CBD has been pushed recently as an alternative to harmful pain medications. America is in the midst of an opioid crisis, there’s no doubt about it. But even seemingly harmless over-the-counter painkillers like ibuprofen can have consequences for health if you take too many of them. There’s no avoiding the facts: Painkillers can do just as much harm as they can good.
On the other hand, CBD is completely natural. It is not a pharmaceutical, and it seems almost perfectly designed to work with the human body. Its interaction with our endocannabinoid system (ECS) is thought to have a number of beneficial effects, just one of which is pain reduction. Furthermore, it has very few side effects, and no fatalities have ever been reported as a result of CBD.
Since CBD is safe, sufferers of conditions like chronic pain are turning to it to find out if it truly works. After all, there’s no harm in giving it a shot? All new CBD users find themselves faced with exactly the same question – how much CBD are you supposed to take?!
In today’s post, we will be looking at the perfect dosage of CBD for patients undergoing chronic pain. First though, we need to find out whether it can actually help in the first place…
Using CBD for Pain: Does is Actually Work?
Pain is something that we have all experienced. But if pain persists for many weeks (12 weeks or more, to be precise), it is defined as chronic pain. Those who suffer from chronic pain will know just how debilitating this symptom can be. What’s more, it often doesn’t occur alone. People who experience chronic pain are more likely to experience other symptoms such as:
- Fatigue
- Trouble sleeping
- Depression
- Anxiety
It is clear that an effective medication is needed to help those with chronic pain. Recently, it has been reported that CBD might just do the trick. How?
A lot of pain can be traced back to inflammation. Even if you don’t know it, parts of your body could be persistently inflamed, causing you pain that you just don’t know how to get rid of. Luckily, CBD is an anti-inflammatory – it’s even patented by the U.S. government.
When you take CBD, it can interact with receptors found in the endocannabinoid system. The ECS is linked with the body’s inflammation response, and thus CBD may be able to influence this process. By helping the ECS to function properly and restore balance in the body, CBD could help to reduce inflammation and thereby relieve symptoms of chronic pain.
For more proof, check out this 2008 study by Ethan Russo, which shows that cannabinoids may help to alleviate pain that is otherwise difficult to treat.
So, it looks like CBD might be able to relieve pain after all. With this being the case, just how much CBD do you need?
The Best CBD Dose for Pain Relief
It’s actually quite hard to determine an accurate CBD dosage. It can vary depending on all sorts of factors, including consumption method, body weight, general health, and metabolic rate. As a result, the best you can do with CBD is to test the waters.
For general health, most users of CBD take around 15 – 40 mg of CBD each day. This is enough to maintain the ECS year-round and keep you in tip-top shape. However, this range is calculated for a person of average height and weight, and this particular estimate regards CBD tinctures taken under the tongue.
Consumption method matters because CBD is metabolized differently in the body depending on how you take it. When you vape CBD, the majority of the compound can be used by your body. When you take it sublingually as a tincture, a lot less of the CBD can be utilized; with edibles, this figure is even less still. As a result, you might find that the quantity of CBD you take as an oil doesn’t work for you in an edible.
In this post, estimates we give are based on sublingual CBD tinctures. These are ideal for newbies, as the dropper gives you an easy way to alter your CBD dose.
Below, we give you a good estimate for those suffering from chronic pain. However, these doses might not work for you. Start out with a low dose of CBD using your dropper. Record how much CBD you took, when you took it, and what effects you experienced.
This includes both improvements and side effects. If you experience no effects whatsoever after a few days, then increase the dose. Do this very gradually – perhaps only 5 mg at a time – until you experience the desired effects. If you experience side effects, then make sure you slow down or cease consumption.
Remember that sublingual CBD tinctures take 10-20 minutes to take effect, so you will need to wait for the effects to kick in.
Without further ado, let’s find out the average CBD dosage for pain.
The Best CBD Dosage for Pain: Revealed!
If you have read the above section, you might feel a little cheated by this heading. We can’t actually provide you with the perfect CBD dosage to treat chronic pain – that will depend on your age, gender, weight, and the severity of your condition.
However, there are a few recommended guidelines we can provide depending on your weight:
- Less than 130 lbs: 10 – 40 mg per day
- 131-230 lbs: 15 – 70 mg per day
- 231+ lbs: 25 – 100 mg per day
Remember that these guidelines are just estimates – you might find that you need a lot more or a lot less. Keep a CBD journal to record the effects that each dose has on you until you find one that works for you.
Final Thoughts on Dosing CBD for Pain
Dosing CBD is difficult, we won’t lie. For newcomers, it might seem irritating to have to find your ideal dose. But when you hit that sweet spot, it’s really worth it!
For total newbies to CBD, we recommend purchasing our Premium Jane CBD tincture 300mg. This option contains around 7.5 mg per serving, which is less than our other options. This allows you to more easily tailor the dose when you are figuring out what works for you.
Once you know your perfect CBD dosage, you can increase to our 600 mg or 1000 mg options, which contain more cannabidiol per drop. All of our oils come in tasty flavors, as well as a natural option.
If you use CBD to manage your chronic pain, we would love to hear from you! Let us know in the comments what you find to be the optimum CBD serving.
