Cannabis For Alcoholic Gastritis

Cannabis For Alcoholic Gastritis

Gastritis is a condition characterized by inflammation within the stomach lining. It may be acute or chronic, and can be brought about by a number of factors such as taking painkillers, bacterial infections, autoimmune conditions, or drinking too much alcohol.

Alcoholic gastritis typically results from excessive alcohol consumption, since this can irritate or erode parts of the stomach lining. When this happens, the stomach lining becomes exposed to digestive acids that your body uses to metabolize food, causing your stomach to develop a heightened sensitivity to food and acids. The symptoms of alcoholic gastritis include nausea and vomiting, bloating, upper abdominal pain, and regurgitation of food. Individuals with alcoholic gastritis experience these symptoms after binge drinking, although alcoholics tend to experience them on a regular basis. Consuming food may only make the symptoms worse.

Studies show that alcoholic gastritis is common among people who drink heavily on a regular basis. Without treatment, alcoholic gastritis can lead to serious and more severe complications. In the worst case scenario, alcoholic gastritis may be fatal if stomach damage is already irreparable.

Conventional treatments for gastritis depend on what caused the condition. If caught early, the first line of treatment for alcoholic gastritis would be to stop consuming alcohol. Other types of gastritis medications include antibiotics, proton pump inhibitors, acid blockers, and antacids. Patients may also be recommended to make some lifestyle changes such as avoiding foods that tend to bring about symptoms of gastritis such as spicy, acidic, fried, and fatty food, and to switch pain killers because some pharmaceutical analgesics can cause gastritis.

How Cannabis Helps

Cannabis has shown to be a safe and natural remedy for treating not just alcoholic gastritis, but other forms of this condition as well. A recent study revealed that regular alcohol drinkers who consume cannabis have less of a risk developing alcoholic gastritis compared to those who don’t. The study, published in the medical journal Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research, was conducted by researchers from both the United States and Canada. They surveyed heavy alcohol consumers who also used cannabis and compared them to matched controls.

The subjects who consumed cannabis were found to have as much as a 25% decreased risk of alcoholic gastritis. “We reveal that risky alcohol drinking combined with cannabis use is associated with reduced prevalence of alcohol-associated gastritis in patients,” the authors wrote. “Given increased cannabis legislation globally, understanding if and how the specific ingredients in cannabis plant extract can be used in the treatment of alcoholic gastritis is paramount. In this regard, further molecular mechanistic studies are needed to delineate the mechanisms of our novel findings not only for alcoholic gastritis but also gastritis from other causes.”

Findings from older studies verify that cannabis does indeed help treat gastritis, alcoholic or not. This is because cannabinoid receptors are found in the stomach, and cannabinoid intake can help individuals safely heal gut problems without any side effects. European researchers say that, “It was not surprising to discover that the GI tract accommodates and expresses all the components of the ECS (the endocannabinoid system). Animal studies have also said that “the endocannabinoid system conveys protections to the GI tract (e.g. from inflammation and abnormally high gastric and enteric secretions.”

Additionally, cannabis has been shown to effectively treat the symptoms of gastritis especially nausea and vomiting, one of the most prevalent signs of this disease. Tetrahydrocananbinol (THC) has been prescribed as far back as the 80’s for its efficacy in addressing nausea. It is already commonly used by chemotherapy patients for whom nausea and vomiting is a common side effect. THC works so well for nausea and vomiting because it interacts with cannabinoid receptors in the brain that are responsible for regulating nausea. Loss of appetite can also result as a result of gastritis, and cannabis can help with this too. The “munchies” are the most popular effect of consuming cannabis; a phenomenon described as ravenous hunger and an insatiable appetite spurred by ingesting cannabis high in THC.

Current medical literature shows that cannabis can also treat other symptoms of gastritis including upset stomachs, and indigestion. Patients may also be prone to suffering emotional problems as a result of the condition, such as anxiety, which cannabis can help with as well.