Cannabis and Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer’s is one of the most common mental degradation conditions for those over the age of 65 or so, and it can be something that one in every six people over the age of 80 deals with. While not fully understood, it’s something that does have certain risk factors to it. They include: 

• A family history 

• Getting older 

• Lifestyles and conditions that are related to heart disease 

• Untreated depression and other mental health issues. 

Alzheimer’s is basically the disease that contributes to dementia, but dementia is definitely a term that results in your mental and cognitive abilities dramatically declining, impacting your life quality. It can also be related to other conditions or even injuries that impact your brain, leading to the decline as it gets steady. The cause of this is simply because you’re not having the proper flushing of the proteins within your brain cells, so the neurotransmitters can’t send signals, and scientists can definitely struggle with the effects of this as well. It causes your brain to shrink, and it is not easy to deal with. Can cannabis help though? 

Cannabis and your brain 

There is a possible link between cannabis and the treatment of Alzheimer’s, which does boil down to the effect of the herbs on the brain. This is because the cannabis that you intake works with your endocannabinoid receptors, which is basically receptors in the cell throughout your body and uses endogenous cannabinoids, which are naturally occurring to help with the functions in the body.

You’ve got two main receptors, the CB1 and the CB2 receptors, which are normally found within your brain and spinal cord, and also, you may also find this in the immune system. There is some studies which say that if you vape, smoke, or intake cannabis in some way, the cannabinoids will directly bind to your receptors, releasing this into the brain, and then changing the sharing of the information on the brain, which can help to create the impact of cannabis for those who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. 

 Cannabis and Alzheimer’s 

There is a lot to learn about what cannabis does to the brain, but there are a few clinical trials that have worked to ensure that the impact of these cannabinoids on your behavioral systems for those with dementia are studied, especially those involving agitation and aggression. They actually found that THC along with CBD may be more useful together than using them in isolation. 

According to a report from the Alzheimer’s drug discovery foundation, the synthetic THC that’s called Nabilone, is actually one of the best ways to treat Alzheimer’s symptoms. It actually found as well through different studies that it can be used to reduce the agitation that’s associated via Alzheimer’s. 

While the data does look promising, right now we don’t have a ton of studies, and it could be said that more are necessary before we can safely say that cannabis does have some potential to help with Alzheimer’s symptoms. so is THC good for this? right now, given that THC is considered a psychotropic type of drug, it can possibly be good for this. the dosing and how many times you take it plays a much larger part. 

there is also the fact that THC may also impact the brain, but right now we don’t have the comprehensive answer for this. As for CBD, there is a lot less research on this, but some have found that it’s kind of neuroprotective, which can be helpful for those who have Alzheimer’s to protect the rest of the body from breaking down as well.