We live in a world where cancer appears to be on the rise, even babies and toddlers are not immune. This along with degenerative and chronic illnesses and many conditions such as Fibromyalgia and M.E – the root of which – have yet to be identified or researched extensively enough as to be able to offer the person with the condition an effective cure or even an explanation. But people living with Fibro and M.E. are fully aware when their bodies are shutting down, they know when their Central Nervous System is failing because they may be lying in bed – like I was this weekend – feeling my legs but being unable to move them for hours. This feeling of hopelessness and weakness are shocking, alarming, and terrifying to the person suffering. Where pharmaceutical medications are not having effect and healthy lifestyle changes have not been a whole solution all you can do is sit or lie and wait for your system to reboot again.
It’s not a great ‘I’m having a nice lazy day’ feeling either. It’s a painful, burning and aching feeling, it’s collapsing and having no idea why. Unable to control body temperature you may be so cold under the covers and you know if you just reached over and turned the heating on or the electric blanket you’d re-climatise that part of you at least. But you simply can’t move, not even to grab your phone and ask for help and it’s in these terrifying moments you think “this is how other people have died unnecessarily.” A tad dramatic but come back to me when your body shuts down and you can’t move… which I hope it never does of course. It’s also more harrowing when your mother is unwell and you can’t make it up the stairs to look after her; it’s an absolute mind-f*ck of a condition for anyone to live with.
However, Mother Nature comes to the rescue again. She has provided expertly effective natural treatments, but they cannot be patented, and thus are continually ignored by the Big Pharma, the HSE and our Government – except for the recent token bill they passed for a couple of conditions to use medical marijuana. They could have made this remarkable natural cure, or at the very least aid – cannabis oil – available to many more living with chronic conditions.
Cannabis oil has been shown to have many beneficial effects when tested on malignant brain cancer by researchers at the University in Madrid. The cannabinoids not only kill the cancer cells they also boost the immune system of the recipient – in high contrast to conventional treatments like chemo and radiation which do irreparable damage. THC eliminates cell drop-off from all living cells that have some kind of unhealthy growth but it does not harm healthy cells. The research was published in 2010 in the PMS journal under the name “Cannabinoids reduce ErbB2-driven breast cancer progression through Akt inhibition”. But it hasn’t appeared to trickle down into mainstream yet, even the brain fogged mind of a chronically ill person wonders why?
More shocking is that a 1974 study, published in the Journal of the National cancer institute, showed that mice with lung cancer treated with cannabis oil killed off the lung cancer after the oral consumption of cannabis oil.
There are numerous studies to advocate the use of it for various other maladies, and I can confirm from personal use that it has helped in the case of:
Aches, Pains and Spasms
Cannabis oil can alleviate spasms, pain and aching. The cannabinoids stop the neuronal transmission in pain pathways and thus soothe chronic pain and inflammation. I have used a 20% CBD oil (which is not psychoactive) with great success for my migraines. The M.E symptoms and Fibro pain and spasms I suffer in my legs, neck and shoulder particularly but not limited to those areas. Here I use the stronger and psychoactive THC oil. If you have never been high or are nervous of it you should look into somewhere reputable that offers a high CBD to THC ratio that can reduce psychoactive effects of the THC oil. You can also buy and extra CBD oil separate to the THC oil. So in real life if you are high and uncomfortable with the feeling just take more CBD oil and it will alleviate the psychoactive or non desirable side effects of the THC.
Anxiety
Cannabis oil releases pleasure hormones and brings the mind into a state of ease. It also reduces cortisol (the stress hormone) and effectively creates a peaceful state of being and alsdo benefits your endocrine system as a result. The cannabinoids activate specific receptors within the body to produce pharmacologic effects, especially in the central nervous system and the immune system. Again this is up to you to experiment or not. Some people do much better on CBD oil alone for anxiety and others need THC. I find some strains of THC increase my anxiety and ‘the noids’ (paranoia). So in this case, I dose up with extra CBD oil to counteract it while still getting the pain and spasm relief from the THC oil. I found the guys and The Hemp Company in Capel Street to be very informed and helpful when I first started using one of their 3% oils which helped a lot at the start before I hit a plateau.
“CBD opposes the action of THC at the CB1 receptor, thereby muting the psychoactive effects of THC.” – Project CBD co-founder Martin Lee
The GW Pharma product Sativex, is a drug approved for treatment of MS-related muscle spasticity. Sativex contains a ratio of nearly 1:1 CBD-to-THC ratio. This is an example of the ‘entourage effect’ that researcher Raphael Mechoulam has talked about often that thc and cbd oil work better together than in isolation (just as the plant intended!). It’s only now with our super THC strains that we have manipulated the plant to contain less CBD for a greater high. But if you find the right strain or ratio you will alleviate a lot of the negative effects that have had thc oil classed as the ‘bad cannabinoid.’
