Anxiety is natural, we all experience it, and if you dont, maybe you should get some professional help! However, what is too much anxiety? When does it become a disorder or just something that you can handle with a little help?
Anxiety disorders are very common mental disorders in the United States, and have been increasing over time. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, they affect almost 20% of the adult population in the US. The symptoms of anxiety disorder are often debilitating and are closely related to panic disorders as well.
Many people have turned to hemp products and found that they can often help with some forms of anxiety symptoms. However, there are a lot of cannabinoids on the market, and it can be difficult to figure out what may work best for you.
One of the most recent discoveries in the hemp field are the health benefits of cannabidiolic acid (CBDA). CBDA is a natural cannabinoid found in the cannabis plant, and numerous research teams have found that it can have anti-anxiety effects in in multiple pre clinical trials.
Read on as we delve down on how CBDA works and how many people are using it as an alternative therapy for anxiety and stress.
Article Highlights
- Anxiety disorders are a group of mental health conditions that involve excessive and persistent fear or worry that interferes with daily activities.
- CBDA is the precursor form of CBD (cannabidiol) and while it has some of the same properties and benefits, new discoveries show it may be a superior alternative.
- In addition to balancing the endocannabinoid system, CBDA also has unique properties in the serotonin system that may help alleviate symptoms of some anxiety and stress.
What is Anxiety Disorder
According to the American Psychiatric Association, anxiety disorders are a group of mental health conditions. It usually involves excessive and persistent fear or worry that interferes with daily activities. Anxiety disorders can occur due to genetic and environmental factors. Traumatic events can also contribute to the occurrence of this condition.People with anxiety disorders may experience intense fear even when there is no actual danger present. They may also experience this in response to situations that others may not find threatening. This can include social situations, such as speaking in public or meeting new people, even a change in routine daily activities. Morning anxiety is common as well, and can arise from poor sleep.
Anxiety disorders can range from generalized anxiety disorder, which involves persistent and excessive worry about a range of issues, to specific phobias, which involve intense and irrational fear of specific objects or situations. Treatment for anxiety disorders typically includes therapy, medication, or a combination of both.
How do you know if your anxiety is excessive? Here are some common symptoms:
- Hair loss: While not always common, anxiety causes hair loss in some people when it becomes chronic.
- High blood pressure: Changes in your cardiovascular system are common in people with chronic stress and anxiety
- Irritability: You probably see it in other people who are anxious, but sometimes its hard to see it in yourself since it can slowly build up over time.
- Poor sleep: Long term anxiety is often associated with poor sleep, which has a negative feedback when you are also always tired.
What is CBDA?
CBDA is a raw form of CBD (cannabidiol), but it's not as well-known as CBD. However, it has some of the same properties and benefits in treating some medical conditions - if not more.
CBDA is short for cannabidiolic acid. This compound is a non-psychoactive cannabinoid that's found abundantly in live cannabis plants. Similar to CBD, CBDA interacts with the body's endocannabiniod system through the various receptors found throughout the body.
This means that CBDA helps to balance the body's endocannabinoid system. It promotes many therapeutic physiologic processes, such as reducing inflammation and alleviating anxiety.
Unique CBDA properties
In addition to working with the endocannabinoid system, CBDA also has some unique properties that make it the most powerful cannabinoid to date:
- Superior absorption - CBDA is absorbed between 450% and 1000% better than CBD.
- Serotonin system - CBDA was recently found to activate a serotonin receptor termed 5HT1A. To date, many researchers have connected serotonin and mood, which is why it is a common target of many SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors).
- Anti inflammatory - multiple research labs have reported that CBDA could inhibit the critical pro inflammatory enzyme COX 2 (cyclooxygenase 2). These are important findings since this is a critical target of many nonsteroidal anti inflammatory drugs (ibuprofen etc).
