Let me first state I am not using medical marijuana (MM) at this time and have never been a user. Last year I was diagnosed with:
ulcerative colitis (UC) - definitely a more severe case rather than moderate
psc and pbc - I am in the veryyyy beginning stages.
I am currently taking Ursodiol and Lialda; but my UC has been fighting through most of the medications I have tried so far. A concerned friend recenelty had me watch a documentary on how MM has been shown to treat UC very well with very little side effects. However, I am curious to know if MM hits the liver like alcohol does and if there are any studies on the subject.
Please feel free to share your thoughts/links/studies/etc. on the subject.
May clinic has the most study. There is no clear cut answer. The kind of study it would take is pretty much unethical
That being said Marijuanadoes interfere with the way the body processes certain agents using the liver’s cytochrome P450 enzyme system. As a result, the levels of these agents may be increased in the blood and may cause increased effects or potentially serious adverse reactions. Even tylenol becomes more liver toxic (and its bad as it is)
Pretty much the rule is if you use MM, you use ONLY MM. In the case of PSC that would be disastorous. While there are few treatments for the disease, Bile acid sequestrants. Medications that bind to bile acids at the very least control the god awful related itch and are thought to slow progression These bile acids include the cytochrome P450 enzyme system.
This doesn’t even take into consideration the several hundred other compounds found in Marijuana that a damaged liver is asked to metabolize.
The other common medication used to treat PSC are Opioid antagonists. These do NOT play well with Marijuana again asking an already stressed liver to do extra duty.
In absence of any actual clinical evidence for MM (not that presented by the pro pot folk looking for a backdoor for legalization) I wouldn’t play. What we do know is very scary for PSC