A man from Crediton has shared his experience of using cannabis oil (CBD) during his cancer treatment.

After being diagnosed with prostate cancer two years, David Jaques started taking the oil while he underwent an intensive programme of chemotherapy and radiotheapy.

Now on the road to recovery, he believes the cannabis oil helped keep some of the side-effects of the treatment at bay.

David, aged 67, first noticed something was wrong in 2017.

He said: “I was getting up a few times in the night and had a sense of urgency to pee.”

David went to his GP and a blood test confirmed that he was suffering from prostate cancer-and from his results, the outlook wasn’t hopeful.

He had a PSA Test which shows how much protein, made by the prostate gland, is in the bloodstream. The test results should show a number less than 4, but David’s levels were 120. He also scored 9/10 on a test indicating the likelihood of his cancer growing and spreading.

David said: “It wasn’t good. Then I had scans and they saw it had broken out of the prostate.” Unfortunately, the cancer had spread to David’s lympth node.

He was immediately put on hormone therapy to suppress the growth, and had six cycles of chemotherapy at three weekly intervals. He also went through seven weeks of daily radiotherapy.

David said the idea of having to go through chemotherapy came as a “shock”, however, he had seen a story about CBD oil.

He read about a woman who had used CBD during breast cancer treatment- and that she was in remission. So David began taking the oil before starting his own chemotherapy.

He said: “Either I was very lucky or it was the CBD oil. I was able to carry on working through chemo and radio therapy.”

David said although the chemotherapy and radiotherapy “knocks the stuffing out of you,” he didn’t suffer the common side effects of nausea or major hair loss.

He said: “I can’t think of anything other than the CBD oil that might have helped mitigate the side effects I should have expected during chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

“I’ve never been athletic or sports minded, so I wasn’t in particularly good shape when diagnosed, yet I experienced very few side effects and those I did experience were mild.”

David joked that he did however experience a change in his taste buds when drinking alcohol, he said: “It tasted disgusting, it was a real pain.”

David said he was initially taking the maximum dose of CBD oil a day, but gradually reduced the dosage after treatment. He said he currently buys his CBD oil from Somerset firm Goodbody Botanicals, as he likes to “get local.”

He said: “I wont stop taking it. I can’t say for certain things would be different without it, but I don’t feel any ill effect from taking it, so I’ll carry on.”

David said he’d never encourage people to give up conventional cancer treatments, but said: “alongside that, you get complimentary treatments which can be helpful as it has been for me.”

As for his cancer prognosis, the future is looking good. He said: “Following the treatments my PSA fell to less than 1, and scans failed to detect any sign of the cancer.” David has now finished hormone therapy and his doctor only wants to see him once a year.

He has encouraged any men who have concerns about their prostate to get themselves checked out. David said: “Us blokes are very reluctant to go to the doctors. Anybody with bladder changes should go to the GP.”

Source: Devon Live