How CBDA May Help Relieve Symptoms of Anxiety
CBDA brings balance to the endocannabinoid system (ECS) but also has many unique properties itself not found in conventional CBD.The endocannabinoid system is a broad term that encompasses the many different cell surface receptors throughout the body that can be activated by endocannabinoids and cannabinoids from cannabis. What does the ECS do?
The ECS is involved in a lot:
- Mood - many of the ECS receptors are in the brain and help regulate the different properties of your mental health.
- Inflammation - there are many types of immune cells that regulate inflammation, and most of them have ECS receptors and functions that can be targeted by cannabinoids.
- Pain - pain is often a combination of underlying things, such as swelling from inflammation that puts pressure on nerves. All these cells involved have involvement from the ECS, whether its immune cells, cardiovascular cells, or the neighboring nerve cells that report the pain.
Research on CBDA and Anxiety
There are now many pre clinical studies have been conducted that report positive effects from CBDA on anxiety. Many consumers of the new CBDA oil products also report substantial benefits to their mood and overall well being.Much of the difficulty now lies in understanding why CBDA may be having these effects:
- Changes in the ECS and specifically CB2 receptors in the brain have long been associated with anxiety disorders and anxiety like symptoms.
- Unique activities of CBDA include activation of TRPV1 (transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 1), which has a long history in the literature for being involved in anxiety behaviors.
- New research is finding that COX 2 may be directly involved in mental health and mood, outside of its role in neuroinflammation. We now know that CBDA inhibits the activity and production of COX 2, and this may be how it exerts its anti anxiety effects.
CBDA and Anxiety: The Potential Benefits of the Hemp Plant
CBDA (cannabidiolic acid) has the potential to provide various benefits for anxiety sufferers, including:
Reduced Anxiety Symptoms
For a while, CBD from the hemp flower has been widely used as an alternative method to help with anxiety symptoms. However, many consumers and researchers have found they need much higher amounts of CBD to get significant results.
With the recent discoveries in the CBDA field, we can now get similar benefits as CBD, but with much lower doses (50mg CBDA is equal to 250mg of CBD).
The additional unique properties of CBDA for serotonin and inflammation are leading to enhanced mood benefits that many now enjoy.
Improved Sleep Quality
CBDA can help you get a better night's sleep. This is through reducing anxiety which is often responsible for insomnia. When you're feeling anxious, your body releases stress hormones. These hormones interfere with your ability to fall asleep. By taking CBDA before bedtime, you'll start to notice an improvement in your sleep quality within a few days.
CBDA also helps people who struggle with insomnia. People who suffer from insomnia fear they are having trouble relaxing their minds. Those who are prone to anxiety tend to have racing thoughts. These make it difficult for them to shut off their minds and drift off into sleep. CBDA helps calm these racing thoughts so you can get a good night's rest.
Relieve Inflammation
CBDA has been shown to treat inflammation in the brain. In which this inflammation can cause anxiety. Since brain inflammation is a major cause of anxiety symptoms, treating it can help manage anxiety better. Current research also revealed that CBDA has been shown to contain components found in nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
Reduced Nausea
Nausea that often comes with anxiety can be a huge problem for many individuals. As its result, they may be more reluctant to take their medications. There is evidence that nausea and vomiting can be relieved by the potent effects of cannabidiol, cannabidiolic acid, and cannabidiolic acid methyl ester found in CBDA. In one study, it was found to decrease nausea in animals and humans by increasing appetite and reducing gastric emptying time.
Non-Psychoactive Benefits
CBDA is a non-psychoactive cannabinoid. It is therefore not responsible to get the high effect that other cannabinoids, like THC, can cause.
Potential Alternative to Traditional Medications
Due to research on the potential side effects of common anxiety medications, many people are looking for alternative solutions. CBDA is a phytocannabinoid that could potentially offer relief from anxiety symptoms. It alleviates the condition without the same risks as other drugs.
However, it's worth noting that certain medications may work better for certain types of anxiety disorders according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Therefore, you should work closely with your doctor to determine which medicine is best for you.
