I had a very interesting conversation with a young lady named Amanda who was inquiring about CBD, the cannabinoid compound found most commonly in hemp. She claimed that she was taking something, and anxiety medication, that wasn’t making her feel like the best version of Amanda. She came to us looking for something different, more natural yet effective. Amanda claimed that several of her long time friends had started using it for number of different reasons, with success and she was curious to see she could get relief from CBD also.

Naturally she had questions concerning its safety & effectiveness but more-so about the specific, yet different symptoms that each one of these friends were using CBD to help treat! She could not wrap her head around the fact that this singular cannabinoid, that has been basically illegal for 80 years had the power to help people in so many different ways. Yes Amanda, it is so.

Then it hit me that Amanda was not alone. Amanda is probably like most people out there who don’t fully understand CBD and it’s reach and may be in search of something else, more natural yet effective, to treat specific symptoms. What are those symptoms you may ask and how did the CBD hemp them? to give it some perspective let me give you a few excerpts from our conversation

CBD Can Help Ease Symptoms of Anxiety, Depression, and Stress

Amanda starts to tell me about her friend Sam. Sam is the manager of a fine dining restaurant in a relatively wealthy community. His job requires that he manage a busy dining room of executive types, their wives and guests. In this environment business can go from 0 – 100 in a moment’s notice. He also has to deal with employee & staffing issues, customer complaints, accidents, delays with food… the list could go on! I’m sure one can appreciate that this work environment is a hotbed of stress and anxiety which could easily lead to depression if these feelings go unaddressed. Sam would smoke cigarettes to cope with the stresses of work but found it more of a drain on his wallet and overall health, which brought on a severe sense of anxiety! It was like a catch 22!

Someone suggested that Sam try smoking hemp, touting that it’s high CBD content would also calm his stress for longer periods of time and for less money. He had heard that CBD had excellent benefits on mental wellbeing and it was and all-natural supplement. Several studies have shown that using CBD alone could help ease symptoms of anxiety, depression, stress, and even PTSD in some people. Some CBD users also reported a sense of calm and an uplifted feeling after consuming it. As it turns out, CBD interacts with the receptors in the body that regulate serotonin. To quoteThe Cleveland Clinic:

Serotonin is a chemical that carries messages between nerve cells in the brain and throughout your body. Serotonin plays a key role in such body functions as mood, sleep, digestion, nausea, wound healing, bone health, blood clotting and sexual desire.

-https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22572-serotonin

That certainly explains a lot about how CBD helps various ailments! Amazingly it doesn’t add serotonin to the body, CBD encourages body to naturally produce more of it’s own!

With an open mind Sam gave it shot and found the hemp very effective. So much that he eventually progressed to CBD vape cartridges and found the ease of use and fast onset was just what he needed!

The cartridges were portable, helped calm his stress & anxiety quickly without any offensive odors…perfect for work!

Six months later the FORMER pack-a-day smoker is opting now for 2 cartridges a month. Healthier, tastier and much cheaper than a $7-10 a day pack of smokes! Not to mention the breath thing. Plus there are currently numerous studies being performed to see if CBD has potential as a treatment for many types of mental health issues.

Amanda says that she is very happy for Sam, happy that he found something that works for him but she still had some reservations. Not unusual at all but I could tell that as she spoke, her own words seems to be convincing her to at least try CBD!

CBD Has Pain Relieving & Anti-Inflammatory Properties

Amanda then proceeds to tell me about another friend named Candice. Candice is a former collegiate soccer player turned delivery driver. The years of training and playing a contact sport had already left a lasting impact on her back & lower extremities before an ankle injury cost her her scholarship. After she left school she took up delivery driving. Driving demands long hours in stressful road conditions. The work is part in the chair and part on her feet, with the physical nature of the work often leaving her sore and exhausted at the end of the workday. Some days the pain could be quite debilitating so Candice felt as though she needed something strong, more concentrated.

On the advice of a doctor (believe it or not) Candice began exploring hemp based options. Eventually her research led her to a 2-pronged approach:

1) Candice began vaping a concentrated form of CBD rich hemp extract called diamonds, live resin diamonds to be specific, Diamonds are as they sound, a hard, crystallized form of CBD that it’s potent and most always “vaped” in small amounts by using a dab rig or a pack-n-go vaporizer.

In cannabinoid terms diamonds are one of the purest and most concentrated forms of CBD that one can find.

2) Candice also started using a highly concentrated, true to the plant CBD extract that was blended with a carrier oil. Research has shown that CBD has the potential to relieve symptoms in people with chronic pain conditions, especially when concentrated. Several studies have shown evidence that CBD can help ease pain when ingested or used directly on the skin as a topical.

