Anyone use cannabis for nausea, pain and loss of appetite?

@charlescarnohan Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect! I see this is your first post after joining several months ago.

I am glad you have found something to help you on your health journey. As you said, and this goes for any supplements/medications, people often respond differently. The trick is to find out what will work for you.

You may find some valuable information in the colorectal cancer support group, or be able to lend your experiences to our members there: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/colorectal-cancer/
Ginger

@vijay26 I am very curious how one can abuse dialysis? I have been on dialysis since August 2022 and for the life of me, cannot see how one could abuse it!

As for opioid addiction, it is my belief that some people may slide into it, others won't given how they use any medication and what their health status might be at any given time. And it can certainly "sneak" up on you!
Ginger

@gingerw Hi there!
I do not know much about Dialysis.
But, my nephrologist told me about the "Portals" that need to be placed on your body (arms or Clavical) that involves a lot of poking and prodding every week.

How often do you go for dialysis, if I may ask you?

Some could get on Dialysis to get Medicare coverage early in their life.
Others, once after Dialysis starts, take Over the counter pain meds to tolerate those points to find your veins. It is extremely difficult thing to undergo dialysis for years w/o pain.

Are you in pain or no? If you have,do not hesitate to let your care team know. Liquid form of Morphine and derivatives of Opium are often used by patients
if their good Drs understand what they are going thru.

Hope you feel better and be pain free Ginger.

W regards,
VJ

@gingerw Thank you for the warm welcome! I’ve been through radiation/chemotherapy. Now I am in serious chemotherapy and on my neck to the last treatment.!
I had a hard time with radiation and now that I’m nearing the end of the medication treatment as I look forward to whatever corrective surgery ends up being my fate, I’m beginning to get my head up a little better. I have a little more energy and can give back.
The mayo is amazing! The coordination and organization and focus on patient needs is beyond comparison.

@vijay26 Although this is an older discussion, it is still very relevant, and may encourage other members on dialysis to respond to your questions!
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/support-for-dialysis-patients/
I do peritoneal dialysis, at home, every night, And have been doing this since August 2022.
I do not have pain. There is a dialysis catheter that was implanted onto my abdomen to introduce the fluids into my cavity each night, and that same catheter is used to drain out the fluids each morning.
Ginger

I was diagnosed with CC renal carcinoma 8 years ago when a large tumor and my kidney were removed. I began using cannabis then to help with nausea, appetite, pain and depression. My cancer metastasized four years ago. I used AI to learn which terpenes in cannabis are most helpful for my symptoms and cancer and most medical dispensaries have a medical staff who can assist with that. They can also help build a dosing schedule. The terpenes make a marked difference in my response to the medication. I take 8 mg Lenvima daily and experience waves of nausea (not constant nausea), stomach irritation, all the digestive tract problems, sweating episodes, dizziness and appetite suppression. These are the three terpene profiles many oncology cannabis clinicians suggest trying first and the ones that usually calm my side effects, increase my appetite and allow me to function.
1. Limonene + Caryophyllene are often the most effective and best for sudden nausea waves and medication irritation in the stomach.
2. Myrcene + Limonene are effective with nausea combined with appetite loss.
3. Caryophyllene + Myrcene are
helpful for nausea with abdominal pain.
I generally smoke cannabis because I have sudden onsets of symptoms. Start with low THC to learn your tolerance and dosage. I’ve not experienced any negative side effects from cannabis (aside from probable lung damage) but I know a number of people who have an adverse reaction to the medication. As more states legalize cannabis the research will grow, but until the federal government approves its use, research will continue to be limited. I have been honing this medication as well as my diet for eight years to find my best chemo body.

I posted this question because I had no experience with cannabis.

Kentucky recently legalized it. My primary care doctor is on the list of approved prescribers. She made an appointment for me promptly and submitted their required documentation. That was a week ago. Over that weekend I had an affidavit notarized that was required by Kentucky.

On Monday I had trouble figuring out Kentucky’s website and made a phone call to their listed number. The nicest lady at the KY office of cannabis spent an hour on the phone walking me through the registration. She said it can take up 30 days to get approval but probably would be less.

The next day I had approval and I printed out my card.

On Wednesday, I went to a licensed dispensary and they worked with me to get some gummies and a vape pen.

Yesterday was infusion day which usually is not terrible unless the neuropathy in my feet and hand starts in before I leave.

The dr has adjusted the dosages of chemo several times. But the last time I still had some pain and discomfort as well as loss of appetite and nausea.

Yesterday I took .25 mg of a gummy when the chemo was starting and felt relatively pleasant through the whole experience.

I took another .25 when it was almost finished. I ate during the infusion in small amounts as well as eating a small supper. The other improvement I noticed is food is no longer on appetizing and water taste better so I feel like drinking it. I drank a lot more water this time.That’s much better than I have done any previous infusion day.

Last night I was reasonably comfortable until I went to bed; then I couldn’t sleep, despite the steroid having been reduced from 12 to 4. I don’t know if that’s milligrams or grams or whatever.

Also, the tips of my toes were burning and painful. I had used cold therapy, but the ice pack did not extend to the tips of my toes. The rest of my toes and fingers were OK.

Being unable to sleep I finally got up and took another .25 of a gummy. before long, I fell asleep and slept until 7 AM this morning. I was able to eat a small breakfast and drink coffee this morning without any problem.

So far, the gummy‘s have made the chemo experience much better than it has been.

That’s unappetizing. Not on appetizing.

The other thing that happened is really weird. I came up with a fully planned-out plot for a romcom while I was having the infusion. I told it to the nurse and she laughed. I told it to my adult granddaughter and she said it sounds like I’ve been incubating this plot for a long time. I told her I just thought of it yesterday.

I had taken some screenwriting classes years ago and attempted to write some scripts but haven’t thought about doing that in years. I may try to write this into a script. Just call me crazy.