Can CBD Help Digestive Problems
Studies reveal that numerous health complications may affect our digestive system. However, when mentioning digestive issues, most individuals will quickly start thinking about diarrhea, constipation, and stomach ache. While the conditions form part of the digestive complications, these issues are just the tip of the iceberg. We’ve got numerous digestive problems and their related symptoms.
Experts reveal that there are thousands of severe and debilitating digestive complications that you may not know about all of them. Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel (IBS), gastrointestinal disorders, and ulcerative colitis might be very serious among these complications. Besides having adverse and life-threatening symptoms, these diseases can also greatly impact your life and indirectly affect those around you.
When having one of these diseases, you become reclusive and consider isolation. Dealing with these diseases and related symptoms is usually hard, worsening the condition and increasing mortality rates. Thus, it’ll be vital to understand these diseases, their related symptoms, and the appropriate treatment option.
This informative article provides insight into the different digestive problems and discusses how CBD can help to alleviate the condition and its related symptoms.
What are Digestive Problems?
Surveys show that approximately 40% of individuals in the U.S have experienced at least one digestive complication or issue at a time. Depending on the period and the type of problem, the intensity and duration of the symptoms usually vary. With the surprising statistics of the average number of people who might suffer a digestive complication, we’ve got an endless list of over-the-counter digestive issues medication.
Many individuals consider these medications to help them alleviate different common digestive diseases. The common digestive complications include functional disorders, diarrhea, bloating, indigestion, and constipation. Most of these diseases result in temporary digestive problems.
Besides the temporary digestive issues, we’ve got some long-term complications, like Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). IBS is a common long-term digestive complication that affects the large intestines. Medical experts usually prescribe various medications to treat this complication. Despite many medications being effective in treating this disease, IBS may have a wide range of uncomfortable symptoms. These disturbing symptoms include diarrhea, constipation, bloating, gassiness, and cramping.
Besides IBS, medics reveal that Crohn’s disease is another severe digestive complication. Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease with more severe symptoms than IBS. While it's more complicated and severe than IBS, Crohn’s disease is common in the United States. The latest statistics reveal that approximately 700000 Americans have this severe digestive problem.
The disease comes with severe and uncontrollable symptoms, making the patients feel uncomfortable in public. When the symptoms are severe, you’re unlikely to step out of your house to socialize or for your routine job. The disease can affect your overall life and even lower your productivity without proper and timely treatment.
Studies show that IBD leads to an inflammation of the affected digestive tract, causing a wide range of symptoms. The symptoms may vary based on the individual and the severity of your inflammation. Nevertheless, the common resulting effects include tenderness, abdominal pain, increased discomfort, fever, persistent vomiting, and abscesses.
Besides these symptoms damaging or affecting your body physically, the disease also comes with adverse side effects. These side effects may interfere with your mental health and routine life. With the uncomfortable nature of the disease, you may not wish to get out of the house to have fun with friends or for your routine task.
What Causes Digestive Problems?
Understanding the causes of these issues is the first step toward getting the proper treatment. So what are the main causes of digestive issues? Experts reveal that gastric problems can result from small changes in your diet or high-stress levels. Lack of exercise, pregnancy, and certain medical use might also lead to these digestive complications.
What are the Current Prescription Treatments for Digestive Problems?
We’ve got a wide range of medications you can choose from depending on the type and severity of the digestive complication. Despite being effective in treating different digestive complications, prescription medications have some drawbacks. The treatment alternative might be costly and may come with adverse effects. Research shows that the long-term effects of taking these medications regularly are usually damaging and life-threatening.
You can consider an over-the-counter antiemetic to relieve vomiting and nausea. The medication will help you with a less severe common digestive issue. Besides the antiemetic, we also have antacids that can help get relief from indigestion issues. Physicians may also prescribe one of the multiple aminosalicylate and antidiarrheal drugs. While aminosalicylate drugs help you with long-term intestinal inflammation, antidiarrheal drugs will help you deal with severe diarrhea symptoms.
