When a disease as serious as that caused by the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV occurs, we observe how the patient's quality of life begins to decline, treatments are numerous, lifestyle changes, personal care increases, and the objective It is recognized and focused from the first moment, fighting the disease no matter what.
This condition brings with it a series of symptoms that only help to deteriorate the state of health, among them we have the typical loss of appetite or inappetence and with it the notable loss of weight, which is expressed as a physical and mental deterioration of the patient with HIV.
Eradicating or preventing these symptoms from occurring is a key part of the goal of improving the patient's health, and it seems that CBD or cannabidiol can prove to be a very useful weapon in the treatment of some of these symptoms.
Next, we will talk and describe the effect of CBD on the body to treat this condition, we will observe the studies that have been carried out to verify the effectiveness of this cannabis component and how a natural medicine like cannabidiol can benefit the patient with HIV.
Loss of appetite and weight in HIV
HIV is a virus that causes the serious disease of AIDS, which once established in the body, is ready to deteriorate the patient aggressively, causing a series of signs and symptoms that considerably harm their health and quality of life, among these signs and symptoms we can highlight loss of appetite and weight loss, which are key in the patient's progressive degeneration.
A patient with HIV/AIDS needs to maintain adequate nutrient intake very high, since, during the process of this disease, the immune system is trying to fight the infection, which is why it increases its demands to strengthen itself and therefore raises nutritional needs, this is why when an HIV/AIDS patient begins to experience symptoms they must stay well fed.
However, this condition and some medications cause the patient to lose their appetite, this is due to symptoms such as nausea and vomiting, alterations in the taste of food, inflammation of the mouth, deficiency in the absorption of nutrients by the body, asthenia, isolation and even depressive symptoms, collaborate and prevent the patient from staying nourished, further depressing your immune system and deteriorating your health status.
So, we have a poorly nourished patient who is probably more sensitive to other diseases, due to his weak immune system, which in addition to this will present weight loss. The poor absorption of food and the low intake of these causes the patient to lose weight pathologically, which deprives the immune system of options to meet its needs, at the same time it reduces the requirements of target organs, further aggravating the condition. patient with HIV/AIDS.
Thanks to this information we can assume that the patient's treatment focused mainly on maintaining correct food intake, attenuating associated symptoms that were previously mentioned, and allowing nutritional needs to be correctly met, thus helping to counteract the disease.
Research that demonstrates the effects of CBD against HIV
A study published in 2015 focused on conducting a series of surveys on HIV-positive patients, where a wide variety of questions were asked. Thanks to this, so much information could be collected that 147 patients out of 523 who responded to the survey without any problem, they consumed cannabis in order to treat some of the symptoms of the disease, such as pain and neurodegenerative processes.
In addition to this, it was found that 17% of the patients had an effect on their loss of appetite, and apparently thanks to the consumption of cannabis, their food intake improved considerably, allowing them to remain strong to continue fighting their disease.
Another study from 2007 was in charge of comparing whether the effect produced by smoked marijuana could be the same as that of oral dronabinol. In a placebo-controlled investigation lasting 4 days, patients were subjected to a dosage of 5 and 10mg of dronabinol and 2,0 and 3,9 THC content in marijuana, this was done 4 times a day throughout the study.
At the end, the researchers were able to observe that, compared to placebo, marijuana and dronabinol, demonstrated to have a great positive effect in increasing daily food intake, and an increase in body weight in marijuana smokers, this allowed us to conclude that both dronabinol and marijuana can significantly increase appetite levels and body weight in HIV-positive patients.
On the other hand, in the same study it was observed that there was an intoxication response in cannabis consumers in the form of marijuana and at high doses of dronabinol, however, an opposite response was observed at lower doses of dronabinol (5mg). . The intoxication was rated as positive, recognizing it as a good effect of the drug, since little evidence of unpleasantness was obtained in the patients, nor was cognitive impairment observed, which is why it is defined as a tolerable compound.
When administering high doses of cannabis components, patients tend to experience an increase in both appetite and body weight. This was proven in a 2017 study where, when compared to the administration of placebo, it was found that patients had an average weight of 77,5 .4kg, when receiving doses of dronabinol and cannabis, after 1,5 days, these increased up to XNUMX kg.
A final study that we will name was one recently published in 2018 by Washington State University, who subjected laboratory rats to cannabis vapor, which allowed them to discover how a hunger-producing hormone was effectively activated during exposure to the components of the plant, even if they had already eaten, so it is believed that cannabis causes an effect on these hormones, making them believe that the subject has not eaten and needs to do so.
Benefits of cannabinoids in HIV positive patients.
Thanks to the research that has been carried out over the years on the properties of cannabis compounds, we have that the effectiveness of cannabinoids could go beyond restoring appetite and causing an increase in body mass in HIV positive patients, Next, name us some of them:
- Analgesic: As we probably already know, HIV/AIDS can produce severe pain in different parts of the body, further weakening the patient and altering their quality of life in many ways. Cannabis has proven to be a highly effective component in relieving pain, including to the strongest like him chronic pain and Fibromyalgia. This has made it an excellent option for AIDS patients.
- Improves mood: The disease caused by HIV is usually associated with mental disorders, causing the patient to experience depressive symptoms, anxiety and other emotional disorders, which is why cannabis has been shown in some studies to have a great anxiolytic and excellent effect. antidepressant; In general, it promotes neurogenesis, helping to prevent these disorders in the patient.
- Nausea and vomiting: These symptoms are quite common during the process of this condition, preventing, as mentioned above, the patient from reducing the important intake of nutrients, which will only lead him to decline faster, however, the cannabis components have shown that they are capable to mitigate the nausea and vomiting through specific mechanisms, in any patient.
- Improves appetite: Cannabis components produce a fairly notable increase in appetite in the consumer, which is why, in patients with a deficiency, such as HIV positive people, it is an excellent option.
- Weight gain: Thanks to the properties that cannabis components have to increase the appetite and therefore the patient's nutrient intake, this will result positively with weight gain, which helps strengthen the immune system and daily activity.
CBD and THC as support in the treatment of HIV/AIDS
Cannabis components are very commonly used by HIV positive patients, thanks to their notorious properties that mitigate the various symptoms that this disease can cause. Both CBD and THC are main components of the cannabis plant and both have an important role in the improvement of the condition.
However, we always recommend the assistance of a medical professional to begin treatment with cannabis, as he or she will be able to help with the correct dosage, evaluate the risks of interaction with conventional medications, carry out exhaustive monitoring of the disease, and suggest the most appropriate way. convenient to consume cannabis components and will be able to provide you with all the information you need.
We remember that the ideal treatment to counteract HIV/AIDS is antiretrovirals, any medication other than these are simply additions that provide help to treat the symptoms of the disease and promote the correct functioning of the main treatment.