No products in the cart.
All products
How to find the best cannabinoid in PTSD? We will reveal the connection between cannabinoids and PTSD in detail.
Let’s get started.
The limited effectiveness of medicines for current posttraumatic stress disorder or PTSD indicates that improved therapeutic interventions are deemed necessary. Cannabis is a standardized term used to characterize several psychoactive formulations of the Cannabis sativa plant.
Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit recreational drug in the world and contains over 80 terpene phenol molecules that fall under the umbrella of ‘cannabinoids’. Compounds which are similar in structure to THC are referred to as ‘cannabinoids’.
Specific cannabinoids may be synthesized or derived from the plant material and are delivered in a pure form and even produced by the human body. Cannabinoids are found in the roots, branches, fruits, and seeds of the plant, and as well as in the resin of the female plant.
What is Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and medical condition that occurs in people who have been into rough and traumatic moments, experiences, and incidents in their lives coming from harassment, violence, attacks, tragedies, and various personal abuse that affects them mentally and emotionally.
PTSD is often described as a rising anxiety condition. Today, (PTSD) is now explicitly understood and identified as a distinct individual disorder and is treated as a trauma or stress-related disorder.
PTSD is a debilitating condition that involves experiences of traumatic memories through nightmares while sleeping or resting, flashbacks, insomnia, intrusive memories, and often requires hyperactivity.
Patients with PTSD have serious, upsetting thoughts and emotions about their encounter that linger a long time after the stressful incident has finished. They may remember the traumatic events instantly through hallucinations, nightmares, and other things that may trigger them. They may also experience sorrow, anxiety, anger, and they may feel isolation or disconnection from others because of the tormenting memories.
Uses of Medical Marijuana
Medical marijuana has been used medically to treat diseases and conditions and to relieve symptoms. It is a plant-based drug from the genus plant Cannabis sativa or Cannabis indica.
A psychoactive compound in marijuana called Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is responsible for providing the effects of being ‘high’. There two synthetic FDA-approved versions of THC, these are dronabinol (Marinol) and nabilone (Cesamet) that prevent nausea and vomiting in people who undergo chemotherapy. However, there is also a non-psychoactive compound in marijuana, the CBD, or cannabidiol that is responsible for the most number of medical marijuana.
Cannabinoids in marijuana interact with the body’s reasonable control of various molecules, including dopamine. The cannabis plant was used in medicine around the world for decades until the early 1900s.
Medical marijuana or cannabis from various parts of marijuana is used medically to treat patients with health problems. Its component, CBD, is not used to provide the feeling of “high”, but instead to address and control some medical issues, including pain and to manage the loss of appetite that may deprive a person of proper nutrition.
The actions and effects of Cannabis in humans are present in almost every body system. It is associated with other properties of alcohol, tranquillizers, opioids, and hallucinogens. It is anxiolytic, sedative, analgesic, an antidepressant that increases the appetite and has other systemic effects.
Furthermore, the acute toxicity of Cannabis is extremely low. The psychological effects of cannabis are in the mood of a human being. The main reason for the recreational use of marijuana is that it produces a euphoric effect, or, in other words, it is referred to as a ‘high.’
This same high effect can be stimulated with several small doses in a herbal cigarette and includes a different feeling of intoxication with reduced levels of anxiety, alertness to the surroundings, depression, and stress, and increased sociability depending on the environment. However, the herbal cigarette may affect the respiratory system.
Cannabinoid in PTSD
What is the use of cannabinoid in PTSD? Cannabinoids have been used by millions of military veterans and other trauma survivors to manage the disorder. Anandamide is a cannabinoid (endocannabinoids-cannabinoids) that is produced naturally by the human body in many ways.
The compound found in Cannabis causes its iconic effects when it binds to the type 1 receptor (CB1). At a fundamental level, the endocannabinoid system is how tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) has the effect of making a human has the feeling of ‘high’. Anandamide, a cannabinoid or called ‘the bliss molecule’ is a light euphoria or ‘the runners high’ that makes humans feel good by triggering the reward system of the human brain. The longer the anandamide sticks around, the longer the feeling of goodness will last.
According to some studies conducted to test the effects of anandamide, the lower or decreased amount of this substance in the body will result in various adverse effects such as emotional and behavioural changes including longer containment of fear.
Cannabinoid does its job in the brain built an endocannabinoid system that regulates the brain function affected by the disorder. Cannabinoids and its active ingredients the including tetrahydrocannabinol (THC ) and cannabidiol (CBD) helps people with PTSD as they may signal and change the process memories in the brain.
Conclusion
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental illness that is identified as trauma or stress-related disorder and is a severe mental illness as it affects the behaviour of a person. The medical use of cannabis was challenging to study due to some legal restrictions because of certain reasons, including the abusive use of it.
Various studies conducted to test the effects and benefits of cannabinoid, an active ingredient of cannabis, and its compounds the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), have proven to help treat patients with mental, emotional, and health problems. Also, anandamide a naturally occurring cannabinoid in the human body, allows patients to balance their emotions.
PTSD patients lack the ability and mechanism to forget these flashbacks of traumatic memories due to less amount of anandamide molecule in the brain. Therefore, further understanding and study of cannabinoid in PTSD help patients to overcome fear, depression, and anxiety that triggers (PTSD).
References:
https://www.medicinenet.com/medical_marijuana_medical_cannabis/article.htm
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190903194249.htm
https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/ptsd/what-is-ptsd