Prescribing Plant
Based Medicine

What Is Plant-Based Medicine?

Items produced using botanicals or plants to treat illnesses or maintain well-being are known as herbal items, botanical items, or phytomedicines. An herbal supplement is an entity created using plants and operated exclusively for internal use. Expanding number of patients and doctors are going towards plant-based medication as an additional or alternative treatment. Early evidence gives empowering indications for the viability of plant-based treatments – like clinical marijuana – for patients with conditions that traditional drugs have not been able to treat satisfactorily.

Treatable Conditions

Actual proof has shown the worth of medicinal cannabis in treating various circumstances. These incorporate (however, are not restricted to):

  1. Anxiety
  2. Chronic Pain
  3. Palliative Care
  4. Cancer Symptoms
  5. Endometriosis
  6. PTSD
  7. Insomnia

While other treatment choices are accessible for these circumstances, a few patients find those medications present intolerable secondary effects or don’t work. In such cases, therapeutic cannabis offers an alternative treatment that can keep away from those shortcomings and give satisfactory relief from side effects. There are various ailments for which plant-based treatments like medicinal cannabis might be a legitimate treatment choice. If you want to figure out more about how these treatments may be a reasonable treatment choice for you, do consult a health specialist.

What Is Anxiety?

Anxiety is our mind’s approach to answering likely dangers. The feeling of stress, unease and physical changes in our body (which we’ll discuss underneath) can assist us with responding better to difficult circumstances. Everyone feels anxious sooner or later in their life. However, sometimes those sentiments persist or become aggravated, which is where you might require treatment.

What's Happening Inside The Mind?

Anxiety is kind of leftover from the times of ancient people. The sensation is an old response mechanism (fight or flight) that assisted primitive people in survival. Advanced minds are perfect at thinking and creating instruments for adapting, yet review takes time, which is why we have portions of the cerebrum that respond and get us somewhere safe before we can think. This piece of the mind works today – our amygdala and hypothalamus are wired to cooperate and react to circumstances before the outer cortex (our thinking brain) has the opportunity and energy to handle the data. Specific encounters can make our amygdala more delicate, and as a result, it might overreact to pleasant circumstances. It can make a winding impact that might prompt more nervousness in the future, except if treated.

What Are The Symptoms Of Anxiety?

Anxiety can show itself in both mental and physical ways, including:

  • Increased pulse or feeling our heart pumping
  • Hot flushes in the face
  • Uneasiness and stress
  • Feeling bad-tempered or easily irritated, tense
  • Muscle strain
  • Shaking or trembling
  • Shortness of breath
  • Uncontrollable thoughts, overthinking

Anxiety is a highly normal sensation in our undeniably complicated world, and it’s OK to feel restless. However, when these sentiments get more extreme and appear in intense side effects, you might have an anxiety disorder – something one out of four Australians experience during their life. Numerous medicines are accessible for anxiety issues, one of which might be medicinal cannabis.

Anxiety Disorders

Common Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety isn’t generally an extreme concern or worry. In some cases, it can appear in alternate ways, which we can group into various anxiety disorders.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Intense stressing most days of the week, for a long time, like many months or even years.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Intense flashbacks and different responses to outrageous past occasions.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Unwanted, repetitive considerations and sensations can prompt repetitive, irrational ways of behaving.

Extreme Phobia

Extreme fear and contempt / hatred towards a particular subject.

Panic Disorder

An extreme anxiety that prompts panic attacks.

Common Treatments For Anxiety

Like other mental well-being conditions, anxiety problems can generally be treated with therapy, medicine and lifestyle changes.

Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy has been of great help to anxiety patients. It is where you figure out how to perceive red flags in your mind and control the anxiety reaction.

Medication

This might incorporate antidepressants and additionally sedatives to assist you with keeping up with the energy to treat anxiety with different means.

Lifestyle Changes

Exercise, diet and rest are pivotal in the body’s capacity to heal and answer anxiety sentiments.

