Today I evaluated a 39 year old male for medical marijuana who was diagnosed with optic neuritis in his left eye. Optic neuritis is essentially swelling and inflammation of the optic nerve (the main nerve connecting the eye to the brain).  MRI’s and eye exams could not identify the root cause.   He is legally blind in that eye and because of that has persistent nausea and occasional pain.   He has been using cannabis for the past year intermittently with good results and wanted safe access.

He stated that the cannabis “really eliminates my nausea” and reduces any discomfort that he gets in his eye socket.   His ophthalmologist was prescribing him Prednisone to reduce the inflammation but he had to stop it because it was giving him sever headaches and he was also gaining “a ton of weight.”

Although there is not a lot of evidence demonstrating cannabis’s effect on reducing inflammation of the optic nerve I did find one study which had positive results in rats.   The bottom line is that we know cannabis has anti-inflammatory properties and it is certainly worth a try.   We do know that it reduces intra-ocular pressures and is used to treat glaucoma patients.

If you suffer from nausea and pain and would like to see if you can benefit from using cannabis please give us a call at 877-721-0047 and I will be happy to discuss the benefits and risks with you.

Be blessed,

Dr. Breen