It’ll be hard to choose the appropriate treatment from the list when having severe conditions or symptoms like Crohn's disease. Experts advise you to research the different available medications physicians usually prescribe to control the disease. These options include immune modifiers, steroids, and antibiotics, which provide relief by suppressing the body's immune response.
Despite helping you deal with digestive issues, you have to deal with a multitude of side effects when taking these medications. These side effects present new problems you have to deal with again, including thinning your bones and lower or suppressed immunity. With the disturbing nature of these side effects, you may have to seek alternative treatment to treat or avoid these side effects.
Proper supplementation and dietary modification have been common choices for patients seeking alternative drugs for their different complications. Thus, you can use them for disorders or conditions affecting your digestive system. Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the natural and most effective supplements you can consider for your conditions.
Living with Digestive Issues
Statistics show that approximately 20 million individuals in the United States suffer a wide range of severe digestive complications. With such numbers, digestive diseases are one of the most costly conditions to treat in this country. You must use more resources to purchase the right medication, which is usually very expensive. Many long-term sufferers or patients find it overwhelming and expensive to choose or purchase the right alternative from the hundreds of prescriptions available.
Besides being costly and overwhelming, these medications may also harm your health. Regular use of most prescription medications results in various body effects. The side effects cause physical issues and may also impact your mental well-being.
Why Should You Consider CBD for Digestive Complications?
With the adverse effects of prescription medication and the proven therapeutic benefits of marijuana, there is a shift towards using CBD to alleviate a wide range of digestive conditions. Cannabidiol (CBD) influences your health by working with your endocannabinoid system (ECS).
The human ECS comprises cannabinoid receptors (CB1 & CB2) and endocannabinoids. These chemicals work with various compounds, including CBD, to trigger various responses. Triggering the responses helps to maintain an optimal and balanced state throughout the body. Studies reveal that CBD may influence the functioning or activities of the endocannabinoid system and other body receptors.
The digestive system has the highest concentration of the ECS’s cannabinoid receptors. With CBD functioning through the interaction of these cannabinoid receptors, it enhances its impact on improving your digestive health. CBD has numerous ways it helps to enhance your digestive health, the common one being to reduce inflammation.
CBD helps to reduce inflammation in the digestion system by preventing the body from producing cytokines and interleukins. These components are proteins in the body to signal the beginning of an inflammatory response.
CBD also works in the body by lowering cortisol ( a catabolic hormone). This catabolic hormone helps in breaking down body tissue. Evidence also shows that the hormone has a destructive impact on your GI tract lining. Studies show that maintaining optimal cortisol levels is integral to having a functional digestive system.
Let’s have a comprehensive discussion on how CBD helps to enhance a positive effect on your stomach complications.
CBD for Stomach Complications
For a long time, there have been various studies and research on the effects of CBD on the digestive system. Despite the limited studies on human subjects, the small sample studies show promising results on using CBD for stomach complications.
In 2012, Israeli researchers conducted a study that involved 292 patients. The researchers in the study provided a wide range of IBD treatments to the participants. Approximately 50% of the participants may have used marijuana before the study or were using it during the study duration. An average of 32% of medical marijuana users revealed that they tried the medication to get relief on various symptoms, including diarrhea, poor appetite, and nausea. The findings show that many marijuana users reported an improvement in these digestive system-related symptoms.
In addition, there was a review of studies in 2016 to focus more on the issue. The review focused on cannabinoids' role in gastrointestinal mucosal defense and inflammation. In the review, the researchers noted that cannabinoids directly activated CB1 receptors. The activation helped reduce gastric motor activity and acid secretion. This process was also essential in decreasing gastric mucosal lesion formation. The main inducers of lesion formation were mostly NSAIDs, stress, and alcoholism.
After the review and study, the researcher concluded that there was a great relationship between ECS and cannabinoids. Thus, the ECS represented positive results in the treatment of IBD. Furthermore, various preliminary clinical studies confirmed these assumptions.