Treating Anxiety With
Medicinal Cannabis

Medicinal Cannabis has gained fame for assisting with different illnesses, both mental and physical. Modern medicine is investigating the genuine, provable advantages of medicinal cannabis for problems like anxiety, although direct proof proposes it very well may be of real help. Much research has been done on this topic, and many more are taking place. For a detailed view, have a look at the ones mentioned below.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Researchers in Canada overviewed various users of medicinal cannabis who had been diagnosed as patients of anxiety, most of whom expressed that they had been suffering from a generalized anxiety disorder. Of the individuals who finished the study, practically all (92%) said they felt cannabis had worked like magic and improved many symptoms. Half had even replaced their prescribed medicine with medicinal cannabis

OCD

One survey of numerous works of scientific literature regarding treating OCD with clinical cannabis found various studies proposing it might have positive advantages. A manufactured cannabis compound, utilized alongside treatment, was more potent than either treatment alone.

PTSD

Various papers and studies have come out that offer a connection between medicinal cannabis and the helping of the symptoms of PTSD. For instance, a Canadian review noticed that it assisted military staff with their bad dreams, and in an Israeli paper, the scientists found proof that it diminishes PTSD hyperarousal symptoms. For further information, see our PTSD section.

What Is Chronic Pain?

Chronic pain, also called persistent pain, is as crippling as the name recommends. It feels as if this pain will not disappear. Classified as pain that is consistent over a term of at least three months, chronic pain impacts around one out of five Australians. Doctors propose that chronic pain is a throb that can be felt most days of the week for a period enduring longer than three to six months. Sadly for some, the pain is frequently caused by an injury that has healed; in many cases, the original cause for the pain couldn’t be known. Also, the rough diagnosis’s psychological distress can adversely affect one’s emotional well-being.

Acute vs Chronic Pain

You could likewise hear the term acute pain. Acute pain frequently comes on quickly and can be very sharp, but it doesn’t stay long if you treat the hidden reason. For instance, a fractured bone is an illustration of acute pain.

Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is a state affecting one out of five Australians beyond 45 years old. It may successfully deal with medicinal treatment and lifestyle changes, including analgesics (pain relievers) and pain management practice. Actual proof proposes there might be advantages to using medicinal cannabis to address chronic pain.

How Does Chronic Pain Affect Somebody's Life?

Individuals with chronic pain might find their lives affected multiple times more than those without, as it can influence all parts of life. For instance, expected effects include:
• Insomnia or trouble sleeping
• The trouble with physical activities (like tasks and exercise).
• Mental health is affected
• Difficulties because of long-term utilization of pain killers, for example, opioids.

Common Causes Of Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is a broad term, with the molding emerging from maybe one or two fundamental issues. We’ve recorded a portion of the more common ones to assist you with understanding.
1. Injury
2. Surgery
3. Advanced cancer
4. Migraines
5. Endometriosis
6. Musculoskeletal conditions (osteoporosis, joint inflammation)
At times, there may likewise be no evident actual reason.

Common Treatments
For Chronic Pain

In some cases, it seems like chronic pain is never-ending. However, a wide array of treatments are accessible to assist people with conquering their pain – whether by lessening the aggravation wholly or figuring out how to overlook its side effects.
Suppose you or a friend or family member are feeling the effects of chronic pain. In that case, your GP will probably suggest a combination of clinical and lifestyle treatments, depending upon the seriousness of your condition. Pain killers like anti-inflammatory and (in some instances) opioids are a choice. However, they can’t be guaranteed to help over the long term, which is where you should make changes to your lifestyle. Long-term use of pain killers (opioids specifically) can have unfortunate results, such as the chance of addiction, emotional disturbances, and developing resistance.

Lifestyle Treatment
For Chronic Pain

Pain Management

Learning to acknowledge that pain is a part of your life, preparing & training yourself in pain management.

Mindfulness & Distraction

Learning to abstain from focusing on your agony & participating in exercises you appreciate to make every moment enjoyable for yourself.

Exercise & Slight Movement

Using movement to develop muscle strength further & lessen stiffness.

Medicinal Cannabis To The
Rescue In Chronic Pain

Numerous clients have revealed a decrease in pain because of the utilization of clinical marijuana. It includes patients that experience the ill effects of persistent or chronic pain, as well as conditions like endometriosis and migraines. It can likewise help with general muscle and joint pain.
Medicinal cannabis can help reduce inflammation, aiding patients experiencing arthritis, i.e., joint inflammation, irritable bowel syndrome, and Crohn’s disease. For further knowledge, have a look at these links.

What Is Palliative Care?

