With medical marijuana becoming legal in more countries and states, experts have expressed fears that it may be used as a treatment for more conditions though there is lacking data. What’s more, health may be harmed when cannabis is used to treat some conditions. But so far, preliminary research has shown that cannabis can be used to treat Tourette syndrome and schizophrenia.
About Tourette Syndrome
Tourette syndrome refers to a neurological disorder that a person develops in childhood, and it’s characterized by involuntary vocalization and movements or tics, which can be embarrassing, functionally impairing, and painful.
Currently, Tourette syndrome doesn’t have a known cure. The available conventional treatment aims at helping the patient control involuntary vocalization and movements that can inhibit daily functioning. Nevertheless, the available medication for Tourette syndrome tends to have adverse effects like sleepiness, depression, and weight gain. It’s for this reason that some people consume the herb as a treatment for Tourette syndrome by using best portable vaporizer for dry herb – useful reference here.
Conventional Treatment for Tourette syndrome
Generally, Tourette syndrome is characterized by clinical presentation changes and complex symptomatology. This makes treating the condition challenging. In most cases, treatment for Tourette syndrome includes either pharmacotherapy using anti-psychotic drugs or behavioral therapy. Behavioral therapy may not cause harmful effects when used to treat this condition. However, only 30% of tic improvement is achieved on average.
Pharmacotherapy done with antipsychotics tends to be more effective, resulting in about 50% of tics reduction. Nevertheless, some patients do not respond positively to antipsychotic medication. In fact, most patients experience side effects like weight gain, sexual dysfunction, and sedation.
Patients with other psychiatric disorders have to combine treatments because there is no transparent therapeutic approach for improving tics and psychiatric comorbidities. As such, most patients and their loved ones are not satisfied with the available conventional treatment for Tourette syndrome. For this reason, they turn to alternative medicine.
Marijuana for Treating Tourette syndrome
Research has shown that marijuana is well-tolerated and effective when used to treat Tourette syndrome. According to this research, marijuana can relieve Tourette syndrome symptoms like irritability, impulsivity anxiety, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and rage outbursts.
Researchers suggested that taking regular doses of oral THC, smoking marijuana, or using a cannabis vaporizer can decrease tics and obsessive-compulsive behavior. Patients showed greater overall improvement after inhaling marijuana.
Another study showed that marijuana has the potential to suppress tics and treat the behavioral problems associated with them. Controlled trials aimed at investigating THC effects as a treatment for Tourette syndrome showed that marijuana has the potential to reduce tic without causing adverse effects. Though researchers could not draw definite conclusions from this study, they recommended its use by adult Tourette syndrome patients.
About Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder whose characteristics include confused or unclear thinking, anti-social engagement, diminished emotional expresses, and false beliefs. Schizophrenia diagnosis is basically based on the interview, testimony about behavioral history, and observation.
Today, there are millions of individuals across the world affected by this debilitating condition. Dealing with schizophrenia is extremely tough not just for patients, but for their families too. Basically, this condition alters thought and how a person perceives reality. That’s why sufferers have disorganized language and thinking, paranoid beliefs, delusions, and hallucinations.
Schizophrenia is a disabling mental disorder that causes different psychiatric symptoms. Its cause is related to interference with the development of the central nervous system. That’s why its early symptoms show during puberty.
Just like other antipsychotics, conventional schizophrenia medication has unpleasant side effects. Common among them include weight gain, drowsiness, nausea, and dizziness. It’s for this reason that some patients turn to alternative medicine.
Marijuana for Treating Schizophrenia
With the legalization of medical marijuana, psychiatric researchers have focused attention on the development of a marijuana-based treatment for conditions like schizophrenia. The use of marijuana is associated with temporary psychotic impacts in some people. However, using a dry herb portable vaporizer to consume cannabis in lower doses can have opposite effects.
Research has shown that cannabinoids like CBD and THC, which are the medical marijuana’s bio-active molecules, can interact with the human brain receptors to modulate physiological processes like mood, pain sensation, appetite, and memory. Though THC causes the psychoactive and euphoric effects of marijuana, it’s just one of the many cannabinoids found in marijuana. Studies have shown that CBD, another cannabinoid in marijuana, has anti-anxiety and antipsychotic effects, and it does not cause the psychotic symptoms experienced by people after taking THC in high doses.
What’s more, scientific evidence shows that inhaling marijuana strains with higher concentrations of CBD can help in lowering the risk of developing psychotic disorders like schizophrenia. It can also decrease the sub-threshold psychotic symptoms as well as cognitive changes related to psychosis. Additionally, lab experiments have shown that CBD helps in stabilizing schizophrenic behaviors in test rats.
Another study has shown that CBD has the potential to alleviate various symptoms of schizophrenia. This study conducted in Germany showed that CBD has the potential to improve some negative and positive symptoms of schizophrenia.
It’s however, important to know that marijuana has not been proven effective as a treatment for schizophrenia. However, preliminary research suggests that it has the potential to improve some symptoms of schizophrenia. This implies that using marijuana can improve the overall life quality for schizophrenia patients.
The Bottom Line
Marijuana has chemicals that have demonstrated their potential to treat or help with the symptoms of Tourette syndrome and schizophrenia. What’s more, marijuana is among the most used drugs for both recreational and medicinal purposes. Additionally, the available conventional medicines for these conditions are primarily used to relieve symptoms and manage them. Some of these medicines contain chemicals that can pose health risks to some patients.
With this in mind and the fact that experts and research have suggested that marijuana’s potential benefits outweigh side effects and risks, it’s apparent that the plant needs to be studied further. What’s more, people have used weed portable vaporizers or smoked marijuana and reported improvements in different health conditions. Preliminary research has shown promising results when marijuana is used to treat Tourette syndrome and schizophrenia. Therefore, it won’t be surprising if scientists change the definition of this plant soon.
