361: Medical Cannabis
Dr. Rachna Patel And Ashley James
Have you ever had pains you can’t describe where and what to do? So painful it’s already giving you anxieties or worse, sleepless nights? It pays to take care of our body so opting for going for all natural remedies would be a good investment in the long run. Check out today’s podcast to learn more about going “Au Naturale” when dealing with pain issues in your body.
[00:00] Ashley James: Hello, true health seekers and welcome to another exciting episode of Learn True health podcast. We have a wonderful interview for you today with Doctor Rachna Patel, who’s a medical doctor that specializes in helping patients around the world to transition into using either medical cannabis or using CBD products in order to help them, sometimes even get off of pain medications but a lot of people that come to see her have complicated issues like parents who have children with autism who’s also experiencing anxiety. They found that CBD has been very effective at helping these children lower their anxiety. Those who have complicated chronic pain issues like fibromyalgia and they’re finding that even on multiple opioid medications that they’re having a very difficult time managing their pain. They come to Doctor Patel and they have found great success in using her expertise. Now, I thought it was pretty easy. Just if you have pain just start using CBD or if you have pain just start using medical cannabis, no big deal. You know dear, what I’ve found really interesting is that there’s a bit more finesse to it that if you really want to use hemp and cannabis products as in a medical herb. That you want to know somethings first. You know how to ingest it? How to get it in your system? You want to know the measurement of how much you are ingesting. We also want to know the contraindications and the side effects of if you have taken too much. It’s not dangerous but you should know the side effects. Who wants to experience side effects anyway? From natural or man-made drugs. We want to make sure that we are taking something safely and effectively. We can easily overdo some CBD products. Now there is also a concern about quality in the supplement industry.
Since a lot of CBD products are expensive, we really want to make sure that our money’s going towards products that are good quality and provide us exactly what we are looking for and the dose we’re looking for. I had a really interesting thing happen a few days before the interview, which I found to be just perfect timing. How the universe lines up to help us. One Sunday I was roughhousing with our son. We are playing together, building forts, laughing and tickling. I injured my back. I don’t remember quite what happened but I injured my back. I don’t remember it quite what happened but I injured my back and Monday morning I went to the chiropractor and he said, “Yes, you did quite a doozy.” I had basically torqued and twisted my pelvis. He said it’s going to take a few days to recover. I was very sore. Instead of reaching for the Advil or for something stronger, I went for the supplement that’s been sitting on my shelf from EVA CBD. I interviewed the founder of EVA CBD. It’s a whole hemp plant supplement company. I interviewed Nicole back in episode 337. She has a wonderful story including curing her dog’s cancer using a whole hemp juice. That was very interesting. She also cured her – I believed she had a form of IBS and it was very painful for her and she was able to reverse her inflammatory bowel issues using medical cannabis. What I love about her story is that they really apply their lessons personally to their own health. Then they look to create a supplement to help others.
She had sent me a bottle of her supplement called – I have it right here called, the EVA Better Relief. I hadn’t been in pain when I interviewed her and so I kept it thinking “Well, I’m glad I have it. Hopefully, I don’t ever need it but if I’m in pain, I’ll use it.” I came home from the chiropractor in tremendous amount of pain. Almost unable to walk, kind of a nine out 10. I took two, I drank some water, and of course, this is hemp so it doesn’t make you high or anything. It took about 20 minutes for it to kick in and I noticed that it really bought down the pain. I was able to relax. I had some pain cream I tried using but it really didn’t feel like it was doing the job because this is a pretty deep joint pain that I was experiencing. About 20 minutes after I took the EVA product, the whole hemp plant supplement for pain, it kicked in. It started to go down. I was able to rest. My back started to relax a bit and the pain went all the way down to zero. I noticed that if I get up and walk around a lot, it would get agitated but it wouldn’t get sharp. It was really dulled. It felt almost that I’ve taken some Advil. It was that effective for me so I took it twice a day every day. I still have back injury. It’s still healing but today’s better than the day before. It’s been five days and every day I’ve taken the EVA batter relief. Each time, I go from a lot of pain to very little pain to almost no pain and then I have to rest then I could come all the way down. That for me sells it because I think I would have had taken a lot of Advil to have gotten that results. I don’t want to take Advil. The end sets are dangerous for our liver. They actually inhibit the body’s ability to further decrease inflammation. Having said that, I know a lot of listeners have told me they love the EVA CBD products.
I wanted to let you know that you could definitely go to the show notes of this episode because I’m going to link my other interviews about CBD which I think really compliment this interview. If you’re interested in trying the EVA products, they have one for brain health, they have one for nerve health, they have one for emotions and mood, they have one like I said, for pain. They have about six different kinds. They mix herbs along with the whole hemp plant supplement. You can get 20% off when you go to learntruehealth.com/EVA and then you put on the coupon code LTH. Thank you so much for being a listener. For sharing these episodes with those who love especially if that someone’s in pain. I can tell you, they’ll be very happy to learn about this supplement. I have never used a supplement for pain that worked this well, so I’m really happy about that. The other CBD interview that I did that I think is really interesting to listen to in addition to listening to today’s episode is my interview with the founder of Medterra CBD, Jay Hartenbach. He actually also gives us a discount. He has a totally different product. Doctor Patel actually sells a CBD product and she talks about it in this interview that you’re about to listen to. Each of these are different. Doctor Patel has one that’s a whole plant CBD tincture. Then the EVA CBD is actually the entire hemp plant but in powder form so its’ less adultered. It’s a bit different. I think you’re going to get different experiences from each one. Then Jay Hartenbach’s supplement which is Medterra CBD, they guarantee that there’s no THCs. They have a process and he explains it. I think it’s fascinating to listen to this one, which is episode 300. Of course, I’m going to have the link to this episode as well on the show notes on today’s podcast. What I think is very interesting is that’s he talks about the farming industry for hemp and the different qualities of plant and how they manufacture it to make sure that it is clean. Because as Doctor Patel talks about it in today’s interview, buyer beware there are some CBD oils out there that are filled with molds, fungus, pesticides and heavy metals. Some of them contain very low amounts of CBDs, so you’re just basically taking a poison instead of a medicine. Jay talks about that in our interview episode 300. For his discount, you can go to MedterraCBD.com, use coupon code LTH and he gives 15% off. Excellent. Well, enjoy today's interview, I know you will. Please share it with those of your friends who are in pain, have anxiety, have problems sleeping. All these conditions benefit from medical hemp and medical cannabis. Excellent. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day and enjoy today’s episode.
[09:31] Ashley James: Welcome to the Learn True Health Podcast! I’m your host, Ashley James. This is episode 361. We are back on the show with Doctor Rachna Patel. Who we had all the way back on episode 49. It’s been a long time. I can’t believe it. now, we’re in the 360’s and going strong. Welcome back to the show.
[10:02] Rachna Patel: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
[10:05] Ashley James: Absolutely. You just shared with me that when you came in at episode 49, it was your first podcast interview.
[10:13] Rachna Patel: Very first and I was really, really nervous.
[10:16] Ashley James: Well, you did not come across as nervous. I thought you came across as memorable because it was a really interesting interview about how you help your patients as a medical doctor, helping them to relieve anxiety and post-traumatic stress, pain, chronic pain using properly administer medical marijuana. Now, you are here today to talk about CBD, which is much more widely accepted than medical marijuana considering people don’t get high from it. Yet people are seeing great results with pain management and anxiety and sleep. I myself right now, currently on a CBD from a whole plant, a whole hemp plant medicine because I hurt my back on Sunday roughhousing with our four-year-old. I went to the chiropractor and he said, “Yes. You are really messed up.” My pelvis was torqued. I just did a number on myself. Now, I’m just recovering but I’ve been in pain. I am really surprised at how this has been more effective than if I took an over-the-counter medication. I don’t feel dopey and I know I’m not hurting my liver. I’m really relieved. I’m glad I had some in stock because I’m not normally in pain and the fact that I went to it first instead of Advil. I’ve had some really great results managing my pain while my back gets better. I’m really a big believer in hemp, using hemp as medicine. The extract CBD as medicine. I’m really excited to learn more from you today. Since you’ve been on the show on episode 49. A lot has happened in your career as a doctor and a healer. Tell us about what’s happened since and why you’re so passionate about CBD.
