CBD—SHOULD YOU TRY IT?
CBD or cannabidiol has become the hottest thing on the market. I attended the Fit Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center in January and there must have been 15 booths selling CBD in one or more forms including creams, oils, tinctures, roll-ons and pills. It’s in shampoos, foot creams, hand lotions, even special mixes for pets.
I ended up buying a CBD cream to see if it would soothe the hip pain I have now and again. I’ve been trying it at home and it seems to work—although there’s always the placebo effect. In fact, most folks are buying it to combat joint pain, reduce stress or get better sleep. I’ve read that more than a quarter of all Americans have tried CBD and even 15% of seniors 60+ have used it.
There is still the matter of cannabidiol being legal. The vendors selling it at the Expo were obviously not worried—heck, this is California. And now that farmers can legally grow hemp—which most of these products are made from—there should be no problem. Although CBD is also in the marijuana plant (a cousin of hemp), it does not cause a “high.“ (It’s the THC in marijuana that causes its “euphoric” properties.) In fact, many people obtain CBD online. Now it’s even being added into foods and drinks, which seems rather questionable health-wise to me.
For more information, here are excerpts from the August 24, 2018 Harvard Medical School article by Peter Grinspoon, MD Cannabidiol (CBD)—what we know and what we don’t
The evidence for cannabidiol health benefits
CBD has been touted for a wide variety of health issues, but the strongest scientific evidence is for its effectiveness in treating some of the cruelest childhood epilepsy syndromes, such as Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS), which typically don’t respond to antiseizure medications. In numerous studies, CBD was able to reduce the number of seizures, and in some cases it was able to stop them altogether.
Cannabidiol is commonly used to address anxiety, and for patients who suffer through the misery of insomnia, studies suggest that it may help with both falling asleep and staying asleep.
CBD may offer an option for treating different types of chronic pain. A study from the European Journal of Pain showed, using an animal model, CBD applied on the skin could help lower pain and inflammation due to arthritis. Another study demonstrated the mechanism by which it inhibits inflammatory and neuropathic pain, two of the most difficult types of chronic pain to treat. More study in humans is needed in this area to substantiate the claims of cannabidiol proponents about pain control.
Is cannabidiol safe?
Side effects of CBD include nausea, fatigue and irritability. It can increase the level in your blood of the blood thinner coumadin, and it can raise levels of certain other medications in your blood by the exact same mechanism that grapefruit juice does. A significant safety concern with CBD is that it is primarily marketed and sold as a supplement, not a medication. Currently, the FDA does not regulate the safety and purity of dietary supplements. So you cannot know for sure that the product you buy has active ingredients at the dose listed on the label. In addition, the product may contain other (unknown) elements. We also don’t know the most effective therapeutic dose of CBD for any particular medical condition.
We need more research but cannabidiol may prove to be an option for managing anxiety, insomnia, and chronic pain.
If you decide to try CBD, talk with your doctor — if for no other reason than making sure it won’t affect other medications you’re taking.