Can Cbd Be Used As A Long
On January 3rd, 1980, Pharmacology published a report detailing a study regarding any potential adverse side-effects of long-term CBD consumption. Researchers analyzed a total of 23 different participants â consisting of 15 patients diagnosed with epilepsy and 8 healthy volunteers. Scientists administered daily doses of CBD for an entire month to each participant and recorded their observations. It was concluded that ââ¦patients and volunteers tolerated CBD very well and no signs of toxicity or serious side effects were detected on examination.â
Effectiveness Of Using Cbd Oil To Treat Parkinson’s Disease
CBD is one of over 100 cannabinoids found in hemp and cannabis plants. CBD oil works with the bodys endocannabinoid system to produce a broad range of potentially beneficial effects.
By indirectly influencing cannabinoid receptors, CBD can help the body make better use of the endocannabinoids produced in the body.
Here are some of the ways CBD oil may effectively help with symptoms related to Parkinsons disease.
Studies Show Cbd Is Effective For Parkinsons Disease
The findings below suggest that CBD may promote several vital processes relevant to the prevention and treatment of Parkinsons Disease, such as:
- Antioxidant protection of neurons
- Psychosis treatment
- Overall quality of life improvements.
As mentioned, the endocannabinoid system is active in the area of the brain affected by Parkinsons Disease, but CBD also interacts with outside receptors to address PD symptoms.
For example, University of Louisville researchers discovered that CBD acts as an inverse agonist at GPR 6 receptors , which have been associated with dopamine reduction.
Through these mechanisms and others, CBD is showing promise as a viable treatment for PD symptoms.
Heres what the research has to say.
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Mitochondria Microbiota And Marijuana
The microbiome also plays an important role in the health of our mitochondria, which are present in every cell in the brain and body . Mitochondria function not only as the cells power plant they also are involved in regulating cell repair and cell death. Dysfunction of the mitochondria, resulting in high levels of oxidative stress, is intrinsic to PD neurodegeneration. Microbes produce inflammatory chemicals in the gut that seep into the bloodstream and damage mitochondria, contributing to disease pathogenesis not only in PD but many neurological and metabolic disorders, including obesity, type-2 diabetes, and Alzheimers.
The evidence that gut dysbiosis can foster the development of PD raises the possibility that those with the disease could benefit by manipulating their intestinal bacteria and improving their microbiome. Enhancing ones diet with fermented foods and probiotic supplements may improve gut health and relieve constipation, while also reducing anxiety, depression and memory problems that afflict PD patients.
Cannabis therapeutics may also help to manage PD symptoms and slow the progression of the disease. Acclaimed neurologist Sir William Gowers was the first to mention cannabis as a treatment for tremors in 1888. In his Manual of Diseases of the Nervous System, Grower noted that oral consumption of an Indian hemp extract quieted tremors temporarily, and after a year of chronic use the patients tremors nearly ceased.
The Challenge Of Regulating Cbd Products
Practically, CBD products can be obtained relatively easily at health food stores and online. They are not considered drugs , and therefore are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration . This can be very problematic because without FDA oversight:
- There is no assurance that what is stated on the package is what is being sold. For example, even if the bottle says it is pure CBD, the product may contain other chemicals from the cannabis plant, or a higher amount of THC than advertised
- The manufacturing process, which is also not regulated, may introduce contaminants
- There is no assurance that the dosage written on the bottle is correct
- Medication interactions between CBD products and other drugs are not clear to consumers
The FDA is aware of the health claims that are made by manufacturers about various products and issues warnings to companies who market CBD products with unsubstantiated health claims.
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Possible Side Effects Of Cbd Oil
Most studies have concluded that CBD is a safe and well-tolerated substance. The WHO issued a complete report on the safety and efficacy of cannabidiol, supporting the earlier findings. CBD rarely causes any side effects, and if they do happen, they tend to be mild.
The side effects of CBD oil include:
- Dry mouth
- Fatigue
- Diarrhea
CBD can also interact with prescription and non-prescription medications, so make sure to always consult your doctor before taking CBD, especially if youre on medications that are metabolized by the Cytochrome P450 system. If your doctor tells you not to eat grapefruit along with your meds, the same rule applies to CBD because they use an identical mechanism, blocking the p450 system from metabolizing the active ingredients in those medications.
How To Use Cbd Oil For Parkinson’s Disease
If you are struggling to control the effects of Parkinsons disease, or are experiencing disruptive side effects due to your current treatment plan, you may want to consider the use of CBD oil.
Before you begin using CBD oil, however, it is important to talk to your doctor. While CBD oil is generally safe, it can interact with some medications, increasing the likelihood of experiencing adverse effects.
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Insurance Coverage Of Cbd
Unfortunately, private health insurance companies will not cover the cost of CBD products with the exception of Epidiolex, which is FDA-approved for epilepsy. That said, some Parkinsons patients and their caretakers may find that high-CBD strains of medical marijuana arent overly expensive and are safer compared to medications prescribed for Parkinsons disease.