[12:12] Rachna Patel: When we last spoke, I was still in my Brock and Morten practice in California. Since then, I had transitioned to an online practice because I was getting phone call upon phone call from people all over the world who were basically like, “Teach me how to use this.” Mainly CBD oral because that’s what most people have access to. I transitioned to online practice. I’ve written a book in that time as well. The following on my YouTube channel has exploded. Tons that has happened.
[12:56] Ashley James: Awesome. Very cool. Now, you can work from wherever you want. You were just mentioning to me that some of your recruiting crew was in New Jersey. I don’t even know, where are you right now?
[13:08] Rachna Patel: I’m actually in Austin, Texas right now.
[13:10] Ashley James: Awesome. Very cool. You get to travel and help people all around the world. Tell us a bit about that. About helping people online around the world versus one on one in person in your clinic. What’s the difference that you’ve found?
[13:27] Rachna Patel: I’m still doing consults online. There’s still one on one consults. The only difference is that rather than just working with people locally in the San Francisco Bay area, I’m now working with people from England and South Africa, in Indonesia and Canada. All over the world. What’s interesting about that is that I have to customize and tailor the treatment options based on what’s available in those particular countries, right? In a way, it’s a challenge but in a way, it’s also learning experience. You have to figure out how to be very – just basically think on your feet and figure out, “Okay, well, this is not available to them” so, “This is something that could work instead”. Yes, that’s what the experience has essentially been like.
[14:30] Ashley James: Awesome. Very cool. Can you share without obviously saying anyone’s name, can you share some stories of success in the last year working online with people around the world?
[14:40] Rachna Patel: Yes. I have helped a lot of parents of children with Autism. A lot of times these children, they tend to struggle with anxiety. A lot of that anxiety is triggered when there is a change in routine. Any sort of change in routine triggers this anxiety. In the worst case of scenarios, it can be aggressive behavior. It can manifest as aggressive behavior. Oftentimes even physical. With the help of CBD, these patients have, we’ve been able to manage the anxiety that these children experience and therefore just to crawl up of that anxiety that manifests. Working with that, working with severe pain as well. A lot of back pain. A lot of these things like anxiety, chronic pain, insomnia. They’re common to people all over the world, right? Because the human body’s a human body and the human experience is the human experience. There’s a lot of commonalities there that this one medication can benefit.
[16:01] Ashley James: Now, what point did you start to really use CBDs? When we spoke, I felt like you weren’t talking about CBDs as much as you’re talking about medical cannabis, medical marijuana. Using the difference strains to get different results. Then how to use it was really important like not just sitting there and smoking it was actually harmful but there’s ways to use it that’s less harmful and actually can be a benefit. That was more of what you’re talking about. Now you’re talking about CBDs. What happened in your journey that made you want to use CBD more?
[16:43] Rachna Patel: The thing is that, actually I was always talking about CBD. When I would talk to patients even in the context of marijuana, in terms of what combination of cannabinoids. You know what combinations of CBD and THC they should be using. I was still talking about amounts of CBD and amounts of THC. Then you have Farmville 2014 come along which made CBD even more accessible. CBD derived from hemp even more accessible. Overall, if I had to breakdown the benefits of CBD and THC in terms of percentages, I would say that about 80% of conditions benefited from high amounts of CBD. Whether that high amount of CBD comes from marijuana or if it comes from hemp. Then about 20% of medical conditions benefited from high amounts of THC. Of course, there are conditions in between that do need both CBD and THC to effectively treat the conditions. It’s something that I’ve always been talking about. Like I said, in the context of marijuana but with the regulations changing and CBD becoming more accessible, it was basically more that I just started to focus more on CBD. People still come to me with conditions where CBD doesn’t benefit their conditions. So I outright tell them that, “Hey, you know you’re better off using a marijuana based product because you are getting that high amounts of THC and CBD.” That’s really the context in which I speak. Even in the book that I’ve written. Which conditions could benefit from high amounts of CBD, which conditions for high amounts of THC and which conditions benefit from both CBD and THC.
[18:39] Ashley James: Very cool. Can you illustrate those points to us now? I’m pretty sure most listeners will have an understanding that like CBD doesn’t make you high. Medical marijuana when it’s activated, like the THCs activated it’s heated up, it goes from THCA to just THC. That’s’ what makes people experience the high. For people who don’t want to experience the high and just want the medicinal herb then that’s the CBD. Can you go into more details and explain what CBDs really good for? Versus medical marijuana?
[19:21] Rachna Patel: Yes, sure. I just want to touch very briefly on the concept of the high. Mainly, there’s two things that cause it, right? One is that the THC is of a significant potency in the product itself and two, is that you’re consuming a certain dose in order for it to actually get you high. You’re consuming excess amounts. If you don’t consume excess amounts of the THC then you’re not going to get a high of it. If the CBD is a lot higher than the THC, then you’re not going to get a high off of it. In terms of conditions that are benefited by high amounts of CBD, these are the most common conditions that I’ve encountered in my clinical practice. They include things like migraines and headaches, muscle pain. Also we’re talking about things like spasms, spasticity. Then there’s nerve pain. For instance, back pain caused by sciatica, neuropathy that’s caused by diabetes or chemotherapy. Even trigeminal neuralgia. Then we have anxiety. The umbrella of anxiety covers all sorts of different conditions. We’re talking about obsessive-compulsive disorder, PTSG, ADD, ADHD, panic disorder and also mild to moderate insomnia. Now, conditions that need in addition to the CBDs, some amount of THC include nausea and vomiting, lack of appetite, autoimmune conditions, right? These include conditions like psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, lupus. Severe nerve pain, this is pain that’s caused by conditions such as shingles, spinal stenosis and then finally, severe insomnia as well. This is specifically where the person cannot sleep unless they actually take some sort of heavy-duty medication or a high dose of medication as well. That I would say, in a nutshell covers the conditions that are benefited by high amounts of CBD and then conditions in which you do need some amount of THC as well.
[21:45] Ashley James: Thank you for that explanation. Now we’ve got some great questions in the Facebook group. I want to make sure we get to all of them. Yesterday, I posted in the Facebook group asking if anyone had any questions for you. All listeners who aren’t in the Facebook group, please come join us. It’s a great community. Just search Learn True Health in Facebook. I know you’ve got the list of questions pulled up. Do you want to run through them?
