Finally a treatment I can get behind -Chronic

[buginme2]

There have been previous studies that show marijuana is beneficial to hiv positive people and may combat hiv itself.

Here is another study recently conducted by Louisiana State University that showed monkeys infected with monkey aids who were given marijuana daily were able to fight their HIV better than the straight edge monkeys.  Toke up.

http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/aid.2013.0182?noFrame=true

http://www.cannabisculture.com/content/2014/02/12/Marijuana-Might-Stop-Spread-HIV

[xinyuan]

SIV does not equal HIV. Monkeys do not equate to humans.

I'll be fascinated to see an IRB reviewing and approving a long-term human study and the safety monitoring board overseeing it.

Toke up as you choose. However, if it impairs people's ability to take their ART's and themselves, I can't recommend it.

[buginme2]

Just a hunch....but you could probably use a j

[xinyuan]

Health care workers are banned from using the stuff. We're drug screened.

You really want us high, making critical decisions and doing procedures on you?

Didn't think so.

[Jeff G]

Health care workers are banned from using the stuff. We're drug screened.

You really want us high, making critical decisions and doing procedures on you?

Didn't think so.

LOL . I would not want a drunk doctor either but I do not mind him having a drink on his on time .

[xinyuan]

Heh. I can do good beer or liquor with friends

Next drink will be dedicated to you, Jeff.

[gavelkind]

Hmmm. I'm a pothead. And smoking has never impaired me from taking my meds. Personally, I find it hypocritical you don't seem to be as judgmental of alcohol as you are of weed?

Also, SIV doesn't equal HIV? Is that true? Thought it had the same effects. The only difference is the simian vs human wording, no?

As for HIV and pot, I was always surprised my CD4 levels have always been so high. I really expected them to be much lower starting off considering how long I think I had it by that point.

Also, I've yet to be sick even though I'm the opposite of a germaphobe and one of my roomates is always getting colds. Oh, and I'm in great shape, even though I don't work out. Studies also indicate that potheads maintain lower levels of weight. I agree. I eat really well. I mean, I got the munchies and ate crap when I first started smoking, but when you become a pothead, the munchies go away.

[freewillie99]

Just a hunch....but you could probably use a j

Zing!

[Mishma]

We have tons of anecdotal and thousands of years of historical evidence of marijuana's effectiveness but what we are lacking (thanks to unenlightened drug policies) is today's  gold standard: Double-blind, placebo controlled drug studies. Fortunately basic science has elucidated a few of the central roles cannabinoids play in neurology, pain perception, autoimmunity and the like.

To be safe(r) we recommend vaporizing the drug so as to mitigate any harmful effects associated with smoking it.

[buginme2]

To be safe(r) we recommend vaporizing the drug so as to mitigate any harmful effects associated with smoking it.

I recommend the Pax.   Small, portable, fits in your pocket.   Perfect for the on the go pothead.

[mecch]

We have tons...
To be safe(r) we recommend...

How is "we"?

Agree there's lot of good in weed. 

[xinyuan]

Hmmm. I'm a pothead. And smoking has never impaired me from taking my meds. Personally, I find it hypocritical you don't seem to be as judgmental of alcohol as you are of weed?

I am equally judgmental with alcohol. I wouldn't be caught dead with it on the job. Jeff was saying on personal time (i.e., not on the job). Plus, it has been proven in small amounts to be beneficial to heart health. I also don't binge alcohol. I'm especially critical of binging alcohol and having it affect compliance and health.

We understand the human body's metabolism of both substances. Problem with Mary Jane is that it lingers for days, if not weeks, in the body. Like it or not, it does affect thinking. I'm not going to go into the data on its overall harm vs. benefit, as that's controversial (and supporters tend to cherry pick their evidence).

Speaking of cherry picking. The plural of anectdote is not data.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anecdotal_evidence

Also, SIV doesn't equal HIV? Is that true? Thought it had the same effects. The only difference is the simian vs human wording, no?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simian_immunodeficiency_virus

Related to it. But not HIV.

