Does cannabis help with long COVID?

Despite the loss of income, severe pain and difficulties in raising funds, individuals using and researching cannabis for long-term COVID treatment have become optimistic.

According to the Washington Post, endothelial cells lining the human brain’s blood vessels possess angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptors (ACE2), a type of protein that the coronavirus is known to help hold on to itself. As a result, these cells enlarge and damage the blood-brain barrier. As a result, many people are now suffering from COVID for a long time, and the effects of the disease linger weeks, months or even years after initial exposure to COVID.

according to dr Mikhail Kogan, a renowned cannabis clinician, what many experience with long-term COVID are primarily long-term cognitive consequences. He added that patients suffering from long COVID show cognitive decline and outright dementia in severe cases.” He claims that the symptoms of long COVID include hair loss, mental fog, mood disorders such as anxiety, depression, insomnia, pain such as include headaches and migraines. and changes in smell and taste and smell.

Long COVID symptoms are completely unexpected for some people. For others, however, it looks like the SARS-CoV-2 virus activates latent states or health complications they were prone to and the infection becomes active. according to dr Mikhail Kogan, when working with long COVID patients, he and his team often discover other issues, considering the patients had other ongoing health issues for a long time. However, since they were classified as mild, no one paid adequate attention to them.

As the Washington Post explains, these neurological problems typically occur in younger people between the ages of 20 and 50 who never required hospitalization, although there have been cases of older adults developing dementia as a result of their exposure. In some people, the symptoms eventually go away. Others, however, are still struggling to recover from the ongoing devastation.

A 30-year-old man from Enfield, Connecticut named David and his 10-year-old partner were first exposed to COVID in late January 2020. His partner first caught the virus after traveling across several states to pick up Ellie, their new rescue dog. Soon after, David got COVID. In David’s words, days after he became ill, he and his partner were bedridden and he had to hold on to his bed frames and walls.” It felt like the flu combined with dizziness, food poisoning and other symptoms. David further confirmed that he and his partner contracted the Delta variant of the COVID virus in September 2021.

David also confirmed that the health issues have persisted since overcoming the first symptoms of COVID and were no longer contagious. Davis added that over the past three years, he and his partner have noticed that so many things have gone wrong with their health. Both had difficulty breathing in extreme cold and heat and frequent coughing. Preliminary results indicate lung scarring. He confirmed that he also suffers from sleep apnea, while his brain appears to have aged 10-20 years. He claims to be frequently exhausted, in a lot of pain, and now has terrible short-term memory. In addition to fibromyalgia and POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), he says his partner has similar but more severe symptoms.

It’s not a fairytale result. David’s partner lost his job on the farm due to long-term COVID symptoms, and he was unable to continue working in fan and consumer services at LEGO due to long-term COVID brain fog. According to David, COVID has taken a lot from them over the years.

David is currently able to find one time work in the video game industry. He has also found hope outside of the video game industry: cannabis. David confirmed that cannabis keeps him focused or at least distracts him from the negative emotions provoked by long COVID. He added that cannabis helps both him and his partner relieve nausea; his partner literally couldn’t eat their first meal of the day without taking something to settle their stomach. David also claimed that sleeping has gotten so much better since using cannabis.

Cannabis is one of the few long-term COVID treatments that treats multiple symptoms instead of just one. according to dr Kogan, almost no patients show only one symptom; Each shows a cluster of symptoms. Symptoms often span three to five symptoms, such as insomnia, migraines, nausea, and anxiety, and cannabis remains almost the only treatment that treats all symptoms.

dr Kogan says CBD is the primary line of defense; For most pain, a little CBG is fine. Noting that his claims are based on personal experience and more studies are needed, he adds that CBG is very effective for severe neuropathic pain when used in conjunction with the treatment of depression and anxiety.

Unfortunately, this is a problematic investigation. Not only are doctors discovering so much about long-term COVID every day with only a few years of work, but raising funds for cannabis research is difficult until the FBI eliminates the Schedule I label. But do not worry. As always, the science nerds find a solution. The UK’s NHS Research Ethics Committee and Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency approved in February 2022 one of the world’s first scientific studies into the efficacy of cannabis for treating long-term COVID. The research is being conducted by the NGO Drug Science, which was founded by David Nutt, a neuropsychopharmacologist famous for claiming that horseback riding is more dangerous than ecstasy use.

Drug Science recently completed its Phase 2 trials. Drug Science CEO David Badcock acknowledged that the study is a proof of concept and is only halfway through, so coming to an early conclusion is foolish. Nonetheless, these patients seem to be responding well.” There is no termination, which is excellent for a feasibility study. The study now has more than 3,000 patients uploading data each month. The study administered patients a full-spectrum, high-CBD CBD oil with a trace of THC, but not enough to induce psychoactive effects, thanks to the company BOD Australia.

according to dr Mikhail Kogan, most patients treated with cannabis recover from the harmful effects of a long COVID. He reiterated that such a success rate was possible given their approach. The goal is to understand why patients develop these conditions, rather than just blindly prescribing treatments. So if the cause of the symptoms is addressed, there is no reason why patients should not be hopeful.

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