Endometriosis is a condition that affects between 5% and 10% of females around the world. Endometriosis is an extremely painful condition with no cure. With that said, research shows there to be potential in using CBD for Endometriosis. There are several ways that CBD can help endometriosis, and one of the top ones is how it works on pain. Whether you decide to go with this particular treatment or something else, you should at least know the potential benefits of CBD for endometriosis.
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Understanding endometriosis
In order to understand why CBD is so effective against endometriosis, it is important to understand exactly what endometriosis is and how it works. This is a condition where the tissue lining the uterus grows outside of the uterus instead. Endometrial tissue develops on the ovaries throughout the abdomen and the fallopian tubes. This is not a life-threatening condition, but it is an extremely painful one. In addition, it responds to the hormones circulating in the body. Each month the endometrium breaks down and sheds, but instead of the blood and tissue from the cells being expelled from the body, they are trapped inside. This creates inflammation and scarring.
Women who suffer from endometriosis often have no choice but to manage their condition with dangerous painkillers because there is little that can be done about. There are some surgical options, but not many, and women that suffer from endometriosis also have higher rates of anxiety and depression. Some of the symptoms of endometriosis include severe cramps, painful urination, painful bowel movements, chronic diarrhea and constipation, nausea, chronic pain throughout the lower back and abdomen, pain when having sexual intercourse and more.
How can CBD help to treat endometriosis?
There are several ways the CBD can help in reducing the symptoms of endometriosis. The first reason that it is so effective is due to the ability of cannabinoids to stop cell multiplication. Your body is supposed to inhibit the growth of aberrant cells and then destroy them, but this is an ability that seems to be missing for those that suffer from endometriosis.
But the endocannabinoid system is involved with the process of stopping cell growth and destroying those aberrant cells. Research has shown the effectiveness of these in cancer treatments; activated either by the body’s own endocannabinoids or by the THC in marijuana. They keep cancer cells from multiplying. Similar research proved that activating these receptors inhibits endometrium tissue from growing.
CBD also prevents the migration of cells. One of the options when you have endometriosis is the surgical removal of the endometriosis lesions. But the problem is that they often come back. However, modern research has discovered that cannabis can help with regulating cell migration. That’s because molecules like CBD can stop those cells from migrating by blocking certain receptors. However, many experts are recommending that women who are using THC in order to prevent the cell migration would be better with CBD because THC may potentially increase cell migration at the same time which makes the effect nil.
In addition, CBD may be able to help with another aspect of treatment for endometriosis. Those endometriosis lesions are only able to grow if they develop a network of blood vessels so that they can get the required nutrients for growth. But CBD can actually prevent them from getting the nutrients that they need and therefore prevent them from growing. The research is shown that this is somewhat of a limited effect; both CBD and THC can prevent a certain amount of nutrients from getting to those lesions.
Pain relief is something that every woman with this illness needs. One of the most painful things about the illness is nerve pain. Some women have endometriosis that goes very deep into the abdominal tissue and that affects a larger number of nerves. This means that nerve pain is much more pronounced and nerve pain can be one of the most excruciating types of pain. But those endocannabinoids actually regulate nerve growth. Molecules like CBD prevent the activation of the nerve receptor. Again, researchers recommend using CBD over THC or at the very least using CBD in conjunction with THC because long-term use of THC may offer short-term pain relief but they could result in a long-term increase in pain.
CBD is also remarkably safe. One of the most commonly used anti-inflammatory medications is Advil which goes by the generic name ibuprofen. But NSAIDs like Advil work by inhibiting certain enzymes that contribute to the inflammation. But they also thing your blood and can have an effect on your gastrointestinal system. Basically, anti-inflammatories like Advil come with side effects that simply do not exist with CBD.
In addition, cannabinoids can help to soothe an overactive immune system. Your immune system goes into overdrive with endometriosis. But a large number of the body’s receptors are located in the soldier cells of your immune system. When these receptors are activated, they prevent those soldier cells from releasing inflammatory proteins which are called cytokines. People that suffer from endometriosis often become overly susceptible to inflammatory toxins. But THC in CBD activates certain receptors that contribute to anti-inflammatory properties and that can be helpful for an immune system that is causing inflammation.
Finally, cannabinoids have a major impact on pain for a couple of reasons. Not only do CBD and THC allow you to feel less pain, but THC in particular allows you to feel pleasure in place of that pain. CBD helps relieve feelings of pain through different targets than THC and CBD is capable of the sensitizing one of the main pain receptors. However, with THC you get the psychoactive effect which can be pleasurable for many people. It is up to each individual woman that suffers from endometriosis whether they want to use THC or CBD to get relief and treat their illness.
Conclusion
The bottom line here is that there are a lot of people out there that suffer from endometriosis. While the condition is usually not a life-threatening issue, the condition undoubtedly decreases the quality of life for those it affects. However, if you can treat endometriosis with CBD oil, then you may be able to get through life a little better.
