7 Surpising Uses for CBD

7 SURPRISING USES FOR CBD OIL

Have the recent advances in the legalization of both medical and recreational marijuana sparked your curiosity?

You may also want to learn about CBD, or cannabidiol, which is showing great promise as an anti-inflammatory, anticonvulsant, antioxidant, antiemetic, and antipsychotic agent. Read on to find out some of the amazing uses for CBD.

WHAT IS CBD OIL?

CBD is a non-psychoactive compound found in Cannabis sativa. It is just starting to gain recognition as having powerful health benefits for a wide range of conditions. Unlike its better-known cousin, THC, CBD does not have a mind-altering effect.

It can be used in combination with THC. In this case, the relaxation it promotes can actually suppress panic, paranoia, and other side effects caused by THC. When isolated and used on its own, CBD has little or no psychoactive properties.

Users can ingest CBD oil orally or apply it topically.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE USES FOR CBD?

Fighting Back Against Acne

In addition to the anti-inflammatory effects of CBD oil, it may also inhibit the body’s production of sebum. Sebum is a product of the sebaceous glands. It is an oily substance that helps lubricate the hair and skin. Yet in excessive amounts, sebum can cause unsightly breakouts.

A study conducted in 2014 published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation found that CBD oil is an effective sebostatic and anti-inflammatory agent, because of its ability to inhibit lipid synthesis.

Helping People Quit Smoking

Ask any former smoker, and they’ll tell you that it was among the most difficult things they’ve ever had to do. Some people even claim that it’s harder to kick the cigarette habit than it is to overcome addiction to heroin!

Using CBD oil may be one of the most promising ways to quit smoking. One double-blind, placebo-controlled study analyzed the effects of CBD inhalers on smokers. Researchers asked them to use the inhaler each time they had a craving for cigarettes.

Other smokers received a placebo inhaler. During the course of one week, they did not lower the number of cigarettes they smoked. The participants using CBD inhalers, however, smoked roughly 40% fewer cigarettes. They experienced no increase in nicotine cravings.

Bringing Relief to Chronic Pain Sufferers

Chronic pain can be incredibly debilitating. Yet the use of opioid medications to treat chronic pain has come under fire lately. These drugs are highly addictive.

Doctors are becoming more reluctant to write prescriptions for medications like Oxycontin and Vicodin, largely because of their high street value.

This means that chronic pain sufferers have to fight to get their medications. Over time, they develop a tolerance to these drugs, so they take more and more of them for the same amount of pain relief.

People who use these medications are also less able to perform daily tasks. These pills are, after all, narcotics.

Among the many uses for CBD, pain relief may be one of the most valuable.

CBD oil has analgesic properties and anti-inflammatory properties. It works to relieve joint pain in arthritis patients. It is already in use for the treatment of conditions like fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, and migraines.

Relieving Several Types of Anxiety

Some people swear by marijuana as a way to handle their anxiety and/or depression. But the use of THC can actually exacerbate anxiety, because of its notorious tendency to cause paranoia.

This doesn’t happen with CBD. In fact, certain types of anxiety and can be greatly relieved by it.

People who suffer from general anxiety disorder, social anxiety, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and even post-traumatic stress disorder have all shown improvements after using CBD.

Moreover, it has not shown any adverse side effects, unlike many of the medications that are typically used to treat anxiety.

Stopping Seizures Caused By Epilepsy

You may have heard of Charlotte Figi, a young girl whose life has been dramatically improved by the use of a high-CBD, low-THC strain of cannabis. Charlotte was diagnosed with a rare form of epilepsy. She experienced hundreds of seizures every week — until she was treated with an extracted oil of the cannabis strain.

Within just one hour of the first treatment, Charlotte’s seizures began to lessen. Today she experiences only a few seizures each month. She is a happy, healthy child who is living a relatively normal life.

Charlotte’s experience with CBD is credited with helping to normalize and legalize, the use of medical marijuana for epilepsy as well as other medical conditions. It also inspired a documentary, called Weed, which aired on CNN.

The cannabis strain which helped change this little girl’s life has been named for her; it’s now known as Charlotte’s Web.

Eliminating Nausea

Another of the beneficial uses for CBD is in treating nausea. It shares this benefit with the other predominant compound in marijuana, THC.

For years, chemotherapy patients who experience severe nausea as a side effect have found relief by smoking marijuana. Several studies have been conducted on CBD’s ability to inhibit nausea, as well.

Treating Alzheimer’s Disease

Research into both the causes and treatment of Alzheimer’s is still relatively new. Experts believe that this disease is caused by long-term inflammation in the brain. Since one of the uses for CBD is as an anti-inflammatory, it may prove useful in combatting dementia.

One study found that CBD was able to prevent the development of social recognition deficit in laboratory rats. In layman’s terms, the rats became more able to recognize faces.

Mitigating the Effects of THC

Perhaps most surprising of all, CBD can actually reduce some of the effects of THC. It inhibits the intoxication that THC can cause. CBD competes with THC for the same receptors in the brain — and it tends to win that competition.

Memory impairment and paranoia are two of the most common effects of smoking high-THC strains of marijuana. CBD can relieve these symptoms.

CONCLUSION

As you can see, the uses for CBD are pretty remarkable. If you are interested in learning more about CBD oil or you want to try it, be sure to check out some of our CBD products.

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