CBD oil

Treating Alzheimer’s With CBD Oil

With an estimated 47 million seniors living with dementia worldwide and no cure or effective treatment, many people are looking for alternative modalities. Here are the basics of treating Alzheimer’s with CBD Oil.

The Problem

Increasingly, elderly folks suffer from neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Unfortunately, the standard treatment is limited to pharmaceuticals that provide only poor to moderate improvement in managing confusion, agitation and difficult behaviors and are plagued with undesirable side effects, some of them significant.

Since there is no cure and almost no one talks about prevention, patients, and caregivers have little choice but to struggle and endure for years, as best they can, in managing the difficult symptoms and challenging behaviors.

Ancient Remedies in New Times

For thousands of years, marijuana was not only legal, but an important crop among cultures throughout history, and held commercial, medicinal, and spiritual value.

In 1997, a hemp rope dating back to 26,900 BC was found in Czechoslovakia (yes, 26,900 is not a typo), making it the oldest known artifact associated with cannabis.

Cannabis use in ancient Egypt has been recorded as far back as 2,000 B.C., found on scrolls depicting medicinal plants. It was initially documented in Kemet (ancient Egypt) to treat sore eyes and cataracts.

Here are 8 of the most common uses of medicinal cannabis in ancient times:

  1. As an anesthetic.
  2. To treat insomnia.
  3. As suppositories for the treatment of hemorrhoids.
  4. In India, cannabis was extensively used for spiritual purposes, to treat nausea, diarrhea, headaches, and insomnia. It was also used it to control pain during childbirth.
  5. The Greeks found Cannabis seeds to be particularly effective in treating people suffering from tapeworms.
  6. Seizures and epilepsy. The effectiveness of CBD and cannabis together for the treatment of epilepsy and seizures is very well-documented as highly effective in controlling seizures.
  7. To treat inflammation, both internal and external.
  8. Chinese doctors used cannabis to treat a variety of poisonings, including poisoning from Vermilion, sulfur poisoning, and scorpions stings.

More recently, a growing number of medical professionals started to recommend CBD oil and/or marijuana. Both help reduce inflammation and neuronal cell death. This solution is also shown to improve mood and behavior. In fact, some residents in my care homes are currently utilizing the healing effects of CBD oil with noticeable positive results.

While this treatment may seem new and Western countries, Eastern medicine has actively used marijuana for over 4,000 years. While Europe has utilized marijuana since the 19th century.

Questions and Answers – Treating Alzheimer’s With CBD Oil

Will CBD oil or extract make me high?

No. THC is the psychoactive cannabinoid in cannabis. On the other hand, CBD extract only contains trace amounts of THC, if any at all. There are a number of excellent CBD products containing <0.3% THC, which means there is no way of getting high on CBD!

Is CBD Oil Legal?

Yes. CBD oil is legal in all 50 states and classified as a nutritional supplement.

Is hemp oil the same as medicinal cannabis oil?

Many manufacturers label their CBD products as hemp oil. Moreover, a lot of CBD products have hemp oil as the carrier base oil (some use coconut or MCT oil) which is what creates some of the confusion.

Hemp oil does contain trace amounts of CBD, normally less than 25 parts per million (ppm). Medicinal cannabis oil extracts typically contain between 3% and 30% CBD  (30,000ppm – 300,000 ppm)

What’s important is the mg (milligrams) of CBD contained in the product. If the label doesn’t say how much CBD is in it, then assume that you are simply buying plain old hemp oil and not medicinal cannabis oil or CBD extract.

How Does CBD Help Alzheimer’s Patients?

Available scientific research indicates that endocannabinoids play a role similar to that of other neurodegenerative diseases. That is, they evoke an endogenous adaptive response that counteracts both the neurochemical and inflammatory consequences of beta-amyloid protein formation, possibly the most important underlying cause of AD.

Beta-amyloid (Aβ) plaques – or clumps of protein in the brain – are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. In a healthy brain, Aβ breaks down and eliminated. In an Alzheimer’s brain, these Aβ plaques interfere with memory and cognition. Research also suggests that Aβ plaques inhibit normal cannabinoid activity in folk’s brains.

What Is The Best Dosage For Treating Alzheimer’s With CBD Oil?

This is meant to be a general guide. Since every person’s physiology and illness is unique, the response to treatment will be unique as well. I recommend that you start low and go slow, carefully evaluating any changes or improvements. CBD is widely considered safe and is virtually side effects-free, therefore you should be safe to increase your CBD dosage if you find it necessary or helpful.

To increase appetite: 2.5 milligrams of THC by mouth with 1 to 5 mg of CBD daily, preferably in the morning.

To treat chronic pain: 2.5 to 20 mg of CBD twice daily.

To treat inflammation: 30 to 200 mg CBD daily.

To treat confusion and difficult behavior: 50 to 400 mg CBD daily.

To treat epilepsy: 50 to 150 mg of CBD twice daily.

To treat movement problems (Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s, dementia): 3 to 5 mg of CBD oil per pounds of body weight daily. If you weigh 150 lbs, that would be 450 to 750 mg daily.

To treat sleep disorders and insomnia: 50 to 150 mg CBD at bedtime.

What is the Endocannabinoid System?

Cannabinoid receptors are prevalent in the brain and throughout the central and peripheral nervous system – we call it the Endocannabinoid system. So what, you ask? The significance of this is that the human body produces cannabinoid compounds just like those in the cannabis plant, that’s why we have receptors for those compounds!

Two specific receptors are identified in the brain: CB1 and CB2. The endocannabinoid system impacts mood, appetite, pain, inflammation, and memory.

How Are the CB1 and CB2 Receptors Connected to Neurodegenerative Diseases?

Cannabidiol or CBD, a compound found in cannabis, activate folk’s CB1 and CB2 receptors. When activated CB1 reduces neuronal cell death, and CB2 lessens inflammation in the brain.

 

Keywords: Cbd Oil Dementia, Cbd Oil Dosage For Dementia, Cbd Oil And Dementia, Cbd Oil Dosage For Dementia, Does Cbd Oil Help Dementia, Cbd Oil For Dementia, Cbd Oil Dosage For Dementia, Does Cbd Oil Help Dementia, Does Cbd Oil Help With Dementia

About The Author

Joseph Spada

Joseph Spada is a geriatric nurse of 33 years with extensive experience in long-term care and adult family homes. He is the Founder of Spada Care Homes and author of a #2 Bestseller, "How To Find The Best Adult Family Home Care for Your Elderly Parent" (Amazon). Joseph is also a Faculty instructor at North Seattle College, teaching the 52-hour AFH Administrator Certification.

Share your thougths