A short, patient-facing YouTube talk by Sherry (Shari) Kaplan Stellino (Connected Wellness) explaining how cannabis medicine interacts with conventional medications. Key points: the body produces endogenous cannabinoids (anandamide, 2-AG), cannabis supports the endocannabinoid system, and can alter effects of conventional drugs—so start low and go slow, monitor blood pressure and blood glucose when on related meds, expect enhanced effects with alcohol and some pain medications, and maintain good hydration. The speaker emphasizes physician monitoring during initiation.
Foreign hello and welcome back to our channel. Are you taking conventional medicine and are concerned about how your cannabis medicine may interact? In this video, I'm going to be sharing with you what you need to know when taking conventional medicine with your cannabis medicine. I'm Sherry Kaplan Stellino, founder of Connected Wellness. Being monitored while you start taking your cannabis medicine can take the worry out of starting. I would like to stress that this is why you want a physician to follow you closely when you get started in taking your cannabis medicine. And I have one quick reminder. Cannabis is a regulator in your body and it regulates and helps to modulate the body's function. So, so prior to taking conventional medicine, your body on its own is already producing its own natural cannabinoids called anandamide and 2Ag, which is similar to THC and CBD. So you're already making it. So your conventional medicine is already interacting with your natural THC and cbd. So that's a big mouthful to grab ahold of. However, if you gives us a little bit more comfort knowing that your body is already producing the medicine that you're going to be taking. So taking medicine, taking cannabis medicine, you are supporting your endocannabinoid system. When you have an illness or a medical condition or a disorder or your body's under stress and when you understand that the cannabis is trying to keep your body in its optimal state of good health, you can see that cannabis can be helping the body use. Use your conventional medicine to aid in what the conventional medicine is trying to do so that cannabis can actually help your medicine work more efficiently and effectively. However, there are a few precautions that you and your physician might want to keep in mind. The first one is less is more. This is why you want to start your cannabis medicine on a low dose and slowly increase it. Because if you go too high your dosing, some people can have an adverse reaction to the cannabis and it will not work for you very well. So more is not always better. Start low and go slow. The second is cannabis can help in regulating your blood pressure and it can also help in regulating your blood sugar. Well, this is great news for so many people. But if you're on blood pressure medicine or you're taking insulin, this is where you need to be careful. You need to be monitoring your blood pressure at least twice a day. If you are taking blood pressure medicine and you also want to be taking your. Your testing your insulin levels, which I'm sure if you're taking insulin, you do that several times a day and you may need to be discussing with your doctor if you need to lower those dosages of your blood pressure medicine or your insulin medicine. So speak to your doctor. Stay in close contact when you first start taking your cannabis medicine, because you could be seeing your blood pressure and blood sugar impro and you'd want the physician to manage those medications more effectively. The next thing that is important for you to remember when you're taking cannabis medicine with your conventional medicine is that cannabis can enhance the effects of alcohol. So if you do drink a glass of wine, just remember that that one glass of wine could feel like two or three glasses of wine. So when taking your cannabis medicine with conventional medicines, be in contact with your doctor and make sure that if they need to adjust your medications, you are in good communication. There's one other medication that we frequently see that is affected by cannabis medicine and that is pain medication. Because cannabis can enhance what is going on in the body, that pain medication can also be stronger in its effect with the cannabis. And this is how doctors are able to wean patients off of their pain medicine or keep them on very low dosages of pain medicine while they're taking their cannabis. I do have one very brief, important piece of information to share with you and that is water, water, water, water. You need to be hydrating while you are taking cannabis medicine. And that is because cannabis is an antioxidant and, and you need to be flushing any toxins out of your body. Your body is always trying to release what it no longer needs. Please drink lots of water while you're taking cannabis. So I hope you find that to be helpful. If you do, please like our channel and subscribe to it. And remember, cannabis is a life changing medicine, but only you can change your life.