[22:09] Rachna Patel: Yes, sure. Let’s see. First question comes in from Jenna and Jenna is asking what form of CBD is best for anxiety and depression. I’m thinking of trying the pill form. Would this be effective? What dosage? Okay, there’s a couple different things I want to touch on here. First of all, let’s look at anxiety and depression separately. Anxiety like I mentioned, is one of the conditions that benefits from high amounts of CBD. Depression on the other hand benefits from THC. That is because of the chemical pathways that these chemicals impact. CBD tends to have an impact on Serotonin which is what impacts anxiety. Oftentimes, what’s prescribed for anxiety are what are called SSRI. Selected serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Basically, these medications up the levels of serotonin in your body. That’s what’s helping the anxieties, it’s high amounts of CBD. However, depression is typically helped by high amounts of THC because tends to impact Dopamine, right? And dopamine is one of those feel-good chemicals. The important thing to know here is that, that impact of THC on depression is very transient, lasts for couple of hours or so and then it dissipates. Overall, I would say when it comes to anxiety, CBD is a lot more effective than pharmaceutical medications. What I found with depression clinically is that, the pharmaceutical medications tend to have a better longer lasting effect than the THC. Now you’re talking about form, okay? There are a lot of different forms in which you can consume CBD. There are edibles, there are tinctures, which are drops that you put under the tongue. You can also inhale it as well. A lot of this comes down to in terms of what’s the best method to use comes down to your medical history. Let me give you an example. I’ve had patients who’ve had gastric surgeries. For instance, gastric bypass surgery. In their case, they’re not able to absorb edibles as well. They’re not absorbing the CBD as well. It sort of just passes right through them. In their case, what works better, what’s more effective is inhalation or using drops with the tongue. That’s what I’m going to tell you about that. Now when it comes to dosage, what I’ve find is it’s a very individual process. Just to give you an example, this is an example having to do with insomnia but can also apply to anxiety as well. I have two patients, they both struggled with insomnia. They were otherwise healthy. No other medical diagnosis that they had. They were of similar body size and body shape. They had similar BMIs. Both patients tried the exact same CBD product. One patient ended up needing just 2.5mg of CBD to sleep better whereas the other patient needed 15mg of CBD to sleep better. I’ve seen this be the case with anxiety as well. Now there’s a couple different components that come to play when it comes to using the right amount of CBD. First and foremost, you want to take the strength of the CBD product into account. What I’m going to tell right now is, on the market, in an ounce whether it’s an edible or tincture, you’re going to find anywhere from about 250mg of CBD up to a thousand milligrams of CBD. That’s highly variable in terms of strength. Then the next job then is to figure out dosing. Then also taking the right frequency of CBD as well. You don’t want to overdo it because you can develop a tolerance to it. Again, let me walk you into an example. I’ve had patients with severe back pain and nothing’s really worked for them. They finally turn to CBD ad it does actually work for them and they get overzealous. They overdo it. [Laughter] Then two to three weeks later, I’ll get a phone call saying, “Hey Doc, this worked great and now it’s not working anymore.” That’s because you can develop a tolerance to it. Basically, you know you develop a tolerance when you’re, number one, you’re having to take higher and higher doses to get the same effect and then you reach a plateau where no matter how much you take, it’s having no effect on you. Those are some general basic guidelines that I would give you in terms of answering this particular question. Should I just roll through the next couple of questions?
[27:09] Ashley James: Actually, I’d like to stop in between I’ve got some questions. CBD, is that fat-soluble? Do we need a gallbladder to properly digest it to the point where we can absorb the CBD?
[27:27] Rachna Patel: No, not necessarily. Enzymes that the gallbladder release are not necessarily needed to digest CBD but here’s what I’m going to tell you. The CBD does get stored in the fat cells in the body. What I want you think of it as is as Vitamin D. Some people can be deficient in vitamin D, you know, when you test your blood levels. Some people can be normal. Basically, the people who tend to hold on to fat better have basically an advantage because they’re holding on to more of the CBD. Therefore, often times they need to take lower doses and need to take a rest frequently. Whereas the people to tend to metabolize their fat quicker may need to take higher doses and take it more frequently as well. Does that how to answer your questions?
[28:29] Ashley James: Yes. You mentioned that those with gastric bypass for example, just they have less intestines so there’s less of a chance of them to actually digest and absorb the nutrition fully. As a result, those who’ve had gastric bypass can develop deficiencies like B12 is very common. They need to be on supplements. What you’re saying is, they shouldn’t take an edible, either CBD edible or medical marijuana edible simply because they won’t digest it enough to absorb the medicine but you are saying that those with digestive issues like let’s say Crohn's or IBS, or any kind of absorption issues. Someone knows that they have gotten an inflammation and dysbiosis and they’ve got issues with absorption. That edibles out but that tincture out of the tongue is still okay and we can absorb it fully even with a compromised digestive system.
[29:28] Rachna Patel: Yes, because it’s a different route. Rather than being absorb through the gastrointestinal tract the tincture gets absorb through – if you’ve ever taken a look under your tongue, you’ll see all of these blue lines, those are all blood vessels, that’s where the cannabinoids are being absorbed. It’s through those blood vessels. Inhalation is being absorbed through your lungs. In both situations you’re bypassing the gastrointestinal tract and it’s still getting into your bloodstream. Here’s what I would tell you. To touch on Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, which are inflammatory gut conditions. I haven’t found absorption of edibles to be as much of an issue as for someone who has for instance, gastric bypass surgery or even ostomy. The people with the inflammatory bowel diseases still tend to absorb edibles fairly well.
[30:32] Ashley James: Okay. Very cool. You mentioned being dosed by weed. Someone is a 100 pounds versus 300 pounds, would they increase their dose of CBD to get the full effect?
[30:47] Rachna Patel: It’s actually not by weight because it actually has to do with the turnover of your fat cells. You know how some people can be fat on the inside, thin on the outside and vice versa. Fat on the outside and thin on the inside. So-
[31:10] Ashley James: Meaning the fat surrounding the organs?
[31:11] Rachna Patel: Right. Basically overall, the turnover rate of your fat cells. That can vary from person to person. How much a person weighs doesn’t necessarily contribute to that turnover. I’ve had small people need small doses and large people need large doses and vice versa. Large people need smaller doses and smaller people need larger doses. It ultimately comes down to metabolism in general. It comes down to metabolism of fats and then finally, it comes down also to what sort of machinery you have in your liver to break down chemicals because these chemical are broken down in the liver. Several different factors that come into effect there. Direct correlations make it easy, right? For X do Y and for Y do Z but I haven’t found that to be the case with CBD. It’s very individual in terms of what dose someone ends up needing.
[38:29] Ashley James: Got it. What happens when you overdose? I mean, we can keep talking about dose. What if we take too much? What happens when we take too much CBD?
[32:40] Rachna Patel: Couple different settings. One is the most common side effect is you’ll start to auto reject or fatigued. It’s almost like a hangover feeling. You know, when you’re dragging. Next most common side effect is you can get diarrhea. Third most common side effect and this is more or even long term, you can get changes in your weight and appetite but that is typically I could say, rare.
[33:08] Ashley James: The appetite increases or decreases, weight increase or decrease, or is it both?
[33:13] Rachna Patel: Typically, there’s a decrease in the appetite and the weight.
[33:20] Ashley James: Okay. So overdosing is not harmful but there are known side effects that are manageable.
[33:29] Rachna Patel: Yes, exactly.
[33:31] Ashley James: Got it. If you’re trying to figure out your dose and also you feel lethargic then you just took too much and then the next day take less.
[33:39] Rachna Patel: Yes. As a general guideline. Yes, correct.
[33:41] Ashley James: Yes. What do you recommend for people starting? What’s a starting level for a dose? Just to see is it different for pain versus anxiety? Or just, you tell everyone to start with half a drop or full and then go up from there?
[33:57] Rachna Patel: Everybody does start at the same dose. I’ve had a wide variety of ranges in which I’ve had patients start and a lot of it depends on their history. How they’ve reacted to medications, how they’ve reacted to what other medications they’re on also matters. What their medical history is. The starting dose varies from person to person and the increment in which they increase the CBD also varies from person to person. A lot of it also depends on the severity of their condition as well. How severe for instance, their pain level is or how severe their anxiety is. Those are all very different factors that I’m basing starting dose and incremental doses off of.
[34:49] Ashley James: Got it. Are there any interactions or contraindications like you mentioned interactions with drugs? Are there any known interactions with drugs? Or there any contraindications that would say that we shouldn’t do CBD?
