabinoid receptors in CLL don't trigger apoptosis and even more worrying, conclusive evidence that cannabinoids drive CLL cells from the blood into the nodes, causing the lymphocyte count to drop while the CLL is in its more active state.

Neil

[Research123 in reply to AussieNeil]

Thanks Neil appreciate it. Won't be taking that then. You're always a fount of wisdom!

[Lavinia-Blue in reply to AussieNeil]

Wow! Wonder if this applies to pain meds, anesthesia, etc.?

[SofiaDeo in reply to Lavinia-Blue]

Pain meds/anaesthetics affect receptors in the brain, not CLL cells, so unlikely. For example, the respiratory depression that narcotics cause is due to affects on that area of the brain, not on lung tissue.

The fact that CLL cells commonly overexpress cannabinoid receptors is where all the interest is coming from. Scientists are studying what stimulating these receptors means in the context of CLL.

[AussieNeil Administrator in reply to SofiaDeo]

See: Cannabinoid Receptors Are Overexpressed in CLL but of Limited Potential for Therapeutic Exploitation, from PLOS1, June 2016: journals.plos.org/plosone/a...