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Anorexia Nervosa is a serious eating disorder that is characterized by an abnormally low body weight brought about by the practice of forced self starvation and food aversion. This dangerous and often deadly health condition affects as many as thirty million people every year worldwide. Recently there have been a large number of studies on the subject of marijuana and anorexia and there is a lot of evidence to suggest that cannabis can be an effective treatment to combat some of the more pronounced aspects of this disorder. Several places in the world have already approved medical marijuana as a treatment for Anorexia Nervosa.
People with anorexia suffer from an extremely distorted sense of self which is intrinsically tied to body weight and being incredibly, unhealthily thin. This disorder most often results in or stems from a severely irrational fear of gaining weight. It has been reported that up to 90% of the people struggling with this disorder are women, especially young women. Sufferers of this condition will go to absolutely extreme lengths to avoid eating food and gaining weight resulting in dramatic weight loss causing a host of health complications for their bodies.
Because the body is being literally starved of the necessary nutrients and calories it requires to healthily operate all physiological processes become slowed and stunted in a desperate effort of the body to conserve and preserve the limited energy available to it. This results in a reduced heart rate and much lower blood pressure forcing the heart to overexert itself and putting the body at risk for heart failure. Other serious side effects of suffering from anorexia nervosa include the loss of bone density, loss of muscle mass, loss of hair, severe dehydration, skin dryness and fatigue and weakness. All of this extra pressure on the organs of the body also drastically increases the risk of failure.
Because this condition is both a mental and a physical one a multi-faceted approach is needed when considering treatment. No treatment will succeed without addressing both the physical and mental health of the person suffering from this condition. The goal of any treatment should be to return to a healthy body weight but should also include the implementation of a severe change in lifestyle and mindset so that increasing their calorie intake and gaining a healthy amount of weight is no longer a source of upset and anxiety for the person suffering from this condition.
Marijuana & Anorexia
It has actually been suggested by several recent scientific studies that anorexia and other similar eating disorders are interconnected with a dysfunction involving the endocannabinoid system. Cannabis users may already be familiar with this major neurotransmission system of the human body which is responsible for a wide range of psychological processes. These processes are related to homeostatic imbalances that control the way that the body will respond to certain foods and also governs over the general feeling one gets while eating. Within the endocannabinoid system there is a particular receptor known as CB which controls and regulates the appetite.
Who among us hasn’t enjoyed a good smoke and then found themselves to be unreasonably and hopelessly hungry? If you’ve ever had the munchies you might already begin to understand why cannabis could be such an effective treatment for people who have trouble maintaining a healthy appetite for routinely eating food. Cannabis stimulates the CB receptors and triggers a response in most people which urges them to consume food and experience great pleasure in doing so!
All cannabis products unless they are specially produced to contain CBD only contain tetrahydrocannabinol more commonly referred to as THC which is a cannabinoid that is known to stimulate the CB receptors in the human endocannabinoid system triggering the desire for food and increasing the pleasure of the experience of eating. In both human and animal studies the introduction of these cannabinoids to the CB receptors has shown a dramatic increase in appetite and enjoyment when it comes to the experience of eating food. It seems fairly obvious to draw the simple conclusion that most anybody suffering from the condition of anorexia could benefit greatly from having a healthier appetite and psychological relationship to the experience of eating on a regular basis. This should give people suffering from this condition a much easier time of returning their bodies to a healthy weight.
Not only is there a wealth of peer reviewed and community backed scientific research to support these assertions there is also a wide range of perspectives based on personal experience for us to draw from online. Many people who have suffered with eating disorders for periods of time in their lives have written and recorded blogs, podcasts, video testimonials and all manner of other positive recommendations in support of how much the use of medical marijuana has helped them reclaim their minds and bodies allowing themselves to build and maintain a healthier relationship with eating and body weight.
Anorexia & Anxiety
Anorexia and anxiety are intrinsically tied as mental and physical conditions and it is rare to find someone suffering from issues with a distorted body image who does not also suffer from some considerable level of general anxiety as well. A vast majority of users who try a treatment based on the use of medical marijuana for anorexia soon discover that the treatment does wonders for their general and constant sense of anxiety also. A big part of the stress based around maintaining a distorted sense of physical beauty stems from a general but extreme feeling of anxiety and an inability to properly process or manage emotions and expectations when it comes to the self.
You should of course always speak to a trained psychological and/or medical professional about what treatments are best for your particular situation as everybody’s circumstances are unique.
If you find yourself overwhelmed and frequently obsessing over issues outside of your scope of control and then turn to extreme regulation of your body weight and food intake as a way to curb and control your anxious feelings and insecurities or gain some semblance of control in your life then it is extremely possible that medical marijuana for anorexia could be just the treatment you need to reduce anxiety and return your appetite and eating habits to a healthy baseline.
It isn’t difficult to find many testimonials to this effect out on the wider web. Youtube is an excellent resource as many users have uploaded their video testimonials or even kept a video diary of their progress as they treat their eating disorders, anxiety and even depression with the use of medical cannabis. Even people who swore off the use of drugs for their entire lives have had a change of heart after utilizing medical cannabis to treat conditions like anorexia and anxiety. There is even evidence to suggest that regular treatment using medical marijuana for anorexia can help return energy and physical activity levels to a healthy baseline in a wide range of individuals as well.
Side Effects of Traditional Medicines
For many people who have used a treatment of marijuana for their eating disorder the reasoning which brought them to a place where they would consider medical marijuana often stems from the laundry list of possible side effects that traditional medications used for appetite stimulation and assisted weight gain can unfortunately come bundled with hand in hand. When compared side by side with medical cannabis which has the primary side effect of reducing anxiety and encouraging the pleasurable experience of eating there is almost no fair comparison to be made. It seems clear to most that treating anorexia and anxiety with medical marijuana can be somewhat of a silver bullet solution treating and assisting with not only the symptoms of the disorder but its root cause of anxiety as well.
Some known side effects of traditional medication can include things as inconvenient as gastro-intestinal issues or as potentially serious as increasing your risk of organ damage or even failure! When compared to the therapeutic benefits of using cannabis most patients make an easy choice to try medicating with marijuana and more often than not they see incredible results and great success. Even people who live a “drug free” lifestyle guided by a sense of personal morality such as the deeply religious or members of the underground hardcore punk music community known as “straight edge” – people who devote themselves to living a life free of intoxicants of any kind – have come around to accepting the incredible and life changing medicinal benefits of medical cannabis when they give cannabis a chance and welcome it into their new lifestyles and routines.
Testimonials like the ones I describe above can be found all over the web from users of medical cannabis around the globe. Why not try some today for your own ailments and see if the natural and safe life changing remedy of cannabis is right for you?
Start Your Healing Journey Today
Why not try medical cannabis yourself? Like many other people around the world you may find that with use of marijuana an eating disorder like anorexia becomes much easier to manage and overcome. At Haute Health we care deeply about the health and longevity of everybody and hope that we can provide an alternative to the potentially dangerous side effects of traditional medications, empowering people to discover their healthier self!
We have everything you need to get you started down the pathway towards a new, happier and healthier self! Start your healing journey today.
