Cannabidiol (CBD) oil has soared in popularity over the past few years. CBD oil is among the top products that consumers are seeking nowadays. But what could be the reason behind the success of CBD in the market?
Recently in the month of June 2018, the Food and Drug Administration approved the medical use a certain drug called Epidiolex for the management of epilepsy. This medication is essentially the purified form of CBD oil.
Perhaps this approval by the FDA could be one of the reasons why consumers are gaining confidence in the health benefits of CBD oil. Although it was previously viewed as a treatment option for people who are seriously ill, nowadays it is actually used to manage any form of pain.
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What Is CBD Oil
Cannabidiol oil is derived from Cannabidiol – one of the 104+ chemical compounds known commonly as cannabinoids. Cannabinoids are compounds found in the cannabis plant.What is CBD Oil Made From
CBD oil is essentially a liquid concentrate prepared from Cannabidiol. Its production from a product similar to tetrahydrocannabinol has raised controversies whether CBD and THC are actually the same thing with similar effects.
But how is CBD oil made from Cannabidiol?
CBD oil manufactures start by selecting a cannabis plant source which is highly rich in CBD to increase the overall yield. Although THC is the major component of cannabinoids, CBD comes in as the second most abundant substance.
Due to the ever increasing demand for CBD oil products, proprietary strains of cannabis with a high yield of CBD have been developed. These plants provide unique value that is well appreciated by most customers who use CBD products.
How Is CBD Oil Extracted?
There are virtually two major ways for extracting CBD oil from cannabis plant extracts. These techniques include:
- Alcohol extraction method
- Carbondioxide extraction method
Alcohol Extraction Method:
This is by far the most common, cheapest and easiest way to extract whole plant CBD oil. It is the original method to be developed for the purpose of extraction CBD oil. Its invention is credited to one, Rick Simpson – the gentleman who came up this idea.
The initial step is started by soaking the cannabis plant in a suitable solvent (alcohol in this case). After soaking, CBD oil will be the major component of the resultant mixture. To obtain pure CBD oil, the solvent is then evaporated and CBD oil remains.
The process of evaporating the solvent is achieved in the Roto vap – a section which heats the solvent to speed up the evaporation process. The good thing about using Roto vap in the evaporation chamber is that the solvent is not lost. It is able to capture the solvent for later reuse.
The oil is afterwards left behind in the chambers and subsequently ready for consumption. Commercial producers have recently modified the Simpson’s method and are using ethanol instead of alcohol as the solvent for extracting CBD oil.
Carbondioxide Extraction Method:
Carbondioxide extraction is the alternative method to the Simpson’s method. However, it is a more complex method, which requires more tools and is somewhat expensive. This method requires that you force carbondioxide through the cannabis plant under controlled pressure and temperature to extract the CBD oil.
The process requires a serious of chambers whose chief purpose is to regulate both temperature and pressure into levels that are conducive for the process. In these chambers, the prevailing conditions enable carbondioxide to react with the cannabinoids from cannabis making them separate.
Conveniently, the chambers in this process are organized in such a way that certain components of the cannabinoids can be extracted separately. This is the major advantage of this process because you not only produce CBD oil but also other cannabinoids in separate chambers.
For a better experience with CBD oil, extraction alone does not signify the end of the process. Instead, the product needs to be made more palatable to make it easy for consumers to incorporate it into their daily routine. This is where flavoring comes in. Quite a number of flavors are used to diversify the presence of CBD oil in the market.
Depending on the need, the extracted CBD oil should also be diluted in proportions which ensure that its strength is appropriately reduced while maintaining its potency. It may be a daunting task to make your own CBD oil. Nevertheless, there are several readymade CBD oil products which are very effective and affordable.
CBD Oil Uses
Having known how CBD oil is made, certain questions still need prompt answers. For instance:
What is CBD oil used for?
There are several uses for CBD oil. With increase in research, more uses are actually being discovered. This question particularly addresses the symptoms that are managed by CBD oil. Have you realized that CBD oil is used lately for managing virtually any disease?
