Please note: the use of Cannabis for medical or recreational purposes may be illegal in your country.
Many people are not aware of the significant benefits of medical cannabis. Medical cannabis can be used to treat a wide variety of ailments, including severe endometriosis. State-of-the-art medical compounded cannabis means that the potency and effectiveness of the medicines have been checked.
Andrew Hanna, a top leading compounding pharmacist and medical cannabis consultant in Ottawa, explains how medical compounding cannabis can be a huge benefit for people suffering from painful medical disorders.
What does a compounding pharmacy do?
Hanna is a Medical Cannabis Consultant and Compounding Pharmacist. These medical professionals are responsible for transforming a medication into a different formulation than how it was produced by the manufacturer. Compounding pharmacists can customize the strength and dosage of a medication, flavour it to make it more palatable, reformulate it to exclude ingredients like lactose or gluten, and change the form of the medication.
A compounded medication is “made from scratch.” This means that the individual ingredients are mixed in the correct dosage and strength. Compounding pharmacists like Andrew Hanna BSc. Phm RPh UIIP can create flavoured preparations, suppositories, transdermal gels, topical creams, or any other methods of delivery. This can be especially useful for medications like cannabis, where the traditional methods of using the drug are not possible for many patients like children.
What is medical cannabis and why is it so effective?
Medical cannabis is a preparation made from the cannabis plant. Cannabis is high in delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) which can be used for different therapeutic cases. THC is also the chemical that produces the “high” that people experience when they use cannabis.
Compared to traditional cannabis, medical cannabis is highly effective because it is grown and prepared with careful attention to safety and potency. Purified chemicals made from the plant or based on its extracts are considered to be more effective than using the plant in its natural form. Compounding pharmacists like Andrew Hanna BSc.Phm RPh UIIP are experts in transforming the active ingredients of this drug into preparations that can be used by anyone.
What conditions can medical cannabis treat?
Medical cannabis is especially effective for conditions like nausea and childhood epilepsy. It is also used for cases of neuropathic pain and spasticity. It can be used to help cancer and AIDS patients who are not eating properly feel better and get more nutrition.
Other conditions that benefit from the use of medical cannabis include Alzheimer’s disease, Crohn’s disease, immune disorders like multiple sclerosis and HIV/AIDS, eating disorders, glaucoma, mental health conditions, and many types of chronic pain including endometriosis.
How does cannabis work to treat certain ailments?
Chemicals called cannabinoids are the active ingredients in the drug. For pain management, the cannabinoids may be able to reduce pain by altering the pain perception pathways in the brain. This makes it especially useful for patients with arthritis, fibromyalgia, endometriosis, and migraine headaches.
CBD naturally occurring in cannabis preparations is also thought to reduce inflammation. Inflammatory conditions like Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and irritable bowel syndrome could be helped by CBD preparations.
Cannabis has an effect on the limbic system, meaning that it can treat mental health and neurological conditions. These include anxiety, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, and post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.
Cannabis is also used to treat sleep disorders like insomnia. The two primary effects of cannabis, relaxation and pain management, can both contribute to better sleep for patients with many different disorders.
Current Research
Pharmacists and physicians at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario have worked together to review the benefits of medical cannabis for pediatric patients. These studies have shown the benefit of cannabis preparations for children with diseases like epilepsy and other seizure disorders. Cannabis is highly effective as a seizure drug, and it does not have some of the harmful side effects of other drugs in its class.
For endometriosis, in particular, the drug is being studied as a possible frontline treatment. A clinical trial in Spain is underway that will evaluate the potential benefits of THC in women with endometriosis.
Early animal studies point toward a therapeutic effect. Endometriosis goes beyond physical pain and often causes depression, anxiety, and cognitive function. These early animal studies pointed toward an increase in cognitive function for subjects with endometriosis.
Understanding How Medical Cannabis Can Help
Patients with a variety of conditions may benefit from medical cannabis. Patients who cannot use the medication in its natural form should consider working with a compounding pharmacist like Andrew Hanna. As a Medical Cannabis Consultant and Compounding Pharmacist, Hanna is uniquely positioned to help patients decide which options are best for them.
As medical studies continue, patients with certain diseases may wish to consider using medical cannabis. Andrew Hanna wants these patients to know that the medication can be safe and effective when prepared by a consulting pharmacy.
