A recent study has indicated that the use of medical marijuana can come in handy when consumers are dealing with some tobacco-related conditions.
As practitioners and public health experts will attest, smoking tobacco has more adverse effects on the body in the long run than using cannabis.
While it is common knowledge that the smoking of tobacco subsequently results in cancer, what most users may not know is that there is a flurry of other less frequent yet severe side effects.
One of these least popular effects which comes as a consequence of smoking tobacco is one Thromboangiitis Obliterans (TO).
TO, also known as Buerger Disease, is a medical condition that results in the clotting of blood vessels (arteries and veins) involving the toes and fingers, due to the inflammation of their surrounding tissues.
And while there are various treatments for this condition, the latest one will come off as a big surprise as it involves medical marijuana.
In a recent study conducted by medical practitioners in Israel, researchers found that medical marijuana can reverse the effects of TO.
In the said study, a patient was seen to have the TO medical condition, exhibiting all the first signs associated with it. The medical practitioners identified signs of Buerger Disease while in the course of testing the patient for another illness known as Ischemia.
Unlike TO, Ischemia is a medical condition where the skin and muscle tissues start to die due to a lack of adequate supply of essential nutrients. This is generally a result of poor blood circulation to the affected tissues-mostly toes and fingers.
According to the medical marijuana study, the use of tobacco products, whether it is through smoking or chewing, results in Ischemia. For the case of this particular patient, his blood clotting was primarily caused by TO, with the cycle gradually continuing.
Currently, the extent to which the use of tobacco aggravates both TO and Ischemia-related symptoms is unknown.
Nonetheless, according to the study, every documented TO case has been identified in patients with a previous history of tobacco use.
This ground-breaking medical marijuana study started out after a patient with heavy tobacco usage-smoking close to three packs on a daily basis-was facing a possible leg amputation procedure, as a result of adverse symptoms of Ischemia because of TO.
Dror Robinson, the lead researcher of this study, had recommended amputation of the leg, which the patient subsequently refused.
Instead, the patient decided to self-medicate using cannabis together with wisely cutting back on his extensive tobacco use. Six months down the line, the patient secured a medical marijuana prescription.
And to the doctor's surprise, the affected foot slowly began to regain natural blood circulation while the pain he previously experienced gradually started to cool down with the medical marijuana treatment.
After a three-year-long period using medical marijuana prescriptions, taking antibiotics and entirely quitting his tobacco use, the patient was able to reverse his then-severe Ischemia condition almost wholly.
Before the treatment, he had several scars on his affected foot but after consistent medical marijuana treatment and a change of behavior, the wounds gradually faded away and became virtually non-existent.
In his observations, Dr. Robinson identified that the continued improvement of the patient while on medical marijuana treatment-particularly the slow regaining of normal blood flow to the limbs-was perhaps as a result of the inherent anti-inflammatory nature of cannabis.
As is typical with numerous other cases related to medical marijuana treatment, this study also identifies that there is a need to conduct more tests towards affirming this discovery.
Further research is necessary to ascertain that this case has comprehensive and dependable statistical significance and that medical marijuana can indeed apply in reversing the effects of ischemia and TO in other patients.
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