Palliative care is a broad term covering an array of treatment choices proposed to patients with a life-restricting disease – that is, sickness specialists accept can’t be cured and may eventually bring about the patient’s death.
An extraordinary aspect of palliative care is that it can be offered anywhere. While there are numerous particular offices around Australia for palliative care patients, many more stay at home or with their families. Everything relies upon the patient’s requirements.

Palliative care doesn’t have one specific medical expert. Patients might experience nurses, GPs, social laborers, and experts for particular necessities – diet, pain management, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, etc.

In Australia, Palliative Care Australia is the leading association for this sort of care. It can help track down service providers and offers a ton of advice on the best way to look for the proper treatment.

What Does Palliative Care Include?

Palliative care is an entire treatment that considers various features of a patient’s life – attempting to help the whole body and mind, as opposed to a particular issue.
Palliative care appears to be unique for each person. It will incorporate whatever is expected further to improve a person’s life quality, including:

1. Medication.
2. Help to return to work (word-related treatment).
3. Advice on pain management.
4. Other ways of life guidance (diet, work out, remaining social).
5. Making proper decisions on care.

what_are_the_benefits_of_palliative_care_-care_for_family

Palliative Care

For those with a life-restricting disease who need exceptional assistance, medicinal cannabis can provide comfort. While there are various expected side effects related to palliative care that feel crippling and may be unrealistic, many treatment choices are accessible to develop further a patient’s satisfaction – of which medicinal cannabis might be one.

Symptoms That Might Affect Somebody In Palliative Care

As we examined, palliative care treats various parts of an individual’s health, but there are a couple of expected side effects among patients undergoing this treatment.
1. Chronic pain (pain that can be felt most days of the week and endures for three to six months or more).
2. The trouble with movement and exercise.
3. Eating and stomach-related issues.
4. Weariness and insomnia.
5. Battles with emotional health, including anxiety and depression.

Medicinal Cannabis Helps Palliative Care Patients

Actual proof in various regions proposes medicinal cannabis might positively impact the symptoms related to palliative care patients.

What Is Endometriosis?

Endometriosis is an inflammatory and frequently painful condition where tissue similar to the uterus starts growing somewhere else in the body, possibly forming cysts, nodules, and lesions. Usually, these appear on a lady’s reproductive organs around the pelvis (generally the peritoneum), but developing in different places has been known—for instance, in the lungs, bowel, bladder, brain, and muscles.
Symptoms can impact many ladies in their reproductive years (even youngsters). But because of the invisible nature of the illness and its trouble to identify, there is, in many cases, a slack between first symptoms and diagnosis – even if it can be as much as eight years. A definite diagnosis might require multiple visits to the specialist and a few minor medical procedures.

Endometriosis

Endometriosis can cause excruciating cysts or nodules. The trouble of diagnosis, nonetheless, implies patients frequently experience suffering before they figure out what’s causing their aggravation. While current research is restricted, medicinal cannabis’s possible use for pain relief has been accounted for by ladies with carefully confirmed endometriosis.
Endometriosis is a condition affecting over 10% of Australian ladies.
Symptoms vary among women, and diagnosis can, once in a while, take a long time. However, treatment is accessible. As some real scientific proof shows, medicinal cannabis might be one treatment choice.

What Are The Symptoms
Of Endometriosis?

Endometriosis can cause various symptoms depending upon where in the body it is found. Nonetheless, we know it most normally causes or worsens:
• Menstrual problems include painful periods, abnormal bleeding patterns, and premenstrual syndrome (PMS) mood changes.
• Stomach and stomach-related inconvenience, including bloating, diarrhea, constipation, and inflammatory bowel syndrome-like fluctuations.
• Painful intercourse.
• Sluggishness and low energy.
• Pain in different regions, like the back.
• Subfertility.

What Causes Endometriosis?

Unfortunately, the reason for endometriosis isn’t entirely known, Research is carried on in this field and we get to know new information with each passing day. Endometriosis is more likely to develop in a family manner, linked with genetics but confirmed evidence is yet to come.

