"I know that it helps with inflammation inside the gut and whatnot, but is there any information or have any studies been done showing any hope for healing cysts and fistulas that are caused by Crohn’s?"
Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory condition that can effect the entire digestive system, from mouth to anus. Cannabis has anti-inflammatory properties and has been shown to help with the inflammatory bowel diseases. I have personally spoken with numerous patients who find benefit in utilizing cannabis to aid in symptom control and also in dealing with the side effects of medications. A decreased amount of inflammation would hopefully lead to fewer fistula and would likely treat the discomfort experienced. Many patients find relief through inhaled cannabis, while others prefer edible and topical preparations. I might reccomend cannabis suppositories, as well as oral preparations.
From the American Journal of Gastroenterology, an article titled,
Medical Marijuana for Digestive Disorders: High Time to Prescribe?
The authors report on several studies of cannabis treatment for crohns disease.
"Patients with both ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease commonly use marijuana for relief of symptoms (75). The majority of IBD patients report that marijuana provides significant benefit for poor appetite, nausea, and abdominal pain; however, improvement in diarrhea is less clear (76). Notably, if it were available legally, over half of nonusers have reported an interest in using marijuana for IBD symptom relief (76). Small retrospective and prospective observational studies of patients with Crohn’s disease who smoke medical marijuana that contains moderate concentrations of THC indicate that medical marijuana has beneficial effects on symptom-based disease activity indices, overall well-being, and steroid use (77,78). A small randomized controlled trial of marijuana smoked twice daily (115mg THC; 23% THC and <0.5% CBD) also recently demonstrated a significant response as measured by the Crohn’s Disease Activity Index (53). Endoscopic disease activity was not evaluated, but lack of reduction in C-reactive protein indicates that the inflammatory disease burden was not affected. Although patients with IBD may feel better while using marijuana, evidence for an objective improvement in disease activity is lacking."
Am J Gastroenterol 2015; 110:208–214; doi:10.1038/ajg.2014.245; published online 9 September 2014
Here is a link to a well written article on cannabis for crohns.
https://unitedpatientsgroup.com/blog/2015/01/13/a-cannabis-patients-guide-to-crohns-disease-by-crohns-patient-daniel-towns/
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