Cannabis is a gateway alright. Part 2.

Cannabis is a gateway alright. Part 2. 

​If you've ever suffered from anxiety, nervousness, worry or been overly stressed, you know the feeling of just wishing there was an escape plan.

Guess what? There's a gateway out of that feeling. 

It's called supporting your endocannabinoid system.

I did a webinar on: Stress and Anxiety: Finding your new better with your Endocannabinoid System

If you missed it, here are the webinar notes: 

We are magic beings of (neuro) chemical and hormonal harmony.
We FEEL our life: cry from grief and sadness and also joy. Blush in embarrassment, laugh when we find things funny and entertaining and there may be times when we act out of sorts when we are lying.
Have you ever grabbed your mid-section or put your hand up to your face/head when hearing bad news and saying, I feel sick?

Think of that “butterfly” feeling in the pit of your stomach when you are excited or nervous!
These are all examples of our bodies having these perpetual working arrangements to find a way to return to a place where it can feel calm and copacetic.

Right now though, so many people are not finding their way back to good and the chaos of thoughts and panic and leading to thoughts and experiences that a lot of people have never dealt with.

And for some, it’s become more than this. Doctors will describe as sweating, trembling, shortness of breath, a choking sensation, chest pain, nausea, dizziness, fear of losing your mind, fear of dying, flushing, feeling that danger is nearby, a racing heart (heart palpitations) and feeling an intense need to escape as a stress induced panic attack.

With the uncertainty and fear being instilled and programmed into everyone, it’s becoming harder to not have these feelings.

Someone who actually has panic attacks once explained that anxiety is terrible. You could be having an attack and no one would even know because it’s an inward thing. It feels like you’re malfunctioning and you can’t process your own thoughts. You get a knot in your stomach and you can’t take a full breath, but outwardly you can literally just sit there and look completely normal, as long as no one tries to speak to you.

We are in a never-ending partnership with stress. This is why holistic health is critical. Holism is the connection of mind, body, and spirit. All areas of your being are always systematically working together to create harmony. This is why you will hear about deep breathing and breath work, reiki, meditation and prayer all being part of a healthful holistic regimen.

You should understand that the challenge of stress is to make you stronger, if and only if you adapt to the challenge being placed upon you: physically, emotionally, or psychologically. This is called hormesis, I didn’t make it up!

Stress serves a useful purpose to alert you to take fight or flight – but after either of those, you are supposed to return to ease. It’s the chronic stressed out state of being that so many are feeling like they have found themselves stuck in that screws with our emotions and disturbs emotional balancing chemicals like cortisol.

And if you don’t know what cortisol does, when chronically elevated – it will elevate glucose and suppresses the immune system. In times like we are dealing with now; we need our immune systems in incredible ways.

I’m known for being labeled as someone who works under high stress circumstances most of the time. I don’t feel like I feel it, because the stereotypical “frazzled” label isn’t applicable for me. I’ve learned, through way of the ECS, to manage my stress and bring myself back to neutral before the stress takes the advantage.

So, let’s talk about stress symptoms for a hot second here. Stress (chronic) presents itself in just about any way you can think of: headaches, dizziness, skin issues, muscle tension, irritability, sleeplessness, migraines, fatigue, digestive disgust – inflammatory bowels, libido moodiness, moodiness in general.
Over time, these “symptoms” due to the root cause of stress can and will lead to illness and disease. I’m sure you’ve heard that stress is the “silent killer”.

Actually, and thankfully, we have human studies that have confirmed that emotional stressors can alter gut microorganisms. That gut brain connection is a very real deal. The gut bacteria are responsible for giving a boost to our immunity, keeping a clear thought process, and also generating neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine.

This is critical.

These are the transmitters that control heart rate, sleep wake cycles, muscle movement AND YOUR MOODS. So, they’re pretty important. And left unchecked, can be devastating.

Once external stressors are impacting internal functions / physiological functions, we heighten our levels of anxiousness, unhappiness, and get this plain feeling of never being satisfied in anything. Life. Sucks. And feels pointless.

Obviously, this has the potential to escalate fairly quickly to the point of sheer panic, not being able to catch your breath, hopelessness and no calm or feelings of peace in sight. Actually, vision can even be distorted during a panic attack and the room can seem as though it’s closing in on you. You feel completely out of control with your thoughts, your feelings turn into desperate cries for help that it sometimes feels like no one can hear.