A Standard Treatment For Endometriosis

To say with sureness that somebody has developed endometriosis, specialists might need to perform a procedure known as laparoscopy.
Without a doubt, this kind of medical procedure can likewise be utilized to eliminate endometriosis too.
You may likewise have the option to attempt other treatment choices while waiting for surgery, including:

• Hormonal therapy, for instance, contraception. As endometriosis is frequently connected with periods, hormonal therapy can facilitate a few symptoms.
• Pain killers like ibuprofen can free some patients from the inconvenience and pain-related endometriosis.
• Your doctor might suggest different medical procedures individually in light of your unique symptoms and the seriousness of your illness. These could incorporate a laparotomy, hysterectomy, or oophorectomy.
Medicinal cannabis helps in endometriosis.
All through the world, cannabis has been used for centuries as a treatment for uneasiness and pain. Presently, research is starting to propose it might also have used in current medicine.

What Is PTSD?

PTSD is a condition that impacts people who have endured or seen an extreme occasion that involved severe damage or the danger of serious harm. War and battle are the most broadly perceived, but rape, natural disasters, attack, experiencing a mishap, working as a police officer, soldier or fireman and other traumatic encounters can cause PTSD. It is normal to feel an anxiety response – fight or flight, for example – after a solemn occasion. Nothing wrong can be said about feeling afraid. It is at the point when these feelings don’t disappear that you might be diagnosed with PTSD.

PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)

Early evidence proposes medicinal cannabis can be a viable supplement to different treatments used to treat PTSD. Studies have shown it to diminish the recurrence of bad dreams, improve sleep, temper anxiety symptoms and decrease medication needed.
Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a frequently severe psychological condition that affects around 6% of Australians. However, while it might feel outrageous now and again, it may be treated with the right blend of drugs, therapy, and lifestyle changes. Evidence recommends medicinal cannabis may likewise give further relief.

What Are The Symptoms Of PTSD?

PTSD can affect individuals in various ways and is frequently triggered by something that looks like an extreme occasion (for instance, an unexpected loud sound) which caused the PTSD in the first case. Symptoms of PTSD include:
• Intense flashbacks, in some examples reliving the occasion like it, were happening.
• Trouble sleeping, including bad dreams.
• Extreme nervousness, with the mind in a consistent survival mode.
• Feeling disconnected or far off from others.
• Hardships in thinking and recalling less concentration.
• Keeping away from specific individuals and places if they trigger an episode.

How Does PTSD Affect An Individual's Life?

Given its generally expected extreme nature, PTSD can cause an individual to feel withdrawn and segregated from individuals around them, even those they genuinely care about.
The fear about an episode, the intense anxiety, and the challenges they face while trying to concentrate may add to a single thought like they can’t participate in specific activities and might lose pleasure in things they recently loved. They might battle to focus or hold a conversation and appear worn out constantly from the deficiency of sleep.

Keeping in mind the nature of every one of these symptoms and their results, PTSD is a condition that can influence virtually all parts of an individual’s life – which makes seeking treatment so significant.

How Is PTSD Generally Treated?

As a severe psychological condition, PTSD is treated with different strategies. This can incorporate proper medication. However, convincing someone to change their lifestyle can likewise add to defeating PTSD. Common treatments include:

Common Treatments Include

You are figuring out how to talk in a protected environment (one-on-one or group counseling meetings) to get your feelings as far away from you as possible and hear unbiased advice and views from others.

Treating PTSD

Treating PTSD with medicinal cannabis. Many societies have utilized cannabis to treat anxiety and related side effects for millennia, yet as of late medicinal cannabis has gained fame as a possible treatment in modern medicine.

Exposure Therapy

Exposure therapy is where you are slowly presented to the trauma in a protected way to assist you with figuring out how to cope with your sentiments.

Drugs, Like Antidepressants

Drugs, like antidepressants, are utilized to treat the symptoms of PTSD to reduce anxiety or help in sleep, assisting you with handling other parts of treatment required.

Insomnia

Sleep condition symptoms vary from person to person and indeed affect a patient’s quality of life. However, sedatives or sleep medications can have side effects and a risk of dependency. Basic studies recommend medicinal cannabis might be a compelling alternative. Nearly 60% of Australian grown-ups encounter at least one symptom of sleep deprivation (insomnia), while 14.8 percent have symptoms that could bring about a clinical diagnosis of insomnia.

What Is Insomnia?

