I'm Not Feeling The Effects Of CBD: What Am I Doing Wrong?

By Mary Clifton, M.D.

Today, I'd like to share with you a letter we got in the mail bag from an incredibly conscientious consumer, which is where I think most of you are. Everybody is working so hard to fill their bodies with great nutrition, valuable organic foods, and it's also important that our CBD products are equally valuable and supported by the right testing and appropriate farming techniques. 

It matters very much to me that the insecticides, pesticides, and heavy metals are tested in every single batch of CBD that comes into my system. This writer in Texas who started to use CBD, but noticed that it wasn't giving her the results she was looking for. Let me tell you part of her message to me, and then I'll tell you the rest of the message later.

"I just started taking CBD four nights ago, hoping it would help with pain and inflammation in my legs and arms that often makes me restless and unable to sleep well. The CBD oil I bought is 1,000 milligram per bottle of CBD flower isolate in olive oil. The dosage in one dropper full is 20 milligrams, which I measured to be about 30 drops. I took 10 drops. Each of these four nights I have had worse insomnia, only getting two to three hours of sleep. Is CBD too excitatory for my system? Should I take it only during the day, or should I only take two or three drops?" 

In this particular case, I think there may not be quite enough CBD getting into her system. Ten to twenty milligrams is often where people start, and frequently the amount of CBD goes up considerably from there. In a number of my patients, fifty to one-hundred milligrams a day for management of insomnia is not unusual.

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I went to an event in New York with some Canadian scientists who are saying that the “sweet spot” for dosing for chronic anxiety is falling somewhere around 300 milligrams a day in divided doses. That seems like a lot to me, but it probably suggests that I may not be using enough for some of my patients who are dealing with a significant amount of anxiety. 

If you're not getting results on a small amount, one of three things is happening: 

• You’re not taking enough
• Something else is happening that's contributing to the underlying problem right now, and we're blaming it on the CBD. 
• You don't have CB1 and CB2 receptors in your body at a level that you're going to have a significant result. Considering it only works for 80% of people, 20% of people try and they don't like the feeling they get a decent feeling at all.

Consider all of those factors as you're working on this. I don't think it's reasonable to start at five or ten milligrams and then feel like it's not working or that it's working opposite for you. I doubt at that level that there's a significant effect really going on at all. The next paragraph says,

"Of course, we live in Texas and medical cannabis is not available. But, after researching, we found a company who made a great product and they use third party testing for heavy metals and chemicals for microbial contamination, and each bottle has a batch number so you can read the test results for yourself."

It's so important as you go out looking for great food,great water, a wonderful bottle of wine, or your CBD, that everything is selected with the idea of getting the very best products for your body. 

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In the front of your mind, it's important that you choose a good product because the CBD molecule is the same. Finding one that's concentrated effectively so you're not having to drink a half a bottle in order to get a reasonable serving, or finding one that's been properly sourced and farmed, these are very important questions as you proceed to which brand you'd like to choose. 

She also says that her husband started taking the product and had wonderful results for his autoimmune arthritis and psoriasis, and then also pointed out that some of these products in MCT oil can cause problems for people who may have coconut allergies, so keep that in mind too, that sometimes the carrier oil could be a problem in terms of stimulating allergies.

If you're not getting a result, take a little bit more time to think about the serving size. Make sure that you've truly titrated to a high enough amount so you can assess whether or not it's working. 

Then, always remember to find a great product, a quality product that you can love. Thanks again, and for more information on how CBD and other cannabinoid formulations work for you and for your family, check out cbdandcannabisinfo.com

Photo: Javier Hasse.

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