Bill, LOL Too funny!
I hadn't smoked in like 35 years and at the beginning of tx I grabbed a joint from someone.
I'm done w/tx and still have two thirds of the skinny blunt left. I still don't like the feeling of that high but I gotta say whatever get's you guys through tx is fine by me.
Love your work...your research is impeccable =) on all counts.
Too true :o).
The stuff makes me paranoid now… but once every year or two, I have to try again to be sure.
Bill
Sometimes I like to study studies, and sometimes I like to study surrounding reality ;)
~eureka
LOL, pick your study:
“In conclusion, the authors wrote, "Our results suggest that modest cannabis use may offer symptomatic and virological benefit to some patients undergoing HCV treatment by helping them maintain adherence to the challenging medication regimen."
http://www.hivandhepatitis.com/hep_c/news/2006/091506_a.html
“In conclusion, the investigators wrote, “this study discloses a strong link between daily cannabis use and steatosis severity in patients with chronic hepatitis C and supports recent experimental data demonstrating steatogenic effects of CB1 receptors.”
They added that, “These observations, and our previous results showing that daily cannabis smoking is also an independent predictor of fibrosis progression, indicate that patients with untreated chronic hepatitis C should be advised to refrain from daily cannabis use.
http://www.hivandhepatitis.com/2007icr/easl/docs/042407_c.html
These debates usually continue ad nauseum :o)
Bill
I have similar stories told in the first person also..and I completely respect the view of Odin999 following. Though I've seen some really positive results in the past..my 58 year old friend who has 'brownie' (all organic everything) in the morning and the hunger and various other issues have subsided substancially. Though this may well be less of a risk psychologically to her as she smoked a great deal from her teens to early twenties..or not I dont know. I guess my point is that she had previous experience with THC and no apparant long term SE, and when a brownie a day was offered as an option she gave it a go and found it helped. By no means am I suggesting 17 yo with hep c to look into something we know can have extremely neg effects to the young mind..though to the old and possibly..more desperate..I keep an open mind
Phew. I would be very wary of taking a substance that can sometimes cause anxiety and psychosis along a with Interferon and Ribavirin. (No offence to those that like hteir weed).
Never having been one to shy away from fireworks... ;) , I'll just share a little story that's strongly colored my view of medicinal marijuana ...
Some years ago I met a lovely couple in the neighborhood who were childhood sweethearts that married young and hoped to start a family. Unfortunately, at 21 the young woman started having health problems and she was eventually diagnosed with MS. The doctors tried everything, but back in the 70s and 80s, there wasn't a whole lot available, and her symptoms kept worsening... she became atrophied, she couldn't eat, and she dwindled down to below 70 pounds, and the doctors' prognoses were not good. Her husband, who adored her, tried everything he could... took her to specialists, took her to healers, took her to physical therapists, took her to nutritionists, and none of it seemed to help. Somewhere along the way someone suggested marijuana to this young man, and willing to try anything, he was ecstatic when it DID help. It took time, but over months and years she gained her weight back slowly, regained her powers of speech, and could feed herself again. She did not improve enough to be able to leave her wheelchair, but the last I saw of her she was about 98 pounds, smiling, and excited about her husband and her moving North (presumably where marijuana is more readily available as a "farmer's commodity" rather than as a "street drug" -- at that time "medicinal marijuana" was not legal anywhere in the continental US).
The reality is that in most states marijuana is still illegal, period -- and anyone having it for any reason is taking a risk -- that being said, if my loved one(s) was wasting away, or very sick and marijuana could help, I know I wouldn't hesitate. (Man's law says it's illegal, but I believe in a higher law...)