[35:04] Rachna Patel: Yes. In terms of drug interactions, there have been two drugs that have been studied in conjunction with CBD. One is called the ASM which is the Anti-seizure medication typically used in children. What they found was that, when Clobazam was administered with CBD, the levels of Clobazam stayed elevated far longer. The danger in that is that, you can build up a toxic level of the prescription medication. In this particular case, the study the level of doses of the Clobazam had to be reduced. That was actually a good thing because the patients we experiencing pure side effects of the prescription medication. That’s one. Second thing is when they were studying Epidiolex. Epidiolex is basically a prescription version of the CBD. It was approved sometime about in the summer of 2018. When they were starting this medication which is essentially CBD, again, they were studying it in a some set of types of epilepsy in children particularly. A lot of this children were on Valproic acid otherwise known as Valproate which is also an anti-seizure medication. What they found was that when patients take Valproate with CBD, their liver enzyme levels tended to go up. It cause a mild liver injury. Typically, they did a couple different things. They either eliminated or reduced the CBD or they eliminated or reduced the Valproic acids and then the liver enzymes went back to normal. That’s what’s known, right? But in the study what they said was that, we would extend our conclusions to any medication that causes what’s known as Hapado cellular injury. Basically, any prescription medication that tends to cause liver damage or elevate liver enzymes. When these medications are used in combination with CBD there has to be a lot of monitoring that has to be done. A lot of precautions that have to be taken. That’s pretty much what I would tell you. Now on my YouTube channel, I do have a video specifically on CBD and drug interaction where I list medications that a person should use with caution in conjunction with CBD.
[37:42] Ashley James: I was at the grocery store a month ago and talking to the lady that was checking out my groceries about melatonin. My melatonin over the counter, it’s safe. They have melatonin gummies for children and for adults. To me it’s a safe, obviously, use everything responsibly but it’s a safe alternative to prescription medications for sleep. She started saying, “You know, I should really look into melatonin because,” and then she lists one of the most common drugs for sleep, Lunesta or something like that. You know the side effects, pretty crazy. She said that she’s on a few medications to help her, calm her down anxiety and go to sleep at night. So the checker was – here she is complaining about the side effects of the medications she’s on. Then there’s a natural remedy like CBD. There’s a natural remedy that helps people to sleep, Melatonin. She wouldn’t try it because she’s worried that the melatonin would interact with her medications. I was like, “This is the weirdest thinking.” I’m coming from the point of, “I don’t want the side effects of the medications.” Right? She’s thinking, “I don’t want the side effects of a natural substance to interfere with my medications”. She didn’t want to be on those medications. If she could work with her doctor and try CBD and Melatonin and like magnesium soak bath every night. She could try these things which when she described her situation, she just went straight for the drugs. I know over 70% of adults in the United States were on at least one prescription medication. It’s the norm. Her experience is the norm and my experience of not wanting to be on many medications and looking for alternatives is not the norm. We‘re all swimming upstream. We’re going go against the green here and I know my listeners are as well. Looking to do everything we can to be as natural and healthy as possible. There are going to be times when someone wants to use medications and use natural medication together in harmony. So I’m glad that you cover where CBD might entrap with the medication and how we can go about adjusting those things. In terms of contraindications, is CBD safe for everyone? Or are there times when it’s not?
[40:21] Rachna Patel: Yes. I would say it’s definitely contraindicated in women who are pregnant and breastfeeding. The reason I say this, it is a conservative recommendation. Reason being, when cannabinoids in general, CBD and THC have been studied in the context of marijuana. What’s been found is that they can lead to low birth weight and they can also lead to pre-term labor and delivery as well. I don’t know if I would feel comfortable as the doctor taking that risk on a person who is pregnant and breastfeeding. It’s important to know that when you are breastfeeding, these cannabinoids do get passed through that breastmilk.
[41:09] Ashley James: Are those studies only for medical marijuana? Or they’re also for CBD? Exclusively?
[41:18] Rachna Patel: They’re on medical marijuana. They’re not on CBD. It could be marijuana and likely these women are obtaining marijuana off the streets, it could’ve been marijuana that is high in THC or it could’ve also be marijuana that is high in CBD. That distinction has not been made. Whether it was the THC, CBD or even something else, we don’t know. It’s just at this point in general category of cannabinoids is what I would tell you.
[41:50] Ashley James: Right. There’s so many other factors to that. I mean, just to play the devil’s advocate, we don’t know what kind of the group of women that they chose to study whether they were – what was their socio-economic position and if that played a role. If they were all unable to eat three meals a day or do they have the means to. Were they studying people who are in shelters or homeless or were they studying people like at what age. I can understand low birth weight if you’re just stoned all the time and don’t want to eat or if you’re stoned all the time on the streets and don’t have access to food, is much different, right? What would it be like if it was women in their 20’s who had a house and a job and they chose to use medical marijuana while pregnant. Would it be the same? Are those other factors taken into consideration?
[42:51] Rachna Patel: Yes. I could tell you even one factor the use of other drugs was not taken into consideration. Then the other thing is that, one of the other scenarios could’ve been that a lot of women get what’s called hyperemesis gravidarum. You get a lot of nausea and vomiting especially in the first trimester of pregnancy. Oftentimes can be difficult to control with prescription medications so out of desperation these women could’ve been turning to marijuana off the streets. I highly don’t recommend that but that could’ve been another scenario that played out as well. We don’t know, right? CBD hasn’t been as well studied. I would tell you overall as THC. It’s now being more and more studied. You have to realize up until just recently, because marijuana’s only been very recently accepted. CBD has only be very recently been accepted. These substances, these chemicals we studied as drugs of abuse. You’re looking at it a certain perspective. That has shifted now, we’re now looking at the medical value of it. Things are studied differently as I would tell you.
[44:18] Ashley James: Right. They wouldn’t turn around and the positive benefits of heroin use during pregnancy. That’s how they saw it. They wouldn’t turn around start telling like the benefits. In that study, they would’ve been like, the women who used medical marijuana or street marijuana while pregnant saw a reduction in their nausea and were in less on or something. They wouldn’t talk about that. They’re addressing those issues, low birth weight and early labor. Interesting. We’re just pioneers right now. In a few years, we’ll definitely see more studies come out. Outlining whether or not CBD is safe for the baby during pregnancy or breastfeeding. I imagine what’s interesting is the endocannabinoid system, our body makes and uses these chemicals. Anyway, can we talk about that before our next question? What is CBD attaching to in our nervous system and why does it complement our body so much?
[45:25] Rachna Patel: Yes. Sure. Basically, you have receptors. You can think of receptors as locks. Now think of these round circular cell. It has itsy bitsy locks on it and those locks only accepts certain types of keys. Now, within endocannabinoid locks, you have CBD one. You have even more specific type of locks, you have CBD 1, you have CBD 2. Then a group of other receptors, which haven’t been clearly defined as a part of the endocannabinoid system but you have CB1 and CB2. CB1 and CB2 are not just actually located at the bottom of the nervous system, they’re located throughout the body. Even including on your immune cells. These locks reacts to certain types of keys and our bodies make these certain types of keys and they’re known as endocannabinoids. If you break that worked down, there’s two parts to it. Endo and cannabinoids. Endo means within and cannabinoids are these specific types of chemical that interact with the cannabinoid reactors. The two most common endocannabinoids are anandamide and 2-AG. Very similar in structure to the endocannabinoids are the phytocannabinoids. If we break that word down we have phyto and we have cannabinoids. Phyto means plant, cannabinoids again, these are chemicals that interact with the cannabinoid receptors. The phytocannabinoids include chemicals like CBD and THC. They also interact with these locks because their structure is very similar to the endocannabinoids that we naturally make. Finally, they are what are known as synthetic cannabinoids. Synthetic basically means fake. These are chemicals that appear like cannabinoids but are made in a lab. We have all these different types of cannabinoids that interact with the body and when that key enters that lock, it triggers a series of chemical reactions. Going back to the serotonin impacting anxiety and the dopamine impacting depression, that’s what going on. It’s impacting all these other chemical levels in our body. Then having an impact like relieving anxiety. Putting you in a little bit of a good mood. Helping to relieve your pain. That’s what’s pretty much what’s going on. The system was very fairly recently discovered. We’re talking about basically the 60’s is when these whole system was discovered. We don’t know as much about it as other systems in the body. For instance, the opioid system. We know quite a bit about that but we don’t know as much about the endocannabinoid system but what we do know is that it’s significant. It’s a significant system in the body otherwise it would not be having these clinical results that I’ve been seeing in patients.
