THE PROMISE OF CBD

After only a few years on the market, CBD is being hailed as a new miracle cure-all. Does it work? How? Four people share their experiences.

About

four years ago, Laurie Maxson began to find it challenging to complete simple tasks in the morning. “I started experiencing a lot of pain in my hands and feet and difficulty moving my fingers,” says Maxson, a retired school administrator from Colorado Springs, Colorado. “I couldn’t even grip a toothbrush or a hairbrush.”

Her doctor gave her a physical and ordered blood tests. Soon Maxson received a diagnosis. “My numbers indicated that I had a moderate to severe case of rheumatoid arthritis,” she says.

An autoimmune disorder, rheumatoid arthritis causes painful inflammation of the lining of the joints. It can often take sufferers multiple tries to find the right treatment. Maxson started a series of medications but couldn’t tolerate the side effects, which included extreme fatigue, nausea, and itching. She finally found relief with monthly infusions of a biologic medication that blocks inflammation-causing substances.

Then she decided to set her sights higher. “I was good,” she says. “But I wanted to be even better.” She changed her diet, cutting back on sugar, eating more plant-based foods and less red meat, and choosing organic fruits and vegetables at the market. Through websites and blogs where patients shared their arthritis experiences, Maxson also found several people who had been helped by using CBD.

CBD (short for cannabidiol) is a compound extracted from hemp plants, a type of cannabis. Yes, this is the same plant as marijuana, but unlike tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the compound that makes pot psychoactive, CBD won’t make you high and isn’t addictive.

In 2018, Congress passed a bill that defined cannabis as hemp and not marijuana as long as the plant contains no more than 0.3 percent THC. This effectively made hemp-based products such as CBD legal.

Because cannabis remains classified by the federal government as a controlled substance, though, research on the benefits of CBD is just getting started. Scientists do know, however, that CBD is a powerful antiinflammatory. A 2017 animal study published in the journal Pain concluded that CBD could decrease joint inflammation and protect the nerves.

Maxson decided to try a CBD tincture (a liquid extract she holds under her tongue until it is absorbed into the bloodstream) made from hemp plants grown locally. Today, after a year of taking CBD daily, Maxson says, “I just feel like everything is working a little

bit better and a little bit quicker. It’s like oiling up a machine.” Though she has had to give up the intense circuittraining workouts she followed before her diagnosis, she’s back to exercising again, taking Pilates classes several times a week and walking regularly. “I realize that I have a chronic disease that affects my autoimmune system,” Maxson says, “and I’m trying to do everything I can to live the best life I can. CBD is a key piece of that.”

LAURA DOBRATZ, 32

Home: Minneapolis, Minnesota Occupation: Paraprofessional at a middle school

Conditions: Insomnia and anxiety

Lying awake every night staring at the ceiling and counting sheep doesn’t even begin to describe the agony of chronic insomnia. “I would have trouble sleeping pretty much every single night—for years,” says Laura Dobratz. “This meant I was always exhausted during the day and never felt well rested, which took a toll on every aspect of my life.”

Dobratz’s insomnia began when her anxiety spiked during an extrastressful holiday season. It quickly turned into a vicious circle of worrying, which made her unable to relax enough to sleep. This led to more anxiety because she wasn’t sleeping.

Eventually, Dobratz sought out a psychiatrist. The doctor prescribed sleeping pills that helped her stay asleep, but she still had a tough time turning off the anxious part of her brain and falling asleep. So her psychiatrist recommended she try CBD.

CBD works in part by mimicking and augmenting the effects of our own natural cannabinoids, called endocannabinoids, which act on cells throughout the central nervous system and are believed to help

“I had trouble sleeping every single night— for years.”

maintain our internal equilibrium. “The brain is loaded with cannabinoid receptors that enhance brain function and dial down stress and inflammation,” explains Mary Clifton, a New York City–based internal medicine doctor, a coauthor of The Grass Is Greener: Medical Marijuana,

& Oil, and an advisory board member for Zonein CBD. CBD interacts with those and other receptors to calm your mind.

Plus, CBD can help some people relieve anxiety, physical pain, and other issues that often contribute to insomnia. In a 2019 study, 80 percent of subjects reported significantly less anxiety and 67 percent showed improved sleep scores after taking CBD.

There are hundreds of different brands of CBD, and they are not all created equally. CBD is considered a supplement and is therefore unregulated. “Anyone can get in the business, and there are a lot of so-called CBD products with little or no actual cannabidiol in them,” warns Mckenzie Mann, a researcher and product development manager for Blue Forest Farms, which grows high-cbd hemp and sells CBD products.

In addition to CBD and THC, cannabis plants contain hundreds of other compounds that may have medicinal effects. Among them are terpenes, aromatic molecules that promote relaxation, and cannabinol (CBN), which some people believe has a powerful sleep-promoting effect.

“Full-spectrum” products contain all the compounds, including CBD, THC, CBN, terpenes, and others. “This is always my first recommendation— it has the ‘entourage effect.’ All the compounds in the plant work best together,” says Mann. If you live in a place where marijuana is not legal, opt for a broad-spectrum product, in which just the THC has been removed. While “pure CBD” (also called CBD isolates) might sound like what you want, these products have had all other compounds removed and are generally less effective than full- or broad-spectrum products.