In 2020, researchers and experts published one of the best and most relevant reviews on the association. The reviews focused on various CBD products and additional non-intoxicating cannabinoids to help treat and prevent multiple GI disorders. In the review, the researchers found that CBD helped to enhance the digestive system's health. The cannabinoid achieved it by helping to alleviate various diseases and conditions of the digestive tract. Nevertheless, there is a need for more research and studies on the matter to confirm the association.
CBD for Digestion
Studies show that CBD has effectively achieved various digestion processes and alleviated some issues. Some individuals have reported that they use CBD to regulate their appetite levels. Using CBD to control your appetite is vital to provide a lasting solution when eating too much or having frequent meals.
Remember, too much eating and increased frequency usually result in digestive issues, including bloating. Experts reveal that the best frequency of eating is approximately 3-4 hours between snacking and meals. This duration is usually essential to allow optimal digestion and prevent possible complications like bloating.
Generally, the role CBD plays in reducing or suppressing your appetite might help you in your weight loss journey. In 2012, researchers conducted a study on this association and published the findings in the Psychopharmacology Journal (Berlin). The findings provided a positive result or view of the association. The researchers discovered that taking CBD led to a reduction in food consumption rate. Unlike CBN and CBG, taking CBD was responsible for significantly reducing food intake among the rats in the study.
Will CBD Oil Help Alleviate Constipation?
Studies show that gastrointestinal complications usually impact or affect the frequency of your bowel movements (motility). Results from a certain study in 2005 show that CBD could help regulate your GI motility. CBD can affect the process and offer relief in different ways depending on your specific symptoms. Experts reveal that CBD helping improve GI motility is a huge relief to patients with constipation and other complications.
In addition, there is also substantial evidence that you can use CBD to alleviate different symptoms of constipation. These symptoms of constipation include bloating, nausea, and stomach pains. For instance, results from a 2011 study show that cannabinoids could be effective in regulating vomiting and nausea resulting from constipation and other conditions.
CBD comes in multiple forms, which you can consider to alleviate your digestive complications. Despite the wide range of CBD forms and products, CBD gummies and oils are the most popular. Many consider CBD oils to alleviate their digestive complications and enjoy other benefits. Nevertheless, we’ve got another old-age remedy you can consider for your stomach complications. Many individuals prefer to infuse these products with CBD to get extra relief.
Peppermint Tea for Digestive Issues
Peppermint is a common natural herb that many people frequently use to alleviate many conditions, including digestive problems. This plant natively originates from North America and Europe. Reports show that humans have used the plant for many years for different therapeutic benefits.
The plant contains many active compounds, including rosmarinic acid, flavonoids, methol, etc. With these active compounds, consuming the plant comes with numerous health benefits.
You can apply it topically on affected body parts to help you get relief from muscle aches and headaches. Besides helping with headaches and muscle issues, the common medicinal use of this plant is helping with digestion. Peppermint may cause anti-spasmodic actions, and research has backed that these reactions will help relieve or alleviate IBS symptoms.
Researchers have carried out many studies on the use of peppermint for IBS. These studies have focused on the plant’s essential oil coming in the form of various enteric-coated capsules. The findings suggest that the oil can effectively treat abdominal pain and improve additional global IBS symptoms.
Besides the natural IBS treatment coming with little to zero side effects, taking huge peppermint oil doses may lead to toxicity. Thus, taking the oil with caution and the right doses will be good for getting optimal results and reducing toxicity. Importantly, seek advice and follow your physician's instructions on the appropriate or recommended amount of peppermint oil capsule. Exceeding the recommended amount might lead to toxicity and other adverse conditions.
Besides peppermint oils, we've other popular methods for taking this natural remedy for digestion complications. Many individuals are turning to herbal tea, as it’s a growing way you can use it to consume peppermint.