Medicares Policy
People frequently want to know if Medicare covers the cost of CBD products. As stated above, CBD does not have adequate FDA approval. Therefore, Medicare does not cover the cost of such products, nor does Medicare allow it to be used towards a Part B or prescription drug plan deductible. This is true for all conditions, not just for Parkinsons disease.
As with Medicare, Medicaid will not cover the cost of CBD products.
Veterans Benefits
The VA will not directly cover the cost of products containing CBD. However, there are VA pensions, such as the basic pension and Aid & Attendance Pension from which veterans or surviving spouses receive a monthly monetary benefit. Recipients of these pensions are able to use the money as they see fit, which means theoretically that one could use it towards purchasing CBD products. Learn more about these pensions here.
Many CBD retailers provide discounts to veterans who might need help covering the costs of their products. It is possible for active duty and military veterans to receive savings of more than 50% from companies that deliver CBD nationwide.
Can You Use Cbd Oil As A Prevention For Parkinsons
Studies have suggested that CBD may be able to help prevent Parkinsons disease, but the current data comes only from animal models.
The research also suggests that CBD can do nothing to help treat PD after its onset. Based on this, it may only be useful as a preventive supplement.
However, most clinical trials only use CBD after a person is diagnosed with Parkinsons disease. This is important because about 60 percent of the dopamine-receptive neurons in the brain are already destroyed by the time a person begins showing the symptoms of their condition.
Its also difficult to predict who will develop Parkinsons and who will be more resistant to this disease. There are only a few preventive strategies, and thus far, we dont know if CBD can help everyone.
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What Are The Symptoms Of Parkinsons Disease
The symptoms of Parkinson are as varied as the disease itself. And, the progression of the illness is individual, some experiencing faster declines in their nervous system function than others. Symptoms fall into two broad classes, motor symptoms and non-motor symptoms. Non-motor symptoms include loss of memory, loss of attention span, constipation, early satiety, sleep disorders, anxiety, pain, vision problems, loss of taste or smell, hallucinations, fatigue, psychotic symptoms, and sweating. Motor symptoms include tremor, rigidity, slowness of movement, dystonia , drooling, dizziness or fainting, stooped posture, movement disorders, facial masking, uncontrollable movements, and postural instability.
The slowness of movement must be present along with rigidity or tremor for a diagnosis of Parkinsons disease to be made.
Using Cbd For Treating Parkinsons Disease Symptoms
People with PD are already using CBD in various forms for all sorts of symptoms of PD including insomnia, anxiety, tremor, dystonia and pain.
Without clinical trial data however, we do not know whether CBD is safe and effective for a particular symptom, and if it is, what CBD formulation and dosage is best to be used for a particular symptom.
We also dont know the side effect profile of CBD in people with PD. At baseline, people with PD may have various non-motor symptoms that may make them more prone to side effects from CBD, including fatigue and nausea.
If you would like to try CBD for one of your PD symptoms, have a conversation with your movement disorders specialist about it. Your doctor may be willing to oversee your trying it, or may feel that it is too risky for you without evidence that it will help. At the very least, he/she can make sure that there are no drug interactions between CBD and anything else that you take and discuss with you any potential side effects that you need to be aware of.
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Cbd Improves Motor Function
The motor system is involved with the task of controlling various facets of the movement, as and when needed by specific tasks.
Certain movement features require tight control whereas others may be controlled more lightly. In some other elaborate tasks, numerous features may be needed to be tightly coordinated.
The motor system also regulates movement characteristics outside the body. Controlling several features of movement is not easy, given that the central nervous system cannot directly affect the position of the limbs.
It can only result in muscle contractions, which build up the forces required to carry out the complete movement, such as joint rotation.
Parkinsons leads to the development of motor dysfunction. Many typical symptoms appear in most patients at some point or the other in the course of the illness.
The most common ones include bradykinesia, akinesia , and hypokinesia and they inevitably appear in almost every patient.
Postural instability is another form of motor dysfunction and denotes an impaired reaction that disturbs the balance.
For instance, tripping on an uneven sidewalk might cause a patient to fall because their response is inadequate for the quick recovery of balance. Rigidity caused increased resistance when a foot/hand is lightly moved.
Therefore, enhancing motor function and preventing the development of further symptoms are necessary to provide relief.
How Is Parkinsons Treated
Weve already established that there is no cure for PD at this junction, so current treatment protocols focus on supporting the brains dopamine level as much as possible.
Medication does this by inhibiting the enzymes that break down dopamine, inhibiting acetylcholine and glutamate , and substituting dopamine when possible.
To date, the gold standard in PD medication is levodopa.
Levodopa and Carbidopa
Chemically, levodopa mimics the compound that turns into dopamine.
After oral ingestion, the body converts this precursor into dopamine so that the brain can use it in the hopes of recouping as much of the vital neurotransmitter as possible.