[48:53] Ashley James: Very cool. Yes, I found it fascinating learning about the endocannabinoid system. We have one guest that talked about how when people are deficient in their fatty acids. The omega 3, 6 and 9, if they’re deficient in them. That the body also becomes deficient in the cannabinoids that it makes. He sees that when people use CBD oil who are deficient their EFAs, they see a really positive result. It’s like giving someone a fish oil and you can also get them from algae. Doesn’t have to be from fish but in EFA, essential fatty acid supplement because the body can become deficient in CBD. It’s thought of more like a nutrient. Like you said, vitamin D or vitamin C. It’s a nutrient the body can become deficient in and I had a friend tell me recently, it’s either a guest or a friend, talk about how we used it, how cannabis in our diet. Hemp hundred years ago or 200 years ago, even 300 years ago was grown here, we use it. We put it to our food. We fed it to our animals so that even the milk from the cows would contain some of these cannabinoids. They would eat it, they give it to the chickens, they’ll be in the eggs. We’d have it in our food because you can use hemp, there’s all kinds of ways to eat it. Also, we would then make ropes, clothing, linen out of it and the sails from ropes from ships. The fact that we sort of have it more from our diet back then than we do now. I thought that was really interesting. Have you heard about that? Or seeing that we are more deficient in CBD now as a society than we were in the past?
[51:03] Rachna Patel: No. The fact that it was in the food supply is actually new to me. That’s something I’d have to look into but in terms of deficiency, I would say the most objective measure of that is to measure the cannabinoid levels. Just to see whether or not we’re deficient. Also, what we don’t have right now is what’s normal for an individual. How much cannabinoid should a person have? I wouldn’t use the word deficient because I feel like then people would start using the cannabinoids as a vitamin on a regular basis. As I’ve mentioned before, taking too much of it and taking it too often does lead to tolerance. Taking too much of it can lead to side effects as well. I wouldn’t say deficient but we need more information like I said, in terms of the baseline of what’s normal and also, measuring these amounts in people.
[52:05] Ashley James: As I’m sitting, realizing I don’t have any back pain at all from taking – I took the Eva product which I’ve had her on the show and it was a whole plant, hemp plant. There’s CBD in there but it’s a whole plant. Basically, I took two capsules and I’m sitting here not in pain anymore. I woke up, walked around, I woke up with no pain and as when I start standing and I’m moving around, I’ve got to bed around 6 or 7 and at ten in pain was just pretty bad for me and I took two. Now, I’m just sitting here and all the pain has subsided. It’s amazing. I would’ve been on Advil all day long and maybe even a muscle relaxant if I wasn’t into holistic health. I didn’t know that there were these options. If I only knew what the pharmacy had. I wouldn’t be taking this natural route. It really does work to relieve pain. I know we have a question in the group about using it topically. How effective is that to use like hemp oil or CBD oil on a joint? Let’s say the wrist or hand that a person has an injury or has arthritis?
[53:29] Rachna Patel: Yes. So we do have receptors for cannabinoids in our skin. In terms of types of conditions that I’ve seen topicals benefit, they include skin conditions. Any sort of inflammatory skin conditions like psoriasis for instance, eczema, it’s effective for. I’ve also seen it be effective for very localized muscle pain. If you have spasm, it’s effective for that. What I have not seen it be as effective for is joint pain. With joint pain specifically, what I find is most effective is both CBD and THC because there’s a large inflammatory component there. What’s going on with inflammation? Remember the autoimmune conditions that I’ve talked about there’s a large inflammatory component there as well. You have CBD and THC, they both have anti-inflammatory properties when you combine them together there’s an even greater anti-inflammatory effect because you have these phenomena known as the entourage effect or synergistic effect would’ve otherwise known as what’s going on. One chemical is enhancing the effect the other chemical, there’s even more anti-inflammatory effect. I would say if there’s mild joint pain then yes, the CBD alone can be effective but if it gets into the realm of being moderate or severe then you do need some amount of THC in the form of a topical to effectively treat joint pain such as arthritis.
[55:00] Ashley James: Very cool. It’s okay to mix and match like someone uses a topical and takes the tincture and or uses the vapor and uses the tincture uses the vapor and uses the topical or is it okay to mix and match or should they just stick with one?
[55:16] Rachna Patel: It’s okay to mix the topical with other delivery methods but other internal delivery methods but I would not mix and match multiple internal delivery methods because there’s a cumulative effect. These chemicals are getting stored in the fat cells in your body, right? So you can overdo it if you use too many of the internal methods at once but combining a topical with an internal method should be fine.
[55:45] Ashley James: When you count, let’s say someone goes, “Okay, I’m doing 100mg a day”. I don’t even know, is that how you measure it? By milligrams?
[55:54] Rachna Patel: Typically yes.
[55:55] Ashley James: Yes. Okay. That’s what I thought. 100mg per day is my dose. I’m going to do 50mg of topical or 50 of oral? Is that how it works? Or do you only count the oral and then topical is just bonus?
[56:10] Rachna Patel: I just count the internal and then the external is just bonus. The thing with the external, the topical is that it’s very local absorption. You’re not absorbing enough of it into your bloodstream. What goes into the bloodstream can pretty much be considered negligible. Unless, you like big CBD oil, [inaudible] [laughter] you put on some music, some candles and you pour a lot of CBD in your bathtub then you know you can get quite a lot of stomach absorption.
[56:55] Ashley James: I think I’m going to come out with that line of CBD bath bombs, to bathe in CBD. [Laughter] That’ll be pretty cool. Awesome. All right, next question.
[56:57] Rachna Patel: Why do some people use high quality CBD oil and feel no difference at all? Okay. It could be that the CBD oil has no CBD in it. The fact of the matter is that it’s an unregulated industry. So pretty much anything goes. Really, the most important thing that you can do as a consumer is look at the laboratory test results before you purchase a product. You go look at the laboratory tests result for the particular batch, the batch from which the product was made because every batch has different amount of CBD and THC. With the amount of the CBD on a laboratory test result, you want to look at the total amount of CBD and with the amount of THC, you want to ensure that it’s less than .20% which is the legal requirement. That’s what I’m going to tell you based on that. Honestly, I don’t rely on any of the marking, on any of the labelling. If I have to judge a product, the first thing that I ask for are the laboratory test results. The fact that for that particular batch one of the things I’m looking at is the total amount of CBD and the amount of THC. Let’s see here. This next question is actually a really good question. “My husband is a DOT driver. He would like to try for anxiety but is concerned it would show up in a drug test on the same spectrum THC/marijuana does? Is this true? Does having higher grades of CBD matter with this? Thank you.” Here’s how I want you to think of it. The difference between hemp and marijuana comes down to the amount of THC. By law, hemp has less than .3% THC. Marijuana has more than .3% THC. They both have THC. There a greater likelihood of the THC being detected with the marijuana product but there’s less of a likelihood but there’s still likelihood of the THC being detected with a hemp product. One of things I want to touch on here are ice split CBD oils. The general perception is that, they just take out the CBD from the hemp plant and they do but this is done using a series of chemical process. The types of chemical that they’re using are pentane, hexane. One of the drawback of these is that you don’t know how much of these potentially toxic chemicals get left behind. No one’s testing for them and you certainly don’t want toxic levels of pentane or hexane on your body. At the very least, it can cause a lot of inflammation. That’s one of the drawback of the ice split CBD oils. It’s usually ice split CBD oils that have typically little to no THC in them. It can even more significantly reduce the likelihood of the THC showing up. However, that’s not to say that there have been products on the market that have been marketed as ice split CBD oils which are otherwise known as pure CBD oils but when lo and behold when people get drug tested there has been THC that’s shown up. Again, what I would recommend is go based on laboratory test results. If you’re going to purchase an ice spilt CBD oil, what you need to specifically look for are amounts of residual solvents and you want to make sure that they’re non-toxic. That the solvents that were used to extract just the CBD have been cleaned out of that final product.
[01:01:04] Ashley James: Got it. That makes a lot of sense. You don’t want those solvents and chemicals in your tincture that’s for sure. I know that you sell a CBD. How do you ensure that it is clean? Is your CBD that you sell going to show up in a drug test?
