Over recent years Cannabidiol or as it’s normally referred, “CBD” has gained the attention of scientists, medics and lay people alike as a medicinal substance that has great potential to help a number of diseases and conditions. It is manufactured from the cannabis plant which contain several substances including cannabinoids, the most well-known cannabinoids are CBD and THC.
Without going into detail, THC is the compound that is psychoactive and can produce the feeling of being “high” or “spacey” as some people report after smoking cannabis. “Hemp” is a term used to describe products derived from the cannabis plant cannabis sativa that are differentiated in that the plant has been cross-bred to have a very low THC content (the European Union requires that the THC content is <0.3% for plants products grown and sold in Europe intended for human consumption) as compared to cannabis plants grown for marijuana production which have a much higher THC content and therefore more likely to get you “high”.
Hemp, the type of cannabis plant, is typically grown for it’s oils for topical/oral use as well as for its fibre content which is used to make clothing and for other industrial uses. It’s perfectly legal to grow and sell hemp products such as CBD/hemp oil in Europe, so people who buy hemp products needn’t feel they’re breaking the law. Of course, just because it’s legal to grow or sell that doesn’t say anything about the quality of the hemp oil you buy or whether it’s safe for you to take, so always buy from reputable manufacturers and, if in any doubt, talk to your medical practitioner for advice before starting to take hemp oil.
For more information about the differences between Hemp and other products made from the Cannabis plant, here’s some useful info: https://www.medicaljane.com/2015/01/14/the-differences-between-hemp-and-cannabis/
Inspired by the experience and comments of others who’ve taken hemp oil, I’ve decided I’d like to try for myself. As this will be the first time I’m trying hemp oil, there’s no telling how it may effect me and I’m slightly apprehensive but also excited to find out. I’ve never smoked marijuana, pot, weed or whatever you want to call it, maybe I would’ve experimented in my youth if my brain injury hadn’t come along, then again it didn’t stop me experimenting with alcohol which can’t be any less “dangerous” to the body and mind and yet is perfectly legal to consume.
As things stand in the UK hemp oil is considered a food supplement like any other. Food supplements don’t have the same strict quality criteria as medicines, so depending on how it’s grown and processed and organic produce’s tendency to degrade over time, there could be differences in the amount of active ingredients you consume and those stated on the manufacturers label. A good example is fish oil, a popular supplement for it’s omega-3 content which is known to protect cardiovascular/heart health and is required for myelination of the nerves which helps nerve cells to communicate normally. I’ve tried several brands of fish oil over the years and it’s impossible to know how much omega-3 they contain without lab-testing, but you can always tell when they’re degraded as they have a fishy odour smell. [For your information I use BioCare™ Mega EPA marine capsules which have a very high EPA/DHA (the fatty acids making up omega 3) and also no fishy odour no matter how long I’ve had them for! Can’t recommend them enough!] So, be careful with food supplement brands, do your research, listen to recommendations and mass experience. As I often buy food supplements from amazon marketplace I’ll make sure I buy a product with a lot of positive feedback and read through the comments from customers, then if I’ve tried something before and there’s more than one brand offering the same product with equivalent customer ratings then price becomes the deciding factor.
I’ve decided to buy Hemptouch™ CBD Hemp Oil 5% which uses hemp grown in Slovenia, reportedly free from pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, chemical fertilisers and not genetically modified. It is a 10ml bottle containing a pipette and amounts to approximately 200 drops in total. The instructions say to “use 1-3 drops 1-3 times per day and increase to 3-5 drops 1-3 times per day until the desired effects are achieved.” So, if I use 3 drops 3 times per day the entire bottle should last me around 22 days or 33 days if I use 2 drops 3 times per day. Bear in mind, hemp oil is relatively expensive as food supplements go, typically you can expect to pay around £30 for a 10ml bottle containing 5% CBD, the one I bought off Amazon was £22 with free shipping and arrived in two days, not bad!
In case you’re wondering, hemp oils vary in their CBD content often expressed as a percentage – 5% is equivalent to 500 mg of CBD. The instructions also give maximum recommended dosages for adults and children. For adults it says that is “3-8 mg/kg”, which doesn’t mean much to most people, but for the sake of the argument, for a typical 70 kilogram person that would be a total of 210 – 560 mg. If there are 200 drops total (and assuming it’s evenly mixed) then each drop would contain the equivalent of 2.5 mg of CBD? Let’s say I take 3 drops 3 times per day, then my total dose for that day would be 22.5 mg of CBD, which is well below the maximum recommended dosage (210 – 560 mg), so perhaps I can relax in the knowledge I’m nowhere near over-dosing even at the high limit? We’ll see…
I’m not expecting miracles, as with any new complementary/alternative (CAM) treatment you simply have to try and find what works best for you. There are no cures or “silver bullet” for brain injury, nothing at present can bring back brain that has died, but there are treatments that can potentially make your life more manageable and help your quality of life. This is my approach and as with all self-treatment it’s not risk-free but follow certain principles and you should be safe:
- Start low and go slow – start at the lowest dosage, build up very gradually over several weeks. If you find your body doesn’t tolerate something go down to the next lowest dosage. If you find the treatment at the current dosage isn’t having a desired effect after several weeks, increase the dosage until the desired effect is achieved, but never exceed the maximum dosage.
