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IAmA "refractory" Crohn's patient who has taken nearly every FDA-approved drug for the disease. At one point, I was being screened for a stem cell clinical trial. Today, I have multiple years in remission, thanks to medical marijuana. AMA!
I was diagnosed at 16 and was immediately started on prednisone and azathioprine, due to the severity of the inflammation in my terminal ileum. Those didn't do the trick, so we started Remicade. Remicade worked nicely for a few months, then I lost response. We then jumped to Humira, which reduced my symptoms, but was never remission-inducing.
At this point, I went to college and switched doctors. He got me to try Tysabri, which was removed from the market for two years because of a link to causing PML, an extremely serious brain infection, but was allowed back on the market under a severe federal monitoring program. Needless to say, Tysabri didn't reduce my symptoms either.
I was then at a wall because the only other TNF blocker, Cimzia, had about a 10% chance of inducing remission, probably less. I opted to try screening for a stem cell trial that my doctor was heading at the time.
During this entire three years of medication hopping, I was obviously miserable, running to the bathroom constantly, being nauseous, losing weight, etc. There was even an 18 day period of time where I couldn't keep down any solid food and was living on Jamba Juice while we tried different anti-emetics.
That was when I tried marijuana to control nausea and vomiting. It worked. I begged my doctor to also prescribe Marinol, which he did, and three years later, I'm still in remission. AMA!
Proof 1: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/15/screenshot20120420at613.jpg/
Proof 2: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/190/photo1nt.jpg/
EDIT: I DO NOT CLAIM TO BE CURED. THIS IS A CHRONIC DISEASE. I AM IN REMISSION. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE.
crohnsmmj62 karma
Exactly!! I've heard Crohn's patients refer to it as a miracle, and as atheist as I am, it's really been nothing short of that for me.
Glad MMJ's working well for you too!
doipeste54 karma
Took me a long time to follow your post, then I got to trees and understood you must have an upvote :)
Happy 4/20 !!
Sprakisnolo36 karma
You are aware that the condition is a relapsing and remitting condition, and that the marijuana almost certainly has nothing to do with your improvement right? Its an inflammatory condition... I'll be blunt: marijuana is not going to fix an inflammatory problem. Steroids, TNF-alpha antagonists... these are the therapies that aid in Chron Disease. I am overjoyed to hear that you are doing well, but don't chalk it up to a drug that has no immunpsuppressing effect (at least one that wouldn't be anywhere near that of steroids or cytokine suppressors). You've gotta be realistic when thinking about this. Weed probably helped with the nausea and vomiting, but the transmural scaring, fissures, ulcerations and interspersed inflammation of your ileum are not going to be impacted by marijuana. But again, whats the most important thing, is that you are doing better now. Thats great! But lets not try to spread the idea to others that may have Chron that marijuana should be a first line treatment. We have good evidence that the other treatments work best for most patients.
crohnsmmj5 karma
If you look at both proofs I've given, one is a test result from last week for C-reactive protein, an inflammatory marker. When i'm flaring, it's about double the normal range. When I'm not, it's within that range, like it is now.
XDIX28 karma
How often do you take it and how do you take it? I have Ulcerative Colitis and it's crossed my mind a few times to try it, but living in the UK it's still illegal here.
P.S How quickly did you notice it to start making a difference?
crohnsmmj30 karma
My Marinol prescription is for 2x5mg daily. It's a pretty moderate dose. I also use a portable vaporizer a few times throughout the day. Total, I average using a gram a day.
I was in clinical remission within a couple months, but the symptoms were gone as soon as I smoked or as soon as the Marinol kicks in (about 30-60 minutes after ingestion).
[deleted]11 karma
Non-medical marijuana user here. I feel like smoking a gram a day would leave me uncomfortably dazed for daily life (schoolwork, etc). Do you ever feel dazed or hazy?
crohnsmmj14 karma
Not really. I have a full time job that requires thinking on my feet all the time, and my supervisors would agree that I am quite good at what I do.
zaltod18 karma
I too have Crohn's disease and my recreational Marijuana use has no effect on it. Currently am on Humira and have never been healthier.
Would care to share your CBC numbers? I'm just curious.
crohnsmmj7 karma
As of last week's blood tests, my values are first, while the accepted range is second:
WBC 8.1 4.0 - 11.0 k/ul RBC 4.83 4.0 - 5.2 M/ul HGB 13.7 12.0 - 16.0 g/dl HCT 41.9 36.0 - 46.0 % MCV 86.8 80 - 100 fl MCH 28.5 26 - 34 pg MCHC 32.8 32 - 36 g/dl RDW 14.4 11.5 - 14.5 % PLTS 370 150 - 450 k/ul PMN/BAND 58 43 - 72 % LYMPH 30 17 - 43 % MONO 5 4 - 12 % EOS 5 0 - 8 % BASO 1 0 - 1 % PMN ABSOLUTE 4.7 1.8 - 7.7 k/ul LYMPH ABSOLUTE 2.4 1.0 - 4.8 k/ul MONO ABSOLUTE 0.4 0.1 - 0.7 k/ul EOS ABSOLUTE 0.4 0.0 - 0.5 k/ul BASO ABSOLUTE 0.1 0.0 - 0.2 k/ul
ildeallusion7 karma
Have you had a colonoscopy since you started the marijuana? How were the results interpreted by your doctor?
crohnsmmj2 karma
I've had camera endoscopies, and my lesions, which were spread throughout my entire digestive system, were healed. No visible inflammation.
HailJenkum6 karma
How do you know it's the weed and not the numerous FDA approved drugs? How did your doctors confirm this?
crohnsmmj4 karma
I haven't been on any FDA approved drug besides Marinol for three years. When I was on them, I continued to have inflammation and symptomatic problems.
My doctor has done camera endoscopies and I no longer have inflammation.
4chans_for_pussies2 karma
Do you ever want to slap those cunts who say marijuana should stay illegal when all they know about it is what they learned from DARE propaganda?
hisuiiro127 karma
They had me taking 16 pills a day at one point before I started using medical marijuana. And since I couldn't keep anything down before noon I'd have to cram them in with loads of peppermint tea and peppermint everything. Now i'm down to Two with MMJ and am down to non-narcotic pain relievers.
It's very frustrating to hear about Politicians saying they don't believe it has medicinal value, all you have to do is look at Crohn's research to see it does.
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