Health Benefits of CBD Oil
While marijuana is still a hot-button issue in many places, something commonly lumped into the debate is CBD oil.
Cannabidiol oil, more commonly referred to as CBD oil, is derived from the marijuana plant to create medically beneficial and non-intoxicating oil with a large variety of benefits.
So why aren’t more people talking about CBD oil and how much good it can do?
What Is CBD Oil?
Cannabidiol, or CBD oil, is a subset of medical marijuana that is produced from the flowers and buds of marijuana, or hemp, plants.
Once the cannabinoids that create the CBD oil is extracted from the plant, it is then mixed with a carrier oil.
The oil is typically hemp seed oil or coconut oil, but there can be others used. When the carrier oil and cannabinoids are combined it creates CD Oil.
How Do You Take It?
CDB oil comes in a liquid form that is sold in a tincture.
The tincture typically comes in a bottle with a build in dropper for easy use and can be taken in a few different ways.
You can take it directly by applying it to your tongue and then holding it there for a few seconds to properly allow it to absorb into your system.
If you aren’t a big fan of the taste you can opt for masking the taste with water or smoothies.
Simply drop the oil into your cool or room temperature drink and then stir it in.
There are also newer forms of CBD oil intake including sprays for under your tongue, capsules you can take orally, creams to rub into your skin and e-liquids you can use in vape pens.
What Is the Ideal Dosage?
Whatever method you choose to take the CBD oil, they will come with guidelines for dosages and how to use the product.
It is always recommended that you start with the smallest of all the dosages available and gradually increase as you need.
Starting small is important because the effects of CBD oil, especially when you use the dropper method directly onto your tongue, is immediate.
Even though the CBD oil is beneficial, the dosage should never exceed what you actually need.
Health Benefits of CD Oil
CBD oil has been linked to aiding in combating several medical issues and allowing you to reduce your risks of others.
This includes:
Epilepsy:
CBD oil is very commonly used to help epileptics to decrease, if not stop, the number of seizures you have.
It is actively used to treat several types of epilepsy and as research continues there is evidence it would work to treat even more.
Further research still needs to be done on it, but CBD oil seems to work more effectively than many anti-seizure pharmaceuticals and doesn’t have any of the harmful side effects.
Anxiety and Depression:
Unlike the common treatments for anxiety and depression, CBD oil can reduce your symptoms without the side effects of pharmaceutical drugs.
The CBD oil treatment also does not harbour the same risks as pharmaceuticals when it comes to addiction and dependence.
Pain:
One of the most common uses for medical marijuana is pain relief, but if you don’t want to get high, you can just go with CBD oil.
CBD oil can decrease the pain by binding cannabinoid receptor and impacting endocannabinoid receptors that directly relate to pain.
Cancer Related Symptoms:
For those going through chemotherapy, medical marijuana and CBD oil can be a crucial part of getting through the side effects and staying healthy.
CBD oil can combat the chemo’s nausea, pain, vomiting, and loss of appetite side effects and work to help the cancer patient maintain a healthy diet and live a normal life.
A 2012 study also showed that CBD oil can greatly decrease your chances of developing cancer as well, even when exposed to carcinogens.
This is especially true for breast, colon, prostate, lung and brain cancers.
Antipsychotics:
For people suffering from schizophrenia and other mental disorders, CBD oil can greatly reduce the frequency of psychotic symptoms and episodes.
Substance Abuse:
CBD oil has been tested with rats who were exposed to heroin and morphine and found that it can actually decrease dependency by modifying the circuitry in the brain related to drug addiction.
This means there is a possibility to treat substance abuse with CBD oil.
Insomnia:
If you have trouble sleeping, CBD oil may be a non-addictive sleep aid to help you get a good night’s rest.
Stress:
Similar to CBD oil’s ability to reduce anxiety, stress can also be managed and even erased with the help of Cannabinoids.
The reduction in stress shows up in both the limbic and paralimbic parts of the brain.
Neurological Disorders:
CBD oil has been linked to having neuroprotective properties to help those suffering from neurological disorders.
This includes epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, and even help fend off Alzheimer’s disease.
CBD oil can also help prevent brain damage from trauma or degeneration by increasing its resilience.
Obesity and Diabetes Risk:
In studies starting in 2006, CBD oil has been directly correlated to lower body mass and less risk of diabetes.
