post - 5 seconds to healthy

As promised here is my experience with CBD.

First off, I started taking CBD after a very traumatic family event...my son was stabbed and was airlifted to a Toronto hospital, given blood several times and is now somewhat happily recovering...but initially received life threatening injuries (despite the media’s efforts to down play a very serious event). So at the time of starting the CBD, I was experiencing a high level of anxiety, depression, anger and general exhaustion from the whole ordeal. Not to mention that I am still battling an autoimmune skin issue that has been in flares on and off since November.

I started my experience with the lowest dose necessary for my body weight....so approximately 18mg of CBD twice a day. I only had enough for 16 days use in the 15ml bottle I choose to start off with. I took this dosage internally added to a veggie capsule....disclaimer, as a certified holistic Aromatherapist I can't recommend ingestion of anything and my experience is not advocating anything.

Upon starting this, I immediately noticed two things. I had neck pain and have been getting frequent migraines all summer. The pain relief and the migraine relief is incomparable to anything natural and synthetic I have tried so far. So pain relief for the win! Because migraines are so debilitating for me, this is definitely a remedy I would consider.

I had an immediate sense of calm, a calm I am not sure I have experienced in years, all my anxiety literally and immediately lifted within 20 minutes. This was an amazing and very unfamiliar feeling. It wasn't apparent to me how much anxiety I live with on a daily, hourly, minute basis, until there wasn't any. It was almost scary, but somewhat relieving I suppose. I always knew I had anxiety, I have been medicated in the past several times for my anxiety, but this sense of calm, was like nothing I can ever remember experiencing.....even my float experience wasn't as calming, sleep isn't as calming, having a glass of wine or a few drinks wasn't as calming and being medicated wasn't as calming. So anxiety relief for the win too!

A few other things I experienced, sugar cravings, I lost 2 pounds despite eating way more carbs than I ever do...literally I eat nearly 100% grain free. I had a need for more sleep, but CBD does not help or make you sleepy, it just seemed to make me want to sleep more.

CBD is well known to help with a variety of other conditions and body systems, but it may take more long term relief or the relief experienced may be situational. I have been doing some light research into CBD studies and there is a mountain of research for its uses in treating mental health issues, including depression, as well as autoimmune support.

Unfortunately, CBD internally has not helped with my skin condition....I plan on ordering a salve to see if direct application would be better....so I am not concluding it not useful for this yet, it will just require more time.

Additionally, after experiencing calm like never before, I fell into a very very very deep depression, within days of starting it and remained fully immersed in a state of mental darkness until about 2 days after stopping it.....so it’s a good thing it leaves the system fast. I can't say for sure if this would happen for me every time, but there are a few things I have learned trying to research why this might happen. When people who experience anxiety receive relief from that anxiety, they sometimes experience a deep depression. This is not studied as being a CBD specific effect, but a result of anxiety relief common to many forms of treatment. I can't be clear if the depression was induced by CBD, anxiety relief or all the traumatic family situations happening around that time. But I can say, the level of depression I fell into, happened very fast and was paralyzing like nothing I have ever experienced before and I am not new to depression or depressive disorders. Even my husband expressed a great level of concern, as he had never seen me that low before. People I spoke to on the phone said I sounded different and not okay. And my inner demons were running rampant, in a scary, nonsensical way. I am so fortunate to have a husband who is supportive, yet willing to point out something I didn't immediately notice, I can't imagine how bad things could turn if I didn't have positive support in my efforts to find holistic alternatives.

Additionally, much of the research done on CBD, THC, and CBN is pro helping conditions, but very little talks about the participants that experienced negative side effects. The only bit I have noticed in researching, THC is more appropriate for use with severe pain and cancer, all other health issues generally benefit best from CBD. Because THC induces psychoactive side effects, and I am a work at home mom full-time, I am not interested in exploring that alternative at this time. I do qualify medically for a green card, but I have no intention of getting one at this time, or anytime during my children's younger years....its just not right for me at this time and maybe never.

I am not done experiencing this natural remedy, but because the state of depression I fell into happened so fast and uncontrollably and was a level of darkness I hadn't experienced before, I can't continue to experiment with CBD at this time....the risks are too high.

I will however attempt this remedy again and try it topically for my skin issues in a few months when I feel I have found a better state of mental and/or physical homeostasis. And it is something I look forward to diving into more if I can prevent falling into a depression for migraine relief and anxiety relief.