[01:01:29] Rachna Patel: Yes. I drive my farmer crazy. It’s what I do. Basically the way it works is that, I don’t bottle up a product until I approve of the laboratory test results. There’s a couple different things that I check for. Number one are the amounts of CBD and THC. Now that particular product that I’ve created, it has less than .3% THC. It’s what’s known as the full spectrum CBD oil, which basically means you’re getting the full spectrum of cannabinoids that are in the plant. It’s not just the CBD. Yes, the THC can be detected with a line of product that I’m selling. In addition to testing from the amount of CBD and the amount of THC, I’m also testing for pesticide levels. Two pesticides in particular that you absolutely want to make sure your CBD oil has been tested for is bifenazate and myclobutanil. These are the most commonly used pesticides on hemp plants. Again, it’s an unregulated industry so there’s no control over what can and cannot be used in terms of pesticide in hemp plants. The other thing is, I also test for fungus and bacteria this is because this is especially important in people with compromised immune system. This can include anybody who’s undergoing chemotherapy for cancer for instance. Anybody who’s HIV-AIDS, anybody who’s had an organ transplant but also for people who have auto-immune conditions and are on drugs that suppress the immune system. Basically, a hemp is a plant. It’s just like romaine lettuce. It can have e-coli, it can have salmonella. It can even have a fungus known as Aspergillus. The people who are most vulnerable to these bugs are the people who has compromised immune system. That’s another thing I make sure of. The other thing is heavy metals. This is important because the hemp plant and even the marijuana plant, they’re known as bio-accumulators. They just soak up heavy metals in their environment. Those heavy metals can seep into your CBD oils. They have toxic levels of lead for instance found in CBD oils. Now, before heavy metals in particular that you want to make sure your CBD oil has been tested for include arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury. Then finally the other thing is which I touched on before are residual solvents. There’s unsafe solvents which I touched on and they fall under the category of hydrocarbons. We’re talking about things like pentane, hexane, butane, propane and if some of these chemicals sounds familiar it’s because they’re used for everyday things. Like propane for instance, is used to fire up your barbeque grill. Butane is what’s in lighter fluid. Any of these chemicals are used, like I said they’re more commonly used in ice split CBD oils, we want to make sure there’s none toxic levels left behind. They’ve been cleaned out. Now the safer solvents on the market that are being used more and more, carbon dioxide, CO2, the gas that we breathe in and out everyday. Also, alcohol. Those are the safer solvents that are used to make CBD oils. Those five things at a minimum, when I was creating my line of CBD oils I was asking farmers all sorts of questions like what sort of growing you are using. Where are hemp plants being grown? For me, I wanted to ensure that they’re grown in the United States specifically in Colorado because that’s the one state where there’s some control in terms of regulation on the production and cultivation of hemp. There’s a variety of different factors but these five that I walked you through you especially want to make sure with any brand of CBD that you’re buying.
[01:05:49] Ashley James: I’ve heard maybe you can clarify that, I know with medical marijuana there’s indica and sativa. They’re these different sort of strains of it, that are instead of thinking of it as one plant, we think of it like mushrooms where there’s shitake mushrooms and reishi mushrooms. Many different kinds of mushrooms and each can have a different medicinal quality to it. Same with the cannabis and the hemp plant that they have sort of different strains that provide different benefits. Is that true with hemp as it is with cannabis? Is there like a sativa or indica of hemp to get different kinds of THC? Or sorry, different kinds of CBD?
[01:06:40] Rachna Patel: Yes, here’s what I would tell you. I don’t actually go by the names of different strains, indica or sativa, I don’t care about all that. As a doctor, what I care about is objective data. All I care about are the amounts of THC and CBD. When you’re looking at marijuana products, what you want to look at is the amount of CBD relative to THC or the amount of THC relative to CBD. Plain and simple. When it comes to hemp-based products, you’re looking at the total amount of CBD. Number one, you’re making sure that the amount of THC is less than that .3%. Then you’re going to look at the amount of CBD and look at what the total strength is in that one ounce. Remember, you want to compare equivalent amounts. An ounce to an ounce. Not an ounce to 2 ounces for instance. I’ve mentioned this before but I want to emphasize it again, typically what you’re going to find in the market is anywhere from 250mg of CBD to a 100mg of CBD in a one ounce bottle. When it comes at hemp-based products you’re looking at strengths. More is not always better. Like I mentioned before, optimal is what you’re aiming for. The strength that’s right for you. Just to give you an example that relatable, lets’ take ibuprofen. Ibuprofen is used for headaches oftentimes. You have the person where they come in 200mg tablets, you have the person where 200mg does the job of reliving their headache but then you will have other patients that’ll need hundreds of milligrams that comes in the form of prescription strength to help relieve their headache. The person where 200mg does it of ibuprofen, you’re not going to have to take hundreds of milligrams to help relieve your pain. Same thing with CBD, for one person the 250mg strength does the job. You don’t need to go all the way to the other end of the thousand milligrams to relieve whatever symptom you’re experiencing. Does that help in terms of – so it’s not strains but it’s strength of CBD that you’re looking at.
[01:08:59] Ashley James: Don’t be worried about the strain of the plant, we‘re just looking at the amount of CBD. Your CBD oil is whole plant. Meaning it’s whole plant extract so there’s actually more than just CBD in there? There’s terpenes. I don’t even know these words but do you ever look into sort of the medicinal benefits of the other compounds that come from the hemp plant?
[01:19:026] Rachna Patel: Here’s the interesting thing with terpenes. Terpenes were highly in volatile compounds, that why whenever you’re near a lemon grove, what you’re smelling is lemony floating around in the air. When you’re near pine trees, you’re smelling the piney that’s floating around in the air. They’re highly volatile compounds and when CBD oils are made the heat process is high enough where these chemical evaporate. Oftentimes really what’s going on with the manufacturing process is that these terpenes are added back in after the CBD oil was made. Finally, laboratory testing goes through several phases. One, you test the plant. Second, you test the extract. Third, you test the final CBD oil. Let me simplify this for you. General perception is that it’s just the CBD extracted in the oil like the kitchen grade oil, the coconut oil or the olive oil. That’s not the case, what’s going on is that the CBD is extracted in the solvent. One of the solvents that I’ve mentioned, CO2, ethanol are one of the hydrocarbons and then once it’s extracted in that then it’s being mixed up in the oil. The plant is tested because if the plant is not good like if it’s infested with fungus, e-coli, salmonella then you can’t use it. Then the extract is tested because you want to know, make sure that in the heating process you’re getting the right amounts of CBD and THC. Finally, once it’s dissolved in the oil, you’re testing it again for amounts of CBD and amounts of THC as well. Once the CBD oil is made, put into that oil then typically the terpenes are added back in. You can buy terpenes online in powder form and it’s mixed back in. That’s what’s typically what happens. It’s interesting because there’s research done on this too where they just took a little bud of marijuana because marijuana has terpenes as well. They put it in boiling water. They test it for terpenes before they boil it and then after they boil it most of the terpenes disappear after putting it in boiling water. Like I said, they’re highly volatile compounds and they just very easily, any amount of heat that touches them they’re sort of are in the air.
[01:12:12] Ashley James: What are their medicinal benefits?
[01:12:013] Rachna Patel: The main medicinal benefits as far as I know come for the cannabinoids themselves because that’s what’s interacting with the cannabinoids system. The terpenes could be interacting with other systems in the body but the two combined I haven’t found much in a way of research so it’s difficult for me to say.
