The Promise of CBD, the Cannabis Chemical That Won’t Get You High
newyorker.com
newyorker.com
but in California, for example, I could simply just ask the doctor writing my cannabis prescription what's their dosage suggestion based upon the medical reasons they were writing my presciption in the first place.
But you're not wrong. If you wanna figure out what works for you, you'll have to experiment for yourself without a medical professionals help. That's true for any over the counter (OTC) medication in your local pharmacy, too.
The best guess I could give you for a "minimum therapeutic dose" for THC/CBD would be 5MG. Start from there and move your way up to what works for you.
> The oil was the brownish color of a stagnant pond, and tasted like old bong water with a hint of lemon.
It sounds like they haven't actually tried bong water, unless the CBD tincture they had was actually incredibly poorly made. Bong water is... not something you just drop on your tongue. It's hard for me to illustrate but it's very disgusting, unpalatable.
> After ingesting it—perhaps, I will admit, because I really wanted to believe—I thought I felt something
I think it's possible that some people feel effects from CBD alone, but most people probably need a more whole spectrum cannabinoid profile to benefit. I.e. the "entourage effect":
> First described in 1998 by Israeli scientists Shimon Ben-Shabat and Raphael Mechoulam, the basic idea of the entourage effect is that cannabinoids within the cannabis plant work together, or possess synergy, and affect the body in a mechanism similar to the body’s own endocannabinoid system. [1]
> I told him that I had tried CBD in coffee
Not the author's fault there... these substances are very opposite.
Finally I'd like to say for anyone wanting to experience the healing effects from cannabis without getting high should look into raw cannabis, or THCA and CBDA, which are the acid forms of THC and CBD and in studies I've seen provide anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer etc. effects (as THC and CBD are claimed to) but without the psychoactivity.
[1] https://www.medicaljane.com/2014/05/14/thc-cbd-and-more-the-...
I received it yesterday and WOW it tastes AWFUL. It's really bad.
I'm wondering if it's possible to inhale CBD with the old bowl of near boiling water.
"Good Vibes" by Sabaidee is as close to "flavorless" as I've come across, but my favorite thus far has been Green Mountain CBD, which has a "chocolate mint" flavor.
As weird as it might sound, I prefer that with "medicine", it's also one of the reasons why I "enjoy" drinking chamomile tea: It tastes so bad, it gotta be healthy.
Each to their own, I really enjoy the taste of chamomile tea :)
Agreed that it's a good thing for medicine not to taste 'good' though, especially for medicines that happen to enhance appetite...
It's a pet hate of mine, as it's getting hard to get some of the typical ingredients separately as pills - e.g. guaifenesin (expectorant) used to be commonly available separately in the UK, but is now usually combined with paracatemol (acetaminophen) and phenylephrine hydrochloride if you want it in pill form, sometimes additional things too, like caffeine - it seems like the market basically is split in a "must suffer for this to be real medicine" segment and a "I just want everything possibly related in one pill whether or not any individual one of them will do anything" segment.
If you prefer to actually choose specifically what active ingredients you consume, then you're stuck with the mostly foul syrups (I've found one that isn't actively offensive to my tastebuds)
Start with water from rotten potatoes, add fish oil.
> Not the author's fault there... these substances are very opposite.
Well depends on the strain, right?
Sativa + Coffee probably has a enhanced little buzz.
With the smoking, most of the active ingredients literally just burn up, which includes producing the nasty stuff like tar and the smoke particles. Which is something tobacco smokers kinda crave for.
While good vapes have very precise temperature controls, allowing for evaporation of different cannabinoids and terpenes without literally burning up the plant.
And as for the receptors, THCA has been found to act on different receptors, i.e. not on CB1 or CB2, and that the effects on those receptors is different. I am not explaining the science well, but it's easily searchable.
Hemp-derived cbd is legal in all 50 states, which is appealing for legal reasons, but I've found cannabis derived cbd is much more effective.
Also, please be careful and research what you are injesting. There are a lot of cbd oils these days that have added terpenes and other things. If you can't find a scientific terpene profile I wouldn't use it, or even better, use things without the added stuff.
As a comat vet with ptsd I think it's a moral outrage that the one easy to grow plant that helps me and my buddies is illegal. Personally, I also think it's unconstitutional as well, but there is a good debate to be had (that I haven't seen yet) about states abuse of general welfare and health clauses to justify their attacks on it, along with good discussion about the abuse of the Commerce clause at the federal level.
Ps; dang, this isn't an alt, I changed my password without looking on the other account.
Chronic CB1 receptor antagonism is associated with:
- lowered blood pressure
- increased levels of Akkermensia bacteria in the gut (associated with leanness)
- decreased lipogenesis (creation of new fat cells)
- decreased fat masss
- resistance to obesity, despite caloric surplus
- increased fatty acid oxidation
- increased adiponectin
- increased transdifferentiation of white fat into metabolically active brown fat
- increased insulin sensitivity
- reduced insulin levels
- increased leptin sensitivity
- reduced proteinurea and improved creatinine clearance in kidney disease
- smoking and cocaine cessation
- reduction in depression symptoms
- reduced anxiety
Search PubMed for "CB1 antagonist" or "chronic CB1 blockade" to see what kinds of things CB1 antagonism can do. You'll find quite a lot of research into Rimonabant (another CB1 antagonist) but unfortunately it was found to cause psychological side effects like depression and suicidal ideation; CBD does not have these effects.
