Stress

Saliva Analysis Relates to Diet, Stress, and the Endocannabinoid System

April 1, 2020 endocannabinoid system, Obesity, Stress

Biological underpinnings from psychosocial stress towards appetite and obesity during youth- research implications towards metagenomics, epigenomics and metabolomics

In Summary

A recent study has revealed how saliva analysis demonstrates the relationship between diet, stress, and the endocannabinoid system. Stress can be measured by the concentration of cortisol in saliva; an increased concentration of cortisol has been positively correlated to increased activity of the endocannabinoid system which then leads to an increase in appetite. One suggested a mechanism for this occurrence is that the increase in cortisol modulates microbes that regulate endocannabinoids which eventually leads to uncontrolled eating habits. The dysregulation of the endocannabinoid system by stress has therefore been related to obesity and is a promising target for the treatment of obesity.

The authors mention utilizing saliva as a tool to discover the cause of patients’ obesity. By determining the cause in a timely fashion, physicians may be able to recommend more accurate treatment or diet plans to bring patients’ weight back under control. Cannabinoids, in combination with stress-relieving techniques, may also provide an easier method for dropping weight than the more traditional diets that are often difficult to adhere to. Considering the obesity rates in America, especially among adolescents, looking into these alternative therapies for obesity is in the best interest of America’s national health.

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Noradrenergic depletion causes sex-specific alterations in the endocannabinoid system in the Murine prefrontal cortex

January 29, 2020 endocannabinoid system, sex-specific treatment, Stress

The Endocannabinoid System May Provide Sex-Specific Treatment Methods for Stress

In Summary

A recent study has found the receptors in the endocannabinoid system may behave differently in men and women during times of stress. This sex-specific mechanism may provide novel treatment methods for patients suffering from stress and anxiety disorders. Previous studies have shown how the endocannabinoid system and stress, ruled by norepinephrine, interact with each other, but this new information depicting the activity of the endocannabinoid during the dysregulation of norepinephrine is likely to provide evidence for sex-specific treatment of psychiatric disorders.

This study brings to light the larger issue of specific treatment methods for men and women. Clinical trials often begin by distributing the drug therapy to a small number of healthy male patients, which helps researchers determine dosing, toxicity, and the overall effect. Medications are rarely dosed based on sex despite numerous studies discovering sex-specific mechanisms in the brain. The research highlighted in this post is one of many that highlights the need for specific medications.

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Snacking Reduces Stress?

January 6, 2020 Animal Model, Stress

Snacking Causes Long Term Attention of HPA Axis Stress Responses and Enhancement of Brain FosB/delta FosB Expression in Rats

In Summary

Researchers have found that snacking or consuming palatable foods reduces the amount of perceived stress that an individual experiences. Although this is well-known to most people intuitively, and common knowledge in anecdote, the physiological explanation for this finding has not been thoroughly investigated. In this review, it is clear that food interacts with the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and stress response, including markers of neuronal plasticity. The area that regulates stress and reward are both attenuated by palatable food, such as a sucrose drink. The dampening effect of the sucrose on the HPA axis and neuronal plasticity markers continued to be seen weeks after cessation of the sucrose, suggesting that snacking can have longterm effects on stress and the reward pathway.

This has interesting implications for a medication like cannabis, which includes elements that can either stimulate or reduce appetite. If consumers of cannabis are also snacking while they consume, this may cloud an accurate understanding of the stress-relieving aspects of cannabis

The paper is also stored HERE inside the CED Foundation Archive.

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Pre-clinical Evidence for Analgesic Effects of Cannabis Doesn’t Match Human Trial Results

October 18, 2019 Adult, Adverse Effects, Anxiety, Arthritis, Behavior change, Cannabis, Cannabis Science, Dr Caplan, Future Medicine, Impairment, Muscle Pain, Neuropathy, Pain, Stigma, Stress

Current evidence of cannabinoid-based analgesia obtained in preclinical and human experimental settings

In Summary:

Pre-clinical animal models of pain provide a wealth of data supporting the pain-relief capabilities of cannabis; however, reproducing this data in human clinical trials has proved difficult. Data from the animal pre-clinical trials point to cannabinoids reducing stress responses and pain-evoked stress, desensitizing pain receptors, and increased pain sensitivity in animals that lack cannabinoid receptors. However, human trials present conflicting results: several studies have shown dose-dependent relationships, and in the current review this was experienced by many participants, wherein lower and medium doses provided pain relief, but higher doses triggered increased sensitivity to pain. Controlled studies may show a lack of impressive pain relief effects, personal reports of pain relief associated with cannabis use are nearly universal in retrospective reports. This suggests that there may be an important effect on well-being or mood, rather merely sensory pain. Furthermore, the relieving effects of cannabis appear to impact men and women differently.

