Managing Anxiety & Insomnia - Paul's Story: Part 2

Managing Anxiety & Insomnia

Paul’s Story: Part 2

Living with long-term anxiety can have significant effects on your quality of life, impacting your ability to maintain relationships, perform in your work and it can even impact your physical health.

In part two of Paul’s story, he tells us how cannabinoid therapy improved his overall cognitive function and physical health: “Out of everything I’ve taken, it is the only thing that has worked for me in 30 years.”

Like any therapy, results vary from person to person. However, given the low side-effect profile of cannabinoid medicines and positive clinical outcomes I see regularly, it’s important for patients and physicians to know that this is a valid treatment option in the right circumstances.

Managing Anxiety & Insomnia - Paul's Story: Part 1

Paul’s Story: Part 1

Although we’re into another week of isolation, I think it’s important to break up the COVID-19 news and bring some positivity to your feed. Let me share Paul’s story:

Paul developed PTSD, anxiety and insomnia, following his time as a police officer in Belfast, Ireland and a corrections officer in Canada. He was referred to my clinic to try to help with his anxiety and insomnia after trying many other therapies without any benefit.

After coaching Paul on the benefits of non-medical therapies including mindfulness, exercise, sleep hygiene and healthy eating, we introduced cannabinoid therapy. Paul’s anxiety has lessened and he is now sleeping 7-9 hours a night. Seeing this kind of quality life improvement in my patients is the reason I began practicing medicine and why I’ll continually love what I do. Thank you for sharing your story, Paul!

Medical cannabis safer for elderly with chronic pain than opioids: European Pharmaceutical Review

Medical cannabis therapy can significantly reduce chronic pain in patients age 65 and older without adverse effects, according to researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and the Cannabis Clinical Research Institute at Soroka University Medical Center.

The new study found that cannabis therapy is safe and efficacious for elderly patients who are seeking to address cancer symptoms, Parkinson’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and other medical issues.

“While older patients represent a large and growing population of medical cannabis users, few studies have addressed how it affects this particular group, which also suffers from dementia, frequent falls, mobility problems, and hearing and visual impairments,” says Victor Novack, a Professor of Medicinein the BGU Faculty of Health Sciences (FOHS), and head of the Soroka Cannabis Clinical Research Institute. 

“After monitoring patients 65 and older for six months, we found medical cannabis treatment significantly relieves pain and improves quality of life for seniors with minimal side effects reported.” Read full article here and review research here.