Oral ingestion of shatter; battling cancer induced anorexia

[.:Holy::Toast:.]

Hey all my friends mother was recently diagnosed with laryngeal cancer and hasn't even started treatment yet but has little appetite and is still throwing up everything she eats whenever she can.

She's expressed interest in using cannabis extracts, mainly oil or shatter, to combat her loss of appetite.
I've never really orally ingested shatter before so I'm unsure what the dosage would be for someone without a tolerance, the plan is to put them in gel caps and ingest them that way.

Any suggestions on what should be a proper dose for oral ingestion and possibly any more effective ways of ingestion, namely tinctures etc?

 

[w01fg4ng]

A lot of shatter has little to no THC because it has not decarbed yet. You are risking wasting your stash if you don't know about THCA.

I'm starting to see products on the shelves now that are made for your purpose; eating hash oil. I recently ran into an edible oil in a store that is simply hash oil that has been decarbed. I think it's called Green Dragon (but don't mix that up with the alcoholic version).

If you are making the oil yourself you can have more control over when to decarb. If you aren't, you could still attempt to decarb the oil yourself using low heat (google for decarb methods).

 

[.:Holy::Toast:.]

Thanks I didn't even think of it, whenever I've made extracts I've always decarbed before the extraction but never even thought of it in this case.
Should 220F for 30 min in the oven work?
I've never decarbed after the extraction before but I assume it should work the same
I was thinking about borrowing a 50mL beaker from my chem lab locker and using that

 

[w01fg4ng]

That sounds like plenty of time and temp to decarb the oil (I wouldn't go for longer/hotter), and the 50mL beaker sounds like a good size to use as well.

Also, if done right, the person dosing without a tolerance should really only need a very small amount to get the medical benefits (in your friends case this would be appetite stimulation given by the THC) . Start extremely small and work your way up to the right dose is my recommendation. This can be taken sublingually as well as orally.

 

[Mafioso]

Hey OP, sorry to hear about your friends mother.

I don't personally have much experience with edibles but considering the way tolerance works, I would suggest perhaps starting with an edible made from flower rather than from a concentrate. In time, if necessary, you can build up to making edibles out of shatter but it would seem overdosing to an uncomfortable would be much more likely with stronger concentrates than flower.

like wolf said, decarb first either way. in plant form THC is actually THCA which is not bio-available.

 

[PotatoMan]

yes concentrates seem a little extreme for this situation. tolerance is the issue and you don't wanna scare someone out of something that may be very beneficial.

conc. just seem a little to intense for the intolerant simply looking for appetite stimulation

 

[Felonious Monk]

Have you watched the movie "Run From the Cure?" It's about a movement of people using cannabis oil for potential curative benefits as opposed to simply palliative care. I'm not saying flat out that this oil cures cancer (made with Everclear instead of butane), but I've met (in person) numerous people who are alive solely because of the oil. You can look around online for additional stories.

Even if you don't believe in the curative effects, it's worth using that type of oil (often referred to as FECO: Full Extract Cannabis Oil) because it's the most cost effective way, per mg of cannabinoids, to purchase orally active medicine (it's decarbed in the production process so all THC, no THC-A). If you're in a medicinal state you should be able to find it, or if you ask around in dispensaries for FECO or "Rick Simpson Oil," people will know what you're talking about.

Edit: If there's no one around that produces oil, you can make your own at home. It's much safer than making shatter because Everclear is much less volatile.

 

[Mafioso]

I agree rick simpson oil would be ideal for this situation. It comes in a syringe with markings on it making it easy to measure a fairly accurate dose. Would make it easy to record each dose and monitor the response so it will take most the guess work out of adjusting dosages.

Even if you can't get the specific kind of oil, like FM said it wouldn't be that hard to make from home. Hope things work out for you and your friends family.