This is because pain is the commonest symptom among most conditions. You may probably be wondering: what is CBD oil good for? Well, it is one of the most potent pain relievers. It can manage both acute and chronic pain.
It is also effective against other symptoms of inflammation such as swelling, and restoration of function in affected parts of the body.
What does CBD oil do for you?
To appropriately answer this question, we first have to explore the various conditions that can be effectively managed by CBD oil. There are several conditions where you can use CBD oil. Currently, the Food and Drug Administration has only approved the use of CBD in the management of certain types of seizures.
However, the ever increasing amount of research will ultimately provide proven evidences that will convince the FDA to approve CBD for the therapeutic management of other conditions as well.
Here are the most common conditions whose symptoms can be managed by CBD oil:
What Is CBD Oil Used to Treat
The conditions whose symptoms can be managed by CBD oil cannot be exhaustively discussed in a single list because they are very many. Nevertheless, here are the top 15 most common conditions where you can conveniently use CBD oil:
- Seizures
The field of medicine achieved a great milestone in the month of June 2018 when the Food and Drug Administration approved the drug Epidiolex for use in the management of certain types of seizures.
What makes this more interesting is that Epidiolex is actually an analogue of CBD oil. This essentially means that the FDA has approved CBD oil for the management of seizures.
But what do the people who has tried CBD oil say about its effectiveness in managing seizures?
Actually, most people who suffer from seizures are always wary of stopping their medications to settle for CBD oil. Besides, it may take quite some time for CBD oil to fully augment the function of your endocannabinoid system – depending on how your body responds to CBD oil.
On average, most people start noticing results within a month after starting management of seizures using CBD oil. Those who have tried it say that you should be patient with CBD oil for epilepsy. It is particularly effective for grand mal seizures.
- Cancer
Cancer is a menace that has been increasingly affecting most people worldwide. There are several genetic mechanisms that are linked to the development and progression of cancer. Several studies have proven the effectiveness of CBD oil in the management of cancer.
For instance, the progression greatly depends on the formation of new blood vessels within the cancer cells – a process called angiogenesis. This study characteristically found out that CBD oil is an active inhibitor of angiogenesis. Impaired blood supply reduces the progression of cancer cells.
Besides, cancer cells migrate to other organs in the body by a process called metastasis. Metastasis occurs when cancer cells first invade the underlying tissues and enter the blood stream or lymphatics. This study found out that CBD oil (Cannabidiol) actively inhibits cancer cell invasion by upregulating inhibitors of the enzymes used by these cancer cells to invade and metastasize.
It is also worth mentioning that this study found out that CBD oil has properties that increases its efficacy in the management of a certain type of cancer called neuroblastoma. It does this by preventing the invasion of this tumor to the adjacent tissues.
- Anxiety and depression
The incidence and prevalence of anxiety and depression has significantly reduced among the individuals who have incorporated the use of CBD oil into their daily regimen.
This study provided results which proved the useful benefits of CBD oil in the management of anxiety and depression. CBD oil can be safely administered acutely (your doctor will say administer as needed) because it is well tolerated and has no significant adverse side effects.
You may be wondering how CBD oil have effects on the central nervous system yet it doesn’t activate the cannabinoid CB 1 receptors as do THC. Well, CBD oil is a potent agonist at the 5-HT1A serotonergic receptor which is very important in the regulation of anxiety and depression.
- Acne
Acne is a skin condition that occurs when the hair follicles in your skin become clogged with excess fat or dead skin cells. It presents majorly as blackheads, whiteheads or pimples. Conveniently, hair follicles contain CB 2 receptors – the receptors which are the appropriate binding sites for CBD.
At receptor level, CBD is an active anti-inflammatory agent which treats acne in more ways than one. It also releases certain cytokines such as anandamide which regulates the growth and proliferation of cells. Unregulated cell growth causes clogging of dead cells within the hair follicles which leads to acne.
