CBD FOR CHRONIC PAIN?

CBD treats neuropathic pain like Cinderella’s foot fit the magic shoe—a blissful, but unexpected, union. Neuropathic pain is largely created and sustained due to the glutamenergic system, which is a major excitatory neuronal pathway. Glutamate is the neurotransmitter that is responsible for turning neurons on, which is great, sometimes.

Inflammatory pain is related to neuropathic pain, except it is not limited to neurons. Examples of inflammatory pain include all types of arthritis, a few autoimmune diseases such as Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis, and simple conditions like headaches, cramps, muscle aches, and pains.

 

CBD inhibits glutamate release and other inflammatory agents, which makes it ‘neuroprotective’ and excellent at dulling the prickling, tingling and burning sensations that neuropathic pain is characterized for. CBD can be used as a supplement to help manage neuropathic pain

 

 

Pain due to inflammation is not as easily characterized as other types of pain, mostly because its origins of pain vary and so does the experience. On the bright side, CBD is good at calming inflammation, no matter what the root cause.

The anti-inflammatory mechanism of cannabidiol is unique to cannabis. It doesn’t work like other anti-inflammatory drugs by inhibiting COX-1 and COX-2 receptors, which means you don’t run the risk of developing gastrointestinal ulcers or heart attacks, hooray! Some studies have shown that cannabinoids (CBD and THC) are up to twenty times more potent anti-inflammatory agents when compared to NSAIDs (eg. ibuprofen).