Dobratz opted for a broadspectrum oil taken under the tongue. She has found that it has no lingering effects in the morning, unlike some sleeping medications. “It costs $100 a bottle, but it’s worth it because it works so well for me,” she says. “It helps me not worry continuously when I’m trying to go to sleep. I’m so glad my psychiatrist recommended it; otherwise I probably wouldn’t have tried it.”

JOSH KINCAID, 43

Home: Seattle, Washington Occupation: Health and wellness coordinator for an economic development agency

Conditions: Chronic neck and back pain, migraines, anxiety

Josh Kincaid registered for a charity race up the 98-flight Seattle Space Needle, but he worried that he might not be able to make it. He had suffered an injury on the job more than 20 years earlier and had experienced severe neck and back pain ever since. But he applied a transdermal CBD patch to the base of his neck and was able to complete the race without a problem.

“I don’t think I could have done the stair climb without CBD,” Kincaid says. “After taking CBD, I no longer have to take opioids or muscle relaxants for chronic pain, nor the medication to stop the eight hours of nausea I used to get from migraines.”

Kincaid first tried CBD after he left a stressful job as a financial analyst to start a cannabis café, inspired by a high school friend who had begun to use medical marijuana to treat his multiple sclerosis (MS). The café served a coffee infused with CBD and THC, and Kincaid realized that it not only helped ease his own physical pain but also helped him overcome the extreme anxiety that used to prevent him from any public speaking. Today he hosts a podcast about the business of cannabis and hemp.

Kincaid also credits CBD with helping him deal with cravings when he changed his diet. Unlike THC, which is well known to cause hunger by activating certain cannabinoid receptors, CBD may trigger a molecular response that blocks these receptors and reduces appetite. A 2012 study found that rats given CBD ate significantly less when offered food.

CBD can be used in a wide array of different forms, from gummies to creams to tinctures taken under the tongue. “It took me years to figure out the best delivery methods,” Kincaid says. “I use a topical cream for neck pain at night. While on the go or for immediate relief, I use a vape pen because the effect is incredibly quick. At

“After taking CBD, I no longer have to take opioids or muscle relaxants.”

home, I use a tincture. And 24 hours prior to a big event, I take 100 to 150 milligrams throughout the day and 20 to 60 milligrams the morning of.

“People are coming to me because I look so healthy now,” Kincaid marvels. “My wife takes CBD when her ulcerative colitis flares up. My mom asks about CBD. I even gave my dog CBD when she had cancer—you could literally feel the heat dissipate from her tumor and see the wrinkles on her forehead relax after each dose.”

Kincaid stresses that it’s important to find a trusted brand, since some products may be ineffective or even harmful. Also, CBD may interact with other medications, so talk to your doctor first and proceed with caution. Start with just a few milligrams and increase gradually if needed.

STEPHANIE JOHNSON, 47

Home: Dallas, Texas

Occupation: Associate content director at a marketing, branding, and advertising agency

Condition: Neuropathic pain following treatment for triple-negative breast cancer

Stephanie Johnson was diagnosed with advanced triple-negative breast cancer when she was 38. “I was given a 23 percent chance of living to see five years, and now I’m at more than eight years,” says Johnson. “I got to see my boys become men.” Her sons, teens at the time, are now 22 and 25.

After her diagnosis, Johnson endured a year of treatment that included four months of chemotherapy and three surgeries. But while the

“I could feel the pain calming down and everything subsiding.”

chemo drug Taxol helped eliminate her cancer, it left Johnson with painful nerve damage in her hands and feet. Johnson likens the sensation to being stabbed with a multitude of tiny ice picks. “It’s prickly and almost an electrical shock feeling,” she says. “The feet will swell and get sore too.”

Her condition, peripheral neuropathy, can also result from poorly controlled diabetes, autoimmune diseases, vitamin deficiencies, viral infections, and many other factors. For about 18 months, Johnson tried treating her tingling hands and feet with over-the-counter pain relievers and topical treatments. But she couldn’t find relief—plus, she worried about potential side effects, such as organ damage.

“I finally was like, you know what, I’ll try this CBD stuff,” she says. Johnson had become familiar with CBD through her job at a marketing agency in Dallas, where she researched and wrote content for clients, including CBD product makers, hemp farmers, and medical marijuana firms. In a 2019 study of 29 patients with peripheral neuropathy published in the journal Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, researchers found oil containing 250 milligrams of CBD per three ounces significantly reduced intense sharp pain and cold and itchy sensations compared with a placebo.

Johnson felt the effects of CBD right away. “I remember the first time I tried a topical on my feet,” she says. “I could feel the pain calming down and everything subsiding, and I looked at my husband and said, ‘I feel good! This is great!’” She tried an array of CBD products before settling on a cream she uses when the pain flares up, plus an oil to ease achy legs at bedtime.

When the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders kicked in, she began to experiment with making her own CBD oil infusions and gummy candies, as a fun project to counteract the stress of temporarily being the sole breadwinner in her household.