CBD Oil: Important Caveats and Potential Benefits
This article has been in the works now for well over a year. I couldn’t figure out why it was taking me so long to write until I realized how poorly understood this substance is. Research is just touching the surface on this issue, and although we continue to learn more and more, there’s a long way to go before we have a better and complete understanding. I’ve been using it with patients for various things like pain, anxiety and insomnia among others and we’ve discovered many benefits and caveats that I think everyone will find helpful and interesting.
First off, let’s talk about what CBD oil is. CBD is an abbreviation for cannabidiol...YES that stuff in cannabis, the Mary Jane, pot, weed, whatever, but this particular substance doesn’t make you high. THC is responsible for the “high,” whereas cannabidiol is the non-psychoactive component of cannabis and hemp plant. It makes up somewhere around 40-50% of the plant, and has been well known for its medicinal and therapeutic effects, but poorly understood how it works and exactly what for.
Most commonly people are using CBD oil for:
#1 Seizures: this is one of the more common and well researched indications for CBD oil. It’s unclear if it works because it prolongs the half life of antiseizure medications (making it more potent) or if it actually has direct anticonvulsant activities in the brain. It also seems to help with MOST people, but not everyone with poorly controlled seizures. (1, 2, 3,4, 5).
#2 Anxiety: Doses somewhere between 150-600 mg MAY decrease anxiety both in acute and long term settings . For example, a single 600 mg dose was shown to decrease anxiety in public speaking in subjects with social phobia,, but this study shows only chronic CBD use decreases anxiety. Anecdotally, I’ve noticed it takes about 4-6 weeks for CBD to build up in the system to have anxiolytic effects, and taking too much at once can cause adverse side effects. See caveat #2 below. (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12).
#3 Sleep As mentioned above, somewhere between 150-600 mg may be efficacious in helping with sleep disorders in the few studies that have actually been done. (13, 14, 15)
#4 Pain Here is one small case study showing CBD’s ability to reduce chronic neuropathic pain, however most other current research supports a theoretical, rather than evidence based proof of this benefit . As we have come to understand the endocannabinoid system a bit better, it seems as though the CB1 receptor sites may be partially responsible for regulating and decreasing pain. Whether CBD is able to hit those receptors at an efficacious level remains unknown at this point. (16, 17, 18 19, 20,21)
#5 Inflammation: The following studies show some convincing evidence of CBD’s ability to decrease many inflammatory markers. There is also some evidence that it may help modulate people’s immune system in those with autoimmune disease (22,23,24,25,26,27) These studies show CBD may be effective at reducing inflammatory markers (such as COX and prostaglandin) while also decreasing pain (28, 29, 30).
New research is emerging on it’s potential treatment for addiction (30,31,32), and some neurological disorders such as Parkison’s disease as well (33).
Caveats
#1 It interacts with many medications: This is one of the most important caveats I think most people need to understand. It acts somewhat like grapefruit juice in that it interferes with many medications with the potential to cause severe adverse effects. If you’re on any medication at all, I would suggest working with a qualified healthcare provider before even thinking about starting this.
CBD is metabolized by a very common group of enzymes (called the CYP pathway) which will cause some medications to become more or less potent in the blood than normal. For example, someone taking a blood pressure medication called amiodarone will experience a severe drop in blood pressure because the CBD oil causes the medication to remain in the blood longer than normal.
#2 It may not act the way it’s “supposed” to act: Ever hear of your “pharmacogenetic profile?” Everyone has unique genes that determine how you’ll metabolize (or break down) medications and various substances. Because CBD oil is broken down mostly in the liver as I explained above, you may metabolize it completely differently than your friend or family member. So if CBD “work like a charm!” for your friend, it’s entirely possible you may experience a completely opposite/terrible reaction, or even no reaction at all.
#2 Start low and go slow.. CBD can take time to build up in your system, similar to an antidepressant, so it may take some time before you feel the effects. Give it somewhere between 2-6 weeks before you expect anything. I would suggest starting around 10-15 mg daily and increasing by 15 mg every week or so (Again, see caveats 1 and 2) A little funny and awful personal experience: I’m used to taking about 70 mg of CBD oil daily to prevent against postpartum issues and help with sleep, and one night I decided to take a double dose to help me get to sleep quicker. After about 30 minutes, I realized I couldn’t comprehend what people were saying, then my tongue started tingling and cotton mouth started to set in. Pretty soon I was under the covers trying to ward off scary thoughts for the next few hours. I’m still unclear what caused this, whether there was actually too much THC than the company promised, or possibly another constituent that actually had some psychoactive component? Who knows, but I haven’t experienced this since then, and I have never taken more than 110 mg as well.
#4 Know the source you’re getting it from: what you should be looking for is a broad spectrum hemp oil rather than pure CBD. This allows you get get all the constituents of the plant that work synergistically together for maximum benefit. Also be sure it’s organic so you’re not getting the added pesticides that may interfere.
I hope you find my blogs informational and helpful. If you’re looking to get to the root cause of your illness, optimize your health or just get some general advice, come see me at Minnesota Natural Medicine in Vadnais Heights, MN. Contact me HERE if interested. I look forward to working with you!!