How Cannabis can Help with Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is not fun, and while detection is the initial step, there is also treatment in the form of prescriptions, therapies, and the like. The treatments can be pretty invasive. Biopsies are usually used to confirm the presence of the cells that are there. When tumors or masses get found, they’re usually removed.

Some people who have cancer struggle with managing this. While prescriptions might be good for the mild pain that you get into, they’re not super effective. That’s partially why some people have moved towards using cannabis, as it can help with treating and managing the symptoms at hand. 

Pain with breast cancer 

Breast cancer is not fun. Many who suffer from this deal with neuropathic pain, and many times, the fatigue and discomfort that comes with these treatments can utterly ruin a person.

The safest means for a lot of people to get the treatment they need for breast cancer is a mastectomy, where the breast tissue is removed to eliminate this.  Some people get a breath prosthesis instead of an augmentation or reconstruction of the breast.

Prosthesis is a fancy word for artificial breasts that mimic the way breasts naturally are shaped. These usually are used by patients of all kinds, depending on the needs of people. 

Some women struggle with comfort even after surgery too, and it can be a bit painful for women who deal with this.

CBD oil and other topicals might help with this, and it can be something that’s good for those who deal with wounds and healing. 

Another thing that happens, is that there is hair loss, bruising and inflammation of the skin.  Some people who get treatment for this may get bruises, even from just barely touching the area. This is due to the lowered amounts of platelets within the blood.

If a patient needs to get chemotherapy, hair loss is one of the most common conditions. Medication and radiological therapies also may result in hair loss and thinning too. This can also cause loss of hair to not just the head, but other places, which can make a person feel anxious or depressed.

Cannabis can help with reducing the sadness and the depression that comes with these changes.  You can also use this to help with inflammation of the skin too, as this is common with a lot of cancer patients. As for the bruising, while it can’t help with naturally increasing the platelets, it can of course, help with reducing the pain that comes from the treatments. 

Is it Right for You? 

Right now, patients that are diagnosed with this are getting benefits from using medical cannabis, and they should discuss this with their PCCP, who is probably going to be the one determining the treatment plan. It might include cannabis in some cases.

Some states have programs that don’t specify the type of cancer, but breast cancer is considered a qualifying type of condition for those who have this.

Some may also choose to use this as a form of alternative health to manage many of the different side effects that you get not just from the cancer itself, but also the treatments. 

It’s also good for those who want to find a way for you to get an alternative to NSAIDs who are struggling to get the relief that they need.

One thing of note: don't expect this to be a cure-all for cancer. It should never be used as a replacement for this, but together with traditional therapies, it can help to manage the pain. 

Managing Pain with Cannabis

Pain is something that’s quite broad in the diagnosis, with some of them occurring within the CNS of the body, and it involves the improper processing of pain signals. Sometimes, this is resulting from injury, but there are sometimes other causes that aren’t very known. Depending on the person that’s there, pain is something that’s localized to tiny parts of the body, or is widespread, and the pain typically is a lot more constant. The central pain can sometimes impact the routine of another person, and drastically impact the quality of life that’s there. 

Some patients who have centralized pain discuss with their doctor the types of treatments that they have. Currently, the main treatment is pain medications, but the problem is, sometimes they offer almost no relief to the pain that’s there.  Another thing that happens too, is they will grab these to treat it, resulting in more chances for addiction.

What if there was a way to relieve this without the side effects?  There is, and that’s in the form of medical cannabis. Did you know that over 60% of the users of medical cannabis take this to help relieve some sorts of pain, and the symptoms of this? This is something that’s become incredibly therapeutic and is part of the reasons why a lot of places are allowing medical cannabis to be used.

Most of the time, CBD, or both CBD and THC are good for treating pain in ways where there are problems with doing so. Another crazy thing? Is that it does decrease the need for opioids, and it lowers the chances of death, overdose, and the like. This is especially apparent compared to states that don’t have cannabis legalized.

There are many that use medical cannabis to treat chronic pain conditions, including fibromyalgia, and some might have symptom improvement because of this. 

This is mostly in the places where the pain receptors are, decreasing their levels. And the body will use this to naturally help with this. 

How to get It 

Currently, not every state offers medical cannabis for pain, but there are now more places than ever before. The best way to get this, is to discuss this with your doctor, let them know that the normal medications that are there aren’t cutting it, and ask if you can use this as alternative medicine. However, if the doctor still refuses, seek out specialists that allow this, in order to get relief from the pain that you’ve got from cannabis.

If you have a doctor that’s a little bit on the fence about this, bring in a pain journal, discuss the pain that’s there, and even journal how medical cannabis has helped you with pain. You should definitely discuss this with a doctor, to get the right needs. 

THC or CBD? 

This is a question a lot of people have, especially after they’ve gotten the consultation and they’ve gotten the diagnosis. High THC is great for relieving pain, but the downside to them, is they can be incredibly psychoactive, and aren’t the best way to relieve pain.

Hybrid products that contain both THC and CBD are some of the best for treatment in the long term, as they can reduce pain and inflammation naturally, without making you deal with the overly psychoactive aspects of this.

The cool thing about cannabis is that there are tons of ways to get the benefits that you want with this type of product. If you haven’t found the ideal type of cannabis product, continue looking, and see for yourself the benefits that it offers.