CBD as an alternative psychiatric treatment

Part of the message is hidden for the guests. Please log in or register to see it.


I've been using CBD as a multipurpose psychiatric medication for roughly a month and it has treated my OCD, Bipolar, Anxiety, Tourettes Syndrome, and Insomnia with a substantially higher level of effectiveness than the other prescription drugs that I am also taking. I have also seen improvement in my memory and overall cognitive function, and as a result now perform better at memory based tasks such as remembering lists and work instructions.

I've been using CBD as a multipurpose psychiatric medication for roughly a month and it has treated my OCD, Bipolar, Anxiety, Tourettes Syndrome, and Insomnia with a substantially higher level of effectiveness than the other prescription drugs that I am also taking. I have also seen improvement in my memory and overall cognitive function, and as a result now perform better at memory based tasks such as remembering lists and work instructions.

That sounds great , and how is the amount of drops you have to take? , Do you have to increase them or do they stay the same , i am asking because my mother takes CBD as painmedication and she has to increase it constantly to fight the pain.

Thanks for this post. As medicinal MJ has become more viable here in IL, (now CBD is available at most vape/head shops in the area) I have been using CBD in relative high doses to be able to drop off of Kolonopin (for high level depression/anxiety), a benzo with severe withdraw symptoms for those who are long time prescribed. I have seen significant results, and my p-doc is now considering a medical card for me to be able to buy higher concentrations (covered by insurance as the products are not cheap), I have dropped over an entire 1.5 mg a day in a little over a month, for a benzo I have heard that's significant without withdrawal symptoms. First and foremost though, check with your Dr. when considering weening from any medication. I am glad someone brought this up, as it is actually not that new of a treatment, just now more acceptable as it's seen as a very benign product of industrial and recreational hemp.
Marta, I take about 50-90mg daily via edibles as they tend to stick into the system longer, I also smoke green in the evening so the dosage is probably more towards the 130 mg (if my math on percentage in the smoke is as labeled and factored in properly). As for using it as a pain medication the use is definitely safer than any opium based medication however, it may not be as effective for breakthrough or severe pain so an individual's pain tolerance is to be considered, just like any medication the body will begin to build a tolerance to it (CBD's is almost identical to the tolerance pace of smoking pot). So, increased dosage is not that unusual to see happen over time. The best way to defeat that is the old Pot Head trick of "tolerance breaks" and though this may be difficult it could help her reduce her dose by stopping for a few days and flushing the system with water and high fiber diet (withdraw is minimal and more mental than anything). CBD is stored in fat cells similarly to THC only it's half life is considerably less, meaning the stoppage time can be considerably lower ( a few days as opposed to weeks for a heavy user). Like I said I have seen results in my issues and that may not be the same for everyone. I am not sure as to how much pain relief can be derived from CBD or at what dose that comes at. I want to reiterate that I am not a medical professional, I know a little bit about the molecular actions of these chemicals through independent research, please, ALWAYS CONSULT A TRUSTED PHYSICIAN before adding or reducing any medication/supplement/general change in ones treatment plan. If anyone else is also trying similar, I would love to hear results; as soon enough the FDA will be all over this and try to regulate it as a medication sky rocketing costs.

In Peace,
Tim

Kobos wrote: as soon enough the FDA will be all over this and try to regulate it as a medication sky rocketing costs.

Now would be the time to learn how to grow it...

Got that methodology down.....

I'm glad it's working so well for you, Koh. I hope it continues to do so.

I've been advocating for the decriminalization/legalization of marijuana for years now. It is completely insane that marijuana is still schedule 1 when methamphetamine and other such drugs are schedule 2 and available for prescription. My hope is that marijuana use and possession will be completely decriminalized so that people like you can get the medication they need much easier without fear of reprisal.

CBD is perfectly legal for now which is good, THC would be helpful for many yet that maintains Schedule 1 on the federal level. The problem stems mostly from the same legal hold ups in Washington as per usual. The established industries make more off the schedule 2 or 3 prescriptions that can be sold at a pharmacy, and well politicians like money a lot of which pharmaceutical companies have. Please don't take that as, I think all pharma companies are this great evil beasts but they aren't hurting for money either. Though in the case of medical MJ, it should be considered that each drug affects each person differently so like anyone else who has gone through a form of psych treatment knows its a guess and check formula to find the right treatments. So it is not as cut and dry as most see in the med field, as far as decriminalization I fully agree. However, again there is a lot of misinformation both ways and like most issues the people who tend to be leading the charge for either side are the zealots, for people who smoke they make us all look bad because those of us in the corp world cannot simply say it with out fear of reprisal from our employers, (I am very lucky in that aspect as I have a very lax employer) and on the other we have people whom have 0 or their limited experience (which is most likely 100% different than mine which is different than anyone else's) with it so they jump to the preconceived stereo types that society laid out in the late 60's through the 80's of your typical stoner (not that those people don't exist). What is their impact on society though, really besides the perpetuation of a continued black market that is probably more responsible for the spread of harder drugs. It's all funny to me because in reality the law can change or it can stay the same but the percentage of usage in the population is roughly average while we waste billions enforcing laws against a plant (yes there are still hazards, it is still a drug) while opiates, benzos, and barbiturates are prescribed on a regular basis with a much higher rate of devastating impact (i.e. the spike in heroin, it's not a random coincidence that once they made opiates a schedule 2 and many Dr. cut off their patients that these people went to the street). It is something society should deeply think about, but most simply will not give it the time as they don't look beyond and question current laws cause and affect until they apply directly to them.

