Marijuana for Gastroparesis, GERD, Barret's Esophagus

I would suggest taking both doctors perspectives into consideration, but use logic while doing so.

Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome is a theory at best, I hate using it as a source but even according to wiki "much additional research should to be conducted to determine the possible causes, action, and nature of the effects described."

There is much speculation now that, this 'syndrome', reflects only people with pre-existing digestive disorders, whom are naturally attracted to the available cannabis, just as some animals in the wild, chew certain available grasses for digestive assistance and relief.

Another thing to keep in mind, having steady relief for a symptom, can mask the progression of an illness.
Meaning if you stop using it, you may only appear 'sicker' than you were before, due to the relief you were previously receiving, and you would be even less prepared to handle and cope with it until you were conditioned to go without your medication.

Like any medication, particularly those that help a great deal, there is very often a period of time after you stop taking it, where you are worse, before you 'level' back out.

I have a very severe digestive disorder, and I have also heard it all over the years. If your symptoms are overall better while you are using cannabis, better than they were either before or without it, then it is very likely helping you.

Saving and sparing yourself frequent or repeated pain and discomfort, often times saves your body from certain damage.

When I don't have cannabis, and I have an attack, it only starts in my upper tract then it effects my heart/circulatory and nervous system, every time it happens it feels like it will be the 'last time', it feels like it has to be.
I had been dealing with that since childhood several times a week up to several times a day, long before I tried cannabis, and it was putting a very real strain on my heart where, even at the best of times, I felt weak and as though I were about to have an attack or even just simple heart failure. My heart would flutter and skip just standing up or sitting down.

Later in my life, when I tried cannabis, this all stopped almost completely. I could finish meals, my metabolism picked up, and now except when I eat certain foods that 'excite' my digestive tract and cause an attack, I have virtually no problems. The attacks I do have, are minor compared to what they used to be.

Gradually over time, I could literally feel my heart healing, and feeling less weak and fluttery from the repeated abuse. No traditional medicine, chemical, no homeopathic treatment or diet, nothing ever helped the way cannabis has.

I'm in no position to make any recommendations, I'm not your doctor. But taking time off cannabis, if necessary, just to determine personally for your own sake just how much it's helping you or hindering you, may be useful to put your own mind at ease.

If you can afford to do so, get a few second (and third) opinions from qualified specialists. Some will be biased, they will assume all your problems stem from cannabis use, and they will assume "that's why you find relief in it".

But some will be more open minded and able to give you more useful advice and information on how cannabis pertains to, and whether or not it could benefit, your specific condition.

 

If you have a moment, find Granny (Storm Crow)s thread, or click through her sig, she has gathered a lot of valuable information and has it all conventiantly catologued, I think you may find it useful.

On second thought here it is http://forum.grasscity.com/medical-marijuana/645925-grannys-mmj-list-july-2010-a.html#post8057533

 

Is the doctor that has diagnosed the gastroparesis going to provide any form of supportive therapy while you discontinue the cannabis?

Is s/he making a concerted effort to determine if you have the more serious causes of gastroparesis (such as scleroderma,which is fatal) or are they simply passing it all off as an extremely rare potential cannabis side effect, without pursing additional diagnostic work.

Gastroparesis - MayoClinic.com
Cannabis Hyperemesis (UPDATED) : DrugMonkey

 

Quoting from the classics...
On Being Stoned - Chapter 2

 

Serpent, I'm kind of in the same boat you are in. What type of issues are you experiencing now with your stomach? Bloating? Constipation? Dull pain in left side of abdomen? I had stomach issues come out of nowhere about four months ago. I've changed my diet since then, eating more fiber, exercise regularly and still I have problems. I told my doc that I do smoke cannabis and he said that it can cause delayed emptying of your stomach which can cause all the issues I am experiencing. I don't vomit or have nausea but then again I smoke/ingest cannabis at least 1-2 times a day. So maybe that is preventing me from having those problems. Do you guys think stopping weed will cause my stomach problems to go away? I don't want to believe that this awesome herb is causing my health issues. I'm an otherwise healthy 31 year old male. I started smoking cannabis about two years ago and never experienced any problems up until four months ago.

