"I am curious if it may help or if standard pharmaceuticals is the best way to go."
In the chronic stage of Hepatitis C, some patients may be asymptomatic, while others experience nausea, fatigue, loss of appetite, weight loss, and muscle and joint aches. Many patients living with hepatitis C use cannabis to treat their symptoms, or the side effects of antiviral medications.
It is important for patients to seek antiviral therapy, because it can prevent progression to liver failure and, in some cases, is curative. Unfortunately, there are significant side effects with antivirals, including fatigue, nausea, depression, and aches and pains. These side effects have prevented patients from completing their treatment course. Because cannabis can make anti-viral therapy more tolerable for patients and allow them to continue their therapy, it has been shown to decrease disease progression.
There has been some concern that cannabis therapy itself might adversely affect the liver in patients with hep C, but at least one Canadian study demonstrated that concurrent marijuana use did not increase fatty liver development nor fibrosis.
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