Dr. Caplan and the #MDTake:

Additionally, much of pain relief is subjective, in both sensation, description, and inside the study environment. The description of pain varies from person to person, and researchers may be asking the wrong questions to the right people or the right questions to the wrong people. In fact, a growing perspective is that this mismatch may be more common and more pronounced than previously recognized. The makeup of pain is also quite complicated. For instance, a limb might hurt, but if there is swelling or tenderness nearby, those may amplify the discomfort. How can we take the full picture into account in the form of helpful data points? What of the emotional or psychological impacts of pain? Is it even possible that such things can be fully understood, let alone measured reliably? Assuming that emotional phenomenon or stress/suffering can be conveyed to research scientists, how can we ever hope to compare one person’s experience to another’s? For example, one would imagine that frustration associated with the pain experienced by a venerable world war veteran, who has previously endured tremendous and complex pains and associated psychological trauma may be quite different from someone who has never experienced a particular pain before.

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Current evidence of cannabinoid-based analgesia obtained in preclinical and human experimental settingsDownload

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Adolescent Cannabis Use Linked to Sleep Disturbances

September 9, 2019 Adolescents, Adverse Effects, Behavior change, Cannabis Dependence, Cannabis Science, Case Study, Cognition, Gender, Impairment, Legislation, Mental Health, Pediatrics, Sleep, Social Equity, Stigma, Stress

Sleep Disturbances, Psychosocial Difficulties and Health Risk Behavior

Summary info:

A Dutch study investigated sleep disturbances in adolescents. Sleep disruption was linked to cannabis use, psychosocial difficulties, health risk behavior, and increased suicidality. Additionally, gender disparity in results suggests that girls may be more susceptible to sleep disturbances than boys , a result consistent with past recognition of some gender discrepancies in cannabis activity. These results highlight the importance of discouraging haphazard cannabis use, during adolescence, and the need for further gender-focused research surrounding sleep habits and cannabis use.

Dr Caplan, CED Foundation, and the #MDTake:

There are a few important issues that converge in this review. Generally, the question of adolescents’ use, (as an alternative way of describing the question of effects on a developing brain.) Also, this paper raises valuable questions about how cannabis may be interacting with sleep hygiene, for better or for worse. Psychosocial impact and risky behaviors are very complex topics to engage, even with a fairly large population sample of (n=16,781.) There are lots of intercorrelated topics assessed, analyzed, and discussed in the review, and it is all-too-easy to want to find causal patterns that are not apparent, again for better or worse, unless one chooses to construe the results or interpretation with causation in mind. Realistically, it is very likely to find overlap in a population of adolescents who have psychosocial difficulties, engage in risky behaviors, have increased risk of suicidality, and consume cannabis. To point to one of the components, arbitrarily, as the primary cause of the others is to unnecessarily and unjustly oversimplify a complex set of circumstances. The essential tenet, different genders seem to react differently with cannabis, is an excellent take-away, and also that we have much more still to learn.

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Sleep Disturbances, Psychosocial Difficulties and Health Risk BehaviorDownload

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California veterinarians & Cannabis

August 5, 2019 Animal Model, Anxiety, Arthritis, Business of Cannabis, California, Cannabinoids, Cannabis, Cannabis News, History, Law, Legislation, Los Angeles, Pets, Regulation, Stress, Veterinarians

Vets in CA can now discuss the use of cannabis for patients and their pets legally and soon, prescribe cannabis medication. Although there is still more much research to be done, adults can already legally buy products, so involving professional vets can help keep pets safe http://bit.ly/33dmbIK

Flavonoids as Pain Relief

August 5, 2019 Anxiety, Blood-Levels, Cannabinoids, Cannabis, Cannabis Education, Cannabis Science, CBD, Flavonoids, Future Medicine, History, Muscle Pain, Opiates, Pain, Science, Stress

Forget CBD; flavonoids found in cannabis have been found to be 30 times more effective painkillers than aspirin, targeting inflammation at the source and making them great alternatives for pain killers. If produced on a larger scale, they could help get away from the opioid crisis.

