Letters from Dr. Cohen

Flirtation with disaster has caused me to be absent from the office over the past few

weeks. I would like to use my experience as a teaching moment and offer some insights.

Thanks to CBD, I believe I dodged a bullet and, in the process, endured multiple trips to the hospital with admissions to the emergency room as well the intensive care unit.

Dear Patients and Friends,

Flirtation with disaster has caused me to be absent from the office over the past few

weeks. I would like to use my experience as a teaching moment and offer some insights.

Thanks to CBD, I believe I dodged a bullet and, in the process, endured multiple trips to the hospital with admissions to the emergency room as well the intensive care unit. Let me explain.

For the past several months I was noticing a gradual gasping for breath upon exertion. Just going up the flight of stairs to my office was becoming more difficult and I was no longer able to work out. I was hiding behind the shield of invincibility - I’ve been healthy, have had a great diet and take multiple nutritional supplements. In denial, it wasn’t until I had routine lab testing that I realized there might be a serious medical issue that had been developing over time. Lab testing was this first in a series of serendipitous events.

In the office, we started a new program to both prevent and treat and reverse cognitive decline and I decided to be the guinea pig. I was to be the first to have a new panel of tests for this program. There was a significant abnormality on my tests - revealing that I was severely anemic - hence the difficulty I encountered with exertion. The most obvious question is why? Was I losing blood? If so, from where? The most likely reason for anemia from blood loss in men is either from a colon polyp or colon cancer. This prompted a visit to my GP and referral to a gastroenterologist for a colonoscopy. The first procedure was performed in March. A large polyp was discovered, biopsied and found to be pre-malignant. I returned for a second procedure on 4/20 (of all days). I hope you were all partying- I was not! The polyp was found to be significantly larger than expected and difficult to remove. I went home that day and became very ill overnight. I had a high pulse and could not get out of bed. The following day I developed a fever. I became septic and was admitted to the ICU at Avista Hospital where I received powerful antibiotics. To make

things worse, I began to hemorrhage, and this necessitated a second hospital admission with blood transfusions. I was facing the possibility a diagnosis of colon cancer and more extensive surgical procedures.

Over the past several months I began taking CBD in either sublingual or capsule form in order to protect my brain. After all, we are doing our new brain health program and CBD is known to be neuroprotective and promotes neurogenesis (growth of new brain cells). My twice weekly migraines completely disappeared for 6 months once I started taking CBD. This “cure” of my migraines is due to the fact that CBD can increase the production of our body’s own cannabinoids, and migraines may be due to an endocannabinoid deficiency. CBD is also known to kill cancer cells in the breast, prostate, lung and colon. I had been growing a polyp in my colon over a long period of time. This tumor was at the stage where it was about to transform into colon cancer. I believe that having taking CBD regularly may have actually halted its progression into colon cancer.

From my own experience I would like to offer the following guidance:

1. WE ARE NOT INVINCIBLE DESPITE LIVING A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

2. WE SHOULD FOLLOW GUIDELINES OF WESTERN MEDICAL PRACTICE

INVOLVING EARLY DETECTION, AND COMBINE THIS WITH PROPER

NUTRITION AND REMOVING THE TRIGGERS OF DISEASE

3. IF YOU ARE NOT FEELING WELL, CHECK IT OUT AND DON’T MAKE EXCUSES

4. CONSIDER DAILY SUPPLEMENTATION OF CBD. THERE IS EMERGING

EVIDENCE REVEALING THE INCREDIBLE VALUE OF THIS NON-PSYCHOACTIVE

CANNABINOID.

I am happy to report that my recovery is going well and that I am once again seeing

patients both in our Boulder and Denver offices. We continue to grow and expand our services. I have been training other physicians in cannabis medicine and am happy to announce that, in addition to myself, we now have four other physicians on staff. I am excited to assume a greater role as Medical Director and continue to create new, innovative programs.

In addition to cannabis medicine, we provide the following services:

 Functional Medicine, including nutritional awareness and guidance in removing

triggers of disease.

 ReCODE, a program developed to prevent, and reverse cognitive decline based on

Dr. Dale Bredesen’s program outlined in The End of Alzheimer’s.

 Cannabis nurses to answer your questions and provide follow-up care

 An online program to train cannabis industry and medical personnel in appropriate

use of cannabis as a medicine is being developed

 Intravenous therapy for our patients will soon be introduced

 Acupuncture

 Massage

 Trauma counseling

 Medicinal Mindfulness

I look forward to seeing you in our office.

Comments welcome: