Using Cannabis To Treat Anxiety
Like any medical condition, anxiety requires proper dosing and mode of delivery as well as monitoring. Cannabis products such as CBD merit addition to daily diet regimen. Nonetheless, using them for specific medical conditions, such as anxiety, requires an emphasis on quality, mode of delivery, dosing and tracking. There are various degrees of anxiety, so it is essential to discuss your unique needs with your doctor.
Cannabis comes in different forms, including dry herbs and flowers, concentrates and isolates, supplements and capsules, waxes, shatters, edibles and gummies, oils and tinctures, among others. Between these forms, there are four best ways you can take cannabis for anxiety. This includes inhaling, ingesting, sublingual and topical applications. If you are looking to mitigate the symptoms of anxiety using cannabis, use CBD-based products.
You can find safe CBD vape juice to reduce anxiety just a few seconds before you face your nerve-wracking moment. Experts merit CBD for the medicinal properties of cannabis and preliminary tests indicate that CBD can temporarily relieve anxiety symptoms. THC cannabis, on the other hand, can induce anxiety, so it is essential to avoid self-medicating with THC products.
What Do Mainstream Physicians Say About Using Marijuana For Mental Health
Itâs important to remember that widespread medical use of marijuana is still fairly new. With decades of prohibition and stigma only now coming to an end, further research and data are still needed before the medical community as a whole willingly embraces cannabis. That being said, theyâre starting to come around! In a piece for CNN, Dr. Sanjay Gupta enthusiastically endorsed marijuanaâs medical potential and retracted earlier anti-weed statements. He shared the story of a young seizure patient who replaced seven different medications with the one thing that finally âcalmed her brainâ â medical marijuana.
Symptoms Of Heat Stress On Flowering Buds
Extreme temperature can damage flowering weed plants in several ways. It can interfere with the production of THC and terpenes, making your smoke less potent, aromatic, and flavorful. It can also lead to lower yields because heat prevents buds from filling out and they remain airy and spongy. In a worst case scenario, buds start foxtailing, especially if you grow one of the strains with a tendency to foxtail.
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Will It Show Up On A Drug Test
Again, it depends on how much THC is in the CBD you take.
The average drug test checks for THC. If the amount in your system exceeds the threshold of the test, youll have a positive result. But the tests dont screen for CBD. If the product youre using is pure, you should be fine. Even if there are trace amounts of THC in the product, it probably wont be enough to cause you to fail the test.
Medical Marijuana Doctor Serving Boston Ma
This study revealed an important fact by highlighting the importance of correct dosage of medical marijuana. Therefore, it is important to consult a Boston medical Cannabis doctor who can help you understand how to properly use Cannabis for stress relief.
If you wish to know more about medical Cannabis and how it can help you manage your stress, call Inhale MD today at 477-8886 for a consultation. In addition to our offices in Cambridge and Brookline, we also offer confidential telemedicine sessions for your personalized Cannabis therapy consultation.
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Today People Use Cannabis Products Such As Cbd For Numerous Medicinal Benefits Here We Find Out How It Can Help In Treating Anxiety
Cannabis products such as CBD oil have become mainstream trends in health and wellness. Although the use of cannabis for medicinal benefits spans many centuries, products from the plant have been Schedule I for a long time. Many people are still adjusting to the therapeutic benefits of cannabis. In the US, after the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill, manufacturers began to produce various hemp-derived cannabis products. FDA-approved Epidiolex for seizures also became the first legal cannabis-based medication.
Cannabis As An Anxiety Treatment
Frustration with side effects from prescription anxiety medications leads many sufferers to search for a more natural alternative that doesnt cause them to feel unwell, zap their energy, or flatten out all of their emotions. For some patients, medical marijuana for anxiety provides relief with side effects that are either manageable or not bothersome at all. Consuming marijuana doesnt necessarily mean smoking it, either patients can consume it in the form of edible treats, oral drops, sublingual sprays, as well as vaporizing cannabis oil.
For those it helps, medical cannabis is good for reducing panic attacks, as well as treating generalized anxiety disorder. Its particularly good for individuals who suffer from social anxiety, enabling them to leave the house and experience everyday life and interactions with others. Marijuana is also helpful for reducing secondary anxiety resulting from a serious illness such as chronic pain or cancer. Some athletes claim that working out while high helps them eliminate performance-related anxiety.
Many people turn to cannabis for anxiety to avoid the unpleasant side effects of pharmaceutical medications.
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Getting Help From Weed
These numbers are unacceptable. There is no excuse for not getting treatment for any condition in these times, especially now that medical marijuana is legal in most of North America.
There are ways to treat the symptoms of anxiety and depression both safely and effectively. In combination with therapy or counselling, and in some cases, traditional prescription pills, scientists are proving how cannabis works.
Scientists now know that medical cannabis can treat anxiety very successfully, and anyone who has ever had a hit or two of a potent strain will know it can treat depression with absolute ease. Several peer-reviewed studies support these claims too, in clinical trials on both humans and animals. Evidence continues to mount almost daily, showing the effects of marijuana on anxiety-related issues.
