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CBD Oil For Anxiety

When CBD oil first came out, some people wrote it off as another product intended to get you high without any real benefits.

A lot of people think that marijuana is all about getting stoned.

Then, on U.S. national television, it stopped an epileptic seizure.

Now we have people saying that CBD is a miracle chemical and can help anxiety, depression, and pain.

Does it work?

Can you use CBD oil for anxiety and depression?

Well, yes, depending on if you get a high quality product.

What is CBD Oil?

Cannabidiol, or CBD, is one of the active cannabinoids in cannabis.  It can actually account for up to 40% of the active cannabinoid content.

CBD hemp oil is made from hemp that has high amounts of CBD and low amounts of THC.  THC is the cannabinoid that most people are familiar with.  It is responsible for the “high” that you get if you take or smoke marijuana.

This means that CBD oil is non-psychoactive.  This has allowed CBD oil to be used for a lot of medical purposes because you don’t have to worry about it affecting your mental state.

I don’t know about you, but even if something was really helpful, I wouldn’t be able to function at all if I was stoned all day and night.

CBD Effects and CBD Benefits

CBD oil effects your body by binding to cannabinoid receptors.  You have cannabinoid receptors all over your body, including your skin and digestive tract.

CBD oil can also act as a 5-HT1 receptor agonist, meaning it can help with depression and anxiety by playing in a role in the serotonin pathways.

Because CBD oil affects so many aspects of your body, including the endocannabinoid system, it can help with inflammation, mood, memory, immune system, reproduction, pain perception, sleep, and appetite.

The biggest benefits, and why it has gotten so much of the spotlight lately, is that CBD oil has helped people with rare conditions such as Dravet syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy that is hard to treat.  People have gone from having multiple seizures per day to being seizure free for an entire week using CBD oil.

One strain of cannabis is called Charlotte’s Web, which has almost no THC in it, and has been used for medical purposes ever since it helped a girl named Charlotte stop having really bad seizures after trying all the other approaches.

CBD oil has clearly proven itself as a therapeutic substance to help a variety of ailments, and it can also play a role in helping anxiety and depression.

CBD Oil for Anxiety and Depression

There are two primary ways to supplement with CBD oil to help with anxiety and depression.  First, you can take pure CBD oil that has no THC.  Secondly, you can take CBD oil with THC to get the benefits of both.

Cannabis oil, for example, has high amounts of THC whereas CBD hemp oil is legal and non-psychoactive.

Many people with anxiety and depression can’t use marijuana because of THC’s effects on their mental state. However, it has been found that THC can potentiate the beneficial effects of CBD.

I could never smoke marijuana or consume high amounts of THC because it makes me more anxious and paranoid.  In fact, the only panic attack I ever had in my life was when I was younger and under a lot of stress and decided to smoke a joint when it was handed to me.

When I heard about CBD oil and how it doesn’t get you high like THC does, I gave it a try.

Benefits of CBD Oil for Anxiety and Depression

In a 2011 study, they took in 10 people with social anxiety who had never received any treatments for their disorder.  They were given either a placebo or 400mg of CBD.  The participants who were given CBD oil had successfully improved their anxiety symptoms compared to the placebo.

Why did this happen?

Some research suggests that since THC and CBD affect certain receptors in the amygdala, a part of the brain that engages our fight-or-flight response, taking CBD can make that region of your brain less excitable.  This means that the CBD oil can dampen your response to stress and anxiety.

A lot of people with PTSD are also finding tremendous relief by using CBD to help ease their symptoms.  It has allowed them to go about their day and get stuff done without any side effects of laziness that can sometimes happen with THC.

CBD Oil Side Effects

CBD oil can inhibit hepatic drug metabolism and activity of some liver enzymes, such as cytochrome P450.

One side effect from taking CBD oil can be having a “dry mouth”, which if you have ever smoked marijuana, you know what this feels like.

At the current moment, it is unclear as to whether or not it positively or negatively affects people with Parkinson’s disease.

However, most studies conducted on CBD oil have shown little to no side effects.  This specific review shows that controlled use is safe and non-toxic for humans.

I didn’t experience any side effects when I experimented with CBD oil that had no THC in it.

My Personal Experiment and Findings Using CBD Oil

Here is where CBD oil can get tricky.  When I began my journey into supplementing with CBD to see its potential, I ran into a lot of companies where I had no idea what I was getting.

The quality matters, as it would be easy to market something as CBD oil when it has very little CBD in it at all.

Some of the products I tried I felt nothing at all even at high doses, others had weird ingredients, and it wasn’t until I started experimenting with prescription CBD and high quality brands that I started to see benefits from it.

I noticed a slight decrease in anxiety and it helped to ease some of my digestive symptoms.  When I took a large amount of the tincture as an experiment it had a significant calming effect.