Persistent sleep deprivation (insomnia) is characterized by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) as a sleep complaint that happens when at least one of these symptoms occurs:
• You experience issues getting to sleep.
• You battle to stay asleep and wake quite frequently during the night.
• You wake up very early and struggle to go back to sleep again.
• Your sleep is of disturb type.
Sleep deprivation is possibly viewed as a problem when it causes stress or anxiety or hinders daytime activity. Chronic insomnia should last a minimum of three months, and symptoms should happen at least thrice weekly.

How Does Insomnia Influence Somebody's Life?

Insomnia can present critical daytime challenges for patients, including:

  • Mood swings, including irritable behavior
  • Fatigue
  • Daytime somnolence
  • Anxiety related to sleep
  • Hindered focus and memory
  • Impaired performance in day-to-day activities.
  • Absence of motivation.
  • Headache
  • Tension
  • Stomach problems.
  • More chances to make errors (e.g., during work or while driving).
  • Trouble connecting socially

What are the common causes of insomnia?

Primary insomnia is a lack of sleep that can’t be credited to a current medical, psychiatric or environmental reason. While on the other hand, secondary insomnia emerges from another condition or any external factor.
Primary insomnia might be idiopathic in rare cases, meaning it emerges without apparent cause. It might start in childhood and be a lifelong problem.

Different Reasons For Insomnia Include

• Poor sleep hygiene.
• Drug or substance misuse.
• Psychiatric conditions like anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder.
• Stress adjustment (acute insomnia).
• External elements (e.g., temperature, noise, etc.).
• Alzheimer’s or, alternately, Parkinson’s disease.
• Hyperthyroidism.
• Restless leg syndrome.

What Are Common Treatments For Insomnia?

Insomnia can affect patients immensely, and it might be challenging to manage on occasion. Have confidence there are treatment choices for insomnia. Else it would have been tough for patients to stay sane.
Regular treatment for chronic insomnia has two principal objectives: to improve the quality of sleep and its duration and to decrease hindrance in day-to-day activities. Specialists might recommend cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBTi). It is usually the first-line treatment for insomnia, as it doesn’t have many health hazards compared to sedatives (sleep medication).
An authorized therapist must give CBTi proper knowledge and experience in this treatment. It focuses on pinpointing patients’ anxieties concerning sleep and replacing these anxieties with better beliefs, perspectives, and ways of behaving.

Also, CBTI treatment might include:

• Sleep education and cleanliness.
• Stimulus control.
• Sleep restriction.
• Relaxation methods.
Much of the time, medicines might be recommended along with CBTI. These medicines might help with aiding patients in falling asleep. Many pose a risk of dependency, so they will not be recommended for long-term use.

A Few Medicines, Including Sedatives & Hypnotics That Might Be Prescribed For Insomnia, are:

  • Benzodiazepines (BDZs) Like Diazepam, Oxazepam, Lorazepam, etc.
  • Barbiturates Including Phenobarbitone, Pentobarbitone, etc.
  • Non-Benzodiazepine Hypnotics, For Example, Zolpidem & Zopiclone.
  • Melatonin Receptor Agonists, e.g. Ramelteon.
  • Calcium Channel Alpha-2 Delta Ligands Like Pregabalin & Gabapentin.
  • Dual Orexin Receptor Antagonists (DORAs, For Example, Suvorexant. Suvorexant is the only medicine used in Australia for insomnia, approved for use for almost three months and more.
  • At times, low amounts of tricyclic antidepressants like amitriptyline might be recommended for their gentle sedative effect and lower chance of dependency.

Treating Insomnia With
Medicinal Cannabis

Source 1. Cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) for sleep conditions:

Source 2. Sleep Adequacy in patients with neuropathic pain:

Source 3. Secondary insomnia associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Restrictions Of Medicinal
Cannabis Research

At the hour of composing, research on medicinal cannabis is in its beginning phases. In medicine, we like to see countless studies led over significant periods (with vast numbers of participants) to make conclusive statements about the adequacy of specific treatments. As of now, medicinal cannabis has not arrived at this stage, even though a lot of primary research demands more large-scale study. Patients must converse with a doctor or healthcare professional about their particular necessities before coming to conclusions about their treatment choices.

Get In Touch With Us

Have any query? Contact us at any time, we will get back to you within few hours. We love to hear from our customers.

Contact Us