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Here, a folder w/ hundreds more specific reviews of the medical benefits of flavonoids: http://bit.ly/2XugfvI

Video: Do-It-Yourself Cannabis Tinctures

July 17, 2019 Alcohol, Anti-inflammatory properties, Antibiotic, Antioxidant, Anxiety, Arthritis, Autism, Autoimmunity, Behavior change, Bipolar Disorder, Business of Cannabis, Cannabinoids, Cannabis, Cannabis Education, Cannabis News, Case Study, CBD, CBN, CED Clinic, CED In The News, Cognition, Colon Cancer, Cooking, Cultivation, Cultivation / Growing / Horticulture, Depression, Dermatology / Skin, Diabetes, DIY, Dosing, Dr Caplan, Edibles, Epilepsy, Extraction, Farming, Fibromyalgia, Flavonoids, Future Medicine, Gastrointestinal Effects, Hemp, History, IBS, Insomnia, Male Fertility, Memory, Mental Health, Mood, Muscle Pain, Nausea, Neuropathy, Obesity, OCD, Opiates, Oral Health, Pain, Pediatrics, Processing, Products, Prostate Cancer, Psychosis, PTSD, Schizophrenia, Seizure / Epilepsy, Sleep, Sleep Apnea, Stigma, Stress, Taste, THC, Topical, Video

One of the terrific realities of modern Cannabis is that it is possible, and often quite simple, to make effective products at home. With suitable education and access to testing facilities, the soil, nutrients, and plant growth can be supported at home, lab-tested for make-up and potency, as well as safety-checked for potential microscopic contaminants, and ultimately, individualized medicine can be created right at home!

Here is a sample instructional for just one way that cannabis tincture can be made at home. There are countless others and hopefully, many that are yet to be discovered!

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Cannabinoids Treat Chronic Gastrointestinal Disorders

July 16, 2019 Adverse Effects, Anti-inflammatory properties, Autoimmunity, Blood-Levels, Cannabinoids, Cannabis, Cannabis Science, Case Study, CB1, CB2, CBD, Future Medicine, Gastrointestinal Effects, IBS, Nabilone, Nausea, Neuropathy, Oral Health, Pain, Stigma, Stress, Synthetic Cannabinoids, THC

Title: Nabilone administration in refractory chronic diarrhea- a case series

A new study reveals the efficacy of treating chronic gastrointestinal disorders with cannabinoids, such as Nabilone. Researchers followed case studies in which patients were given nabilone which greatly reduced symptoms of chronic diarrhea and weight gain, over a period of three months.

The cannabinoid treatment also reduced the abdominal pain felt by patients and improved their overall quality of life. Considering the favorable safety profile of cannabinoids and the effectiveness demonstrated in the patients, cannabinoids were deemed an appropriate and clinically beneficial method for the treatment of chronic gastrointestinal disorders, such as chronic diarrhea.

Highlighted by this article are the many symptoms cannabis used to treat before the prohibition of cannabis and the scheduling of the medication under the Controlled Substances Act. Cannabis has been used in eastern medicine, for thousands of years, and used to be a prevalent medication in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and has just recently been re-recognized as an option to treat anorexia associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy, and various sleep disorders. Cannabis was once a well-recognized medication, but it has been mercilessly slandered by politicians. The rise and fall of cannabis have largely been politically driven pushes, and the plant and its effects deserve further study to examine the scope and efficacy of its therapeutic benefits.

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Supplementing Antipsychotics with CBD Enhances Psychotic Symptom Treatment

July 10, 2019 Adverse Effects, Anxiety, Cannabinoids, Cannabis, Cannabis Dependence, Cannabis Science, Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD), CBD, Cognition, Mental Health, Parkinson's Disease, Placebo-Controlled, Psychosis, Schizophrenia, Science, Stress, THC

Cannabidiol (CBD) as an Adjunctive Therapy in Schizophrenia: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial

Most schizophrenia medications function by blocking the action of the dopamine D2 receptor and effectively treat positive psychotic symptoms, such as delusions or hallucinations, but fail to treat negative psychotic symptoms, such as lack of motivation or the lack of an ability to feel pleasure. Anecdotal evidence has pointed toward the potential for CBD to attenuate psychotic symptoms in conjunction with normally prescribed antipsychotics; additionally, CBD is not hypothesized to act on the D2 receptor, suggesting that it may afford unique advantages over anti-psychotics.

Researchers interested in further exploring this conducted the first known placebo-controlled CBD trial among schizophrenia patients. Although results did not suggest a potential for CBD to treat negative psychotic symptoms, in conjunction with antipsychotics, the CBD group experienced marked lower levels of positive psychotic symptoms. Both the placebo and CBD groups experienced equal levels of treatment-induced adverse events, suggesting that CBD is well-tolerated.

These results suggest that CBD may be effective in treating not only schizophrenia but also psychotic symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease and THC-induced psychosis.

Additional Point: CBD has shown to act in a neuroprotective manner and reduce the psychoactive effects of THC, making it a viable option for patients who have experienced negative side effects with THC.

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Cannabidiol (CBD) as an Adjunctive Therapy in Schizophrenia- A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial Download

This paper is also stored here: http://bit.ly/2WztI04 inside the CED Foundation Archive

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