I don't go by drops, I take 1 ml worth of CBD liquid per day from a 500 MG strength bottle (500 mg total cbd in bottle) which comes out to about 16.6 mg of CBD per serving. I am waiting on 2 oz of hemp seeds I ordered online (comes out to about 1000 seeds for 5$), so that I can grow my own, because the bottle I use is running about 40 dollars a month at an already discounted price.

I haven't found that I've had to increase the dosage at all, but I have found that injesting CBD tends to make it have a far longer lasting impact than if I were to vape/smoke it (which has a more immediate, but shorter lasting impact).

In reality, this is an extremely low dose to be used towards treating psychiatric issues, and if I were to decrease my other medications I would have to up my use of CBD towards the hundreds of milligrams each day. At that level, it would be unfeasible from an economic standpoint, as I would be spending upwards of 500-600 a month on just this one medication.

Right now, it helps to take the edge off and improve my overall stability. That's about all I can see it doing until I can start growing and processing my own hemp.

As a cannabis producer and strong supporter of it's medicinal benefits, I can attest to the scientific basis for much of what you've described. Interestingly, cannabis has had over 2000 studies done. It's one of the most well studied drugs in the world.

We know that it is effective at relieving anxiety, as shown by double-blind, placebo-controlled studies. The same types of studies have shown it works to alleviate PTSD(forgetting bad memories), epilepsy, cancer, arthritis, pain, etc.

The questions we now face are what should be the dose for each condition? It's good you shared your dosing info. I will pass it along to the patients I encounter. I asked several MDs but they refused to answer due to federal regs.

I started doing a bit of research on marijuana recently in time for election season, and really found that of the health benefits it allegedly has, the biggest ones are as an analgesic/euphoric/anxiolytic (pretty much just feeling high to curb something negative), oddly enough it is used to treat anorexia in exigent circumstances, nausea and vomiting in chemotherapy patients, and for reducing intraocular pressure (for Glaucoma patients). Historically, it was restricted with other narcotics to curb amateur or misleading pharmacists from selling poisonous snake oil type cure-alls that really just doped the patient up and made them feel happy. Several later-repudiated studies and incidents backed the idea that marijuana increased suicide, aggression, and sexual drive, this led to it becoming largely illegal yet popular in the '30s. Then, the US created a federal narcotics bureau that demonized it, and continued to do so as it was federally illegal, internationally illegal in 1961, and on. Due to the international restrictions, only one place in the US could cultivate marijuana for research (U Miss) and not much came out from there.
Modern research has really just confirmed stoner engineering on route of administration efficiency, metabolism, and affects. Some studies have shown it increases the chances of a heart attack particularly in young men, and is an aggravating factor (minor risk factor alone) in all study groups. Smoking has a fast onset, but a mediocre efficiency (higher bioavailability though) and fast metabolism. Other forms of insufflation (vaping etc) are slightly more efficient than traditional smoking, and remove the carcinogens from blunt wraps. Oral administration tends to have a slower onset, but is more efficient (despite a lower bioavailability), and has a longer effect peak. Finally, novel methods like sublingual (under the tongue) or injections are variant depending on multiple factors but tend to be the most efficient.
Quick nod to the OP, CBD hasn't been studied much alone, since Δ⁹-THC is the main psychoactive ingredient (also responsible for quite a few of the other secondary effects) and that's what a majority of users care about.
The catch-22 nature of its status as an illegal, yet cheap and accessible drug has shown heavy correlation between marijuana usage and poor standard of living which have created a confirmation bias towards the negative social effects of the drug (contrast with finer alcohols and designer drugs e.g. MDMA).

Sources:
Basic history
Wikipedia lol
Lupica, Riegel, Hoffman. Marijuana and cannabinoid regulation of brain reward circuits. British Journal of Pharmacology: September 2004.
Lemberger, Axelrod, Kopin. METABOLISM AND DISPOSITION OF TETRAHYDROCANNABINOLS IN NÄIVE SUBJECTS AND CHRONIC MARIJUANA USERS. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences: Volume 191 pg 142-154.
Lemberger et al. Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol — Temporal Correlation of the Psychologic Effects and Blood Levels after Various Routes of Administration. New England Journal of Medicine Vol 286, No 13: March 30, 1972.