In the past 3 years I have discussed the medical use of cannabis with many patients. I have spoken to many who have used cannabis to decrease their use of alcohol with good results. From purely a medical standpoint this is beneficial. Alcohol strains and depletes the liver, increase blood pressure, alters mood adversely and generally leads to high risk or criminal behavior. For many of my patients they have a lot of insight into the damage that alcohol is doing not only to their bodies but their lives. Many explain how they are aggressive to their spouse, have short tempers/anger management issue and are just “not as good a person” as they want to be. READ ON…

With just one month remaining until the historic vote on November 2nd for Proposition 19, a ballot initiative to legalize the recreational use of marijuana for anyone 21 and over, there are many people speaking out both for and against it. I have over the past 6 month blogged about why I think it is a poorly written proposition that won’t come close to accomplishing what it is intending. However, recently I have given more and more thought to voting yes for this proposition. REGARDLESS, THE FACE OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA IS GOING TO CHANGE DRAMATICALLY IF THIS PASSES. READ ON….

Today in Irvine I took care of a 54 year old women who is post-menopausal and uses medical marijuana to treat her insomnia, night sweats and mood changes. Because of a strong family history of breast cancer she did not want to use hormone replacement therapy (which has been linked to increased risk of breast cancer in some women). She said that the medications that they put her on to help her relax and fall asleep were addictive and she “hated them”. Specifically they put her on xanax for anxiety and lunestra for sleep. In both cases the side effects were too much to handle. READ ON….

As medical director for Medical Cannabis of Southern California I often evaluate patients who suffer from neuropathic pain as a result of diabetes. Neuropathic pain means pain that is associated with direct pathology to the nerves themselves. This is in contrast to pain in a muscle whose signal is transported to the brain via the healthy nerves. In diabetes the elevated levels of sugar in the blood actually cause damage to the nerves leading to chronic pain. Cannabis has been shown in several studies to reduce the pain associated with various causes of neuropathic pain including HIV neuropathy.

Over the past month I have had more than a few patients tell me that in addition to helping them with their symptoms, that their sex life has improved dramatically as a result of their cannabis use. Many couples get into a “rut” when it comes to sex. It becomes less and less frequent and even with couples that have sex regularly it can become “not as exciting”. What they described is that while they are medicated the sex becomes more intense, they tend to be less inhibited and frequency has gone up.

My name is Dr Sean Breen and for the past year in Long Beach I have dedicated my practice to seeing patients for medical marijuana recommendations. Our clinic, Medical Cannabis of Southern California, is located next to Cal State Long Beach in the Los Altos Medical Plaza. I want to take a second to thank my entire staff for working so hard to reach out to our community here in Orange County. We have seen almost 5000 patients and have done good work.

Today in Irvine I had a 25 year old patient by the name of Naya. The reason why she is coming in is because a few weeks ago she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a cancer that effects the white blood cells called Lymphocytes. She is going to be starting chemotherapy shortly and is using cannabis for the nausea, pain and lack of appetite that comes from chemotherapy treatment. Cannabis is an amazing medication for cancer patients because it is the ONLY thing that will eliminate the nausea and improve a patients appetite. Unfortunately Naya is also 6 weeks pregnant and at the time of my appointment was losing her pregnancy due to her illness. So on top of dealing with a new diagnosis of cancer she is grieving the loss of her first child.

As physicians we take an oath that states: “First do no harm.” Unfortunately as doctors we have to many times rely on data that has been produced and evaluated by drug companies that stand to make HUGE profits from the sale of these drugs. A 32 billion dollar per year company, named Pfizer, is just one of many that knowingly distributed a pill that was harmful to patients. It is for this reason that so many patients DO NOT WANT TO TAKE PILLS and rely on a more natural remedy like cannabis.

Today I evaluated a 26 year male who has suffered from intense abdominal cramping, constipation and intermittent diarrhea for the past 10 years. He has been tentatively diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrom (IBS). He has a significant family history for Crohns disease but has been unable to schedule a colonoscopy due to no insurance. For the past 6 years he has been medicating with cannabis to control his symptoms.

As medical director of Medical Cannabis of Southern California I often evaluate patients who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and SLE (lupus). Both are characterized by extreme chronic joint pain. Today I evaluated a 54 year female who had been taking plaquenil (hydroxychloroquine) to limit the joint inflammation. Unfortunately she is experiencing some unwanted side effects and has been using cannabis to help relieve them.