So do you have any CBD experiences you would like to share with me? I would actually be more interested in unusual experiences, negative or positive, as the research is good on common things, but what can you share that doesn't fit the norm?

In the meantime, because I am a chemistry nerd with a passion for essential oils and all things natural, I am planning to develop more understanding of oils that activate our cannabinoid receptors within the body. I have attached a very short description of oils that have currently been studied to do this via doTERRA article https://www.doterra.com/US/en/blog/science-research-news-caryophyllene-cannabinoid and as a I learn more, I will detail my experiences with them. Stay tuned for my holistic life adventures and experiences....including real life family and mom experiences.

UPDATE NOVEMBER 2017: Since my first experience with CBD I have had the opportunity to explore it more for anxiety, sleep, digestion and a skin condition my doctor and dermatologist can't figure out.

I have successfully been able to manage and recover from my skin condition using CBD 3-5 times a day during a flare up. My dermatologist suspects is stubborn eczema that doesn't respond to steroid creams or allergy medications. In addition to the CBD, I use a custom blend of essential oils with peppermint to help stop the itching.

For sleep, CBD does help with sleep for sure. I have a diagnosed restless leg syndrome, I did one of those dreaded sleep clinics and learned I can't move non-stop while trying to sleep, so I often don't feel rested because well I don't lie still, I move all night.

1ml of CBD and I am sleeping restfully like a baby! The only other affective sleep aid I have managed to use is doTERRA's Serenity capsules, I believe its the synergistic combination of essential oils and L-theanine, a green tea extract, that works for me. I prefer to have more than one option, because I feel and have experienced that over using one thing, our bodies get used to it and it no longer works or we develop sensitivity and allergy issues from over use.

Digestion is a huge issue for me, I have my whole life suffered from digestive issues and in 2014 I was forced out of my job from a digestive flare that left me painfully unable to work for over a year. I have since been able to successfully manage it about 80% of the time, but about 20% of the time without warning or reason, I get flares that leave me in bed at home looking for solutions or at least relief. CBD surprising can calm and balance my digestive issues. It was an accident I discovered this as I was taking it for an anxiety issue that happened at the same time, likely my anxiety was actually spiked from the digestive issue....because I live my whole life having to know where all the bathrooms are and how fast I get to one.

Anyways, immediate relief from digestive flare up pain and when I use it, it seems to rebalance the unknown issue within 1-3 days. That's huge for me, I am actually very allergic to anything my doctors have tried to prescribe to me to help with my issues. So being able to find any relief, whether natural or not, was an amazing discovery. I also use essential oils to manage my digestive issues, which works most of the time.

Lastly the anxiety. I am happy to report, my anxiety has still been successfully calmed with CBD. After the initial trauma with my son, I thought perhaps the CBD was inducing a severe depression, so I had to stop it. Since then, I have worked hard to manage the anxiety without CBD and well, nothing compares, nothing prescribed or otherwise oily in nature works quite as well. So I just had to go back and try again when I felt some of the trauma had settled.

So far, I don't use it daily, just as needed, I found after using some Neroli essential oil in my new doTERRA roller touch and the occasional CBD to help with sleep or anxiety or both, I only need to use CBD when I can't calm the anxiety with other means. And now when I do use it, I don't experience a deep depression at all, but I do still find the sense of extreme calm seems to numb me from many feelings. It's not depression, I suppose its an unfamiliar calm I need to get used to is all.....imagine living your whole life never knowing what calm was an then suddenly you felt it, its foreign, a little uncomfortable to start, but perhaps a great start to healing.

I feel this is more based on some of my own internal healing I need to do. I grew up being abused by two of my parents (both my biological parents remarried three times so I had 6 parents in total), and experienced abuse from the ripe age of 4 that didn't stop until I left home at 17. 4 separate family members were responsible for the abuse I endured in my lifetime and some of my relatives and family members I have had to let go of because I was accused of making it up....not really sure why someone in their mid-late thirties would make up these things, but it kinda explains why I have spent the majority of my life hiding all the trauma of my childhood.

So to conclude with a current update, I think CBD definitely has some use in helping with anxiety, sleep, digestion and skin issues.

If you are interested in learning how to access CBD in Canada, send me a message, I can connect you to my supplier. I did a great deal of research before settling on a supplier, and would love to connect you to healing too.

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