Can Marijuana Treat Huntington’s Disease?
Huntington’s Disease is considered to be rare, but it doesn’t have a cure. Those who face this disease simply manage the symptoms to the best of their abilities with different treatment options. Huntington’s is inherited, but the ultimate overview is that this disease causes a breakdown of the nerve cells in the brain.
Huntington’s disease typically starts to show signs around the age of 30 or 40 for those who have it. The symptoms are progressive in nature and may affect cognitive abilities, progressive movement disabilities, and psychiatric symptoms.
Medical marijuana can sometimes substitute, or be used alongside, prescription medications in the treatment of Huntington’s Disease.
There is no cure for this chronic ailment. It can be a lifetime hindrance or last for many years when it begins to show up. While it is considered to be a rare disorder, there are nearly 200,000 diagnosed cases in the US every year. This is approximately 1 in every 10,000-20,000 people.
With the knowledge of no cure, those who suffer from the disease look for resources to treat the symptoms, including the use of marijuana.
What the Research says about Marijuana Treatment of Huntington’s Disease
For a disease that has no known cure of any kind, marijuana can be a solution to treatment. It may need to be paired with other treatment options for long-term treatments. It is important to understand the difference between a cure and a treatment.
Will marijuana cure the disease? No. But it can be used to treat it, just as any other medicinal approach would. There is preliminary research available that shows marijuana can provide relief for symptoms of Huntington’s Disease. These studies also reveal that additional testing of this treatment option is warranted based on the limited results currently available.
For treatment of symptoms such as spasms, tremors, sleep quality, chorea, and similar ailments of Huntington’s, marijuana proved to relax the person enough that these symptoms were reduced. The evidence pointed to relief of neurologic symptoms caused by Huntington’s.
The things noted from marijuana treatment of the disease were improvement for specific motor symptoms, as well as neurological symptoms associated with the disease. They rested better and were not as poorly affected by the disease with routine marijuana treatments.
How to Treat Huntington’s with Medical Marijuana
It is the chemicals of the marijuana plant that break down into cannabinoids. These cannabinoids are what have been shown to provide extensive relief and they cannot be mimicked with medication.
The most effective solution to treating Huntington’s in the studies was based on smoking the plant form. However, it is believed that use of edibles and oils would also provide similar relief for treatment purposes.
Kentucky Cannabis Clinic Can Help
At Kentucky Cannabis Clinic we can provide you with comprehensive advice on how medical marijuana may be used to best benefit you, including what type of strain might be most beneficial for treating Huntington’s Disease. We also provide access to a wide range of medical marijuana products that are tested for quality and safety.
Contact us today if you would like to learn more about how medical marijuana could help manage your symptoms and how to obtain a Kentucky medical marijuana certification. If you have any questions, please feel free to call us. We're here to help!