Medical Cannabis for Chemotherapy Nausea and Vomiting

Nausea and vomiting are among the hardest side effects of chemotherapy - they can drain your strength and appetite at the very time the body needs them most. Here medical cannabis has solid ground: it is one of the best-documented and longest-recognised indications.

We are talking about easing the effects of treatment, not treating the cancer itself - an important distinction.

THC has a documented antiemetic action - it acts on the brain centres responsible for the vomiting reflex. As early as the 1980s cannabis derivatives were approved on this basis to ease nausea in cancer patients when standard drugs were not enough.

For many people this means less vomiting, a calmer stomach and a return of appetite after a chemotherapy cycle.

Along the way medical cannabis can help with several related problems at once:

This makes a hard time a little more bearable.

Medical cannabis eases the side effects of chemotherapy but does not treat the cancer and does not replace cancer treatment.

Cannabis therapy should be coordinated with the oncologist, because chemotherapy and other drugs must be taken into account. We write more about the role of cannabis in cancer in our article medical cannabis for cancer pain.

Best with up-to-date oncology records and your chemotherapy plan. The doctor will assess whether and which product is suitable and set careful dosing. If you want to know what the path to a prescription looks like, see our guide how to get a prescription.