The Endocannabinoid System Question

I know very little in this area but this is important information.


Thanks to Ken Uzzell has mentioned that new research says our brain produces a chemical that is identical to the THC molecule.

Does anyone know what part of the brain, which gland produces it's own cannabinoids.

Thank you.

hi, Anxious1 here ( i changed my name for privacy)

i found this, u probably read it already, but it says in the PAG around brainstem. But it may well be produced by all neurons.

[quote]Periaqueductal gray (PAG; also called the "central gray") is the gray matter located around the cerebral aqueduct within the tegmentum of the midbrain. It plays a role in the descending modulation of pain and in defensive behaviour[/quote]


[quote]Brain Produces Drug Similar to Marijuana

Dateline: 10/14/99

Researchers at Brown University have shown that the brain produces anandamide, a naturally occuring cannabinoid substance that functions as a pain suppressor. Anandamide is similar pharmacologically to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a compound found in marijuana.

In the study, researchers electrically stimulated the periaqueductal gray area (PAG) of anesthetized rats. PAG is a part of the brainstem that is involved in pain suppression and is found in mammals. The rats were also injected with a chemical irritant called formalin, a substance that causes prolonged pain.

The researchers measured the amount of anandamide in the PAG region using an atmospheric pressure-chemical ionization mass spectrometry machine. This very sensitive instrument allowed the scientists to measure extremely small quantities of the anandamide compound.

Researchers discovered that when the PAG area was stimulated, there was an increase in the release of anandamide. When injections of formalin were administered, even greater amounts of anandamide were released. These findings suggest that the brain uses a cannabinoid substance, anandamide, to control pain sensitivity.

The use of cannabinoids to control pain is not new. Recently there has been much controversy over whether cannabis, also called marijuana, should be used to alleviate pain. Researchers in this study believe these findings prove that cannabinoids, including marijuana, are definitely useful in controlling pain. They also stress the importance of additional studies and clinical trials with cannabinoids.

What do you think? Should marijuana be used medically for treatment of pain? Should marijuana be legalized? Come on over to the Biology Forum to share your thoughts, feelings, and opinions.[/quote]

Thanks! I really appreciate it and I think that's what I was looking for!

Good to hear from you.

rdkml - This is important research in the hair loss area for a few years. I try to optimize the advantages in this respect by using trans-resveratrol and curcumin (Antioxidant boost) and
Krill Oil.

One supplement I avoid that negatively regulates this pathway is cayenne. A very small amount can be beneficial, however anything beyond that hermetic effect is detrimental and causes excessive shedding for many people.

Thanks CS. I appreciate it. Yeah, I noticed those past posts previously about optimizing regarding krill curcumin and trans resveratrol and not using large amounts of cayenne.



I have a device that is able to replicate the rtms device to a lesser degree (powerful magnetic pulse on brain) and will try to stimulate part of the brain for myself. I've been doing this myself for about 1 1/2 years anyway but never targeted any specific area. I also did something similar on my dog which brought "dramatic" results but never targeted anywhere specific. Maybe the dramatic recovery was from this and not the other methods used in my dog.

Here is a quote if anyone is interested.

With people who suffer MS, MD, Parkinson's and Lupus etc. Then for all we know the gland responsible for the production of our own cannabinoids may be damaged and thus not be able to work correctly, thus diseases where the body is seen to attack itself and self destruct the body.

...

If the gland is damaged then it may be very difficult to get it stimulated to a point where we see an increase in biological cannabinoids to the point of being beneficial.


....

We have known cannabis is good for health problems but up until recently, we didn't know how it actually works.

Now we know our brain produces a chemical that is identical to the THC molecule, and it is the mechanism by how our brain knows our body is sick. It's a feed back loop system (one of its functions)

Trauma, injury and emotional stress will reduce our bodies ability to produce its own cannabinoids so the feed-back loop required for immune responses will falter and fail in part, thus we get real sick and the body doesn't seem to do anything about it. This is seen in things like MD, MS, Parkinson's, Lupus etc.