There are several anecdotal reports the on /r/cbd subreddit where people start taking it for anxiety and depression, and end up losing 10-40 lbs. of excess weight without trying.
I've found that it helps me sleep deeply, helps me focus at work, and I am satiated after much smaller amounts of food than before. I also notice that I can run at a significantly higher intensity on the treadmill for much longer with CBD.
I have recommended CBD to 7 or 8 people, and each one reports a plethora of benefits: helps depression, anxiety, ADHD, sleep, weight loss, brain fog, overeating, etc.
There seems to be a good amount of variety in the quality of non-isolate CBD products. Some contain minute amounts of THC and other psychoactive cannabinoids, so they may cause you to fail a drug test if that's a concern.
CBD is one incredibly beneficial compound. I highly recommend you try it if it's available where you live.
The next day I checked if there was any research on its efficacy. Due to the volume of pages touting the benefits of CBD, finding the actual research was difficult. Most of the search results were either vendors or medical mj boosters.
The best I found was this: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4851925/
Sure enough, CBD did help reduce inflammation and increased joint mobility in arthritic rats ... at a dose of 6.2mg/day. Considering that I'm hundreds of times more massive than a rat, and that my 2oz jar contains 150mg of CBD oil total, I'm probably getting 2mg of CBD oil per application.
That seems to confirm that the self-reported benefits of topical CBD oil is mostly placebo effect.
Doctors and patients both benefit from the placebo effect - if it solves the problem, great, doctor and patient are happy and continue to do it.
I have health issues no one knows how to treat, and I have had doctors (qualified medical experts with decades of experience) recommend things there was little to no reliable evidence for currently, just in case they worked (didn't for me).
I (and lawmakers - CBD etc. are illegal where I am) want to know if things actually work.
The key here, though, is that formulation contains THC (and extracts from other plants) and is derived from marijuana cannabis plants, instead of just hemp-derived CBD.
Another product which I've found has a very similar effect on me, albeit weaker, is 5-HTP supplements taken orally.
Sometimes I'd take a large 5-HTP dose then go out to used book stores, talking to everyone I encountered. It's fun to occasionally visit being that person, but it's such foreign territory I'm not particularly good at it and by the end of the day it feels like I've been working at some horrible, inane, unfamiliar job. I don't know how extroverts find the energy for all the interaction while still getting shit done.
CBD was probably having other effects on me, but the extroversion was the most prominent from what I recall.
It sounds like you're still introverted, even while drug-induced into being more social (perhaps you're conflating shyness with introversion?). An extrovert would feel energized by the socializing, not exhausted, which answers your later question.
> A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, or psychotropic is a chemical substance that changes brain function and results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior. source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoactive_drug
Isn't the point of taking it that it's psychoactive?
I theorize it may work by reducing or helping to manage stress. This could explain why it has raving supporters for a wide variety of real problems in distinct online communities, since stress is such an important factor in many kinds of physical and mental health issues. Admittedly it is hard to detect the placebo effect, but the indications so far are promising.
If it lives up to half of the promise of the online claims by people with significant problems, it is going to be huge. I'm wondering if there is an investment opportunity there somewhere, but don't know enough about that sort of thing.
It should be pointed out that there are a lot of bad or fraudulent products available, the market is immature and full of hype. But there are quality oils which taste good and work well. Also worth noting that much less is absorbed by drinking rather than than putting under the tongue.
There are also some bold claims flying around about it's effect on the Endocannabinoid system [1], and how improvements to that can improve many aspects of health and self-regulation. Whatever it does, I have a hunch that science is going to turn up some interesting results from looking into it.
I'm not saying I put it in my coffee every morning, but the relaxing effect is real and powerful. Certainly a better substance than alcohol for taking the edge off in my opinion.
You could probably write software while on CBD. If I had to characterize the effects, I'd say it makes one less intense, more patient, cures headache, and gives warm-fuzzies for a few hours. The following day you may be slightly more irritable than average though.
(Note in NYC you can sometimes get it over the counter in some head shops. In SF you can get it with a medicinal card)
confirmatory testing, like a GC/MS or LC/MS/MS can tell them apart because they're different molecules, but the extraction processes for delta 9 THC can/will pick up all the similar molecules (delta 8, COOH, CBD, CBN, whatever).
that's necessary and good because they're not all psychoactive (the COOH in particular), so they've got to be separated out for forensic purposes.
it works as a sort of linearish equation, where you add up all the compounds at different ratios, like 1.0THC + 0.5COOH + 0.05CBD + 0.05CBN + ... and if that adds up to "enough" then the test will trigger the testing lab to consider the screen positive.
at that point hopefully it goes over to confirmatory testing, where the LC/MS/MS separates all the various compounds apart, and lets the lab know that you had CBD in your system, but not THC.
[0] http://dosist.com/pen-calm/ [1] http://dosist.com/pen-relief/
It is possible to write software on CBD, THC, and others.
First NIH sponsored CBD study to begin shortly. And interestingly enough, it will evaluate whether CBD is effective in reducing the cravings for alcohol in sufferers of PTSD!
Eg. CBN is now known to be the compound that makes you lazy or couch locked
Here's a good talk by Manuel Guzman on his labs studies on Cannabinoids and Cancer
I wonder what other great medical news the mainstream media is refusing to report.