[01:12:37] Ashley James: You know what I found really interesting about CBD is that if someone smoke too much pot and they’re too high that they can use CBD to bring them down really quick because the CBD floods the receptors and blocks the THC receptors. If someone did too much pot like maybe medical marijuana patient for the first time and they’re going through chemotherapy or they’re in a lot of pain and they’re looking to relieve themselves and they’re okay with getting high because whenever they’re at home. Then they feel too high maybe they get paranoid or scared if they take some CBD then all of a sudden will bring them back to reality much faster. We don’t have that with alcohol. The old saying is drink some coffee but now you’re just drunk and awake. It doesn’t actually speed up your liver and metabolize the alcohol much faster. When you drink, you’re just going to be drunk for the next four hours. If you’re high, you can just be high for the next four hours but with CBD it can actually can bring people down faster. I thought that was really interesting. I did not know that when I was younger and might have benefit from that information. [Laughter]
[01:13:53] Rachna Patel: Yes, all the college students, some high school students. Yes, probably. [Crosstalk]
[01:13:57] Ashley James: I don’t know if it’s anecdotal but I heard that EMTs will have CBD in their kit to help patients who are – the people they’re helping that might have eaten too many pot brownies then called 911. Have you heard of that? That EMTs would travel in their ambulance with CBD oil?
[01:14:23] Rachna Patel: I have not actually heard of that. Do you know which country this is in? [Crosstalk]
[01:14:26] Ashley James: It was anecdotal. I don’t know If it’s true or not. It’ll really be interesting to find out but I heard that because CBD is so effective at bringing people down that EMTs have been using it. I don’t know if it’s true or not but it’s interesting to consider that it has that effect. Now, you said that during the testing that three times you test. You’re testing at the farm basically you take the plant itself and have it tested. You’re testing for mold, the CBD level of the plant and pesticides, is that correct?
[01:15:03] Rachna Patel: Yes. You’re testing for the bugs, the pesticides and also you’re testing for the amount of CBD and THC. Actually, at that point the amount of CBD and THC does not really matter. Not the CBD but the THC. You want to make sure it’s less than a certain amount. During the extraction process based on the heeding, you can actually use a heeding process to change the amounts of the CBD and the THC.
[01:15:37] Ashley James: Okay, so that’s not as important. The first time you test, it’s more about whether this plant is even worth taking it to the factory to make it into a tincture, to make it into medicine. You want to make sure there’s no mold, you want to make sure there’s no pesticides or that they’re below the limit that you’re looking for. Then after you had it made in the lab is when you test it again for the CBD levels and the THC levels and then you said there’s a third time you test it, can you clarify that?
[01:16:12] Rachna Patel: Yes. Just to go through the whole process, you’re testing the plant mainly for things like pesticides, fungus and bacteria and heavy metals. Then you’re going to extract mainly for the amounts of CBD and THC. Lastly, you’re going to test the final product for amounts of CBD and THC and then also like residual solvents, heavy metals, pesticides and then you don’t really have to do fungus and bacteria at that point. Those are the main things that you’re testing for at the third stage of it. Now, this is how I do it. Ideally, how it should be done but is this how everyone does it? No, because again, there’s no regulations in the industry. I just tend to be very, very tight and use the knowledge that I have very strictly but yes, this is how I’ve worked with my farmer and done it.
[01:17:11] Ashley James: Very cool. A question just came in from Jodi. They say, “I’ve been seeing citrus forms of CBD with zero THC. How well do these work? If you have zero THC in your body, how well is it going to react with your system? Or what would you do when you’re body builds up a tolerance?” There’s some few questions in there. One is, what are citrus forms of CBD?
[01:17:41] Rachna Patel: I don’t know actually. I was going to ask you the same question.
[01:17:44] Ashley James: Maybe it’s the edibles or maybe it’s like citrus flavored tincture. Okay, they say it has zero THC, which means the manufacturer had to have used all those solvents to remove it. How well do this work? In your experience, how well do the ones that have solvents that have removed THC compared to the whole plant CBD?
[01:18:12] Rachna Patel: It’s going to depend on the symptoms that you’re experiencing, right? If it’s a condition that really doesn’t necessitate any amount of THC and really is benefited by high amounts of CBD then it’s going to benefit you but if there something where you do need some amount of THC, then it’s not going to benefit you. It really depends on the combination of symptoms that you have. As in the example of joint pain that I’ve gave you, if you have mild joint pain for arthritis then yes, it could help but anything more than that marches severe then in all likelihood it’s probably not going to help. What would do when your body builds up a tolerance? You scale back, that’s pretty much the simple solution to it
[01:19:01] Ashley James: Got it. Very cool. Yes, a friend once told me that he found – he was doing medical marijuana and he found that when he added CBD that he needed to do less medical marijuana to get the same results. He found it actually made his body seem more efficient with it. Have you heard of that?
[01:19:22] Rachna Patel: Yes. If you think about if that’s a product that has high amounts of THC, it still does have some amount of CBD and if your body is benefiting for the CBD you’re going to have to use more of it to accumulate more of the CBD. The smaller amount of CBD you’re going to have to take more of in order to accumulate some of that but then if you’re adding the CBD, then you’re not going to have to take much of the high THC low CBD product. Does this make any sense? Hopefully, I don’t confuse you.
[01:19:59] Ashley James: I think so.
[01:20:00] Rachna Patel: Let’s put numbers to it. You’re using a marijuana product that has 10mg of THC and only 2mg of CBD. Say, your body really needs 10mg of CBD for it to be effective. You’re going to have to take a lot of that to accumulate 10mg but if you add in a CBD product that has 8mg of CBD in it and then you add it with the 2mg that’s already there, you’re obviously not going to need a much as the other product.
[01:20:35] Ashley James: Yes. That makes sense because what the body actually was really benefitting from as what you’re saying is, when people use medical marijuana what they’re really benefiting from is the CBD in the medical marijuana plant.
[01:20:50] Rachna Patel: Right, for certain conditions. If that’s what you’re body really needs, it’s going to keep on asking for more until it gets enough but if you give it the high CBD product that has the right amount then it’s not going to ask for more. It’s going to do the job.
[01:21:07] Ashley James: I know someone. Actually, I think I know of a few people because I heard this more than once but I know of someone. I’ve watched them do it, they use CBD, pure CBD to quit using marijuana. That they have been using it recreationally and they found that they use it for four years non-stop every day and every time they want to stop, they didn’t want to stop. They felt as if there was an addiction there. I know it doesn’t have the same, it’s all addictive like cigarettes or heroine I get it but for people who are doing it every day, they’re seeing some relief in their own life especially if they have anxiety and when they go to stop, they feel compelled to keep doing it. I’ve talked to people who feel like medical marijuana has that addictive nature for some people just like chocolate bonbons would. It can be helpful but it also some people can find that they don’t want to quit. I know someone, watched them do it where they used the CBD extract and it helped them to want to quit. They used it and obviously had to do the work so they need to face life, face life sober. But that’s when they used the CBD that it brought on all the same positive benefits like the lower anxiety, the better sleep, all that. They found it much easier to not feel like they wanted pot anymore so it gave them a relief from the craving. Have you ever heard people using CBD to help quit using marijuana as a recreational drug?
[01:22:58] Rachna Patel: Yes. I want to put it into context here. Sounds like the person you’re talking about over did marijuana use.
[01:23:10] Ashley James: Right, yes.
[01:23:11] Rachna Patel: Quite a bit. Just like any other drug if you abuse it, yes, there’s potential for addiction. That’s important to know. Chemically speaking, CBD is what’s known as an inhibitor of THC. The CB1 receptor that I was talking about, CBD attaches to it, it changes the shape of the place where THC attaches so the body no longer gets any sort of effect from the THC anymore. That is potentially something that could be going on in terms of reducing the effect of the THC and therefore the need for it as well.
[01:24:00] Ashley James: Very interesting. Okay. Anything else that you want to make sure that we cover?
[01:24:06] Rachna Patel: No, we covered quite a bit. I would say that for those who want more information, I am constantly answering questions on my YouTube channel. Actually, starting next week what I’m going to do is I going to try to go live everyday on the various different platforms and just answer questions for people because people want answers. They can post their questions on YouTube, on any of my social media platforms, on Facebook. I’ll select them because I do get a lot of questions so I’ll select them and try to answer them. There’s more information on my book as well. Some of the things that I mentioned, I go into it in a lot more depth in the book and that’s available on Amazon. It’s titled “The CBD oil solution” and then subtitle is, “Treat chronic pain, insomnia and more without the high.”