Possible Side Effects and Precautions to Consider
CBDA is generally considered safe and effective. However, like all compounds taken at higher doses there are potential side effects to consider before using CBDA. Some of these include:- Fatigue: Fatigue is a common side effect of this medication. When taking CBDA, you may experience tiredness or drowsiness. While uncommon, do not take CBDA for the first time and attempt to drive. Make sure you know how you feel before operating a vehicle.
- Dry Mouth: Dry mouth is an uncommon side effect, and only experienced in a minority of CBDA or CBD users.
- Interaction with Other Medications: There are no clinical studied on CBDA and drug-drug interactions, but there are for CBD. We know that with higher doses (1000mg-2000mg) of CBD in epileptic patients, they can have interactions with other drugs causing liver enzymes to be elevated. Check with your doctor if you are taking higher doses of CBDA and are on other medications.
- Lack of Regulation: Because CBDA is still relatively new, you want to make sure the product you buy has been tested by a certified third party lab and shows a certificate of analysis. These tests should cover potency, pesticides, heavy metals, solvents, and microbials. Natural Dos uses SC Labs, which is ISO 17025 certified, for every product before it goes to market.
- Not Suitable for Everyone: CBDA is not suitable for everyone, and can only be sold to individuals over the age of 18. CBDA is not recommended for pregnant women, or women trying to become pregnant. If you have any questions or concerns about the safety of CBD oil, talk to your doctor before using it.
How to Use CBDA for Anxiety
There are many ways to get the health benefits of CBDA, and some are better than others depending on what you are trying to get out of your product. But it can be hard to know where to start when it comes to using CBDA for anxiety, especially because there are so many types of products on the market. Here's a quick rundown:
Raw CBDA Oil
This is typically a crude hemp oil extract that has not been purified, and easily recognized by its dark green or black looking color. Make sure to check the CoA before buying since some processors decarboxylate the crude before selling.
CBDA Vape Oil
CBDA vape oil is made by mixing the purified CBDA oil and terpenes into an e-liquid typically with propylene glycol or vegetable glycerin. You will not get the benefits of CBDA in this form since it will decarboxylate the CBDA into CBD as it is heated.
CBDA Gummies
Hemp gummies are very popular right now, and a great way to get CBDA that works for your anxiety. Natural Dos CBDA gummies come in 30mg doses, and are readily absorbed and with a flavorful tropical taste.
CBDA Tinctures
Tinctures are made by mixing the purified CBDA oil with a carrier oil, which is usually MCT oil form coconut or hemp seed oil. At Natural Dos, we use our Natural Spectrum CBDA oil with organic coconut MCT oil and natural flavor extract from Peppermint or Orange Zest.
Dosage Recommendations for Anxiety Relief
There are no hard and fast rules in CBDA dosage. However, we recommend starting with a low dose and then ramping up slowly. Start with 20 mg to 30 mg per day. Then, increase the dose by 5 mg every few days until you get the effects you are looking for.
If you're looking for relief from acute anxiety, you take 50-100 mg of CBDA at once—but only if your symptoms are severe enough to warrant such a high dose. If your symptoms aren't too bad, try taking up to low doses of 20-40 mg of CBDA.
If you're looking for long-term relief from chronic anxiety or panic attacks, start with 50 mg of CBDA per day. You can increase the dosage by 5-10 mg each week until your symptoms begin to improve.
Keep in mind that everyone is different and the effect varies from person to person. Hence, it may take longer for some people while quicker for others. Also important to record how you feel, journaling can help keep track of subtle changes, but is also therapeutic itself.
Takeaways
In conclusion, CBDA has shown potential as a safe and effective alternative method to help with anxiety symptoms. Many consumers are finding that this is the best way to get the mental health benefits from hemp cannabinoids.We believe that CBDA and acidic cannabinoids are the next evolution in hemp based products due to their high absorption and unique targets inside and outside the endocannabinoid system.
While CBDA is generally safe at low to moderate doses, it is important to consider potential side effects with your healthcare provider if you are on multiple medications or have a history of liver complications.