There is a positive connection between marijuana/cannabis and HIV/AIDS. As the studies mentioned above have shown, it’s effective at treating many of the symptoms associated with the condition itself, as well as the side effects of antiretroviral therapy.
Medical cannabis is useful for:
Reducing peripheral neuropathy. A common form of pain that’s associated with HIV/AIDS is peripheral neuropathy, which occurs when the nerves outside your spinal cord and brain become damaged. This leads to impaired coordination, pain, muscle loss, paresthesia (a pricking or burning feeling that’s most commonly experienced in your arms, legs, hands or feet) and pain. A study found that 67 of 450 peripheral neuropathy sufferers felt that cannabis improved their symptoms. A 2005 survey of 143 HIV-positive respondents found that 90 percent of those patients reported improvement in their nerve pain.
Reducing pain. HIV/AIDS causes debilitating and severe pain. Taking cannabis can significantly mitigate this pain. The 2005 survey of more than 140 HIV-positive respondents noted above revealed that 94 percent of the patients received muscle pain relief as a result of using cannabis.
Improving mood and depression. Medicinal pot is known for elevating your mood. In the 2005 survey noted above, 86 percent and 93 percent reported improvements in their depression and anxiety, respectively, by using cannabis. Therefore, if you suffer from illness-related depression, it could go a long way toward helping you.
Thwarting nausea. There have been many anecdotal accounts of cannabis working well to treat feelings of nausea in HIV/AIDS patients. A study into the efficacy of Dronabinol, a man-made form of cannabis, found that patients had an average 20 percent improvement in their feelings of nausea. Ninety-three percent of the 2005 survey HIV-positive respondents indicated that they experienced nausea relief from medical marijuana.
Stimulating appetite. The 2005 study found that 97 percent of the 523 HIV-positive individuals surveyed found that taking pot improved their appetite. Maintaining a good calorific intake is crucial to fighting illness, so this figure is particularly promising.
As many as a third of HIV/AIDS sufferers experience uncompromising pain due to their antiretroviral therapy. Other side effects include weight loss, appetite loss, vomiting and nausea. These problems can be so harsh that some patients may abandon their treatment entirely.
According to information from the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, if you take cannabis alongside your HIV/AIDS treatment, you’re 3.3 times likelier to be able to continue with your conventional treatment.Marijuana/cannabis for HIV/AIDS seems to eliminate nausea, vomiting and appetite loss associated with HIV/ADS treatment. In turn, this allows you to stop losing weight while getting enough essential nutrients to support your body. Pot also targets the neuropathic pain you feel when undergoing drug therapy.
Additionally, recent research has shown that when you take marijuana, it inhibits the inflammation of the brain that’s associated with HIV/AIDS, as it stops the virus from attaching to your cells. It’s also been proven that cannabis can inhibit the virus replicating within your body.
According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM),”For patients such as those with AIDS or who are undergoing chemotherapy and who suffer simultaneously from severe pain, nausea, and appetite loss, cannabinoid drugs might offer broad-spectrum relief not found in any other single medication.”
Columbia University published clinical trial data in 2007 reporting that HIV/AIDS patients who inhaled cannabis four times daily experienced “substantial … increases in food intake … with little evidence of discomfort and no impairment of cognitive performance.” They concluded, “Smoked marijuana … has a clear medical benefit in HIV-positive [subjects].”
In 2008, researchers at the University of California at San Diego concluded that cannabis “significantly reduced neuropathic pain intensity in HIV-associated … polyneuropathy compared to placebo when added to stable concomitant analgesics. … Mood disturbance, physical disability, and quality of life all improved significantly during study treatment. … Our findings suggest that cannabinoid therapy may be an effective option for pain relief in patients with medically intractable pain due to HIV.”
Taking the above into consideration, medical marijuana is a positive and useful addition to your HIV/AIDS treatment.