[01:25:06] Ashley James: Got it. I’m going to make sure that the links to everything that you do is in the show notes of today’s podcast to learntruehealth.com. I am currently on your website and looking at your hemp oil and the CBD oil solution book, we’ll make sure the link to that is also in the show notes. People can join your email list and immediately give some great information. Then of course follow you on Facebook. You and I have been, I’ve been following you on Facebook since episode 49 when you’re first on the show and I see you posting all the time and on Instagram I see you posting all the time pictures of lectures that you’re giving and slides and all kinds of interesting stories as you navigate this world educating people on the benefits of CBD. It’s been a lot of fun actually following you and seeing how you progress and how you’ve been really shining a light on this great information because if we can use CBD instead of or use it to reduce pain medication. Right now, in opioid epidemic that we’re in, if we can use anything natural just to help people either prevent ever needing to get opioids or help them to get off of it or help them to reduce it. All of that is a benefit. Just like my experience. Sitting here, I am so grateful I’m not in pain right now. Sitting here, like I said I injured my back. I’m just thinking about I would’ve absolutely taken over the counter drugs or prescription drug had that been offered to me if I didn’t know of the benefits of using hemp for pain reduction. It works which is great.
[01:27:05] Rachna Patel: I would say that if we’re going to talk about the opioid epidemic in the context of the solution when I think CBD oil is that –
[01:27:17] Ashley James: Absolutely. Well, you’ve been helping people both in a clinical setting one on one as with doctor-patient experience. Consulting people around the world so you’ve had that experience of working with people, helping them to use CBD and use medical marijuana to get off of drugs, the help of prescription medications to lower prescription medications. Also, with their medications. You’ve actually seen hundreds of people be successful using these methods. Do you have any success stories that you would like to share specifically that comes to mind in terms of using CBD and getting off of pain medication or reducing pain medication?
[01:28:03] Rachna Patel: So many, thousands of stories but specifically what comes to mind are my patients with fibromyalgia because that’s a condition that tends to be very resistant to conventional medications. These patients, the medications are just piled up on top of them to that point where they taking like essentially a cocktail of prescription meds. A lot of times they’ll go back to their doctors and complain that, “This isn’t working” or “That isn’t working”. These patients they’re dismissed that they’re told that it’s all in your head. The pain that you’re experiencing is in your head. When these patients have come to me, I put them on a regimen of CBD and or THC. They’re in tears. They’re saying “You know doctor Patel, nobody’s believed me. For the longest time I’ve been trying drug upon drug upon drug and now I’m at a point where I can manage my pain with just the form of cannabis that I’m using”. I think that’s tremendous. Both on the patients end and on my end to be able to witness that. To be actually be able to solve someone’s problem from my end but for the patient to experience that sort of relief because they’re prisoners of their medications. Medications that aren’t working for them and now they’re using these medication on an as-needed basis to help manage their pain. It’s a lot of freedom that comes with it.
[01:29:46] Ashley James: Absolutely. I’m so excited to hear that. That’s phenomenal. Well, I’ll continue to look forward to learning more from you, following you on Facebook, watching your live Facebook and Instagram videos, seeing all the questions come out of the woodwork and seeing what happen in this industry over the next few years. Like I said, we’re pioneers. It’s all just starting. It’s all just starting out since it’s legal now and we can see the studies start to come in and the result starts to come in terms of all the benefits that CBD can provide us. It’s very exciting. Now I do have a question, would like to participate, I can edit this out if not but would you like to participate in providing something like a drawing for the Facebook group?
[01:30:44] Rachna Patel: Yes. We could do a free drawing for a book. What I can do is I could put up a post. Do you have a group? I think you have the group, don’t you? Facebook group?
[01:30:53] Ashley James: Yes. Learn True Health Facebook group.
[01:30:56] Rachna Patel: Yes. I think I’m actually a part of it. What I can do is out a post, I’ll share a post through my page and that can just be shared. It’s worked for me before but basically whoever shares it, likes it, tags other people will end up running a book.
[01:31:17] Ashley James: Awesome. That’ll be great. Normally, I do the post in the Facebook group but you can do the post. It’s totally fine. So listeners just jump in to the Facebook group after listening to this. Go to Learn True Health in Facebook, find the group or you can go to learntruehealth.com/group that’ll redirect you to the group. Look for Doctor Patel’s post and we’ll have it up for about a week after we publish this episode and comment in order to enter to win her book, to win it for free.
[01:31:51] Rachna Patel: Okay. Awesome.
[01:31:52] Ashley James: All right. Fantastic. It’s been wonderful having you back on the show. Is there anything that you would like to say to wrap up today’s interview or anything left unsaid?
[01:32:03] Rachna Patel: No. I would just tell your listeners just to tune in on my YouTube channel and I’ll continue to answer more questions on there.
[01:32:10] Ashley James: All right. Fantastic. Well, it’s been great having you back on the show.
[01:32:14] Rachna Patel: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Hello, true health seeker. Have you ever thought about becoming a health coach? Do you love learning about nutrition and how we can shift our lifestyle and our diet so that we can gain optimal health and happiness and longevity? Do you love helping your friends and family to solve their health problems and figure out what they can do to eat healthier? Are you interested in becoming someone who can grow their own business, support people in their success? Do you love helping people? You might be the perfect candidate to become a health coach. I highly recommend checking out the Institute for Integrated Nutrition. I just spent the last year in their health-coaching sort of vacation program and it really blew me away. It was so amazing. I learned over a hundred dietary theories. I learned all about nutrition but from the standpoint on how we can help people to shift their life, to shift their lifestyle to gain true holistic health. I definitely recommend you check them out. You can google Institute for Integrated Nutrition or IIN, or give them a call or you can go to learntruehealth.com/coach and you can receive a free module of their training. So check it out and see if it’s something that you’d be interested in. Be sure to mention my name, Ashley James and the Learn True Health podcast because I made a deal with them that they would give you the best price possible. I highly recommend checking it out. It really changed my life to be in their program. I’m such a big advocate that I wanted to spread this information. We need more health coaches. In fact, health coaching is the largest growing career right now in the health field. So many health coaches are getting in and helping people because you can work in chiropractic offices, doctor’s offices, you can work in hospitals. You can work online through Skype and help people around the world. You can become an author. You can go into the school system and help with your local schools shift their programs to help children be healthier. You can go into senior centers and help them to shift their diet and lifestyle to best support them and their success and their health goals. There’s so many different available options for you when you become a certified health coach. So check out IIN. Check out the Institute for Integrated Nutrition. Mention my name. Get the best deal. Give them a call and they’ll give you lots of free information and help you to see if this is the right move for you. Classes are starting soon. The next round of classes are starting at the end of the month, so you’re going to want to call them now and check it out. If you know anyone in your life who would be an amazing coach, please tell them about it. Being a health coach is so rewarding and you get to help so many people.
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Ashley James
Health Coach, Podcast Creator, Homeschooling Mom, Passionate About God & Healing
Ashley James is a Holistic Health Coach, Podcaster, Rapid Anxiety Cessation Expert, and avid Whole Food Plant-Based Home Chef. Since 2005 Ashley has worked with clients to transform their lives as a Master Practitioner and Trainer of Neuro-linguistic Programming.
Her health struggles led her to study under the world’s top holistic doctors, where she reversed her type 2 diabetes, PCOS, infertility, chronic infections, and debilitating adrenal fatigue.
In 2016, Ashley launched her podcast Learn True Health with Ashley James to spread the TRUTH about health and healing. You no longer need to suffer; your body CAN and WILL heal itself when we give it what it needs and stop what is harming it!
The Learn True Health Podcast has been celebrated as one of the top holistic health shows today because of Ashley’s passion for extracting the right information from leading experts and doctors of holistic health and Naturopathic medicine
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