Taylor was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 2007, just as he was graduating high school. For those who are not familiar, Crohn’s disease is a debilitating inflammatory disease that attacks the intestinal tract.
“I’ll never forget my first flare up, everything changed after that,” says Taylor.
A flare is when the disease is at its peak of activity. Symptoms of Crohn’s include severe abdominal pain, nausea, internal bleeding, malabsorption, fatigue, and weight loss. During a flare, these symptoms can become so severe that a person needs to be admitted to the hospital. Most patients who have Crohn’s will eventually need surgery to remove the damaged portion of the bowels.
That is exactly what happened to Taylor.
“I was averaging a hospital visit about every 6 months,” remembers Taylor.
There is no clinical cure for Crohn’s. Most treatments are very expensive pharmaceutical therapies that have side effects that are just as bad as Crohn’s itself.
Finding a treatment that works has been a long journey to say the least. Taylor has cycled through almost every Crohn’s treatment only to find moderate relief. There is however one thing that seems to help time and time again: cannabis.
Cannabis has helped me regain control over my symptoms. I am so grateful to have access to medical cannabis. Honestly, I couldn’t imagine being able to live my lifestyle without it. I am glad to be on this journey with Crohn’s. It has taught me a lot about compassion and perseverance.
“Cannabis relives almost every symptom of Crohn’s. It has helped me more than I can explain. For example, I never responded very well to any of pharmaceuticals I took to help with the pain and nausea. If I use cannabis, my nausea and pain almost disappear, my body relaxes and I temporarily get to feel like a normal person,” explains Taylor.
There is more to this than just anecdotal evidence. There are numerous clinical studies that are showing evidence that cannabis can help treat Crohn’s disease.
Taylor uses a variety of cannabis products from HMH to help find relief. His favorite strains for nausea and appetite stimulation are Caramel Ice and Locktite. For heavy pain relief, Holy Grail Kush. He also has found that using a high CBD strain with his favorite strains promotes even more symptom relief than using a strain by itself.
He also swears by the Cannabliss gummies and makes his own RSO capsules from HMH Health Oil.
Taylor has experimented with different cannabis therapies and has found that using strains that are high in caryophyllene help the most. Caryophyllene is a terpene known for its anti-inflammatory properties. This terpene has a spicy nose and is often found in Kush strains.
“Cannabis has helped me regain control over my symptoms. I am so grateful to have access to medical cannabis. Honestly, I couldn’t imagine being able to live my lifestyle without it. I am glad to be on this journey with Crohn’s. It has taught me a lot about compassion and perseverance,” says Taylor.
Taylor hopes that cannabis can help other Crohn’s suffers find the relief they need to live the lifestyle they want. With good food, good thoughts, and good cannabis, Taylor believes this can be their reality too.