 

Thanks for the update man. I'm going to stop for the month of January and re-assess how I feel. I've been just living with the symptoms but I really want to see if I feel better after I stop smoking. On a side note, I've also been going through some stressful issues and the doc said that the stomach is tied to the brain and when you are depressed, anxious or stressed out it can cause problems with your digestion/stomach. Its easier said than done to just forget about your problems but I'm trying. Anyways, hope you get better dude!

 

Serpent. I'm so sorry for your illness, I can understand the hell gp can be. I wish I could say it get's easier but soon you will hit the "but he doesn't look sick" phase and it will truely test you. Make sure you have some sort of support system in place.

I'm not a doctor so I can't give you any kind of medical advice, but what I can do is give you my personal experience's with gp/gerd/marijuana and maybe swap tips and advice with you.

I'm 26 years old. I was diagnosed with GERD three years ago and Idiopathic Gastroparesis two and a half years ago.

In 8th grade I started noticing some changes in my appetite. Mainly I noticed I could go a lot longer than anyone else without eating and feel fine. I was rarely hungry. Another change was that I could no longer eat breakfast. When I woke up in the morning I had to wait AT LEAST a few hours before eating or I would feel nausea's and sometimes throw up. I also began to have a lot of PVC's (extra beats in between beats in the lower chamber of my heart) around this same time. Knowing what I know now about the Vagus nerve being responsible for both your heart beat and stomach functions, I believe this is when my gp first started although it must have been very minor.

A year later in 9th grade I began smoking marijuana, nothing heavy, just socially. Of course pot can give you the munchies, but for me it was more than that. When I smoked I noticed I could eat LARGE amounts of food in a sitting without feeling too full, and I also noticed on those rare occasions that I stayed with friends and was able to "wake and bake" I was able to eat breakfast first thing in the morning with no ill effects! I smoked socially throughout high school. My gp (if I had it then) had plateaued at the time and wasn't causing me any problems.

I took a year and a half break from smoking when I was 19. When I was almost 21 I started smoking again socially. At 22 I was a chronic smoker (.5g-2g daily maybe?). At 23 my heartburn (which I had had for years) was starting to get much worse. I was diagnosed with GERD after some tests and put on Prilosec (A proton pump inhibitor that is known for having very few risks) this cleared up my symptoms COMPLETELY. A few months later I began having severe nausea in the morning and sometimes an hour or two after eating. After months of tests and diet changes (one doc put me on a SUPER high fiber diet, that helped a lot, thanks doc. Jerk.) I had an upper endoscopy done and I was found to be retaining significant amounts of food after fasting for almost 24 hours. I then had a gastric emptying study done. I had a very low digestion rate and I was diagnosed with gp. I had these tests done by Virginia Mason, which is considered the best gp clinic in the state. I discussed my options with my doctor. We decided against Reglan as he wasn't a fan of it and I happen to have a friend who is suffering some terrible permanent facial ticks from it. Living in Washington state and being only 30 miles from the Canadian border (Bellingham) we decided on Domperidone as we could get it sent to and compounded by a rather amazing local pharmacy. I started with 20mg with every meal and before bed (so four times daily) for the first week and then 10mg four times daily after that.

I noticed some significant improvement but still not the results I had hoped for. I had previously discussed my marijuana use with my doctor and he suggested that I try "medicating" before meals and when I wake up. Just a small amount. Maybe a hit or two. That did it. It felt like such a huuuuuge breakthrough! Domperidone and a little pot! That was my ticket! That made me feel like I used to!

