With all of the talk concerning CBD as of late, I know people have just got to be confused. Of every source of information that I have come across concerning CBD, Farma.Health has been the most helpful and unbiased. I see other sites talking about all of the benefits of CBD use with articles titled The Top 5 Benefits of CBD Use or CBD Kills Cancer Cells. Some sites claim CBD connects to our CB2 receptors in our internal endocannabinoid system. Others accurately explain that CBD does not actually connect to our CB receptors at all, but instead promotes the production of 2-Arachidonoylglycerol, a cannabinoid produced naturally by our own bodies that does the actually connecting to our CB receptors. Potential CBD consumers would have to do some real search engine digging before they came upon the truth though. So you have to applaud Farma Health for doing a good job where so many others are failing.
One way or another, the varying and often contradicting information out there concerning CBD proves that people need to gain a much better understanding of cannabidiol. Is a CBD isolate sufficient or does it take the inclusion of other cannabinoids and terpenes in what is often called full spectrum CBD to bring out the real medicinal properties of CBD oil? I don’t know the answer yet, but I would say that Farma Health is doing a good job of curating CBD news and information to keep the public as accurately informed as it can. They also have a whole suite of different CBD brands and reviews of those brands so that consumers can take an unbiased look at their alternatives. Here is a quick breakdown of what I have found on Farma.Health and some other research I have done as well.
What do I know for sure about CBD?
Okay, this is what I know. CBD is not psychoactive. The psychoactive cannabinoid, the one that gets you stoned, is THC. So, if you don’t like getting high but you are curious about whether medical cannabis is right for you, look into the CBD alternatives.
Most of the CBD brands that you will run across on social media and the rest of the internet are derived from hemp, not the marijuana plant that you find in dispensaries. To make this easy, most groups like Google and Facebook don’t advertise cannabis products derived from the marijuana plant that can get you high due to the federally illegal status of marijuana. So if you go into a Lucky’s, CVS or Walgreens and find CBD oils in the store’s wellness section, those will be CBD products made from hemp. If you see ads on social media, those are likely hemp based CBD products. Hemp became legal nationally in December of 2018 after the President signed the 2018 Farm Bill. More and more companies are comfortable advertising and selling hemp based CBD products now that it is legal.
Most CBD products are made from hemp flower, not the seeds. They make hemp oil from the seeds for the most part, which has lots of great uses. The CBD products tend to come from the hemp flowers though (which look a lot like marijuana flowers) because the concentration of CBD is much greater in the flowers than anywhere else in the plant.
The medical conditions I am most confident CBD can help with.
CBD for epilepsy
Okay, the condition I am most comfortable saying CBD can help is epilepsy. Even the FDA has approved Epidiolex, a CBD drug that is now available via an actual prescription for epileptic patients. CBD may be one of the best anticonvulsants researchers have discovered to date. It only took a massive amount of advocacy and a failed drug war to discover the anticonvulsant properties of CBD, but all well. I’m very happy for everyone that is receiving relief with CBD now.
The stories and videos all over the internet about CBD reducing seizures in children, adults and pets is both amazing and heart warming. Ashley Surin in Illinois influenced state legislators to change the law so that kids can be administered CBD on public school grounds. Alexis Bortell brought tremendous amounts of awareness to the benefits of CBD and how it helped her epileptic condition by suing Jeff Sessions, the former attorney general.
CBD for pain
I also believe that CBD helps people in pain as well. Savitex is a CBD based drug for pain in patients with multiple sclerosis that is approved for clinical use in countries like the UK and Australia. It is currently under review by the FDA here in the United States. It is important to understand what kind of pain CBD helps though. There are a lot of CB receptors in our gut area, so if you are nauseated or cramping, then CBD may be very helpful.
It feels like the most talked about quality of CBD is that it is an anti-inflammatory. CBD communicates to the body to not produce as much glutamate which can trigger swelling in joints and other parts of our bodies if it is left unregulated. So, people that workout a lot or have chronic pain in their knees or fingers should see a difference after repeated use of CBD. However, I have heard mixed stories about how it helps with headaches.
It is also important to note that from what I can see, CBD is not like your typical painkiller. You don’t take CBD and five minutes later the pain subsides. It seems like it takes roughly a week or so of consistent CBD consumption before patients are noticing a difference.
CBD for anxiety
I’m just not sure how this one works, and it doesn’t seem like anyone else does either. There are all sorts of anxiety disorders. There is generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxiety disorder (SAD), panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Less severe forms of anxiety would apply too. The stories out there suggest that CBD treatment can help with all sorts of anxiety.
Some research suggests that it has something to do with how CBD influences the flow of blood to certain parts of the brain. Other research suggests it has to do with how CBD affects serotonin receptors. Yet another study I read suggests that CBD helps to regenerate neurons in the brain’s hippocampus. Most tests were done again on lab rats for the most part and the studies repeatedly discloses that more research is needed. Some human studies said people reported being less anxious and felt more comfortable speaking publicly after using CBD.
CBD for preventing addiction relapse
I have referenced the work of Dr. Yasmin Hurd many times here on The National Marijuana News. She is one of the top minds on addiction in the world and believes CBD may be the key to preventing addiction relapses. NCBI also released a study concerning CBD and its ability to stave off relapses. They did the research on lab rats addicted to alcohol and cocaine, but the results were profound in particular because the week long CBD treatment unexpectedly worked for five months. A lot more research needs to be conducted still to understand why CBD would have such a profound effect on addiction relapse.
CBD for sleep
Taking CBD for sleep is not like taking Ambien. It does not just knock you like so many other sleep aids. Instead it seems to calm the mind down just like it can for anxiety and remove a lot of the aches and pains that may repeatedly wake you up through the night. It is just about getting a better night’s sleep with the help of CBD.
CBD Dosages
Let’s not make this too complicated. Not to understate the importance of proper dosing, but I have not come across any dosing guidelines approved by some reputable regulatory body on the how many mgs of CBD a 150 lb or 200 lb person should take. I have not seen guidelines if the person is between the ages of 18 and 26 or 27 and 36 either. I think CBD products need to be me more consistent with their concentrations and regulated before an easy to following dosing guide for CBD becomes available. In the meantime, I think people should crawl before they walk and start with 5mgs of CBD first and work their way up from there. Remember, you have to be patient, CBD does not seem to have immediate effects. Try giving it a week or so to work before you start changing up your dosages.
CBD delivery methods
If you don’t like using your lungs to take CBD, then it seems like CBD tinctures, where you put drops under your tongue and leave it there for ten seconds or so, is an effective way to take CBD. Other than that there are CBD gummies and edibles of all sorts. You can always go the CBD capsule route. Some brands even make some oil drops you can put in your coffee or some other sort of beverage.
CBD for pets
I did an interview with Dr. Emily Iacobucci last year, she is a veterinarian on Kodiak Island up in Alaska with a Certificate on Global Animal Health. In other words, she is a vet for dogs and all sorts of animals. She repeatedly explained to me that animals simply have a different physiology than people do. That is why we can only take lab rat tests so seriously. Like so many other human studies, she repeatedly reminded me that more research needs to be completed before we completely understand how CBD can help our pets. All animals do have an endocannabinoid system and so more vets are learning about CBD and medical cannabis everyday. In the meantime, be careful giving your pets CBD and make sure you do your research and find a truly reputable brand.
Finally, Farma Health has not only been a good place to research CBD, but it is also a place to learn how to make medical cannabis goodies. They have the best and most complete article I have come across on how to make cannabutter. Check it out.