We already know that lack of sleep, especially on a consistent and long-term basis, can wreak havoc on both body and mind. In fact, insomnia is a major cause of many anxiety-related disorders, which is why it is so important for sufferers to get a good nights sleep every night. Not only will it relieve many symptoms associated with anxiety, but quality sleep will improve mood and functioning, as well.
Does Cannabis Cause Mental Illness
Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug in Australia, with one in three adults using it at some point in their life. Its legal in some places around the world, and offered medicinally in others. But what does smoking pot do to your mental health?
The potential harms associated with using cannabis depend on two things above all others.
The first is the age at which you first begin to use cannabis, particularly if its before 18. Using cannabis during key stages of brain development can impact on synaptic pruning and the development of white matter .
The second is the patterns of use: the frequency, dose and duration, particularly if youre using at least weekly. The bigger or more potent the dose, the more tetrahydrocannabinol you are ingesting. THC is the main psychoactive component of cannabis and appears to act on areas of our brain involved in the regulation of our emotional experiences.
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Effects Of Cannabis On Brain Stress & Reward Systems
Up until now, we have primarily focused on cannabis use as a response to stress. However, it is also important to consider the profound effects that cannabis itself can have on brain stress and reward systems, which may serve to shift the motivation for cannabis use from positive reinforcing aspects of the drug to negative reinforcing effects. Thus with greater drug use, abstinence related symptoms may contribute to a negative affect state and perpetuate stress-related motivation for drug use . Furthermore, chronic drug use has been found to alter stress responses and enhance drug craving and negative emotions during laboratory induction of stress and alcohol/drug cue exposure in addicted individuals compared to controls , measures that contribute to relapse factors in other groups of drug abusers including cocaine dependent and alcohol dependent populations.
Multiple Studies Support Cannabis And Its Cytokine Storm Fighting Properties
The Aging study isnt the only piece of research that has concluded that cannabis shows an ability to block a cytokine storm in COVID-19 patients.
A 2020 mouse-model study found that CBD, an active cannabinoid compound found in cannabis, reduced proinflammatory cytokines and improved the clinical symptoms of mice with symptoms similar to COVID-19 .
The study suggests that CBD may work as part of the treatment of COVID-19 by reducing the cytokine storm and protecting lung tissue from inflammation.
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Are People With Social Anxiety More Likely To Use Marijuana
A 2012 questionnaire study showed that people with clinically meaningful social anxiety were more likely to use marijuana to cope with social situations and to avoid social situations if they could not use marijuana. In addition, a 2011 study found that social avoidance was related to marijuana problems and that men with greater social avoidance showed the most severe in terms of marijuana-related problems.
These findings suggest that as a recreational user, you may be more likely to use marijuana if you live with social anxiety, particularly if you are male and tend to avoid social situations. You might find yourself needing to use marijuana before a social event in order to get through it, or may avoid events where you know that you won’t be able to get high to cope with your anxiety.
Using Marijuana To Treat Anxiety And Depression
Of all the hundreds of therapeutic uses people can find for cannabis, the most popular of them all has to be its ability to treat anxiety and depression so effectively. Even the most anxious person among us can fall into a deep, refreshing sleep for as long as he or she needs it, and every night too. A relaxing Indica is ideal for sleeping, and the right one can eliminate all feelings of anxiety and the blues to boot.
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Does Cannabis Help Anxiety Heres Everything You Need To Know
October 29, 2021By fireandfrost -In Uncategorized
- Uncategorized
- Does Cannabis Help Anxiety? Heres Everything You Need to Know
Cannabis is loaded with compounds that can help combat anxiety. However, youvelikely experienced anxiety, paranoia, or even panic after having a sesh.
So how can cannabis help anxiety if itcan also cause anxiety? The shortanswer is, its complicated.
However, were going to tell you all about how cannabis can combatanxiety. Continue reading below to discover how cannabis can aid in anxietyrelief, what strains are good for anxiety, and how to stop weed anxiety.
Is Stress An Illness
According to the National Institute of Mental Health , Stress is how the brain and body respond to any demand. Every type of demand or stressorsuch as exercise, work, school, major life changes, or traumatic eventscan be stressful. For example, bad news such as the loss of a job, the end of a relationship, or a catastrophic accident, can all produce the feeling of stress to varying degrees.
At some point in life, every person will experience a stressful situation. How people deal with stress has a lot to do with whether the body and mind are functioning properly.
Stress itself is not an illness, but rather a byproduct of life situations. However, people under constant stress can face health issues if it persists for too long. Thus, managing stress effectively can bring overall positive results to your life.
