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CBD Side Effects: Here’s What You Need To Know

CBD Side Effects
Written by Dr. Leah Zachar

I could give you the short answer about CBD side effects or the long answer – Short answer: None – Long answer…

It is difficult to discuss side effects accurately in humans, because nearly all the studies of cannabis have been done on Wistar mice. Mice, though little & cute, are not humans. Their organs are different from ours and their life expectancies and major health issues are different from ours.

However, in desperation, many parents of children suffering from drug resistant epilepsy such as Dravet syndrome, against medical endorsement, gave their children doses of cannabidiol (CBD) up to 4,000-mg a day. Not only were there NO side effects, but the epilepsy improved.

These dosages were repeated in several open-blinded studies in other children with drug-resistant epilepsy, and always the same results – no side effects, and improvement of epilepsy. Most dosages of CBD that the average person takes is 10% of the dose used for epilepsy. That said, one should know certain things to be aware of when taking CBD:

• Men need higher doses than women.
• Older people need lower doses that younger people.
• Heavier people need higher doses than lighter people.
• Some people are simply more sensitive to a given dose than others.

Effects of delivery & metabolism on CBD.
• If you are taking sublingual CBD, there is a rare side effect of “cotton mouth”, usually seen in smokers. The dry mouth sensation is caused by the decreased salivary production that occurs when sublingual CBD is used.

• CBD is metabolized in the liver. It inhibits the metabolism of some medications broken down by Cytochrome P450 3A4 & Cytochrome P450 2C19. The medications of interest are the antiepileptic medications and medications that require adjustments based on their serum levels, such as warfarin.

CBD functions very much like a vitamin. When you take a multivitamin, your body uses what it needs, and you urinate out the rest. It works exactly the same with CBD. There is NO TOXIC DOSE!

[Image credit Pixabay]

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About the author

Dr. Leah Zachar

Dr. Leah Zachar, M.D. is a physician who worked for nearly thirty years in Internal Medicine.
She currently is a scientific adviser to CBD Testers. Dr. Zachar believes that there is much that medical cannabis, and cannabidiol in particular can offer to traditional medicine.