This worked for about 2 years, then the problems started to build up. The Domperidone lost a little of it's effectiveness so my new daily dose was 20mg four times a day (who wants to take 8 pills for one illness and how safe can that really be?). My tolerance for pot had also grown a lot as I had gotten my card (in Washington it's really just a legal defense) and was "medicating" so often. I now had to take three or four hits for my nausea to go away. And when I wanted to smoke for the joy of it (which I still very much enjoy) I found myself having to smoke at least a couple bowls to get a satisfactory high (I smoke very wonderful, organic, well flushed, well cured high quality strains of Hollywood O.G., Purple Kush, Sensei Star, Dutch Treat almost exclusively so the potency is there).

This was unnacceptable. Not only was smoking become less fun, it was getting stupid expensive (almost an ouce a week of personal every week starts to add up), and I was starting to hack up things more often than I wanted to in the morning. In those 2 years I also went from a starting weight of 160 pounds to 110.

I'm now 125 pounds and am feeling better than I have in over a year. I'm still not feeling as good as I was without gp obviously. But it's beginning to get back to the point of when I first was diagnosed with gp. Terrible, but at least managable. It's only been a couple months since I've made the changes that have caused this so I am hopeful that I will continue to improve. These are the changes I made and I really suggest you look into at least some of them...

1. Diet. Every person I've talked to or read about with GP has a different tolerance for foods. You have to spend a lot of time trying different things to figure out your perfect diet. This will be the hardest thing on the list. Cutting out foods I liked was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I wasn't able to do it until there was no other choice. Either follow a strict diet that works for me or continue to waste away until I died. Too be honest you may not be able to do this until you also get to that point. Cutting out dairy has made a huge differance for me. I'm not lactose intolerant but I began researching milk and found I didn't like everything I read so I cut dairy out for a week and had good results. So that was out. I had been eating almost mainly lowfat, low fiber, highly processed foods for over a year (poptarts, eggos, mashed potatos and such gets old quick) and it really felt like I was poisoning myself so I decided to change that also. I started trying lots of fruits and vegetables, I know they're high fiber but I stayed away from the real bad ones like broccoli and whatnot. I expermented with ways of making lower fiber versions of them. Like peeling an apple before I eat it, or steaming carrots, I ate a banana instead of an orange, those types of things. I cut out most red meat besides the occasional ground beef. I stick to chicken and fish for meat. I also eat a lot of nuts (almonds, pistachios), lots of rice. And as hippie as it sounds I started buying organic and/or local when I could. I noticed lots of improvement with this diet. I was able to cut out the Domperidone COMPLETELY with my new hand tailored diet.

2. Exercise. This one was a bit hard also. I've always LOVED to exercise. Any kind. But now I was 110 pounds and didn't have near the same amount of energy as I used to (a few years of malnutrition will do it to ya). On top of that having a lifelong chronic illness was having a toll on psyche. I was beginning to feel depressed which in turn lowered my energy even more. I started easy. Just a walk around town here and there. That seemed to help a little bit. Gave me more energy for the day. I then started studying other forms of low impact exercises. I found a perfect fit with Tai Chi, Qigong and just simple stretches. My energy came back QUICKLY.

3. Find your release. For a long time for me it had been pot. Smoke when I'm nausea's (4 maybe 5 times a day) and smoke when I want to for fun/stress relief (once or twice a day). This as I previously said just wasn't cutting it anymore. I began study some more (being sick gives me LOOOOTS of time to research. The net is rather amazing). My main problems were; some up and down emotions (probably caused by the mild depression from having a chronic illness), stress from trying to keep up with all the finances. It gets expensive after a while, medicating yourself and my hours at work had dropped a decent amount after a year or so with the illness because of more frequent episodes, Some nagging doubts of self-worth (felt like a burden on my gf, work, friends). My remedy for this ended up being meditation and reading. I've always enjoyed reading thankfully and it helped get my mind off the nausea. Meditation was a bigger help. Another one of those sounds hippie ideas I know (I'm from a small conservative town originally can ya believe it?) but it really did help. Clearing my mind and the sitting... the peacefulness... everything. It was just right for me. Really look for your release. It may be different for you. But with meditation and reading I've cut back on the pot significantly. I'm back to only needing a hit or two in the morning and maybe another one before my biggest meal of the day, and like I said that puts me about back to how I felt when I was first being diagnosed with gp.

