HIV/AIDS

Benefits of Cannabis: Cannabis has shown to stimulate appetite and help patients maintain their body weight, improve mood, decrease anxiety, nausea and vomiting, and treat pain.

Risks of Cannabis: Cannabis can interact with some of the medications used to treat HIV/AIDS. Consult with your physician regarding the addition of cannabis to your treatment.

Suggested Initial Therapy [Inhaled Cannabis]: inhaled cannabis works within minutes and is preferred for acute pain and nausea symptoms. Flower strains high in the Limonene terpene will be more effective for nausea and anxiety. Mixing CBD and possibly CBG flower with THC flower will be more effective, a 1:1 CBD:THC or 1:1:1 CBD:THC:CBG ratio is a good starting point. Delta-8-THC is much more effective than Delta-9-THC in relieving nausea whilst having less of an euphoric effect and can be considered for this symptom. Use as needed.

Suggested Initial Therapy [Tinctures]: Tinctures should be considered for patients with long lived symptoms since they have a longer duration of effect. Most patients with chronic pain or peripheral neuropathy will do best using both CBD and THC. CBG can be considered in patients with severe inflammatory conditions.

• CBD Tincture: start at 16 mg dose of a whole plant extract, use every 12 hours. The CBD will help with baseline daily symptoms.
• THC Tincture: use an “indica” THC tincture to fully leverage the entourage effect. Start at a 5mg THC dose administered with CBD tinctures. The THC will help relieve longer lived nausea, improve appetite and help relieve nerve pain. Increase THC to about equal to CBD dose first, then increase both the same proportion if further increases are necessary when titrating doses.

Titration of Doses: after 7 days of therapy, adjustment of dose may be considered. Tincture doses are modified based on response. Increases of 25% - 50% should be considered based on the patient's response every week or two. If side effects are experienced, the last dose administered which was well tolerated should be used.

DISCLAIMER: Information provided is for educational purposes to assist medical cannabis patients in using the medication. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and cannabis is not approved by this agency for the use in diagnosis or treatment of any diseases.

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