CBD has experienced a boom in popularity over the last few years, due in no small part to its effect on many common chronic conditions. Users note a sense of relaxation and euphoria after consuming CBD, which helps with a number of things like anxiety and chronic pain. While CBD might not work for everyone, this cannabis-derived compound seems to come with a number of benefits for many people who’ve given it a try.
CBD is anti-inflammatory, as well as has antidepressant and anti-anxiety properties. All of these are beneficial for people with chronic illness, and further highlight the potential uses of cannabinoids in treating medical conditions. With the passage of the 2014 and 2018 farm bills, industrial hemp and research on cannabinoids derived from it are now legal.
Of all of the compounds found in cannabis indica and cannabis Sativa, the two best known are THC (which is psychoactive) and CBD. Until a few years ago, the only folks who spoke of their benefits were all stoners or medical marijuana activists. The situation now is much different than it used to be, and rather than needing a medical marijuana prescription from a doctor in order to buy CBD products you can quite possibly just buy them.
Smoothies and coffee with added CBD extract are readily available in many parts of the country, though some localities are starting to crack down on the usage of CBD in food products and so it remains to be seen as to how long these will be around.
About CBD Oil
Cannabidiol can be sourced from either industrial hemp or from marijuana, but almost all of the CBD extracts that you get outside of dispensaries comes from the former. Both come from cannabis indica and cannabis Sativa, which are the main cultivated varieties of cannabis.
Since industrial hemp contains very little THC, to begin with, you will not end up experiencing the high that marijuana is known for. Rather, CBD generally has a soothing effect in addition to anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that are beneficial in treating the symptoms of a number of conditions. https://www.newtreatments.org
There are some people out there who swear by the medical benefits of cannabis, claiming that it can treat serious conditions such as cancer or even HIV. While this may be the case, there’s not a lot of publicized medical research out there to support these anecdotal claims. This means that while CBD might be of some benefit in treating a number of conditions, there’s not a lot of evidence that it will be effective for everyone. Still, it may be worth a try.
While CBD definitely has a number of medical benefits, its appearance in everything from milkshakes to mascara is probably more of a marketing ploy than anything that’s arisen out of need. Even if you’ve found certain CBD products have helped you, there’s little likelihood that it will improve the performance of cosmetic products and the like.
CBD should be understood as a dietary supplement, rather than the magical wonder ingredient that some folks like to think it is. CBD in your mascara probably doesn’t make a lot of sense for treating your fibromyalgia or epilepsy.
At one time, marijuana plants had more CBD than THC – which changed as some people bred them so that THC became more prominent and CBD content reduced. Industrial hemp is the same plant, but it hasn’t been bred for its psychoactive effects and so contains much less THC while still having CBD. This means that hemp-derived CBD isn’t subjected to the same legal restrictions as marijuana-derived CBD, so it’s a lot easier to buy even in states which are strict on marijuana.
Keep in mind that you should still check the local laws regarding CBD, even if law enforcement doesn’t seem particularly interested in enforcing them.
CBD Oil Side Effects
CBD is often marketed as a natural alternative that lacks any noticeable side effects, but this may not be entirely true. You may experience anxiety, changes in appetite, mood swings, drowsiness, dry mouth, lightheadedness, or low blood pressure while using CBD.
If you’re on medication for certain forms of epilepsy and also take CBD as a supplement, it’s important to note that it may interact with certain drugs that you may be taking. It appears that CBD can interact with some drug-metabolizing enzymes in the liver, which is something that anyone on pharmaceutical drugs should be aware of if they’re using CBD.
While there are a number of CBD oil side effects, it’s important to note that most of them are not life-threatening. While it’s not advisable to take large amounts of CBD, there have been virtually no overdoses on it which have resulted in fatalities.
If you’re considering CBD to cope with a medical condition, it’s always best to consult with your doctor before doing so. This is important because it may become necessary to adjust the dosages if you’re on prescription medications. Still, you should understand that more is not always better when it comes to using CBD.
CBD Oil for Pain
Many people use medical cannabis for pain management, though there’s some debate here whether CBD is actually effective on its own for this purpose. There are many other cannabinoids that seem to help with treating pain, and indeed some CBD products come with added terpenes to tailor the effect for treating various conditions. Depending on the specific kind of pain you’re experiencing and its underlying causes, you may or may not find that CBD helps in alleviating it.
Some people find CBD quite useful for certain kinds of pain management, even without the presence of other cannabinoids. CBD is known to have anti-inflammatory properties, which makes it very effective for certain kinds of pain. Migraines, autoimmune disorders, and other types of neuropathic pain often experience some relief from CBD – but it seems that this cannabinoid is most effective in treating chronic pain.
