Bathing in cannabis oils

DEAR DR. ROACH: My husband loves a long soak in the bathtub, so I have made him many containers of bath salts (plain Epsom salts mixed with essential oils).

I use about 2 cups of the salts with a full small bottle of essential oils, packed into a glass jar with a scallop shell for the scoop. The house smells heavenly when he is taking a bath.

Since I have been receiving emails lately offering cannabis oil, I wondered if marijuana bath salts would be OK to make.

I have no idea what the marijuana bath salts smell like, but I am wondering about the effect of cannabis oil being absorbed by the skin in a long, soaking bath.

Would he end up “high”? Just wondering. Thanks for any information.

ANSWER: Cannabis oil is made from strains of Cannabis sativa, which has variable levels of THC (the substance that causes euphoria, or “high”) and cannabidiol (CBD), which does not and which may have some medicinal uses.

The essential oils I have seen for use in massage and baths generally are reported by their manufacturers to not contain significant amounts of either THC or CBD.

Cannabis oils with high THC generally are not legal in the United States, although high-CBD, low THC oils have some medicinal uses. Thus, it’s very unlikely that he would experience any euphoric effect from these essential oils used in bath salts.

I have read that it smells like newly mown grass or like pine.

DEAR DR. ROACH: I just read your article on the various types of flu vaccines. I really need your opinion on whether I should get one of the vaccines. I am a 79-year-old woman in good health and not allergic to eggs.

I know the flu virus is dead and you can’t get the flu from a shot. But when it first became available in the 1950s, I had it in two doses and became very sick for about two weeks with flulike symptoms.

So, I avoided it, and throughout the years, I had the flu a few times — once, when I was in my 20s, very bad with type A, and it attacked my nervous system. I was not able to drive for three months. I also got sick after a flu shot in the 1980s.

I am hounded to get the flu vaccine, but I am afraid to. Now that there are various kinds available, I wonder if I should try one.

ANSWER: I’d certainly recommend it. I normally would recommend a high-dose version for a woman in her late 70s, but you clearly have a robust immune system and I suspect that is why you have had a strong reaction.

However, vaccine technology has dramatically improved, and I would recommend a standard-dose flu shot. You also might take a Tylenol right after having the vaccine. (There is some evidence that this may reduce the effectiveness somewhat; however, I still think it’s better than no vaccine at all.)

Email ToYourGoodHealth@med.cornell.edu.