Hopefully with more research and legalisation there will be more effective treatment on the way. Until that time I’ve included the recipes I use to make cannabutter. I’m not suggesting you do it but if you do be careful with consumption it might taste like a regular tasty brownie after you make a batch but it is strong medicine. If you over do it keep the CBD oil handy to counteract it….
So You Want To Make Some Cannabutter?
- Prep Time:15 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Level of Difficulty:Easy
Ingredients
- 2 full blocks of your favourite Irish salted butter (1lb)
- 1 ounce cannabis buds or clippings, chopped or ground.
Directions
- Melt the butter on low heat in a deep saucepan or slow cooker. Add 100ml of water so that the bud and butter won’t burn. Add the buds or clippings, and simmer on very low heat for 2 hours,stirring occasionally to check colour and smell. If you burn it, it will be a darker brown and smell nutty and burnt surprisingly enough. If you do it right it will be green or very light yellowy-brown.
- Use muslin cloth to line a sieve and strain the butter through the cloth-sieve into a dish with a tight-fitting lid. Wear gloves and squeeze the bejaysus out of the muslin cloth to get every last bit from the clippings and then you can dump them in your composter.
- Refrigerate or freeze until it is time to use. If you haven’t boiled off all of the water you added earlier it will separate in the fridge so when the butter is solid the water will be on the bottom you can just take the butter off the top and dump the water out.
- You can easily scale thisrecipe up or down for larger or smaller batches. Basically one pound of butter can take 1 ounce of cannabis,but you may want to simmer for more or less time depending on your weights.
So Now You Want To Bake Some Cannabutter into Brownies?
You have two choices, actually you have infinite choices. I’m going to include two here (I’m pretty sure Betty Crocker wouldn’t condone this use of her recipe, so I’m not including using hers but you can buy a box of generic gluten free brownie mix in the supermarket and just substitute the ingredients:
For example:
Where it says 60g butter or 90ml oil you add: 60g cannabutter (or 90ml cannabutter melted into oil)
You can buy boxed cake mixes in most shops and it’s perfect if you are not dairy intolerant and don’t mind the sugar content.
If you’re feeling creative and want to bake a Sugar & Gluten free recipe from scratch this isn’t too taxing either unless you have chronic fatigue then you will most likely want to go with option one.
Sugar & GF Brownies
Ingredients
- ½ cup Almond Meal
or oat flour - 1/4 cup Coconut Flour
- 3 medium eggs
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cacao powder
- 1 cup melted cannabutter (a measurement cup not a mug of tea cup lol)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 100g Dark Chocolate, 85% Cacao
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoon your preferred natural sweetener: jaggery molasses, honey, maple syrup, coconut nectar, rice malt syrup etc.
- ½ cup nuts of your choice
or oat flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 C
- Cover a brownie square pan 24 cm x 24 cm with grease proof paper.
- In a bowl whisk together the eggs, melted cannabutter, vanilla extract, sweetener, cocoa powder, baking soda.
- Stir in the melted dark chocolate.
- Combine the almond meal, coconut flour (or oat flour) and nuts (or sugar free chocolate chips).
- Transfer the mix into the brownie tin.
- Bake for 15-25 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. The texture should be soft and moist. Do not over-bake!
- Cool down on a rack before cutting into squares. It will firm up when cooling down.
- Optional: Decorate the top by adding more cannabutter to some icing and go all out. (Not recommended for first time use!)
Start small eat 1/4 brownie or even just a small bite and wait for up to 2 hours for effects. For me they work quicker when I haven’t consumed a bigger meal before hand. Beware of whitey’s – if you feel dizzy and nauseous if you’ve eaten too much, drink some orange juice or eat a couple of mandarins, take some extra CBD oil and lay down, it will pass. If in doubt seek medical assistance immediately. It is your responsibility to talk to your Doctor before you take this journey with THC oil. I am lucky enough to be able to treat my condition naturally for the most part bar some tranquilizers during extreme flare ups.
Medical disclaimer
Do not rely on the information on this website as an alternative to professional advice from your GP or other primary care physician. You should always consult your GP if you have specific queries about any medical matter. You must seek immediate medical assistance if you are suffering from or think that you may be suffering from any medical condition. You have one life, do not delay seeking medical consultation, ignore medical advice or discontinue medications or treatment because of this website without the help of a trained medical physician.
References:
THC-elicited paranoid symptoms and hippocampal-dependent memory impairment. J Psychopharmacol (Oxford). 2013;27(1):19-27. PDF