- Listen to your body – you should know what you normally feel like and whether something is out of the ordinary or not. If you’re feeling some pain or discomfort, those are signs that your body may be out of harmony, take them into consideration when deciding whether to continue or stop the treatment. If you feel pain or discomfort or even fatigue (unless it’s desirable when sleeping at night) these aren’t what we’d call positive or desirable effects and as far as I’m aware there aren’t normally recommended courses of treatment when taking food supplements as there are with pharmaceutical drugs, so it’s even more important that you pay attention to any symptoms you may have. Fortunately, food supplements are relatively safe and well-tolerated and unless they’re highly concentrated through processing or you take an obscene amount there’s less likelihood of over-dosing as compared with pharmaceutical drugs.
- Stick with it – some food supplements have an immediate and very obvious effect e.g. alcohol, others work in different ways and its effect on the body takes longer to notice, usually several weeks/months. You’ll never know whether it may have had a positive effect if you skip dosages or give up. If you feel discomfort as described in principle 1 you may have to decrease your dosage until you can tolerate the treatment without undesirable symptoms. Sometimes these undesirable symptoms are transitory or minor and occur when you first start a new treatment as it is your body reacting to something it isn’t accustomed to, however provided you’ve continued with the treatment, eventually your body may have built some tolerance to the new supplement/drug and you’ll cease to experience these symptoms.I don’t know how hemp oil works on the body, it may have several effects, some more immediate and others longer-term associated with prolonged treatment. It it works anything like an anti-depressant any positive effects on mood/cognition won’t be felt until at least 4 weeks of treatment, so once you feel you’re tolerating it, it’s worth getting a good few months’ supply.
Anyway, I plan on recording the findings of my self-experimentation here over, hopefully, the next couple of weeks.
Treatment Diary
Day 1 – 26th October 2016
Dose:
- 2 drops taken at 5pm
- 2 drops taken at 9pm
estimated dosage: 10mg CBD
Hemp oil has a strong organic taste like wheatgrass or spirulina, but I didn’t find it repugnant and the taste disappeared after a glass of water. If you find it hard to take, try taking it with honey. It’s a little cumbersome to take because the oil tends to stick to the pipette and it can be drippy, so it may be best to place the drops into a dish or cup to prevent mishaps, some people may use their finger instead. The instructions suggest that you place the drops under the tongue and leave it for about 1 minute before swallowing (presumably so it mixes with saliva for easy swallowing?). But nevertheless I took a glass of water and rinsed the mouth before swallowing as it ended up everywhere including on my teeth.
After about 5-10 minutes after the second dose I felt a subtle wave of fatigue, I can’t describe as it’s not something I’ve felt before that was only temporary, other than that it was a fairy benign experience.
Day 2 – 27th October 2016
Dose:
- 2 drops taken at 10am
- 2 drops taken at 2:30pm
- 2 drops taken at 9:30pm
estimated dosage: 15mg CBD
Considering I’m tolerating the dosage, I’ve decided to increase it to 6 drops. I haven’t experienced the strange feeling of fatigue as on Day 1. I’ve been reading that Cannabis works on the central (brain) and peripheral (body) nervous system as there are special cannabinoid receptors that bind with the cannabinoids like CBD. The nervous system controls the function of the entire body including the immune system so it’s not surprising to me if activates an immune response in people with cancer causing their tumours to shrink.
I’ve read that it’s very important to keep the hemp oil under the tongue for a few minutes before swallowing, I’d thought this was so it mixes with saliva so it’s easier to swallow, but in that case why not just mix the oil in a drink? I’m compromising by following this then swigging a glass of water in the mouth to swallow the remainder left behind. The pipette is rather thick and covered in oil once removed so you have to be careful not to lose oil through the rim of the bottle. It’s best to shake before use then leave it standing for a few minutes so that the oil falls to the bottom, then remove the pipette which still should be covered in a bit of oil, and simply place well inside in your mouth whilst standing in front of a mirror and allow a drop to form waiting for it to fall into your mouth (I haven’t needed to suck up the oil through the pipette), then replace the pipette being careful not to touch the bottle rim so you don’t lose oil.
It says to store the oil in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight, so I’ve decided to leave it in the fridge which should help preserve it longer as organic produce will naturally degrade otherwise losing it’s quality.
Day 3 – 28th October 2016
Dose:
- 2 drops taken at 10am
- 2 drops taken at 3pm
- 2 drops taken at 9pm
estimated dosage: 15mg CBD
Day 4 – 29th October 2016
Dose:
- 2 drops taken at 8am
- 2 drops taken at 3pm
- 2 drops taken at 9pm
estimated dosage: 15mg CBD
Day 5 – 30th October 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 11am
- 3 drops taken at 4pm
- 3 drops taken at 10pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
I feel that I’m tolerating the dose well and have no side-effects from taking it, but it may not be having the desired effect if I were to be under-dosing, so I’ve taken the decision to increase my dose from 6 to 9 drops.
