It doesn’t matter if it is a prescription drug or a recreational drug, all drugs have compounds that interact with other compounds, adverse interactions with cannabis appear rare. As example of drugs interaction there is caffeine, which most people take on a daily basis. Caffeine has over eighty known interactions with other substances. It is difficult to determine the relevance of a drug interaction, some of them are not harmful but given the number of variables it could change.
Before stopping your prescribed medications you must consult it with your healthcare provider. If you want professionals to tell you more about changing to a cannabis treatment avoiding dangerous interactions. People diagnosed with depression can be prescribed antidepressants, very little research has been made taking prescribed drugs while using cannabis. Antidepressants side effects can be similar to those produced by marijuana use.
These sagacious medical marijuana cardholders have one stifling concern: Is it safe to use medical marijuana with prescribed prescribed drugs? For more on this topic you can also check the American Medical Association’s (AMA’s) research guide into how medical marijuana interacts with other meds.
However, there are other kind of risks to consider when mixing drugs and cannabis, antidepressants could be less effective or take longer to work, this could set the treatment on and off protocols, prolonging recovery. Patients with diabetes should be careful when their medication is set to lower blood sugar levels, as cannabis helps regulate blood sugar the effectiveness of the treatment could be compromised, we recommend measuring your blood sugar level while using metformin or a similar treatment and cannabis. Remember there are newer medications and research is needed, talk to your cannabis doctor if you want to consume cannabis while on medication.
The liver is key to drug interactions with cannabis. The liver uses enzymes, particularly one called CYP3A4, to metabolize and eliminate medical cannabis and other drugs from the body. Aside from filtering out medical cannabis and other medications, the CYP enzymes are the primary culprits in causing drug interactions with cannabis.
The CYP enzymes don’t act the same with every prescription drug and medical cannabis. Some drugs interfere with the job being done by CYP3A4. This interference can block the metabolic processing of cannabis and other drugs. The interference in turn creates a backlog of drug concentrations waiting to be expelled from the body. Anytime the liver is holding an extra bag of drug concentrations, conditions are ripe for toxic side effects from prescription drug interactions with cannabis. Although these interactions can be negative, it is worth remembering that, in some instances, cannabis may help replace the need for more addictive and deadly pharmaceuticals.
If you are interested in meeting with a medical marijuana doctor to discuss a therapeutic option to treat and alleviative your conditions with the use of cannabis, please reach out to All Natural MD marijuana doctors in Florida who can assist you in getting a medical marijuana card to treat your alignments. Qualify for medical cannabis through the All Natural MD today.
All Natural MD has been issuing marijuana cards since 2016 and has close to 15,000 patients and growing. We have medical cannabis locations all over the State of Florida to ease the burden of having to see us in person every 210 days as required by the State. (800) 250-6737.