Medical Marijuana for Bulimia
Though not on the list of treatments for bulimia by the American Psychiatric Association’s recommendations, there are more and more case studies that show how MMJ can, at the very minimum, alleviate the systems of bulimia.
Bulimia is an eating disorder that consists of binging and purging. The ability to regulate food intake, and keep it down, is believed to be a psychological malady and can cause physical damage to the body, making a bad situation worse. Typically, it stems from poor self-image, depression, other mental and emotional decisions.
Where the illness may falsely give a person a sense of control over the psychological issues they face, MMJ alleviates these stressors reducing the desire to purge. Further, the side effect, known affectionately as “the munchies”, combined with a reduced sense of despair associated with bulimia, stimulates the appetite where before eating was purely an emotionally driven act for the patient.
If MMJ can aid in reducing stress, increasing appetite, and stabilize the emotional extremes that bulimics endure, removing the desire for destructive hyper-control behavior, there may be a case for using marijuana as a treatment option for bulimics. There is definitely case for conducting further study on the topic. And, if the medical world has shown us anything, it’s not all treatments are going to help all people. What works for one, may not work for another. Given that, having an alternative method available to treat bulimics, outside of traditional treatments, it stands to reason benefits heretofore unknown from MMJ may help those that struggle with this deadly eating disorder.