Day 6 – 31th October 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 8am
- 3 drops taken at 1pm
- 3 drops taken at 9pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
Day 7 – 1st November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 8am
- 3 drops taken at 6pm
- 3 drops taken at 9pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
During the night I had some emotionally-charged dreams and woke up with panic which is most unusual. Today I took my second sample much later in the day instead in the afternoon like I usually have, so the second and third samples were less spaced out.
Day 8 – 2nd November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 8am
- 3 drops taken at 7pm
- 3 drops taken at 9pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
Once again, I dreamt a lot during night, the dreams felt especially emotional in nature. It’s unusual as I normally don’t remember dreams, but I did this morning and they felt very impactful, in a good way, unlike yesterday when I had nightmarish dreams. This morning I feel I’m in a better mood and want to achieve things.
Day 9 – 3rd November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 9am
- 3 drops taken at 2pm
- 3 drops taken at 9pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
Today I spaced out the drops and didn’t experience the vivid dreams I did last night. Tomorrow I’ll go back to taking more drops in the evening to see if this makes a difference.
Day 10 – 4th November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 10am
- 3 drops taken at 1pm
- 3 drops taken at 9pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
Day 11 – 5th November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 9am
- 3 drops taken at 8pm
- 3 drops taken at 10pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
Incredibly vivid dreams tonight, woke up in a great mood and feel like I had a really good sleep. My sleeping is normally interrupted and I can wake up anytime during the night way before it’s time to get up and have trouble getting back to sleep, so this is a welcome change. I’ll be sticking to this dosing schedule for the next few weeks to see if this is a coincidence or not.
Day 12 – 6th November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 9am
- 3 drops taken at 8pm
- 3 drops taken at 10pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
Once again experienced vivid and poignant dreams (these had a more negative feel to them) although it wasn’t as great a sleep due to having woken up once, however I got back to sleep fairly quickly which isn’t normally the case.
Day 13 – 7th November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 10am
- 3 drops taken at 7pm
- 3 drops taken at 10pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
Another decent sleep, I have a vague feeling of having dreamt although I don’t remember details. I’m in a pretty good mood this morning as has been the case since starting to take the oil before bed.
Day 14 – 8th November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 9am
- 3 drops taken at 7pm
- 3 drops taken at 10pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
Day 15 – 9th November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 8am
- 3 drops taken at 7pm
- 3 drops taken at 9pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
Day 16 – 10th November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 9am
- 3 drops taken at 7pm
- 3 drops taken at 9pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
Last night I took a bit more than normal owing to bottle leakage, it may have been about 3 drops more, so my total would’ve been closer to 30mg CBD. Anyway, I had really vivid bizarre dreams which felt quite exciting, people from my past, interests and places I’ve visited all melded into one surreal show. I don’t remember many details as is typical, but only the ending before I awoke and the feeling that accompanied it. I feel in a better mood and it surely coincides with me taking CBD oil and having a better quality of sleep with more dreaming/REM sleep. It’s difficult to know whether it’s the CBD oil or it’s the resulting better sleep I have that improves my mood and outlook. I have felt calmer and more socially engaged after taking CBD oil during the day, so it’s probably a mixture of both things. Whatever the mechanism I’m not complaining! 🙂
Day 17 – 11th November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 9am
- 4 drops taken at 11pm
estimated dosage: 17.5mg CBD
Due to circumstances I ended up not taking my usual early evening dose, however I did have a great sleep and dreamt, although I don’t remember them in detail I do remember the feelings that went along with them.
Day 18 – 12th November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 9am
- 3 drops taken at 7pm
- 3 drops taken at 9pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
Day 19 – 13th November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 9am
- 3 drops taken at 7pm
- 3 drops taken at 9pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
Day 20 – 14th November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 9am
- 3 drops taken at 7pm
- 3 drops taken at 9pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
Day 21 – 15th November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 9am
- 3 drops taken at 7pm
- 3 drops taken at 9pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
Day 22 – 16th November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 9am
- 3 drops taken at 7pm
- 3 drops taken at 9pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
Day 23 – 17th November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 9am
- 3 drops taken at 7pm
- 3 drops taken at 9pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
Day 24 – 18th November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 9am
- 3 drops taken at 7pm
- 3 drops taken at 9pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
Day 25 – 19th November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 9am
- 3 drops taken at 7pm
- 3 drops taken at 9pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
Day 26 – 20th November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 9am
- 3 drops taken at 7pm
- 3 drops taken at 9pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
Day 27 – 21st November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 9am
- 3 drops taken at 7pm
- 3 drops taken at 9pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
Day 28 – 22nd November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 9am
- 6 drops taken at 9pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
I had a very deep restful sleep obtaining 7-8 hours uninterrupted. I don’t know if taking more drops a few hours before bed helped, but I’m going to trial this.
Day 29 – 23rd November 2016
Dose:
- 3 drops taken at 9am
- 6 drops taken at 9pm
estimated dosage: 22.5mg CBD
Very deep and uninterrupted sleep, however I was quite tired after doing some exercise in the evening.