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/frex/message/13109

We would have to grow a large patch of hemp to have it as a salad or juice (500 mg of THC per day). Smoking is only giving us 3 to 5 mg and while this will help, it would be better to be on the 500mg dose and not get high.

> 20 to 30% of people will have a biology that doesn't make much cannabaniods, they will be people suffering from cancers, epilepsy, MS, PD, lupus, and all other immune disorders and to some level chronic diseases.
>
> CB1 and CB2 receptors are the largest population of any receptors found in the body. They exist in every tissue and organ and are concentrated in the brain, liver and male testicles

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cUC8tjoB_0&NR=1&feature=fvwp
>
> A good short, scientific video of cancer cells being turned off and killed under a microscope by cannabis. 30% of mice heal 100% - the rest heal slower, but all responded and saw the cancer reduce in the presence of THC in the blood and working with the immune receptors.

Interestingly, quick google search maybe shows these issues and sometimes brain stem issues.

rdkml - That's very interesting. Is this device similar to this one? Also do you recommend where one can find an affordable unit?

http://neurostar.com/all-tmstherapy-doctor/

From what I know (which, admittedly, is not that much, and could be wrong) another thing endocannabinoids are purported to do is cause the munchies (hunger). Just something to watch out for. :-D

Hey CS. Yes, the rTMS that I was mentioning above is the same as the link you posted TMS.

The Russians have their own device called TES for Transcranial Electric Stimulation. Some studies on this one if you're curious. http://www.resources.wellnesssolutions.com/pdf/researcharticlesandabstracts2.pdf

An intersting one is where two Russian studies were able to regenerate insulin producing buds on a chemically killed pancreas in rats at 77.75 Hz.

Maybe this frequency pointed at the brain stem would help those with MS or PTSD or Parkinson's, or related rather than having to juice marijuana is my hope.

Interestingly, there are two methods that I know work to help with stem cells. Ascorbic acid. A second methods is magnets or pulsing magnets for possibly better results.


Anyhow, how to replicate the rTMS/TMS/TES device all one needs is a very strong pulsating magnetic field that works from 0 - 100 Hz if I'm not mistaken on the frequency range. This is very similar to PEMF devices.

The cheapest and closest match would be a Doug Coil and then place the center of the coil directly over the area being treated. A Doug Coil costs $2,000 or one can build it for about $1,200. They look similar to this that I took from the web.



On an unrelated note, interestingly, the Doug Coil is one of the best large cancer tumor finders IMO/IME. Can run a cancer frequency over areas in the body. If there is a large enough tumor will literally feel where it's at because it heats up.

The above is the cheapest and closest option to TMS/rTMS/TES that I can think of. However, a second option to experiment with to help regenerate the area for the endocabbanoid chemical to be released that I was thinking would be a tactile transducer. It's not like the TMS/rTMS/TES but I guess you could say they are cousins. The benefits overlap. I saved info on the Infratonic tactile transducer at my site where I put my notes http://electromedicine.wordpress.com/2012/08/18/tactile-transducers-infratonic/

Some reviews on it if you're curious.

http://www.amazon.com/Infratonic-Fast-Relief-Where-Fails/dp/B0050DC8MK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346889685&sr=8-1&keywords=Infratonic


http://www.amazon.com/Infratonic-Therapeutic-Relieving-Menstrual-Abdominal/dp/B0050DAHUU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1346889685&sr=8-2&keywords=Infratonic


I have a cheaper version called ChiAMP ($100) that should work as well... if not better but is more inconvenient to use. It's an interesting device and it works as well as the reviews from amazon. These devices and the earthpulse.net tactile transducer interestingly have shown to work well for those with MS, Parkinson's, etc..

hope this helps

whodathunkit wrote:From what I know (which, admittedly, is not that much, and could be wrong) another thing endocannabinoids are purported to do is cause the munchies (hunger). Just something to watch out for. :-D

lol.

I don't do drugs or recommend them but the health benefits of juicing cannabis is interesting. Here is a video for what it's worth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE4pK0U4NJo