CBD Tincture, CBD Capsules, & CBD Vape

I tried a tincture, capsules, spray, and a vape. Each of which were different brands.

Depending on how often you want to take it, capsules were by far the easiest method and also the most expensive.  With capsules you know exactly how much you are getting each time and it is easy to carry with you if you want to keep dosing throughout the day every few hours or so.

The tincture you would have to carry around and depending on the quality of the cap, it could leak out into your pocket.  The tincture would be harder to dose with throughout the day and the dosing wouldn’t be as accurate.

The spray was very easy to use and would be a bit easier to carry around than a tincture, but could still pose problems if you kept it in your pocket because you could accidentally spray some inside your pants.

The vape would be very easy to carry around, but I don’t really enjoy having to inhale something, as it reminds me of when I had a problem with drugs back in the day.  You’d also have to use it more often.  This could be a great method for you, however, the brand I used was probably low quality and I have no idea if using a better brand would change my opinion on using a vape.

CBD versus CBD Combined with THC

THC and CBD have a synergistic effect, meaning that they both enhance each other’s beneficial properties.  Many people believe that it is optimal to take both at the same time.

I am in a state where medical marijuana is legal.  I called up a doctor and received my prescription really easily.  I used the network that they recommended and got both a spray with very low THC in it and a spray with a slightly higher concentration of THC.

I was told to take two sprays of the low THC concentration every 4 hours throughout the day and then two sprays of the higher THC concentration after dinner and at night as needed to help with sleep.

I noticed after a few days that the higher concentration of THC was actually making my sleep worse and I started to have weird nightmares.  I started to lose some motivation and overall didn’t like the feeling at all, so I stopped taking it.

Again, with all things, each person will react differently so you will have to know yourself well and maybe experiment with a few different concentrations to know what is right for you.  My friend used an equal ratio of CBD to THC and after just a week, his blood pressure was down, his bowel movements were much more regular, and it helped with his lactose intolerance.

Where To Find CBD Oil For Sale

Of all the different brands and products that I tried, the best (and most expensive) was the one that came from the Statewide Collective in California. With them you an get the exact ratio you want, they only have good ingredients, and it delivers right to your door.  The best option will most likely be to get CBD oil that comes from medically grown cannabis plants and a controlled process.

The second best option was Elixinol.  They also only use good ingredients, have actually had their products tested so you know what you are getting, and I felt beneficial effects from it.  Their farmers are 4th generation hemp farmers in Europe.

The rest I got varying results from.  The random tinctures I bought at local head shops had unknown effects.  It would be hard to know what you are getting if you just drive down and buy the first brand you see.

I wouldn’t particularly recommend ordering from Organabus, as I didn’t feel anything from their vape product and didn’t have any results with anything else on their site. Their site was also a bit confusing and I was unsure of what I was ordering.  However, their customer support was great over email.

The others had some interesting ingredients and although not particularly harmful, I like to take only the purest and highest quality ingredients.  If you are already purchasing something for its beneficial effects, why waste your money by trying to buy a cheaper product when it doesn’t work for the thing you are trying to do in the first place?

Where to Buy CBD Oil and How To Get a Prescription

If you are looking to take CBD oil with THC to combine both of their beneficial effects or you want the highest quality you can get, if you live in an area where it is legal you can either just buy it from local vendors or get a prescription very easily.

I made a costly mistake of going to a “doctor” that my friend swore by who would prescribe me the “right concoctions” for what I needed.  In the end, I wasted $300 for someone to not even listen to my health problems and just assure me that I needed marijuana and gave me a prescription.

If you live in an area where you can get a prescription, it is much faster and more cost effective to get on Skype with a doctor for 10 minutes and get your prescription within the hour.  One such place is Hello MD but I’ve heard of others that are extremely easy.  My friend got on Skype and got his prescription in 45 minutes and I think only paid $40.

In the state of California, once you have your prescription you can order the best products from the places that you need a prescription.  One that I used is www.statewidecollective.org.

If you don’t live in a place where you can get a prescription (or even if you can get a prescription), Elixinol was the best brand that I found that anyone can order from and be able to benefit from CBD oil.  They offer capsules, sprays, etc.

You can enter the coupon code 10off422 on Elixinol’s checkout page to get 10% off or you can order at already discounted prices here.

Conclusion

CBD oil is virtually a risk free way to potentially help you with health problems like digestive issues and things such as anxiety and depression.  If you suffer from insomnia, anxiety, or stress I would order some CBD oil and see if it works for you.

The main thing you want to look out for is making sure you are using a high quality brand as there is a lot of spam out there in the CBD oil marketplace.

The best CBD oil in my experience is ordering from pharmacies where you need a prescription or through a high quality brand like Elixinol.