Parkinsons Disease and Cannabis

The neurotransmitters called dopamine present in a human’s brain are responsible for sending messages to the nervous system. It plays an important role in the human body and helps it to “feel” emotions like pleasure. Parkinson’s disease affects the nerve cells in the brain that produce dopamine and hinders the message system.

Parkinson’s disease begins with mild symptoms like tremors and gets worse over time. The nature of this disease is progressive.

The severe symptoms noticed in extreme cases are:

Stages of Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease is divided into 5 stages. From early mild symptoms to severe symptoms in stage 5 that leads to dependency on wheelchair, walker, or around-the-clock nursing care.

To avoid misdiagnosis from other diseases with similar signs, medical tests are required to be carried out.

The diagnosis is generally based on neurological examination and a person’s medical history.

Cure

There is no cure discovered for Parkinson’s disease. However, surgical treatment, medicines, and therapies that affect the brain chemicals are used to relieve symptoms and decrease the progression.

Medical Marijuana/Cannabis is being widely researched because of its chemical compounds that affect the human body’s endocannabinoid system. There are more than 100 neuroactive chemicals present in medical Marijuana/Cannabis that works with cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 in the brain.

Cannabinoids have a powerful effect on these receptors. Researchers say that patients with Parkinson’s disease have fewer CB1 receptors; hence an external boost provided from medical Marijuana/Cannabis can improve the tremors.

Even after some promising preclinical findings, researchers have not found any conclusive benefits of using Marijuana as an alternative treatment for PD patients. However, the anecdotal reports of its neuroprotective properties have sparked a debate in labs, and scientists are studying it in depth.

Talking about the most effective compounds of medical Marijuana/Cannabis, THC (Delta-9) and CBD top the list. These compounds are majorly being studied for various other health benefits as well.

However, due to the expectancy of a wide range of benefits, this herb will take time to get to the FDA-approved list of medicines.

Interestingly, different strains of Marijuana/Cannabis have varying amount of cannabinoids; hence their origin, grow quality, and strain type plays a great role in the efficacy of the final product.