CBD Peppermint Tea Benefits
Experts reveal that CBD peppermint tea is one of the best and most healthy ways of consuming natural beverages. The tea combines all these herbs' therapeutic and refreshing benefits into a refreshing and tasty beverage. Many individuals are switching to this beverage because it's enjoyable and convenient. Furthermore, the tea is ideal for individuals with a busy schedule.
Surveys show that many individuals consider this method to help relieve digestive complications and other potential benefits. For instance, the Chinese add peppermints, in theory, traditional Chinese medicine as a cooling herb. The cooling component makes the drink ideal for hot summer days or afternoons.
In addition, in the traditional set-up, many individuals have been using peppermint in tea to alleviate pain, relieve colds, and regulate the immune system. Nevertheless, despite the promising results in enhancing the above health benefits, there is limited clinical research and evidence to back peppermint in achieving the above health benefits.
Besides enhancing a healthy digestive system, CBD has many other therapeutic benefits. CBD can help alleviate severe pain, depression, anxiety, and other conditions. Nevertheless, experts don’t consider peppermint CBD tea an ideal way to take CBD and enjoy these benefits. Below are the top reasons you shouldn’t consider peppermint CBD tea to enjoy vast health benefits:
Drawbacks of using peppermint tea
The main disadvantage of CBD peppermint tea is the low or limited amount of CBD it contains. Despite being a delicious and tasty beverage appealing to your taste buds, you shouldn’t consider it a primary CBD consumption method. Use it as a supplement or top-up for your regular CBD dose.
Experts reveal that taking capsules, edibles, oil tinctures, etc., can help you get a higher CBD dosage. You can also increase the composition or CBD dosages in the peppermint tea or beverage by adding a few CBD oil drops to get a homemade infusion. Despite the increased dose of CBD in the infusion, the separation of oil from the drink may create an unpleasant taste among some users.
As a fat-soluble compound, CBD requires a little fat content to enhance its full utilization in the body. Thus, you'll not maximize the therapeutic benefits unless you add some fats or fatty compounds to the tea. While adding full-fat milk or coconut oil helps, the additional taste makes the drink or beverage less enjoyable.
Most CBD manufacturers have started addressing this problem by producing water-soluble CBD. Unlike regular CBD products, water-soluble forms are usually expensive and hard to come by. Thus, it’ll be necessary to consider the most effective peppermint CBD tea.
Does CBD Settle in the Stomach
Current data and evidence suggest that CBD may settle in your stomach after taking CBD. Science shows a clear connection between the GI tract and the body’s ECS. The Endocannabinoids work and interact with CB receptors across the whole body, including the stomach and digestive tract. The CB1 receptor is abundant in the brain, while CB2 receptors dominate the gut or digestive tract. The CB2 receptors respond by binding with cannabinoids when any digestive organ swells. The binding helps to reduce the inflammation rates gradually.
Numerous studies have shown that using CBD can help alleviate various gastrointestinal disorders. These disorders may include constipation, gastritis, ulcerative colitis, IBS, and Crohn’s disease. CBD has anxiolytic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and antiemetic properties vital to alleviate multiple digestive complications.
Wrapping Up on the Using CBD for Digestive Complications
Multiple clinical trials are ongoing to check the link between CBD and digestive issues. With the limited research, we’re yet to get full results and evidence on whether CBD can help eradicate digestive diseases and related symptoms. However, there is a great breakthrough or promising results on the link between CBD and body functions. Furthermore, many individuals using CBD for GI complications claim the method is effective.
While you may find it daunting to switch to CBD for your digestion issues, the results show the benefits the alternative can offer. Many prior users suggest that CBD oils have any digestive benefits and have limited adverse effects. The minimal adverse effects make them more advantageous than prescription medication.
Getting a medical marijuana card will help you access and purchase the best CBD products for your digestion issue. You can visit HappyMD to get the 420 medical marijuana evaluations and receive your recommendation. The platform also helps you apply for your medical marijuana card online. Get your MMJ card today with HappyMD to access your preferred CBD products to alleviate your digestive issues.
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