For a long time, many have tried to address gut health and issues. With more and more different ways to handle it than ever, we’ve all started to look at how cannabis can impact constipation.
What constipation is?
This is when you’re unable to have bowel movements as often, and this is something that’s affected many people for a lot of reasons, and it’s usually a common, not serious matter. This can sometimes cause someone to have more or less often than they should, like once a week, or three times a day. But if you’re going more than about three days without a pass, it can be a problem. It also can cause stomach aches, bloating, diarrhea, and also flatulence too. Diarrhea is usually more often though, and it’s causing watery stools that are much looser too. It can happen for a variety of reasons, such as what you eat, the abuse of laxatives or other gut health problems.
How cannabis Might Help
Cannabis is something that's been used for a variety of issues, including digestive problems, in both clinical trials, and non-clinical ways too. But the science is still limited. However, it’s been found that THC is great for IBD, and reduces the occurrence of diarrhea in a lot of people. This also shows that it can help too with the way stool passes through the intestinal tract.
Cannabis is also being studied in a lot of ways to help with stomach issues due to certain drugs. While we tend to use opioids to help with relieving pain, they can create constipation.
Cannabis is still being looked at as a way to reduce the opioid use, and it’s something that limits the effects that come with it, including constipation. Cannabis is also something that’s appreciated for the chance of someone experiencing a relaxed state. They also feel more relaxed, so it’s easier to have bowel movements.
There are still reports of this being contradictory though, since some people have noticed that their bowel movements got worse, and constipation happened more when they used this more often. However, most who have cannabis constipation also deal with IBS, and constipation is a very common side effect that comes with this.
Right now, the current evidence that’s surrounding this is still primary and anecdotal, and more studies must be used. But there is some research that links both the endocannabinoid system and your gut, and there is a chance there might be more answers to the questions we may have.
Is Weed Considered a Laxative Though?
Some people say that weed may be a laxative, but the truth is, there was research that saw that there was a decrease in experiencing the effects of constipation.
However, this was mostly due to utilizing cannabis in order to relax the body, and it can help relax all of the muscles in the body, even those in the gut.
The form that you have this does also cause the effects too. Nicotine can be a mild laxative for example if you have a very low tolerance for it.
If you’re mixing cannabis with nicotine, it can loosen up the stools, especially if you’re someone who already has healthy bowel movements.
If you have cannabis foods, it also can create this too. Remember too as well that all of the cannabinoids that go into the stomach get a chance, and then, it’s put into some sort of chemical manner and it might not be as gentle as other forms are within the stomach.
So right now, this is what we know about cannabis and constipation.