A drug called carbidopa is commonly prescribed with levodopa because it prevents nausea and keeps the pre-dopamine agent that is levodopa from being converted to full-on dopamine before it gets to the brain.
Unfortunately, Levodopa can actually worsen the involuntary writhing movements referred to clinically as dyskinesia, which researchers have attributed to the rising and falling of dopamine levels associated with taking Levodopa pills .
Dopamine Agonists
Simply put, agonists are compounds that bind to a receptor and stimulate that cell to perform its intended action.
Like Levodopa, these medications act as synthetic dopamine in an attempt to keep the dopamine receptors in the brain firing.
Cannabidiol, on the other hand, continues to pass one wave of scrutiny after another when it comes to low-side-effect PD treatment.
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How Could Cbd Oil Help With Parkinsons
While doctors havent been using CBD oil for Parkinsons disease long-term, and research into the benefits of CBD for this condition only began a few decades ago, current findings are very exciting. Studies suggest that CBD may have some positive effects on certain symptoms of Parkinsons disease, especially when it comes to anxiety, depression, and sleep difficulties.
Should I Use Medical Marijuana If I Have Parkinsons
As more states have signed up to legalize medical cannabis, patients have increasingly been exploring it as a way to treat their Parkinsons symptoms. Some who may have found standard drugs to be insufficient turn to marijuana to help sleep, lower anxiety, or reduce tremors, according to the Parkinson’s Foundation.
Robert Duarte, MD, director of Northwell Health’s Pain Center in Great Neck, New York, treats several patients with Parkinsons who have tried medical cannabis to alleviate pain-related problems.
I have also seen it work on insomnia and anxiety, he says. If youre sleeping better and have less anxiety, there is definitely a relationship between that and improving your tremor.
But marijuana doesnt work for everyone, and doctors have to rely on educated guesswork to recommend cannabis-based products.
The problem is there are no standards for dosing or manufacturing different forms of medical cannabis, says James Beck, PhD, chief scientific officer with the Parkinsons Foundation. Some people equate access to efficacy. Just because you can gain access to medical marijuana through legalization changes in different states doesnt mean that its effective for a disease.
Rebecca Gilbert, MD, PhD, chief scientific officer for the American Parkinson Disease Association in New York City, knows many Parkinsons patients who have experimented with medical cannabis and had mixed results.
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References Cited In This Article
What Is Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s is a condition whereby parts of the brain become increasingly damaged over time. This is due to a loss of nerve cells, but scientists are unsure what causes this to happen in the first place.
Parkinson’s disease is a condition whereby parts of the brain become increasingly damaged over time.
According to the NHS, those who suffer from Parkinson’s will experience the involuntary shaking of different body parts, stiff muscles and slow movement. They may also struggle with depression, insomnia and anxiety.
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Sticking To The Management Plan
Regardless of the studys findings, Mullen and Preusser said they plan to keep doing the things that help them live productively with Parkinsons disease. For Mullen, that includes stretching, walking, acupuncture, regular pool and gym work, and attention to diet, especially cutting down on sugar.
Preusser said he exercises at least 45 minutes a day and walks regularly, sometimes several miles. His weekly schedule always includes one adventure, rain or shine, winter or summer, such as a lengthy hike or skiing he still hits the slopes at Loveland Basin.
Whatever the outcome of Leeheys trial, Preusser advised others with Parkinsons disease to have as many tools as possible to mitigate the symptoms and lead a healthy life.
Find what works and stick to it, he said. I didnt go into the trial with the idea that its a magic bullet. If not for me, there is still something for research to gain from the study.
Risks And Benefits For People With Pd
There are risks and benefits associated with the use of cannabis for people with PD. Benefits include a possible improvement in anxiety, pain management, sleep dysfunction, weight loss and nausea. Potential adverse effects include: impaired cognition , dizziness, blurred vision, mood and behavioral changes, loss of balance and hallucinations. Chronic use of marijuana can increase risk of mood disorders and lung cancer.
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The Stepwise Dosing Procedure
Start Low and Go Slow: The first step to finding your minimum effective dose is to establish a baseline dosage. Since many people report good results with CBD at low doses, we suggest you start with a minimal dose and slowly increase the dosage until you find results. Start with a small baseline dosage between 2-5mg, 2X or 3x daily .
Important Note: Typically, people decide to try CBD because of a specific condition, only to find it helps other areas of their body as well. Remember, your endocannabinoid system runs throughout the entire body at a cellular and sub-cellular level. CBD is a whole-body compound. When you start taking CBD for the first time, pay attention to everything going on in your body. Do not be surprised if you find various benefits from your dosage.
About Sleep: Often times, certain conditions or side-effects from medication can create insomnia. Sleep is essential to the bodies healing and recovery process. If sleep deprivation is an issue, you may want to consider weighting your dosage heavier at night to assist with a more sound sleep.