Even in an era
of wafer thin models and Hollywood diets showing an emaciated look to be in
style, there are disease states where lack of hunger and subsequent weight loss
may be extremely disabling to patients.
I'm not
referring to anorexia nervosa. Patients with anorexia still get hungry; they
just ignore it to keep body weight low. What I'm discussing are patients who
have a genuine absence of hunger and a loss of interest in food. Marijuana and
THC may combat this problem very successfully.
The top two
disease states causing the loss of hunger and lack of interest in food include
Cancer and HIV / AIDS. Over fifty percent of cancer patients show a dramatic
weight loss of lean body mass which can appear as wasting, or cachexia as it is
called. The most common types of cancer leading to the wasting are prostate,
pancreatic, and lung cancers. In addition to the disease itself causing
anorexia, the harsh treatments for these cancers may decrease appetite and
weight. Depression due to the disease may compound this weight loss.
AIDS patients
may experience wasting as well. This can weaken one's immune system, thereby
increasing the chances for an opportunistic infection. AIDS itself decreases
appetite, and the medications can cause a drastic loss of appetite too. Typical
anti-retroviral medication treatments such as AZT may cause significant nausea.
Successful HIV medications usually encompass a complicated cocktail of meds
that may be nauseating.
THC may allow
patients to gain forty to fifty pounds and make patients over three times more
likely to stick with their anti-retroviral medication regimen. There are other
AIDS side effects that are helped by marijuana including headaches, leg cramps,
peripheral neuropathy, and pain.
If the patient
develops an impaired immune system and mouth and throat ulcerations develop
this may make eating difficult too.
Smoking marijuana
has been shown to increase appetite. A study back in the 1980's evaluated 6 men
living in a lab and showed the ones who smoked true marijuana ate an extra 1000
calories more than the placebo group (Foltin et al 1988). The scientific reason
has to do with the cannabinoid receptor CB1.
When people
smoke marijuana, the effects can be felt fairly rapidly, within minutes. There
is also synthetic THC available, called Marinol. This can help as well with
decreasing nausea and allowing patients to add weight, or at least slow the
loss.
Reasons for
picking smoked marijuana over Marinol? Patients say that a single dose of
marijuana may increase appetite, as opposed to Marinol potentially taking weeks
before hunger is enhanced.
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