Here at our Boca Raton Medical Marijuana Clinic, we believe in compassionate care for our patients suffering from puzzling, intractable diseases such as Crohn’s. More often than not, traditional medicine has failed to provide adequate, safe, reliable relief for these patients, and here at at Boca Raton Medical Marijuana Clinic, we find that to be unacceptable.
Bruce Stratt, MD
Our medical director is Bruce Stratt, MD. He graduated from medical school at the tender age of 22! To put that in perspective, most people graduate from medical school in their late 20’s at the earliest.
Dr. Stratt has a keen interest in what could be called alternative medicine. He’s a board-certified radiologist with expertise in sports nutrition, exercise science, age management medicine and hormone replacement therapy. And of course, the use of medical marijuana for the treatment of certain diseases that are likely to be responsive to it.
Dr. Stratt thrives on cultivating one-on-one relationships with all of his patients. He is here to listen to you and develop a treatment plan just for you. Don’t hesitate to be honest with him. It’s how he can best help you.
What is Crohn’s Disease?
Crohn’s disease is a painful, chronic, debilitating condition affecting the intestines, particularly the colon and ileum. It causes ulcers in the intestinal lining, which results in such symptoms as chronic diarrhea, sometimes with blood, and abdominal pain, which can be severe.
Other symptoms include but are not limited to: abdominal cramps, weight loss, fever, and rectal bleeding. Crohn’s disease is also known as ulcerative colitis and by a catchall term, IBS, or inflammatory bowel disease. Crohn’s is terrible to live with and can even keep a person virtually homebound.
What Causes Crohn’s?
It’s thought to be an autoimmune deficiency disorder or a disease where the body attacks itself for unknown reasons. Other theories involve a possible viral or bacterial agent, which causes the body to go into a hyper-immune mode where it not only attacks the virus or bacteria, but the body’s normal tissues as well. Crohn’s can only be managed. It cannot be cured. It’s even possible for Crohn’s to be fatal in some extreme cases.
At times, to suffering patients, it must seem to have a mind all its own. It can sometimes even go into complete remission, with a total absence of all symptoms for extended periods of time. Unfortunately, remissions are almost never permanent.
Traditional Medical Treatments for Crohn’s
Well, there’s not much good news here. Common medical drug treatments for Crohn’s mostly involve steroids and other drugs that suppress the patient’s immune system. These drugs have stunningly negative side effects and cannot be used long-term without posing serious health risks to the patient.
Worse, most of the time, they offer only limited relief, if that. More recently the “biologic” drugs such as Stelara have appeared. These seem to offer much more relief, but again, their side effects can be severe and even life-threatening.
Can Medical Marijuana Help?
Oh, yes, absolutely! According to medicaldaily.com, nearly half of patients in an Israeli study achieved COMPLETE remission from their Crohn’s symptoms after 8 weeks of Cannabis sativa therapy. That’s amazing!
Moreover, nearly all patients in that same study got a clinical response, or at least some relief, from symptoms. Nearly all reported that they had better appetites, and also that they slept better, too, in part because their sleep wasn’t continuously being interrupted by trips to the bathroom.
In contrast, not even half of patients receiving a placebo in the Israeli study reported any relief at all. None reported any serious side effects from the therapy.
There is more than enough other evidence, even if it’s anecdotal, that marijuana can and does relieve the symptoms of Crohn’s for many patients who try it.
What You Can Do To Help Yourself
If you are suffering from the symptoms of Crohn’s, please call us at (561) 571-9076 for an appointment to see Dr. Stratt. Please understand that although we are here to help you, certain Florida laws require that you have a documented diagnosis before medical marijuana can be prescribed for your use.
You can pre-qualify right on our website! You can read about that on our site as well, or else, we would be very happy to help you by phone. Just call!
You will receive polite, prompt, accurate assistance.
When we see you for your appointment, Dr. Stratt will ask you questions about your condition and then, if you agree that marijuana is the best option, he will prescribe its use for you in whatever form you prefer, as long as it’s medically appropriate to do so.
Everything is personalized and confidential.
Visit our site, or else call with your questions, and stop suffering from Crohn’s. Help is available. All you have to do is call and ask for it. We look forward to assisting you.