Cannabis with AIDS | HIV-Positive Patients

Marijuana and AIDS | HIV Positive

Studies have shown great benefits for AIDS | HIV-Positive patients. Clinical studies have shown that cannabis helps with pain , anxiety, immunity, mood, sleep, appetite, fatigue, nausea and bone weight loss.

  Wasting syndrome is a main result of AIDS patients in where body mass is reduced. This is from symptoms of nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety. AIDS drugs on the market currently are used to treat these problems. Patients have demonstrated that these medications are not equally effective in all patients. Many AIDS sufferers describe marijuana as being a better choice than prescribed medication. The main reasons for choosing marijuana is the rapid-onset when smoked which helps in relief with less side effects.(Source)

  Pain management contributes to fatigue and mood for HIV patients. A study done published in the 2007 journal Neurology studied cannabis and pain of HIV-associated sensory neuropathy. Donald I. Abrams, MD, Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco concluded that cannabis was as effective as other oral drugs used for chronic neuropathic pain.(Source)

Ways of Administering Cannabis

  Some HIV patients are given Dronabinol which is a synthetic THC over the counter drug. Margaret Haney's research in “Dronabinol and Marijuana in HIV-Positive Marijuana Smokers: Caloric Intake, Mood, and Sleep” studied the effect of Dronabinol. Her findings concluded that both Dronabinol and Marijuana smoking increased appetite and body weight. She also found that only marijuana improved sleep and Dronabinol was effective only at 8 times the current recommendation.(Source)

Major Supporters of Cannabis Treatment for AIDS

  Cannabis being a benefit for treatment to HIV is backed by large supporters. The American Academy of HIV Medicine is the largest independent organization giving active treatment to 340,000 HIV patients. They Provide care for more than two-thirds of HIV patients of America. They were asked, “Should marijuana be a medical option?” by Reason Magazine in 2007. Their response was “ When appropriately prescribed and monitored, marijuana/cannabis can provide immeasurable benefits for the health and well-being of our patients.”(Source)

 Other supporters have weighed in on the support of marijuana for AIDS patients. Consumer Reports in May 1997 stated, “Consumer Reports believes that, for patients with advanced AIDS and terminal cancer, the apparent benefits some derive from smoking marijuana outweigh any substantiated or even suspected risks." Kate Scannell, MD and Co-Director of Kaiser-Permanente Northern California Ethics Department stated in the San Fransisco Chronicle in 2003, "From working with AIDS and cancer patients, I repeatedly saw how marijuana could ameliorate a patient's debilitating fatigue, restore appetite, diminish pain, remedy nausea, cure vomiting and curtail down-to-the-bone weight loss."

Source:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10839332

http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.source.php?sourceID=003433

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17589370

http://www.neurology.org/content/68/7/515.abstract

http://www.neurology.org/content/68/7/515.abstract