Candice uses both with great success! The topical she uses both before work and before bed, the diamonds during the day in her handy pack-n-go vaporizer, Candice now gets all the relief she needs to function freely and rest easier at night. Candice says that using CBD has made her an overall happier person. Not because of any intoxication effects, CBD doesn’t have any. It was not any additives to make me feel artificially happier but quite the opposite. It was because Candice wasn’t hurting when she used the CBD. Whether at work or at rest, it was giving her the much needed relief to feel like her natural self again! Now that’s a success story!

As for Amanda, she still needed a bit more convincing but I could see that she was getting it. The gears were moving for sure.

I was explaining to her that CBD alone has excellent pain-relieving qualities so even using isolates can be a very effective treatment for pain conditions. However, many studies suggested that CBD works best when used in combination with terpenes & other cannabinoids like CBC, CBN, CBG, or THC rather than when used by itself. Cannabinoids working in conjunction with terpenes and other cannabinoids are what we in the industry call full-spectrum.

This could mean that full-spectrum CBD products are more effective in the treatment of pain. That’s not to say isolates aren’t effective, they certainly are but just not quite as effective as full-spectrum CBD extracts.

One of the main reasons CBD is so good at reducing pain is its ability reduce inflammation. It’s not that CBD runs interference between your pain receptors and your brain, that’s not how it works. Studies show that CBD actually has anti-inflammatory properties reduce inflammation thus reducing pain in CBD can help people with inflammatory conditions when either ingested or used in topical or vapeable forms.

With so many modern ailments driven by inflammation, muscular conditions, skin diseases, ligament damage, dental & oral afflictions, falls & breaks etc… the potential anti-inflammatory benefits of CBD could prove to be and invaluable source of relief to a wide swath of people.

CBD May Alleviate Nausea

The last story Amanda shared with me was one other friend Chase. Chase had been dealing with gastro intestinal issues his entire life and now those have progressed into something that can really ruin Chase’s day. After a year of trying different drugs and herbal supplements, a good friend of Chase’s suggested that he may want to try hemp as a way to relieve some of his stomach issues. There is some scientific evidence that shows CBD to be an effective anti-nausea treatment. There is a even more anecdotal evidence to suggest it’s effective.

I have had friends of my own say that they used cannabis to ease the symptoms of Crone’s disease, symptoms of food borne illness and basic nausea. There is something about cannabinoids and they way that they interact with your endo-cannabinoid system that helps ease that lingering, uneasiness called nausea.

Even cancer patients are known to find CBD (and THC for that matter) to be an effective treatment to reduce nausea and other side effects of harsh cancer treatments and therapies with excellent results.

One theory is the relationship that CBD has with the body’s serotonin receptors. As mentioned, Serotonin plays a key role in such body functions as mood, sleep, digestion, nausea, wound healing, bone health, blood clotting and sexual desire.

-https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22572-serotonin

Chase treats his by keeping a vape cartridge nearby during the day and uses an oil-based sublingual when at home. He finds that although he prefers the oil-based sublingual, for on the go, the vape cartridge comes in handy because it is so easily accessible and the onset via the lungs is faster than most methods for CBD ingestion. Chase considers cartridge technology a blessing because he can access his medicine quickly if he ever has a sudden nausea attack while he’s out and about. Now he leaves home without fear! He’s not loopy all day because it’s only CBD and he is able to keep his abdominal flare ups in check. According to Chase CBD has been a real game changer. By this time Amanda was convinced! She went right online and ordered herself 2 cartridges and a sublingual….Cherry Blossom Live Resin cartridges of course (I mean who else??).

Last I checked she was managing her anxiety and had minimized her need for the meds. Amanda was finding true peace from these all natural, hemp-derived extracts. Amanda said to me “the relief had been there all along, I just had to be open-minded enough to except it”. Well said Amanda… well said.

We discussed a few simple ways that concentrated, vapeable CBD can help people. Please know that just because Cherry Blossom Hemp sells vapeable, full-spectrum CBD does not mean that the most effective methods of CBD come in the form vapes, powdered isolate or some random oil in a dropper bottle, you may have to try a few product types to see what works best for you.

Today’s market features tinctures/sublinguals, isolate, distillate, vape cartridges, edibles, topical lotion/creams or salves, RSO, transdermal patches, capsules (both dry and gel), concentrates (dabs) or even simply smoking hemp flower. We could go on but I think you get the idea. Whether it’s to assist you with a certain aliment or if your goal is to use it as a supplement to your diet or lifestyle, we are certain that there is a form of CBD for you!

If you have tried CBD or hemp in any form OR if you are a regular CBD consumer we would love to hear about your experience. It helps us help others. Please feel free to send us your comments, your reviews or just talk about your experience