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Stage 2 PCa- CBD Therapy
“It seems that the studies of Sarfaraz and colleagues lead to the direction that cannabinoids should be considered as agents for the management of prostate cancer..”
I was aware of a non traditional treatment protocol, high doses of cannabis oil (CBD) over a three month period, which anecdotally worked for some for treating their prostate cancer.
During my wait and see period, i gave this a try. Obtaining the medicine proved to be difficult, and I seriously have doubts about the quality of the medicine that was being distributed by legal marijuana dispensaries.
Needless to say, when I went in for the PSA test at the end of the three months, my test resulted in a 7.10. ( I’d like to add that the doctor did not inform me that diet and sexual activity can severely affect PSA readings)
So, being scared about the jump in PSA, I made an appointment with a radiology oncologist to discuss treatment.
While waiting for this appointment, I had the opportunity to speak with a few men who had been through prostate cancer procedures.
One of these folks told me that if they had to do it again, they would get HIFU treatment (High Intensity Focused Ultrasound) instead of surgery. (It turns out that this person needed to get more surgery later). I looked into HIFU, and it looked to be every bit as successful as either surgery or radiology; and the potential for sexual and urological problems was less likely.
It was three years FDA approved in the U.S., but no insurance company would cover the procedure.
Michael Thompson
- Prostate Cancer Survivor
- Board Director PeopleBeatingCancer
Recommended Reading:
- Integrative Therapies for Active Surveillance Prostate Cancer
- The Relationship Between Insurance Coverage and Cancer Care
- High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) for Prostate Cancer
The role of cannabinoids in prostate cancer: Basic science perspective and potential clinical applications
“Prostate cancer is a grave public health problem worldwide. Despite the fact that most cases currently present with localized disease at the time of diagnosis, about 5% of men still present with metastatic disease.[2]…
It seems that the studies of Sarfaraz and colleagues lead to the direction that cannabinoids should be considered as agents for the management of prostate cancer, pending support from in vivo experiments.
This would not only make sense from an anti-androgenic point of view but also for men with bone metastatic prostate cancer, perhaps from a pain management or palliative point of view. Among the patients suffering with chronic pain and receiving opioids, one in five abuse prescription controlled substances,[69,70] and it is not difficult to see that opioid dependence and abuse is becoming a public health problem. Different methods of managing pain should be addressed to avoid these scenarios…
…Cannabinoids possess attributes that have impact in both cancer pain and prostate cancer pathophysiology. These compounds harbor analgesic properties that aid bone cancer pain, reduce opioid consumption, side effects, and dependence, as well as exhibiting anti-androgenic effects on experimental prostate cancer cells.
CONCLUSION
Cannabis sativa and its main active component delta-9-THC have long been used for numerous purposes throughout history including medicinal, textile, and recreational. Since its legal banning in the United States in 1937, it has become an issue of taboo and controversy, frowned upon for its recreational uses and psychotropic effects.
Nonetheless, the endocannabinoid signaling system has recently been the focus of medical research and considered a potential therapeutic target[15–17] since the late 1980s when Howlett and colleagues[3] identified and characterized the distinct cannabinoid receptor in rat brain.
The antagonizing effect of cannabinoids in the male reproductive system and physiology can be dated to 1974 where experimental models in male rats showed depression of spermatogenesis[21] and decrease in circulating testosterone levels.[22]
In 2005, Sarfaraz and colleagues[30] showed increased expression of both CB1 and CB2 receptors in cultured prostate cancer cells when compared with normal prostate cells, treatment of prostate cancer cells with cannabinoid CB1/CB2 agonist WIN-55,212-2 results in a dose and time dependent decrease in cell viability ,and increased apoptosis along with decrease in androgen receptor protein expression, PSA expression, and secreted PSA, suggesting that cannabinoids should be considered as agents for the management of prostate cancer.
If the hypothesis is supported by in vivo experiments. It is our conclusion that it would be of interest to conduct clinical trials involving medicinal cannabis or other cannabinoid agonists, comparing clinical markers such as PSA with controls, especially in men with bone metastatic prostate cancer, whom would not only benefit from the possible anti-androgenic effects of cannabinoids but also from analgesia of bone pain, improving quality of life, while reducing narcotic consumption and preventing opioid dependence.”
Complementary and Alternative Medicines in Prostate Cancer: From Bench to Bedside?
“Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use is common among adults, and recent reports suggest that 25%–50% of prostate cancer (PCa) patients use at least one CAM modality.
The most common CAM modalities used by PCa patients are vitamin and herbal preparations with purported antitumor effects despite only modest underlying preclinical or clinical evidence of efficacy.
In this review we provide a brief overview of the basic scientific and clinical studies underlying the most common herbal and vitamin preparations including
- common antioxidants,
- pomegranate extract,
- green tea, turmeric,
- resveratrol,
- silibinin,
- and herbal combination preparations.
When available, prostate cancer clinical trial data are reviewed. Importantly, we have compared the concentration of these agents used in in vitro experiments to that likely to be achievable in humans. From the available data we conclude that there is insufficient evidence to support the use of CAMs for the treatment of prostate cancer patients outside of a clinical trial.
The purpose of this review is to more rigorously evaluate CAM therapy in prostate cancer and educate oncologists and patients. This review focuses on examples from the general classes of agents in common use…”