The benefit that CBD has over prescription medications for the management of acne is that it is very specific and only targets the cells causing problem. It leaves the normal cells which effectively reduces the chances of experiencing any side effects from using CBD oil.
- Cardiovascular diseases
The diseases that are found in this category include stroke, coronary heart disease, rheumatic heart disease and hypertension. Studies have shown that CBD can cause relaxation of blood vessels. This reduction in the tension of muscular wall supporting the blood vessels is an effective mechanism against hypertension.
This study set out to prove the cardiovascular benefits of CBD and the results obtained were very impressive. The study found out that just a single dose of cannabidiol was able to reduce blood pressure in the selected subjects.
Another study also proved that CBD is also efficacious in managing cardiovascular health in general. However, its effects are time dependent and may not occur instantaneously.
- Schizophrenia
Studies done using animal models have proved that CBD is highly effective when used as an antipsychotic agent. Pharmacologically, it has been proven that CBD oil is just as effective as atypical antipsychotics in the management of schizophrenia.
This study found out that CBD can be used as an adjunct therapy for patients with schizophrenia. Its mechanism is also very impressive because it does not actually depend on dopamine receptor antagonism. As a result, studies posit that CBD may be classified as a distinct class of medication in the management of this disorder.
- Treatment of substance abuse
Most people have raised the question as to whether CBD has addictive and psychotic potential like THC – the largest component among the cannabinoids. The truth however is; CBD can be used to treat the symptoms of THC.
This study provided deep insight on the benefits of CBD when used as an intervention for the management of addictive behaviors.CBD acts on major neurotransmission systems that are actively involved in mediating addiction.
This effect is reminiscent to its benefits when used to manage stress, anxiety and neurotoxicity. However, no trials have been successfully done using human subjects to provide a conclusive clinical finding.
Other disease conditions whose symptoms can be managed by CBD oil include:
- Diabetes prevention
- Hormonal imbalance
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Insomnia
- Arthritis
- Glaucoma
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
The management of these diseases the anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective and endocrine benefits of CBD oil. As more studies are being done on the uses of CBD oil, more diseases whose symptoms can be alleviated by using CBD will ultimately come to the limelight.
What Does CBD Oil Do
CBD oil is not a curative agent per se, but more of an agent to provide symptomatic relief. Currently, there are no studies which indicate that CBD oil can cure a disease. It is only used majorly for treatment.
This means that irrespective of the disease you are managing with CBD oil, your symptoms will certainly come back if you stop your therapy regimen.
Most disease are accompanied by inflammatory responses which causes pain, swelling, loss of function and occasionally – redness. CBD is a potent anti-inflammatory agent which effectively manages the symptoms of inflammation hence the reason why it is widely used in a number of diseases.
Besides, it is also very selective to damaged cells and spares normal cells which reduces the possibility of suffering from adverse effects secondary to using CBD oil.
CBD also has potent neuroprotective benefits which make it useful in the management of most of the diseases affecting the central nervous system.
How Does CBD Oil Make You Feel
Unlike popular misconceptions, CBD is very different from THC and does not cause any psychoactive effects. Instead, it makes you feel relaxed, eases your stress and reduces the chances that you will experience anxiety or depression.
Most people have marijuana based reservations which keeps them from trying out CBD oil but that should not be the case. CBD should be fully incorporated in your daily activities to help you manage insomnia, fatigue as in jet lag, stress and inflammatory process in your skin or body.
Conclusion
CBD oil and its benefits are the current trends in medicine and diseases management. At least everyone should be well acquainted with the basic information about CBD. It can be very helpful in virtually any type of disease – from the most adverse like cancer to the least of concern like minor inflammations of the skin.
You should appreciate the CBD works variably among people because the biochemistry of the body is significantly different in everyone at the molecular level. As a result, you should be patient with yourself and consult a professional if you are not sure about the right course to take in matters CBD oil.
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