According to the American Psychological Association , When stress starts interfering with your ability to live a normal life for an extended period, it becomes even more dangerous. The longer the stress lasts, the worse it is for both your mind and body. You might feel fatigued, unable to concentrate or irritable for no good reason, for example. But chronic stress causes wear and tear on your body, too. To provide a few examples, some stress-induced illnesses include, but are not limited to:
- Anxiety
- Obesity
- Heart Disease
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For Depression Use May Exacerbate Symptom Severity Over Time
by Beth Mole – Apr 20, 2018 5:20 pm UTC
By passively monitoring user-generated data from medical cannabis patients, researchers have glimpsed the types and amounts of marijuana that seem effective for relieving symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression. The findings could direct more detailed research into the best strains for specific conditions. But the data also hints at a danger of using marijuana to manage depression symptoms in the long term.
The study, published this week in the Journal of Affective Disorders by researchers at Washington State University, is based on data from a medical cannabis app called Strainprint, which lets patients track symptom severity after medical cannabis use. Before that, users enter detailed information about the strain of marijuana used, including selecting specific products from a list of those sold by licensed medical cannabis distributors in Canada. Health Canada has uniquely strict production and quality control guidelines for products sold there. But if a patient is using a product not on the list, they can manually input information about the strain, including cannabinoid content.
The researchers looked at data from nearly 1,400 medical cannabis users, analyzing outcomes from almost 12,000 inhalation sessions. The researchers kept their analysis just to sessions involving inhalation , to try to controlat least a littlefor efficacy and timing of the onset of effects.
So How Much Pot Is That Exactly
“The doses used in the study produce effects that are equivalent to only a few puffs of a cannabis cigarette,” Childs said. In other words, a few hits of a joint or bowl is enough to hit the low dose. And just a few more hits could easily bring THC levels in line with the “high” dose.
As Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post notes, The Cannabist has calculated the amount of THC people get from an average joint. According to a study cited in their analysis, an average joint weighs about .32 grams. They say that smoking half of that would give users 9 to 11 mg of THC, assuming that about the same amount of THC would just burn off. That’s right in between the “low” and “high” doses used in the study.
The Cannabist’s formula multiples the weight of the joint by the THC potency of marijuana to tell you how much THC you’d ingest. So in a .32 g joint with a 13% potency, you’ve got about 42 mg of THC. The low 7.5 mg dose from the study would therefore be 18% of that joint, and the high 12.5 mg dose would be about 30% of it.
First, the sample size was relatively small and therefore not representative of how everyone might react. People with more experience are more likely to tolerate a higher dose without getting nervous, and we also know that the mode of marijuana ingestion affects the high.
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Smoking Pot Does Relax You Scientists Say But Is That A Good Thing
Recreational marijuana use is now legal in eight states plus the District of Columbia, giving public health researchers more leeway than ever to investigate some of the foundational underpinnings of cannabis culture: How much weed is in a joint? What happens to your brain when you get high?
And now: Are chronic marijuana users really more relaxed than everyone else?
You might be surprised to learn that the research to date on this question is mixed. One recent study found that while low doses of THC helped people cope with stressful situations, moderate to higher doses actually made people stress out even more.
But that particular study simply measured the effects of a single dose of THC – what about the effects of repeated heavy cannabis use?
Enter new research from Washington State University, recently published in the journal Psychopharmacology. The study recruited two groups of 40 people: One group had used marijuana nearly every day for at least a year, and the other comprised people who weren’t marijuana users.
Half of each group, users and nonusers, was subject to a particularly anxiety-inducing laboratory test commonly used to measure stress responses: They had to dunk their hands in a container of cold water for anywhere from 45 to 90 seconds, and then count backward from 2,043 by 17, getting reprimanded by lab workers whenever they got a number wrong.
As if that weren’t bad enough, they were also shown a live video feed of their faces as they attempted to count.
Best Strains For Depression
When treating depression with cannabis, its important to remember that high doses of THC seem to exacerbate depressive symptoms often causing paranoia and hyper-activity. Those wishing to treat their depression with cannabis should therefore seek out strains with low to moderate levels of THC, or at least have a CBD back-up to help tame a THC high in the event of discomfort. These strains are a great place to start.
The relationship between cannabis and depression is complex sometimes it exacerbates the issue while other times it may actually help. Though research on cannabis as a treatment for depression is limited, some studies suggest that cannabinoids play a vital role in determining a persons over-all sense of well-being which happens to be a major contributing factor to depression.
Have you used cannabis to help treat depression? Tell us about your experience.
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Dosage And The Interaction Between Thc And Cbd
The study compared different strains of cannabis that had different levels of THC and CBD to see if there was any difference.
When studying the effects on depression, the study revealed a significant THC and CBD interaction and the greatest reduction in ratings of depression were reported after using cannabis with relatively low levels of THC and relatively high levels of CBD. There was also a nonsignificant effect of dose on change in symptoms of depression.
Contrastingly, when looking at anxiety the study showed that there was no significant interaction between THC and CBD, and neither THC nor CBD alone were predictors of change in anxiety ratings. Results of models testing change in ratings of anxiety across different doses also revealed a nonsignificant linear effect. However, the team tested several models to explore curvilinear relationships finding a significant curvilinear relationship. Further contrasts revealed that one puff produced significantly smaller changes in ratings of anxiety than all other doses, but no other differences across doses beyond one puff were detected.
