People suffering from renal failure may encounter a variety of symptoms that cause pain and a worse quality of life. There were few available medicines, and evidence for novel therapy alternatives was scant, leading to insufficient symptom alleviation. Cannabinoids, such as cannabidiol and tetrahydrocannabinol, were gaining attention for their potential to relieve symptoms of a variety of chronic conditions. Patients were increasingly able to use these drugs as legal limitations were lifted or reduced in a number of nations. Exogenous cannabinoids had anxiolytic, antiemetic, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory effects because cannabinoid receptors, CB1 and CB2, were extensively distributed in the body, including the neurological and immune systems.
Cannabinoids may be viewed as potential therapies for a variety of common symptoms affecting those with kidney failure, including pruritus, nausea, insomnia, chronic neuropathic pain, anorexia, and restless legs syndrome, based on their known physiologic actions and successful studies in other patient populations. For a study, researchers outlined the pharmacology and pharmacokinetics of cannabinoids, as well as what is known about the use of cannabinoids for symptom alleviation in patients with renal disease and the data available about their involvement in the therapy of common symptoms. Although the medicines have demonstrated variable effectiveness with a tolerable safety profile in other patient populations, evidence-based prescribing of cannabis for persons with symptomatic renal failure was currently not viable.
Given the symptom load encountered by patients with renal failure, there was an urgent need to understand the tolerability and safety of these medicines in the group, which must be followed by strong, randomized controlled studies to evaluate if they were helpful for symptom alleviation.
Recjasn.asnjournals.org/content/early/2022/02/16/CJN.11560821
