THC | Fostering Health

IBD, or inflammatory bowel disease, is basically a condition that’s not fun for a lot of people. It causes inflammation, bleeding, pain, diarrhea, tiredness, loss in weight, and it’s a major problem. The thing with this, is you have three major types—ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and also indeterminate bowel disease. This is something that’s distinguished by the location of this, and some of the symptoms. It’s not totally clear about how this comes about diet, smoking, pollution, and even genetics may play a part in it, since it’s attributed to gut bacteria.

The scary thing is that this is increasing a lot in various countries and such, and currently, the main medical treatment includes steroids, aminoacylates, biologics, and immunomodulating drugs that can help with the pain. sometimes, you might get surgery too, where part of your gut is removed.

The problem is though, up to 40% of people with this actually don’t do well with treatment, and about half of them stop responding during the maintenance periods. This also doesn’t stop the possibility of colon cancer either. That’s why many are using alternatives, including cannabis, to help with this.

ECS and your gut

The ECS, or endocannabinoid system, is basically an evenly-distributed system all throughout various parts of your body, and it’s involved and does a lot for you. It involves the circulation of different cannabinoids, enzymes, and also helps regulate aspects of different parts of the body, including your gut.

Some experiments have perform and different results on this, especially in those animals that are treated for IBD by looking at the ECS. Some studies actually saw major changes in inflammation of the gut, and some actually found that the colons weren’t as inflamed as before, and it suggests a link between the ECS, and your gut microbiome.

There are other animal studies too, where cannabinoids from plants actually helped to activate your ECS, and it did prove that there was less secretions, gut motility, inflammation, and it boosted the activation of the immune system, and it also showed that it activated your CB1 receptors, and also did decrease your motility and bowel tone, and it also showed that it reduced the release of various chemicals that are inflammatory from various immune aspects.

Studies of CBD for IBD

There are also some studies that have tried to use CBD for this. While THC does have some studies that show the motility of the gut did get better, CBD is better for helping with the immunomodulatory of the gut, and also reduced inflammation in the animal studies that were there.

However, it was found that THC is good for colon health, stimulating the mucus in there, improving the good bacteria by also making sure that it did work with the immune and gut cells to help with inflammation.

In some studies that were done in 2021, they used randomized, double-blind, placebo trials in over 30 people that had UC, and 56 different people who had CD, and it was found that the cannabis in this improve their quality of life and they had beneficial effects that weren’t directly a part of the inflammatory improvements.

It was also found that a quarter of these respondents were also noticing less pain in their abdominal area, less cramping, sleep issues, and also anxiety, and it helped with the management of various symptoms of IBD, and also helped a lot more, especially for long-term users.

It’s clear that with this, cannabis can help with a variety of conditions, including treatment for IBD, and might be a better alternative to typical treatments.

What are distillates

This is basically a part of the cannabis plant. With a ton of different compounds and oils that are there, you’re getting a lot with the plant. But with a distillate, it removes everything so that it just contains the pure cannabinoid, which is quite potent. The terpenes are also removed, so there isn’t a smell or flavor, is translucent, and is a product that is more ambler-colored than anything.

Cannabis oils are all considered not all distillates, but all distillates do contain oils. They are more potent in a lot of cases, but it also has the drawbacks that you may not find in normal cannabis products, such as the terpenes, and some of the other therapeutic compounds. Instead it’s just pure THC and pure CBD distillates.

This is created through an extraction process after the plant is harvested. It’s dried, cured, and then the compounds that are taken are then also harvested through a solvent. This usually also may include winterization to get rid of the waxes and fats. This does have a lot of potency, up to 80%, but usually, if it’s put in heat, this is a little less. They are usually smoked, applied to edibles, or even to the skin, and this can even be infused to create multiple effects.

What about RSO?

This is short for Rick Simpson oil, and it’s an oil that’s black, sticky, and gooey, and this has a lot of potency. Some people will see this paired with syringes for consumption that’s easier. Rick Simpson was an activist for marijuana, and when he got diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma, a type of cancer during the early 2000s, he tried to use natural therapy to help with this.

He created oils to treat this, using the oils directly on the skin and then used a bandage to cover up. In just a few days, his skin managed to clear up, and this is something that’s now sold to others who are curious about using medical cannabis strains. This is created through usually using solvents such as ethanol, butane, or CO2, and it uses whole plant extraction.

They combine the mixture with the alcohol, the alcohol gets trained, and then the container is heated up to fully remove the solvent, and this is why it’s almost tar-like and a black color, and it’s got a very high THC level to this.

It doesn’t require the use of heat, and you should not vaporize this. You usually have this in a topical sense, and usually, there are guides to dose this for a good reason, and you will feel it in a lot of cases. You can also use this in cooking to really beef it up, since RSO doesn’t get rid of the plant matter to it.

So what’s better

Distillates are more pure, and it’s a lot more versatile. You can also just use it in a vape or burn it. RSO is also versatile, but you should never try to burn it. However, it’s good for edible cooking. Ultimately, it’s something that you want to choose for yourself. If you don’t want tastes or smells, then get the distillate. If you want to have a cannabis taste to your cooking, then by all means, try RSO, and see for yourself.

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Cannabis for IBD