WEED FOR NAUSEA | Queasy relief is a cannabis core competency

Can cannabis help with nausea? Even if you haven’t dipped into the research and the mountain of anecdotal evidence over the years, there’s one benefit of cannabis that’s pretty commonly accepted: It’s great at alleviating the unpleasant symptoms of nausea. In turn, it can stimulate appetite in even the sickest of patients, an effect that can be life-saving.

But as with all things in the cannabis realm, there’s no one-size-fits-all remedy. What works best for your symptoms and situation depends largely on you and your specific chemistry and metabolism. The good news is that when it comes to relieving nausea—whether it’s caused by medical treatments, motion sickness, or just a garden-variety hangover, cannabis may just make you feel noticeably better.

What causes nausea in the first place?

There are many potential causes for nausea. Some stem from gastrointestinal disorders such as an obstruction or a food-borne illness, the side effects of a prescription drug, or pregnancy. Other causes are neurological: a concussion, motion sickness, chemotherapy, or a migraine can all cause mild to intense nausea. In short, there are countless ways you can wind up feeling queasy—some of them harmless but unpleasant, and some quite serious. What’s important to keep in mind is that nausea is a symptom, one of the body’s important defense mechanisms against toxins and other potentially dangerous pathogens and conditions.

If you’re experiencing chronic or severe nausea or vomiting, and you’re not sure why it’s happening, you should seek medical treatment immediately. However, if you have a sense of why you’re feeling nauseous and you simply want it to stop, one solution may be closer than you realize—better yet, it’s 100% plant-based and easy to use. That’s right, we’re talking about cannabis.

How does cannabis work to alleviate nausea?

Cannabis is a fantastically complex plant containing hundreds of different compounds, including cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids. While these compounds all exert different effects on the body, there’s one sense in which they’re perfectly suited to address nausea, and it has to do with the endocannabinoid system—or “ECS” for short.

The ECS is a network that helps control bodily functions such as sleep, immune response, and memory, among many others. Though it was only identified in the early 1990s, the ECS is recognized today as one of the body’s most critical regulatory networks. One way to think about the ECS is that it’s there to maintain homeostasis, or the state of steady and stable internal, physical, and chemical conditions.

Nausea is the opposite of homeostasis: Something is out of balance, and your GI tract is sending distress signals. Unlike pain, which tends to be localized and isolated, nausea is an overall sensation created and regulated by the central nervous system and partially controlled by the powerful endocannabinoid system. This makes cannabis a powerful antidote for nausea because it treats the symptoms at the source by interacting with our internal cannabinoid receptors and disrupting the signals telling our brain that we’re ill.

While it’s important to note that cannabis may not address what’s causing your nausea in the first place, it is highly effective at blocking those unpleasant sensations—and giving you some relief.

Weed for nausea: Do I need to get high?

While THC is the cannabinoid most associated with cannabis’ distinctive euphoria and the one most often named in cannabis-based treatments for nausea, it’s not your only option. A 2012 study showed promise for the anti-emetic properties of CBD, the second most common cannabinoid—and one that doesn’t impart any psychoactive effects.

Since then, more studies have surfaced pointing to CBD’s anti-nausea potential, appearing to soothe the nausea induced by ingesting a toxin but not the nausea induced by motion sickness. What’s more, CBD’s chemical precursor—a compound known as “CBDA”—may even be more effective than CBD in treating nausea. Seeing as it’s readily available in hemp flower, that’s exciting news for all of us seeking a fully legal and natural, non-pharmaceutical treatment for nausea.

Returning to the topic of THC, it’s been noted that THC and CBD are both more effective when they work in tandem as a team. This thinking drives the popularity of cannabis products with a roughly balanced CBD-to-THC ratio. However, if you’re interested in using cannabis for nausea and don’t want to risk the psychoactive effects, CBD alone is worth a try, as the risk of negative side effects is considered to be relatively low—even at high dosages.

Cannabis and nausea: What happens when you dial up the THC.

Of course, if you’re not concerned with the psychoactive and intoxicating effects of THC, there’s a lot of anecdotal evidence suggesting it’s a powerful antidote to nausea. As anyone who’s had a bit too much to drink and then puffs a little cannabis the morning after knows, THC can be remarkably effective at getting you up and feeling human again in a very short period of time.

THC is a great nausea-attacker in its own right–and may even be the key to full efficacy. In this case, the sensation of feeling high may just be a bonus–if you’re into that sort of thing. If you’re not, and you’ve had experiences where cannabis actually makes you feel nauseous, you may be thinking…what the heck?

The truth is, those experiences usually come from ingesting too much (usually from edibles or other high-potency dosages) or combining with alcohol. If you’re an inexperienced user, or are hesitant to try cannabis for nausea because you’ve had just such an experience, it may still help you with nausea.

The key is to take far less than you normally would: Clinical studies suggest that low doses—even as little as 2.5 mg of THC— can be effective for treating nausea. For ease, simply follow the golden rule if you’re looking to quell your queasiness: Start low and go slow.

What products should I try?

When it comes to cannabis for nausea, the good news is that there’s no end to the product options available for you. From flower to vapes, edibles to tinctures, there are plenty of forms to try, and you can fine-tune your experience to minimize intoxicating effects and focus on the job at hand: Reducing your nausea.

So, what’s the best option? Check out all the ways you can address your nausea with weed:

• Vaporizers: These compact devices can heat cannabis flower or a cannabis concentrate to the point at which their volatile cannabinoids and terpenes are released as a gentle mist, making them far easier on the lungs than smoking. With a fast onset time—within just a few minutes—and the ability to draw tiny hits and thus fine-tune your experience, vaporizers are an excellent option to address nausea with weed.

• Edibles: Delicious and efficient, edibles are a way to consume cannabis without inhalation, but they demand a bit of caution. The THC in cannabis-infused edibles tends to feel much stronger, and since edibles have a long onset time—typically 45 – 120 minutes—they may not be the best solution for rapidly addressing nausea. If you elect to try edibles, we recommend waiting at least two hours after ingestion for the full effects to become apparent.

• Flower: The “classic” form of cannabis, flower is the straightest route from the plant to your joint, pipe, bong, or vaporizer. As with vaporizers, the effects of smoking cannabis flower come on quickly, making it a great choice for getting a handle on any unpleasant nausea symptoms quickly and efficiently.

• Tinctures:  If you’re looking for a highly precise, non-inhaled form of cannabis, tinctures are the way to go. They’re essentially concentrated cannabis-infused medicines designed as a highly efficient cannabinoid delivery system. While the onset time is slower when you swallow tinctures—taking as long as 90 minutes—you can reduce the onset time by taking a tincture sublingually. Place a dose of tincture under your tongue and hold it there for a minute or so before swallowing. The effects should begin within about 45 minutes or so, often less.

• Concentrates: These highly concentrated cannabis extracts come in a variety of forms, including wax, shatter, hash, BHO, crumble, resin, and rosin. However, since they’re so potent—often reaching an amount of THC above 90%—they’re not usually recommended for beginners. We suggest you use concentrates for nausea only if you already have experience using them and you have a notably high tolerance to begin with.

Feeling queasy? Whatever you choose and however you address your nausea symptoms with cannabis, Eaze has everything you need. Stock up on all your favorites and get your cannabis delivered straight to your door.