Dystonia, Diabetes Mellitus, and the effects of cannabis on them

Cannabis and Diabetes

Сannabis helps lower blood sugar


Diabetes refers to a group of metabolic diseases in which a person suffers from high blood sugar, either because the body does not produce enough insulin or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced. This produces symptoms including polyuria (frequent urination), polydipsia (increased thirst), and polyphagia (increased hunger). Medical cannabis use has been shown to help patients by stabilizing blood sugars, suppressing arterial inflammation common in diabetes sufferers, preventing inflammation of nerves, and reducing the pain of neuropathy. It also acts as an antispasmodic agent, relieves muscle cramps and the pain of gastrointestinal disorders, and acts as a vasodilator to help keep blood vessels open thereby causing lower blood pressure, which is vital for diabetics. Topical application of cannabis oil or cream has been shown to relieve neuropathic pain and tingling in hands and feet, and also reduce diabetic restless leg syndrome.

Сannabis as an analgesic


This is a severely painful neurological disorder causing involuntary muscle spasms and twisting of the limbs. A case study published in The Journal of Pain and Symptom Management reported improvement of the symptoms in a 42-year-old chronic pain patient, whose subjective pain score fell from nine out of 10 to zero following cannabis inhalation, and did not require any additional analgesic medication for the following 48 hours.41 It is reported that no other treatment to date had resulted in a dramatic improvement in the patient’s condition. Cannabidiol was given in doses, increasing from 100 to 600 milligrams per day, to five patients with idiopathic dystonia, along with previously administered treatments. Dose-related improvement ranging from 20% to 50% was noted in all patients.