How Florida Glaucoma Patients Are Using Medical Marijuana To Help Alleviate Their Symptoms?

Glaucoma is a prevalent vision disorder that is affecting around 60.6 million people worldwide. It is the second leading cause of blindness that disproportionately affects senior citizens. Early intervention of this condition can be a key to treating it right. Unfortunately, this condition creeps up on its sufferers, who hardly notice the symptoms they experience until they have sustained significant vision loss. For this reason, it is essential to go for a regular comprehensive eye check-up, especially if you are over the age of 60.

With time the increased intraocular pressure linked with glaucoma disease can annihilate the optic nerve leading to irreversible vision loss. Though there is no cure for glaucoma disease, the only way to handle it is to control its advancement. Several laser treatments, glaucoma surgery, pills, and eye drops reduce eye pressure to prevent optic nerve damage.

A popular treatment for Glaucoma is Medical Marijuana for years, but its controversial status has always been in trending news. Few studies conducted in the 1970s found that the active compound, namely THC in the marijuana plant, helps reduce intraocular pressure. But the question that arises here is how effective and viable this treatment can be. Several queries arise concerning this. The questions like:

How are Glaucoma and Medical Marijuana associated?
What do the studies show about their effects?
What are the effects on the people who prefer naturopathic alternatives over allopathic medications?
Well, to your surprise, we have compiled everything here only. Let us take a closer look at it.

How Are Glaucoma And Medical Marijuana Associated?

You must be wondering about the connection between Medical Marijuana and Glaucoma. And how can it treat the health condition? Medical Marijuana helps to lower blood pressure that indirectly reduces the blood supply to the optic nerve. It certainly helps in decreasing intraocular pressure, which in turn protects the patient against optic nerve damage.

According to a research study regarding THC’s active participation, Marijuana only reduced intraocular pressure for around three to four hours. In short, the consumption of THC might be a suitable fix for glaucoma patients, and for preventing irreversible vision loss, a patient’s condition must be controlled 24 hours a day. However, in addition to lowering blood pressure, THC content’s high consumption may raise some other health issues. THC is responsible for that high feeling that may give rise to some side effects, including anxiety, short-term memory issues, and tachycardia.

Besides this, do you know that the Florida legislature has passed a list of qualifying conditions for which Medical Marijuana is a treatment option? If you are a Florida resident, then you must check on the following.

What Researchers Have To Say About It?

While it is good to talk about Marijuana’s natural properties and the safer effects of the marijuana plant compared to conventional pharmaceutical drugs. Medical Cannabis is still not FDA-regulated that states it is not subject to the same practices and standards that govern prescription drugs.

To diminish the intraocular pressure by 3 to 5 mm Hg and maintain the same reduction ratio, a patient needs to ingest around 18 to 20 mg of THC content almost six to eight times daily. And this much high content may leave adverse effects on mental clarity, moods and if anyone smokes the same, lung health may be affected. So, we highly recommend you to count on Medical Cannabis with a licensed medical doctor’s recommendation.

In another study, researchers gave glaucoma patients the THC-containing pills, and within nine months, they asked all of them to stop consuming the same due to the high THC content that led to the side-effects. Though studies haven’t currently proven that Marijuana is a reliable treatment, its effects include lowering eye pressure and lowering blood pressure throughout the body. It can conclude that it can slow down the blood flow to the optic nerve, effectively canceling out the advantage of reduced intraocular pressure.

Now that we have focused on THC constituent for its effectiveness to treat Glaucoma, it is essential to check on another marijuana constituent that has gained a lot of attention and scrutiny due to its medicinal properties. It doesn’t generate that high feel and does not even give rise to the mood-altering effects. If you are looking for a strain that doesn’t make you high, then high CBD content and some THC content can be the right choice for you.

Traditional Glaucoma Treatment Options

The conventional treatments that can help to control the progression of the disease and prevent future vision loss include:

• Eye Drops: The eye drops are placed directly into the eye and then absorbed in the bloodstream by reducing intraocular pressure. An ophthalmologist can prescribe the eye drops, and a patient must consume them precisely as recommended to be effective.
• Pills: Pills can help control the eyes’ fluid production and help reduce the symptoms. Medical Doctors recommend the consumption of Medicines two to four times a day, and it is essential to consider the side effects. So make sure you consume it as recommended by the medical doctor.
• Glaucoma Surgery: Not everybody suffering from a condition requires surgical treatment. The most common type of glaucoma surgery is deliberated to treat the “open-angle form of the disease that involves utilizing a laser to make small openings permitting aqueous fluid to pass through the eye by reducing IOP quickly.”

The treatment entirely depends on the severity and progression of a patient’s vision. There is no case of recommending the same treatment for everyone. The treatment option may vary based on the condition and severity of the disease. However, the central point of concern here is to have regular eye check-ups so that anyone can diagnose the disease at an early stage only.

What is the future of Medical Cannabis for Glaucoma Treatment?

Presently, the only way to control the progression of Glaucoma and prevent vision loss is by lowering the pressure in your eye. The ophthalmologist may treat the same based on the severity and type of Glaucoma a patient is experiencing. Scientists are still exploring whether the active ingredients present in the marijuana plant can offer an effective treatment for Glaucoma. If it becomes possible to make the effects of medical cannabis compounds leave a long-lasting impact, one can also eliminate the side effects, and there may be some new leads soon. However, the research is in the developing phase, but it is yet to conclude Marijuana to be an effective treatment.

How Medical Marijuana helps Glaucoma Patients in other ways?

It is essential to note that during the advanced Glaucoma stage, a patient can experience some other symptoms, including severe nausea, pain, and poor appetite. These symptoms are prevalent, and Medical Cannabis is an effective remedy to treat them. So, medical cannabis can be an addition to the standard treatment for glaucoma patients but not a replacement as per the current statistics.

Final Thoughts!

Medical Cannabis can be useful to treat glaucoma patients, but as the research is still in the developing phase, there is a lot more to explore. If a professional recommends using Medical Cannabis as a treatment option for Glaucoma, you must consume it based on the doctor’s recommendation only. However, as Medical Cannabis is a controversial plant, it is highly recommended to consume cannabis with a valid Medical Marijuana Card Florida. Due to its controversial status, you may get involved in some legal troubles, so it is always good to have a legal right for consumption and possession with you. You can obtain a medical marijuana card from My MMJ Doctor by applying online and receive your legal right at your doorstep.

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