CBD – Laughing Medicine Woman

November 3, 2018November 3, 2018

What’s In Your Healthcare Pantry?

A couple of months ago, my husband was stung by multiple bees at the base of his brain and on his arms and feet. He passed out and couldn’t move for several moments, then got himself into the house… his entire head looking like a giant hive (no pun intended :P). I went to my pantry and pulled out my cannabinoid-acid tincture (anti-inflammatory), vitamin C (anti-oxidant), and proteolytic enzymes (to break down the venom in his blood.) I dosed several grams of C, multiple handfuls of enzymes, and a full ounce of tincture over the course of an hour or so…. and watched as the his body returned to normal before my eyes. What might have been even more relevant is that he had been doing a detox protocol that included negative ion foot baths and ozone therapy for six months before this incident occurred, lending him increased resilience to deal with an event that literally took his body down.

Without a pantry chock full of quality supplements and a protocol that supports his body’s resilience, this would have been a life/death emergency room experience. I count my lucky stars. Right? Continue reading “What’s In Your Healthcare Pantry?”

September 21, 2017January 19, 2018

CBD from Hemp or Cannabis–What’s the Difference?

Chemically, CBD is CBD is CBD. Even if you call it by it’s scientific name, cannabidiol, it’s still the same chemically whether it comes from a hemp or cannabis. But that’s where the “sameness” ends. In other words, the plant source makes the difference that matters.

Let’s start with hemp. Hemp is amazing. It’s nutritious, can be used as a fiber for clothing or paper, is strong enough to build structures, and has the awesome ability to clean up toxic land by absorbing the toxicity up through the root system. Indeed, it’s this awesome toxicity absorption ability that makes hemp CBD a potential risk. Unless the hemp is carefully sourced, the potential for toxic chemicals and/or metals to be found along with CBD in the tincture or topical or edible is relatively high. And that’s a concern for people using CBD for medical reasons who want clean medicine. The first concern is aggravated by the reality that CBD grows in hemp in lower concentrations, requiring more hemp for the same amount of CBD produced in cannabis… increasing the risk of heavy metals or toxic chemicals finding their way into the medicine as well. Continue reading “CBD from Hemp or Cannabis–What’s the Difference?”

July 31, 2017July 31, 2017

Which Cannabinoids Provide the Right Type of Relief?

Now that the endocannabinoid system is a proven science (click here to read more on this,) and you’ve assessed your own body’s health to determine that you can benefit from supporting your body with phyto-cannabinoids, the next topic to cover is which cannabinoids offer relief for which conditions… and in what ratios.

Yep, it’s a hefty topic. Let’s break it down into understandable chunks that we can further investigate at deeper levels in following articles. So, the first level to explore are general truths about which health conditions are proven to be supported by phyto-cannabinoids. Let’s get started. Continue reading “Which Cannabinoids Provide the Right Type of Relief?”

July 15, 2017July 15, 2017

Endocannabinoid Tone, Medical Cannabis, and Nutrition

Dr Ethan Russo, known for his ground-breaking work using medical cannabis with patients suffering from AIDS, Cancer, and Krohn’s Disease, posits that disease is the result of poor endocannabinoid tone. I covered this topic generally in the article Assess the Health of Your Endocannabinoid System, and today we’ll dig a little deeper into the nutrition component of Endocannabinoid Tone as well as the role nutrition plays in the phyto-cannabinoid support medical cannabis offers.

The endocannabinoid system is pervasive throughout the body, both on the outer and inner membranes of every cell, and functions in all tissues and systems throughout the body. Indeed, recent research suggests that even the microbiome in our guts is responsive to the signaling of cannabinoids. Continue reading “Endocannabinoid Tone, Medical Cannabis, and Nutrition”

June 17, 2017February 8, 2018

Cannabinoids–What Are They and Why Should I Care?

The first part of the question is a scientific fact: Cannabinoids are a type of terpenoid–while not all terpenoids are cannabinoids, all cannabinoids are terpenoids. Both endocannabinoids (made in the body) and phyto-cannabinoids (from the cannabis plant) interact with receptors on the cells throughout the body, including the immune system and the central nervous system. The body has two types of receptors: CB1 receptors in the brain and central nervous system and CB2 receptors in the immune system. The cannabinoids in cannabis mimic the natural compounds in your body, binding to receptors inside the body. This binding process is the reason you feel the physical effects of using cannabis as it signals various physiological actions to either up or down regulate toward homeostasis.

Science answers the second part of the question as well: every cell, every tissue, and organ in the body has cannabinoid receptor sites to help sustain harmony and homeostasis within and between body systems. When looking at the earliest stage of disease, scientists discovered that cannabinoid deficiencies correlate strongly to poor health. That’s something we should all care about, right? (For more on how to assess and support endocannabinoid system health, click here.) Continue reading “Cannabinoids–What Are They and Why Should I Care?”

March 10, 2017March 10, 2017

Dosing Medical Cannabis… Can You Say Micro Dose?

Determining the right dose when using a whole plant medicine like medical cannabis is important. Each plant grows uniquely, influenced by its own genetics and the environment to produce a slightly different result with each grow cycle. A person can even go to the same dispensary and purchase the same form of medical cannabis and still find the effect in his or her body to have changed somewhat. Every plant is unique so, unless using the same plant that made the previous recipe, the dosing must be determined anew.

Start with that. That’s the reason why. The “how-to” is actually straightforward and methodical. Start low and go slow when increasing. If you are using any type of medical cannabis that is ingested orally (infused foods or oils,) wait an hour to gauge effect before taking more. Tinctures–15 minutes. Continue reading “Dosing Medical Cannabis… Can You Say Micro Dose?”

January 9, 2017January 30, 2017

The Endocannabinoid System Stands for AMAZING!

When I first began my foray into the vast research opportunity of medical cannabis, I had no idea where the trail would lead–only that my interest was sparked by the relief from pain I was finding with hemp Cannabidiol aka CBD. Looking first to better understand the concept of the “entourage effect” created by using the whole cannabis plant, I was both surprised and delighted to discover that research into cannabis lead into a major medical discovery: the Endocannabinoid System in the body of all mammals.

Israeli scientists discovered the ECS while tracking down how THC and CBD interact with a body’s bio-chemistry…only to realize that every cell–both inside and out–have cannabinoid receptor sites. Every tissue, every organ, every system in the body is regulated by a signaling system triggered by these receptor sites being joined by either an endocannabinoid (molecules originating in the body) or an exo-cannabinoid (molecules originating outside the body like cannabinoids that are in cannabis). The Endocannabinoid System, then, is a system regulating homeostasis in everything from the hormonal system to the nervous system, the immune system and back again, and our bodies actually make molecules that function identically to CBD and THC to effect that balance. Continue reading “The Endocannabinoid System Stands for AMAZING!”