If you’re experiencing pain from diabetes or fibromyalgia, CBD could well be the pain-management treatment that you’re looking for.
CBD activates CB2 receptors, which both help in managing pain as well as counteracting the effects of THC on CB1 receptors (though CBD from industrial hemp contains little THC). Additionally, there’s some evidence of CBD easing the pain by engaging glycerin receptors which are located in various parts of the brain and spinal cord.
Inflammation often disables these receptors in cases of chronic pain, but CBD shows some promise in reactivating glycerin receptors and thus reducing pain to some degree. If you’re dealing with chronic pain and want an effective solution that comes without the risk of dangerous side effects, CBD is a great alternative to look into.
CBD Oil for Anxiety
One of the most popular uses for CBD is for managing anxiety symptoms, although there is less medical evidence of its effectiveness than with epilepsy. There have been few studies on the benefits of using CBD for people with anxiety, but anecdotal evidence abounds of its effectiveness in managing anxiety symptoms.
A number of these accounts illustrate how some are skeptical of CBD’s benefits, only to find that it actually worked in treating their anxiety symptoms much more effectively than they would have ever presumed.
If you have anxiety and have ever had a bad reaction to smoking or consuming marijuana, it’s important to note that using CBD oil will not end up giving you this unwanted effect. While THC has been noted as resulting in an agitated mental state in some people, CBD actually has the opposite effect.
Indeed, you might not really notice anything after consuming CBD other than feeling a slight reduction in the intensity of your anxiety symptoms. This has been noted by a number of users, who expected a stronger indication of the CBD working aside in a noticeable way.
Overall, it appears that CBD oil for anxiety is a natural way of treating the condition without major side effects for many people. Considering the types of medications prescribed for anxiety and their side effects, CBD is a potentially promising alternative. However, it’s absolutely vital to note that you should never suddenly discontinue prescription anxiety medications under any circumstances as there are a number of serious withdrawal symptoms.
If you find that CBD works for you, consult your doctor about tapering off your medication rather than suddenly quitting. If you follow the right precautions, you may find that CBD is effective in making your anxiety far easier to live with.
CBD Oil for Epilepsy
CBD has been proven effective in treating certain childhood seizure disorders that do not respond well to other treatments, and there are strong indications that it helps in treating persistent forms of epilepsy. Some forms of epilepsy don’t respond at all to medications, but CBD offers renewed hope as an effective treatment for them – this is especially noticeable in certain childhood epilepsy disorders that may not have any other available form of treatment that actually works.
There’s a CBD-rich strain of cannabis named for a young child who suffered from severe epilepsy and could not find anything else that worked, so look up Charlotte’s Web if you’re ever in doubt of CBD’s potential in cases like this. There are a number of states which ban THC in medical cannabis but still allow for medical CBD-based products for epilepsy and some other seizure disorders.
Hemp-derived CBD is easier to obtain if you don’t already have a medical marijuana authorization and doesn’t carry as strong of a risk for aggravating seizures due to industrial hemp’s lack of THC. This makes CBD a good option even if you just want to try and see if it does anything for your epilepsy.
While CBD is effective for several forms of epilepsy, there are certain cases where it can actually aggravate seizures. If you’re using CBD to treat epilepsy, it’s absolutely vital to consult with a physician and also to ensure that the product you’re using does not contain any THC.
While THC might be far more demonized than it should be due to its psychoactive effect, increased anxiety can result in more severe seizure symptoms. Beyond this, CBD can create interactions with certain epilepsy medications and so it’s important to discuss with your doctor so that your medication dosage can be adjusted accordingly.
CBD Oil for Sleep/Insomnia
CBD is not a sedative, unlike THC, and it does not have a notable sleep-inducing effect. If you experience sleeplessness as a result of another condition like anxiety, CBD may still help because of its anxiety-reducing effects. Furthermore, CBD has neuroprotective properties which promote sleep as well as encourage rest.
Beyond making it easier to get to sleep, it would appear that CBD also increases the amount of sleep and the quality of it. This would seem to mean that CBD oil for sleep is quite effective for many types of insomnia and sleeplessness. While CBD is useful in treating a number of conditions, it’s not some magical panacea that will suddenly rid you of whatever conditions you’re living with.
Certain prescription medications which are typically given for the conditions listed in this article come with strong withdrawal symptoms, so you absolutely should not simply discontinue pharmaceutical drugs upon finding CBD effective. That aside, there’s medical evidence of CBD’s ability to treat certain forms of epilepsy and seizures, as well as strong anecdotal evidence of its use for anxiety disorder.
