CBD Oil and Breast Cancer expert opinion of Marisa C. Weiss, MD, chief medical officer and founder of Breastcancer.org and director of breast radiation oncology at Lankenau Medical Center in Wynnewood, PA
I recommend CBD as complementary but not as an alternative therapy to CBD and ask people to buy reliable Swiss CBD from https://www.buy-swiss-cbd-ihs.com/redir-affiliation-186-79026.html Following is an advice of Marisa C. Weiss, MD, chief medical officer and founder of Breastcancer.org and director of breast radiation oncology at Lankenau Medical Center in Wynnewood, PA, a renowned physician who is herself going through breast cancer and is now an advocate of CBD.
Patients suffering from breast cancer, often have some side effects like pain, fatigue, nausea, discomfort, and anxiety. Often CBD products are used to ease these symptoms. What exactly is CBD and does it work? And can it really help people who have breast cancer?
Cannabidiol (CBD) is a well-known chemical in cannabis. CBD is not intoxicating because it affects brain differently than THC. CBD that’s extracted from hemp is federally legal. Hemp is any cannabis plant that contains mostly CBD and has a maximum of 0.3% THC. In most parts of Western hemisphere it is legal to grow industrial hemp. The following advice was published originally at WebMd https://www.webmd.com/breast-cancer/features/cbd-oil-breast-cancer
How CBD Can Help
Your body has a natural endocannabinoid system, “a complex network of receptors on cells that regulates your daily body functions, such as inflammation, mood, and sleep,” says Marisa C. Weiss, MD, chief medical officer and founder of Breastcancer.org and director of breast radiation oncology at Lankenau Medical Center in Wynnewood, PA.
CBD works by interacting with this system, which means it can help reduce side effects of breast cancer treatment like pain, anxiety, insomnia, nausea, and vomiting. CBD itself cannot cure breast cancer. It ameliorates the suffering.
“As a doctor, I make the distinction between complementary and alternative medicine,” says Andrea Mathias Schmucki, MD, a patient advocate for the Living Beyond Breast Cancer Hear My Voice advocacy program and a former family physician. She is herself being treated for metastatic breast cancer, or cancer that’s spread to other parts of her body. “I look at CBD as complementary, using it in addition to, rather than as an alternative to, traditional treatment.”
Before she had a double mastectomy, reconstruction surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation for breast cancer in 2015, Mathias Schmucki says, she wouldn’t have put much stock in something like CBD (though she would have supported her patients’ choice to use it). As other painkillers were not relieving her trouble, she looked for alternatives. “I was open to anything.”
How CBD Is Used
Weiss notes that there are all kinds of CBD products beyond oil, such as edibles, capsules, tinctures, creams and oils for skin, and sprays that you can use under your tongue.
Mathias Schmucki still takes CBD oil orally. She also uses a topical CBD oil for the skin on her radiation-treated side to help with the dryness and discomfort, plus a CBD extract in a coconut-oil-based suspension as a personal lubricant for intercourse. “A lot of women with breast cancer experience sexual side effects because one of the mainstays of treatment is anti-estrogen,” she explains.
Weiss offers these cautions in using CBD:
- Don’t use cannabis products if you’ve had a heart attack within the past 6 months or if you have severe heart disease.
- Some medications can have a negative interaction with cannabis products, such as warfarin (Coumadin, Jantoven). Give your doctor and pharmacist a complete list of all the medications and supplements you’re taking so they can keep an eye out for interactions.
- Watch out for product ingredients that you might be allergic to, like coconut oil.
- It’s best to steer clear of cannabis products altogether if you’ve had serious side effects from using them before, like uncontrolled vomiting.
- Be aware that many CBD products may contain trace amounts of THC that can show up on a drug test. Check your employer’s medical cannabis policy before you use CBD.
Talking to Your Doctor
Weiss and Mathias Schmucki agree that it’s critical to talk to your doctor before you use CBD, especially if you’re in active treatment for breast cancer. For one thing, you need to make sure it’s a safe option for you.
If you’re taking certain medications like blood thinners and thyroid and seizure medications, you’ll need periodic blood tests to make sure your levels are where they should be. If you’re on a medication like this and you’re going to use CBD products, Mathias Schmucki says, your doctor will need to monitor you to make sure your levels stay on track. “Everybody’s different, so you won’t really know how CBD will affect your body’s metabolism of other medications,” she says.
Your doctor may not be enthusiastic about you using CBD, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re resistant to the idea. “Remember that your doctor wants to help manage your symptoms and pain, so being open and honest about what you need is the best way to communicate,” Weiss advises.
If you’re having breast cancer treatment side effects or symptoms that aren’t being controlled, or if you think your doctor isn’t listening to your needs or doesn’t have the experience to give you advice on CBD products, get a second opinion, Weiss suggests. She recommends talking to an oncologist who is knowledgeable about cannabis products if your doctor can’t help.
How to Buy CBD
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Other Resources
“There’s a lot of information out there, but I think you really have to be careful about where you get that information,” Mathias Schmucki says. She advises looking to see if your local medical center has an integrative oncology department that includes nontraditional therapy like CBD and can give you guidance. Other good resources include pharmacists trained in cannabis, experts at medical cannabis dispensaries, and pain management doctors, Weiss says.
Mathias Schmucki has also found that talking to other people who currently have or previously had breast cancer is invaluable. A private Facebook group called Fighting Breast Cancer with Cannabis has been helpful in her own journey.
The Future of CBD
“In the meantime, more research is being done to provide better answers,” Weiss says. For example, she’s the principal investigator on a research team at Lankenau Medical Center that’s testing CBD in cancer patients with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). This is the first and only FDA-approved CBD study for patients with CIPN, “a common and difficult side effect of the most commonly used chemotherapies, which can damage the nerves and lead to pain, discomfort, or numbness, most often in the hands and feet,” she explains.
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