I'm now able to enjoy smoking for fun again as I've cut back so much, which is great. My tolerance has dropped a bit. I don't spend NEARLY as much on weed a month. Grocery shopping has gotten cheaper as I've found what I can handle and cut out all that high cost GARBAGE junk food I didn't need, not that I don't have a candy bar here and there and stuff like that, but I've come to realize how sensitive gp sufferers can be to food. I can eat a slice of pizza one night and have a flair up 2 days later that lasts a few days. I have waaaay more energy then I have had in a long time. I feel muuuch happier than I have in a long time. Basically I feel like I'm finally started to get better. Or at least to a point that I can handle the gp and still have a high quality of life.

What works for me may not work for you, but I really think you should at least try to find the time to look into it. If not now, bookmark this page so if your gp takes a turn for the worst after a year or two like mine maybe you'll feel desperate enough to try anything. That's what it took for me, lol.

P.S.
I find some weird similarities in our cases. I too feel much better when I take a shower/bath when I don't have any herbal and am feeling nausea's. The only exception is right after I eat. I can't be overly warm after eating or I get super sick. I think there was another similarity but this post has gotten much longer than I expected and it's time for bed so I'll reread your post tomorrow, lol.

Good luck my man.

 

Footnote-here are some good diet suggestions
http://uvahealth.com/services/digestive-health-1/images-and-docs/gastroparesis-diet.pdf
The part on beozars is very interesting.

 

I suffer from many gastointestinal problems so I know what one can go through. gastroparesis is very much helped by cannabis. See the videos at
Activist Cat Endocannabinoid System
they will explain it far better than I can put it into words. Check out the rest of the site too, very informative.
I sufffered misdiagnosis for so many years I now have additional problems, I advise asking your doctors about celiac! Not all people test positive for it, although they are, but discuss it with them. It is a gluten intorerance. Sometimes the only way to know for certain is stop all gluten, If your health improves then you know. I was one of these people. Sometimes the only way they can find it is once the damage has occurred. Please do not wait for that, it will shorten your life. Read up on celiac on the net if you (or anyone) find out that is the problem send me a message. I have been dealing with it for years and can provide a ton of info, saving you from many mistakes. there are errors on the celiac sites. I can give you alot of heads up and advise of what to avoid and the hidden glutens.
Good luck, when the digestive system if off, everything is.

 

I suffer from may of the same symptoms as you and have illegally been using marijuana as a treatment for 2 years, starting shortly after you. Marijuana is the only thing that has helped me so far, and I've used all the different OTC's for indigestion, acid reflux, pain/ stomach cramping, etc. I have seen 1 guy from Colorado who makes a blog that has symptoms similar to us, and he is currently on medical marijuana. I have no definite answer for you, but I can just offer that anecdote as a message that 1, you aren't alone, and 2, there have been people who have been given marijuana treatment with conditions like yours. It will depend how well you present your case to a doctor.

 

This is an old post but I made an account just to say that I've experienced all the same stuff everyone here has. Smoked mj recreationally since summer 2015. February this year I started experiencing extreme symptoms of gastroparesis (complicated by lack of a gallbladder and possibly bile reflux disease). I've been using MJ and worried that it might be making it worse. My doctor also basically stopped listening to my fears that it was gastroparesis and just told me to stop smoking weed when I told her I use weed to treat it. Also have reached the point where I smoke way more weed than ever to try to tame my symptoms bc tolerance has increased rapidly since I started relying on it to help my gastroparesis. I know these are like five years old but it's wild to see my exact situation typed out and with advice from other stoners thanks ✌️

 

I had Gerd like 5 years ago. Weed made it so much worse and irritating.