Otherwise, the many miracle SIV cures in monkeys would have already led to HIV cures.

As for HIV and pot, I was always surprised my CD4 levels have always been so high. I really expected them to be much lower starting off considering how long I think I had it by that point.

Cochrane review of MJ in HIV.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23633327

Basically, we have no idea if it helps in the ART era. Someone will likely try to do a study. And there'd be no shortage of people wanting to sign up. )

[Mishma]

"You really want us high, making critical decisions and doing procedures on you?

Didn't think so."

But sleep deprivation is OK?

Our daughter put in multiple 100 hour + weeks during her surgical residency and even today in her practice, with constant shift changes, she makes mistakes. Having collaborated with physicians for decades (I'm a retired researcher) at times I'd rather you were stoned than sleep deprived. Additionally, even with your heads screwed on correctly, medicine is still more of an art form than a scientifically grounded discipline.

Cherry picking is more the norm than we'd like to admit. Pot is still a drug and NO drug is without deleterious side effects. Everyone of them involves a trade off.

[xinyuan]

But sleep deprivation is OK?

1) None of these situations are ideal for healthcare workers.

2) You've completely subverted this thread to an entirely different topic.

[zach]

my only issue. due to the recent cold snaps i grew overly concerned for my young plants, and put the lights too close. i burned a good 20 babies. i mourn their loss. you folk can go back to bickering now, i'm gonna go smoke a joint

[xinyuan]

Well, I hope you got to inhale some in memory at least

[Nasty Weather]

I am convinced that my daily use of marijuana has made my meds and this disease more tolerable, I haven't been sick once in 7 years and I got diagnosed 4 years ago, been on meds for 2.

[buginme2]

 I'm treating myself right now

[xinyuan]

http://www.poz.com/articles/HIV_pot_761_25203.shtml

From the poz.com web site itself.

Thank you all for contributing to the inaccurate reporting.

[freewillie99]

http://www.poz.com/articles/HIV_pot_761_25203.shtml

From the poz.com web site itself.

Thank you all for contributing to the inaccurate reporting.

And thank you for being a hater. 

[buginme2]

Thank you all for contributing to the inaccurate reporting.

Are you high?  How has anyone here contributed to inaccurate reporting?  Besides, inaccurate hiv reporting...now that's something new.   If I recall another headline this year was "HIV cure in months!" That's how news sites generate revenue.   

The real question is..why are you so negative?

[xrel0aded]

Weed <3 helps everything.

[xinyuan]

I come to this forum section to find hope in progress.

Many readers aren't necessarily in the best mood for humor.

Some may take these false hopes / conclusions seriously. Possibly at cost of caring for themselves.

And that, I fear.

[Jeff G]

I come to this forum section to find hope in progress.

Many readers aren't necessarily in the best mood for humor.

Some may take these false hopes / conclusions seriously. Possibly at cost of caring for themselves.

And that, I fear.

I respect you opinions or reservations but for some people cannabis is much needed medicine . I know that the drugs I take for pain have a stigma attached because they are narcotics and that has happened to people who use cannabis for medicine far more frequently than what I have endured .

I used cannabis when I was in chemo and it helped me immensely . It also acted as a mood stabilizer when I was pumped full of steroids during chemo . Cannabis has real value as medicine if you can get past the myths and the refusal of those that have never had a need to use it to concede it helps people live a better life .

[zach]

your posts about cannabis are intentionally inflammatory, you are judgmental, and arrogant in your opinions. you claim to know the one truth, when truth is so much more complex and multifaceted. you have an agenda, and you are working that agenda.

your judgement means nothing to me.

we may share a disease, and in that alone i will call you my brother. but i find you to be a troll on this topic.

[Andy Velez]

Zach, you can dislike and disagree here but you can't call people names. It's not allowed and it will very quickly get you a Time Out or even banned if it happens again.

Enuf said. Thanks for your cooperation.

[zach]

i guess i am beyond the time limit to edit my own post, i would have simply stricken the entire post if you had got to me sooner andy. agreed, enough said.