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Can Medical Marijuana Help Veterans with PTSD

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According to the US VA’s office, about 20 veterans end up committing suicide each day, and some solutions that they’ve tried are medical marijuana, which they researched and are evaluating to discover the benefits of this. Those who have PTSD do experience substance abuse problems, with about 77% of them dealing with alcohol dependance. Medical marijuana is legalized in DC and 33 states and is potentially beneficial. Can it help veterans who suffer from PTSD? Probably, and it can also help with substance abuse disorders too. PTSD in Veterans When veterans see combat, it can be traumatic, and after they’ve left the battlefield, it can cause really bad symptoms, where they’re reminded, and then the fight or flight activation appends. Sometimes, it has different symptoms, such as: Being reminded painfully of those events Experiencing extreme reminders of the trauma Withdrawing from others Instability and emotional issues including being reactive and hypervigilant Shaking Palpitations This can be mild to even very server forms. Right now, the biggest treatment for this is SNRIs, and SSRIs, but this can cause an emotional “numbness” or an inability to operate freely in life. That’s why cannabis runtz strain is potentially a good one for those that suffer from PTSD Cannabis and the Endocannabinoid system Military personnel who also suffer from PTSD do display three main feelings, numbness, avoidance, or even hyperarousal. The endocannabinoid receptors play a part in the nervous system, functions, and helps with managing symptoms in a healthier manner. The endocannabinoid system also helps with homeostasis, so it can help with those chronic pain and effects of PTSD in a lot of cases. This can cause immune along with pain responses and results, appetite issues, and issues with communication, and the association with this can be a big problem for many. Veterans who deal with this also experience emotional regulation improvements, better tolerance of stress, less anxiety, better insomnia, and better coping as well. Can it help though There is a lot of research that says that cannabis is a great one for veterans who suffer from PTSD, but it is important to note that the resource is very limited due to the way cannabis is currently scheduled, and in a lot of cases, it can be hard to fully observe this, since the potency may differ in a lot of cases. But, when they looked at the patients who used this, they found that it actually reduced the severity of symptoms by 50% in a lot of patients immediately after using this. While it didn’t measure long-term relief, there is some potential that this could be a way to really help with occlusive research on this. Another study which was recently published that was done by the Colorado department of public health found that there were improvements, where they found that in the groups, the cannabis users were definitely seeing a much larger reduction of severity, and after about a year, they were more likely not to meet the PTSD diagnosis criteria, which definitely is promising. While there is a chance that it may not be as effective, since it was looking mostly at PTSD in those regular civilians, not veterans, there is hope that this can be helpful for a lot of people who suffer from PTSD, since in the end, it can offer promising results and it is something, with the way things are, can really better and improve with time, and really make a difference as well in the results that you get from this type as well.

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Elsa Olofsson
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Elsa Olofsson
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