OK, for those who experience this, you get it but I wanted to explain what stress and anxiety feels like for those who are new to this experience. It can feel so foreign that some might worry to the point of even thinking something must be wrong with them.

Or even worse. Keeping it to themselves and suffering in silence.  

This is where the role of your ECS for stress and anxiety comes in – and to the rescue!

Some of us may have experienced stress or anxiety so badly that it’s turned into more of a PTSD type situation. Like I just mentioned – keeping your suffering to yourself, trying to deal alone or being ashamed of what is happening.

This PTSD-like connection can involve your traumas whether it be relational (marriage - divorce/family/work), worldly (va xx, virus, losing physical connections), personal trauma (like a diagnosis or other health issue) to bring about a numbing feeling that relates to a separation from what’s real and what’s exaggerated.

The medical establishment is likely to reach for pharma solutions, particularly SSRI’s (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors). Their efficacy is limited and can actually lead to worsened conditions causing a whole new world of hurt, including that long list of side effects that medicines come with. You are exchanging one health problem for another.

ENTER THE GATEWAY. YOUR ENDOCANNABINOID SYSTEM!

Thankfully, the ECS has shown itself to be part of the circuitry that actually regulates anxiety and as the crucial mediator of emotional stressors.

Before I get into HOW it does this, let me very, very quickly brief you on WHAT is doing this.

*Your ECS, there are 3 components. You have the cannabinoid receptors: CB1 and CB2.
*You have endocannabinoids or endogenous cannabinoids, meaning they are produced by your brain. They are called: anandamide (THC) and 2-arachidonoyl-glycerol (2-ag) (CBD).
*Then, you have the enzymes involved in their synthesis and metabolism; fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) for anandamide and monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL) for 2-ag.

That’s your fast forward description of what’s included in the ECS.

Endocannabinoids are synthesized on demand.
Anandamide, (which by the way is what you are producing that is mimicked by THC) – anyways, anandamide, FAAH, and the CB1 receptor are expressed in brain areas involved in stress, fear, emotions, and reward.

These parts of the brain are the: amygdala, nucleus accumbens, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. We can create such a significant change in mood and anxiety induced by cannabinoid therapy with the presence of CB receptors in these areas.

When we experience these negative circumstances that allow worry, doubt, uncertainty and fear to creep in, it’s up to our ECS to go into action and provide us with the ability to keep an even keel about us.
CB1 is mainly expressed in the brain regions, but it is throughout the entire body. Likewise, CB2 is largely expressed throughout the periphery and immune cells, yet also can be found throughout. For right now, we’re focused on the ones in the brain because we’re discussing and seeking solutions for stress and anxiety.

So, are you wondering what the heck? If we have this system designed to keep emotions and their chronic negative consequences in check – what’s it doing when stress becomes overwhelming and leads to anxiousness?

Exactly that: stress wreaks havoc to the point that it can also impair the function of the ECS. It can malfunction in all kinds of ways, not metabolizing eCB’s efficiently (too quickly), not producing enough on demand (deficiency), leaving us out of luck and reaching for a supplement.

And, this is where we’ve found the cannabis plant to be of use. When used properly, that is!

This is our open door for cannabinoid therapy.
What the cannabis or hemp plant has to offer, speaks our ECS language and can fill in those deficiencies and reprogram what we were innately designed to do.

We can use it as a therapeutic target for stress related diseases and issues characterized by an inability to extinguish maladaptive behaviors and overcome the anxiety that is plaguing the planet right now.  
So, where do you start? As our experiences are all different, so are our ECS’s. It is just as unique as you and your situations and must be dealt as such.

Not sure what to do with all of this information, but wonder if it could be part of your answer?

Well, I don’t give general recommendations. If you’d like to reach out to determine what concentration and formula of CBD is right for you – or to find out if a more in-depth cannabis consultation is perhaps more applicable, I’m happy to schedule a consultation.

I don’t charge to briefly chat to determine a CBD formula. We can accomplish this via email: info@thetaliving.com

I do charge, however, for cannabis consultations. The ECS not only regulates your brain, but all systems that relate to metabolism, digestion, elimination, appetite, sleep, immune function, emotions, energy, relaxation.. and more. It’s an in-depth consult.

I think it’s commendable that you have taken your time to learn about naturally supporting a healthier emotional and psychological status. I appreciate you. Take care (of your ECS)!