Can Medical Marijuana Be Combined With Prescription Drugs as Part of a Treatment Plan?

Medical marijuana can provide health benefits for people suffering from debilitating conditions. In fact, the full healing potential of cannabis is not even understood yet. As research continues, more useful applications for this natural medicine are discovered.

For many people, marijuana gives them relief from symptoms that did not respond to other medications. Reducing chronic pain better than an opioid pain reliever, and without the risk of dangerous side-effects, can be life-changing. People with seizure disorders can live more comfortably when medical cannabis treatments reduce the length and frequency of their seizures.

The conditions that marijuana is currently used to treat are severe and debilitating. These conditions, like ALS and muscular dystrophy, are complex genetic and neurological issues for which medical science still seeks a cure. Over the years, medications have been developed to attempt to control various symptoms and possibly reverse the conditions.

A degenerative muscular disease like muscular dystrophy, for example, affects various muscles in the body. Tremors, cramps and pain in the extremities may be treated with certain drugs. The effects of the disease on the heart muscle require different interventions. So far, no one substance has been found to relieve all symptoms of this complex disease.

Marijuana as Medicine

The healing benefits of cannabis are becoming more detailed with each new research study. The specific brain chemicals affected by the drug are better understood than they were several decades ago. Medical science can pinpoint which compounds found in cannabis will have what affects in the body. Medical marijuana is becoming just like any other medicine available for disease treatment.

A doctor looks at your whole medical profile to determine a diagnosis and then comes up with a plan of treatment. He or she uses all of the means available to reverse your disease or relieve your symptoms to increase your quality of life. Cannabis is now another option the doctor can consider when developing your treatment plan.

Medical marijuana has very few side-effects, which makes it a good choice for a complex treatment plan. There are few medicines it will interact with to cause you any problems. Marijuana is used primarily to relieve symptoms and not actually cure disease. It can be added to your treatment plan to help control side-effects from other drugs you may need to take.

Chemotherapy, for example, causes nausea and other uncomfortable side-effects. Marijuana helps control nausea so you can tolerate the chemotherapy.

Learn More

As with any other medicine, you should talk to your doctor about adding medical cannabis to your treatment plan. If you want to consult a marijuana doctor, fill out this online application to see if you qualify for medical marijuana. Be sure to tell the doctor about any other medications you are taking so he or she can give you a marijuana recommendation that is right for you.

Always consult a doctor if you notice any changes in your health.

Dr. Marissa Magsino

With over 25 years of specialty training in Internal Medicine, as well as fellowship training in Functional and Sexual medicine, Dr. Maginso added Plant Medicine (Medical Marijuana) to her niche practice as of 2017. She is licensed in the State of Florida and attended the University of the East (UERM) in Quezon City, Philippines as well as the University of Medicine and Dentistry in Newark, NJ.

She joined DocMJ in 2019 to align with a known group of compassionate physicians that empower their patients to be better versions of themselves. Her favorite hashtag is #powerpassionperformance, using the combination of optimized bioidentical hormones, medical marijuana, plasma therapies, and sexual wellness.

She is an author, speaker and community advocate for Medical Marijuana, Sexual Health, and the empowerment of mature women.