MEDICAL MARIJUANA: FACT OR FICTION?

Hello and happy Monday! There have been loads of exciting new reader questions, and some great ideas for product reviews, so this promises to be an informative and action-packed week on Dr. Tofuheads' Truth in Medicine! I am also working on a new addition, which will be book, web site, and newsletter reviews. That way I can help my readers get an inside look on good sources of health information, and sources to avoid.

Also: It's Cinco de Mayo! It's time to dust off those dried pinto beans that have been sitting in your pantry and actually cook them for a change! (See last week for instructions)....I'll keep the Cinco de Mayo tradition by focusing on Mexican food all week. If there is any food Dr. Tofuhead can't get enough of, it's Mexican food!


PRODUCT OF THE WEEK: PEDOMETER

What is a pedometer? Basically, it's just a step-counter. It's a small device that costs 7-20 bucks and clips onto your belt. As you walk, each step shakes a small bead inside the device and it counts the number of steps you take, with remarkable accuracy. You can then use your total step count to determine how far you walk in a day; most people take 2500-3000 steps to walk a mile.

Why get one of these things? Because knowing your step count gives yor a sense of how much activity you get in a day, and it tends to encourage people to do more. In a recent large study, just having a pedometer, with no particular guidance on what to do with it, led people to get more exercise and lose more weight compared to those who did not have the device. There is likely a psychological effect, in which getting a higher number on the pedometer gives people a sense of reward; therefore they are motivated to get more steps. I personally find it fascinating how many steps you can take just running errands and being at work, especially if you find yourself using the stairs more, and taking walks at lunch.

Perhaps you're already hardcore about exercise, and counting your steps sounds like a joke. But if you don't get as much exercise as you would like, consider getting a step-counter. It may motivate you to go for a walk or a hike instead of sitting on the sofa with a beer. It worked for Dr. Tofuhead!



READER QUESTION OF THE DAY: WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH MEDICAL MARIJUANA, AND IS THERE SUCH THING AS MEDICAL LSD?

I often get patients asking me for medical marijuana, which in Colorado requires some paperwork and registering as an official "marijuana patient" with the state. More often than not, patients don't even know why they want medical marijuana, and it turns out that most of them just want to see if they can score their recreational marijuana legally. Naturally, those folks are not getting jack from Dr. Tofuhead, except maybe a little "education."

Medical marijuana is so tied up in the politics of government regulation, and state jurisdiction vs. federal jurisdiction, that it can be hard to even find medical facts about the plant itself. Many states have legalized medical marijuana use in some way; but the Federal Government can still bust any marijuana user in any state, regardless of the medical facts. Unfortunately, the facts are few and far between. That's because marijuana is criminalized, and doing research on its effects and uses is an administrative nightmare. We just haven't studied this potentially useful herb as much as we need to.

For the time being, it has been proven, at least controversially, that marijuana helps a small subset of patients. Those include patients on chemotherapy suffering from nausea and poor appetite, those with cancer with the same symptoms, and those with HIV Wasting Syndrome. The latter occurs with advanced AIDs, in which patients have relentless nausea and find it so difficult to eat that they literally waste away and die. The role of medical marijuana in neurologic syndromes that cause chronic pain and muscle spasm is less clear, but some patients with neurologic problems swear by marijuana. I tend to think there is a lot of potential in this area, but we really need more research.

Bottom line: if you have a serious condition that causes unintended weight loss and nausea, you might benefit from medical marijuana. As long as the drug remains illegal at the federal level, however, you will have a hard time finding a doctor who will recommend this herb for any other medical problem. And don't whip out your prescription dime bag if federal law enforcement personnel are around!

AS FOR MEDICAL LSD: there is no health condition that I know of that has been treated with LSD, though it has been researched as an adjunct to therapy in psychiatric patients. This research largely occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, before the laws regarding use of LSD were so strict. LSD is still used as a research tool in studying the distribution and role of serotonin receptors, but this research is done on animals or in test tubes. It's possible that this drug is studied more in other countries, but I don't know enough to comment on that.