This comes from CBD oil’s ability to help your body convert white fat into brown fat.
This is important because brown fat is a much healthier option and is tied to weight loss and promoting healthy insulin and metabolism levels.
Heart Problems:
CBD oil can both improve your cholesterol levels and decrease your chances of cardiovascular disease.
Inflammation:
CBD oil has been linked to reducing inflammation throughout the body.
This means that it not only benefits you when injured but can do wonders for autoimmune diseases where inflammation is common.
Autoimmune diseases that can benefit from CBD oil include lupus, Hashimoto’s disease, multiple sclerosis, asthma, celiac disease and more.
Skin Problems:
Because of its anti-inflammatory properties, taking CBD oil can also help reduce acne. Acne is caused by a variety of factors including inflammation, so using CBD oil in tandem with an acne face wash can greatly help reduce acne.
CBD oil can also help protect your skin from other things besides acne like UV rays and pollutants. It also shows a reduction in healing time for damaged skin.
Bone Health:
Your bones naturally cycle through a renewal process of around ten percent per year.
CBD oil can not only help ensure that the new bone coming is strong but maintain the old bone as well.
Through this, you greatly decrease your chances of bone disease like osteoarthritis and osteoporosis.
CBD Oil Won’t Make You High
The marijuana plant makes you high via the chemical tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.
With CBD oil, there is zero THC so there is no chance of you getting high.
This means that CBD oil is purely medicinal and isn’t for recreational use.
This is why even though there is still debate over marijuana use, CBD oil is legal in 30 states in the US and 17 other states have laws for using CBD oil for medicinal purposes.
While the other three states still don’t allow CBD oil, they are clearly a minority and have yet to fully grasp just how important CBD oil can be.
Possible Side Effects of CBD Oil
Because marijuana use is still widely debated, there are not as many research studies and restrictions as other medicines.
So CBD oil is typically put more into the homoeopathy category.
Because of the lack of regulations, you need to consider that the research that has been done has been almost solely on animals.
Anecdotal evidence is also a major source of information When it comes to CBD oil.
So before you begin taking CBD oil you should take with your doctor and see if CBD oil will be good for you.
Most Common Side Effects
There aren’t many side effects linked to CBD oil, especially compared to other FDA approved medications, but it is important to consider that there are issues you may experience when taking CDB oil.
These include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, dizziness and bloating. While you may not experience any of these, it is important to know that it is possible.
Less Common Side Effects
A tiny percentage of CBD oil users have had to stop using CBD oil because they may have risked liver damage if they continued to take it.
But because there are no official studies on this there is no way to know if the CBD oil was the cause or just a coincidence.
About ten percent of all users will experience negative liver side effects and while it is only two or three percent of users that had serious side effects, the increased liver enzymes were high enough to be concerning.
This is why it is important to talk to your doctor and have regular check-ups to make sure you aren’t developing any problems that could be linked to taking CBD oil.
Prescription Drug Interactions
You should never take anything without first talking with your doctor and making sure that they won’t interact with any other medication you are taking.
This is especially important for prescription drugs to keep you from having problematic interactions.
One of the best examples of this is antiepileptic medications.
While CBD oil can be a great aid to epileptics, it can react poorly to some anti-epileptic medications and even make your seizures worsen.
Unsupervised CBD Oil
When the CBD oil isn’t properly regulated and watched, some manufacturers will take advantage of the opportunity and put in THC.
Even though it may be a minuscule amount and even might be an accidental inclusion, any amount of THC can cause problems.
If THC is included, it can not only make you feel “high” but can cause additional problems like worsening seizures among the epileptic and paranoia, which can be a huge problem for anxiety sufferers.
My Final Thought on CBD Oil
While there still needs to be more tests done to 100% understand all the benefits and side effects related to CBD oil, the possibilities for all the good it could do is definitely a reason to look further into it.
While there will most likely be an increase in studies in years to come because CBD oil is becoming so popular, if you want to try it now you should discuss it with your doctor and see if you are a good candidate to try it out.
If you do start taking CBD oil, it is important that you keep a log of what you are taking and what you are experiencing.
This will give you a good idea of how CBD oil is affecting you and go over it with your doctor so you can get an accurate depiction of CBD oil’s effects on your overall health.
