How Should You Take CBD?

HOW SHOULD YOU TAKE CBD?

InsideOut Pure Hemp CBD Product Line

Very good question, but its hard to answer. High Dose? Low dose? What type? How should I take it? When should I take it? Optimizing your therapeutic use of CBD will take some experimentation.The short answer is there is no ‘correct’ way to take it, how to take it and when to take it or dosage for that matter.

How CBD is absorbed depends on the what type you take and how it’s consumed. Whether CBD oil is ingested, adsorbed under the tongue, inhaled, or applied topically plays an important role in the uptake, distribution, and elimination of the compound. It can therefore influence how effective CBD will be at eliciting its natural balancing effects.

The most common route of CBD oil administration is orally, or through the mouth. When CBD is ingested, it is absorbed by the digestive system. From the stomach, the compounds enter the hepatic portal system, where they are carried through the portal vein into the liver. The liver then metabolizes the CBD molecules, in what’s referred to as the “first pass effect”. The first pass effect is a phenomenon of metabolism whereby the concentration of a remedy is greatly reduced before it reaches the systemic circulation. So in reality not a lot of CBD is getting into your blood stream to get to the rest of your body. Especially true with capsules. When oils or tinctures are taken by mouth sublingual absorption happens right away through the mucosal lining in the bottom of your mouth under the tongue and is absorbed directly into your sublingual gland then into the sublingual artery then it will travel to the external carotid artery and then travel to the internal carotid artery and lastly find its way to the brain. That is why it is important to adhere to the 60 second rule,

where you hold the oil in the mouth to allow for more absorption directly into you blood stream and by pass the "first pass". 

Other methods for consideration that bypass the "first pass" are topical and inhalation.
When you apply CBD oils, balms or trans-dermal patches onto your skin, it will almost never reach the bloodstream in most cases. Using CBD this way and you'll get targeted relief to a specific area like joints or soft tissue. The skin absorbs the CBD so that they can interact with CB1 receptors nearby. Human skin, in general, is not very permeable, so absorption is limited to the targeted surface epidermal layers. There are some opinions that applying CBD oil topically to the carotid artery area in the neck area will absorb into the blood stream and migrate to the brain. Haven't been able to verify this, but, its probably worth trying as the worst it could do is make your neck feel better. 

Another slightly controversial method is called the "Pechoti intake method" which involves applying CBD oil into your belly button. According to Ayurvedic text books, it’s said that the Pechoti gland lies behind the belly button. When a woman is with child, this is where the umbilical cord attaches and nutrients are carried between mother and unborn baby . At the end of the umbilical cord lies the Pechoti gland, and it remains there long after birth. It is believed that every human has a Pechoti gland and it is connected to more than 70 trillion nerves, tissues, and organs throughout the body. In cultures that practice Ayurvedic medicine, applying cannabis oil to the belly button, the Pechoti gland is a natural delivery method that allows cannabinoids to reach the entire body through the vascular system. Unfortunately, you won’t find much more information on this subject as there is not enough research on this topic. Most people have no idea about this method, however, its widely utilized in other countries around the world. Decades of slandering cannabis have limited the knowledge of traditional consumption methods.

Yet another method of CBD administration is inhalation which is probably the most effective, but, has the most potential for causing side-effects. The traditional method is smoking or vaping CBD into the lungs. Another safer way in my opinion is to inhale the oil through your nose by applying just below and into your nostrils. Nasal delivery of CBD results in absorption of 6-8 times as much CBD compared to oral routes. There by requiring much smaller doses for the same effects. There are so many blood vessels close the surface in the nose(think nose bleed) that the CBD goes right into the bloodstream and rapidly to the brain.

One of the way to increase the bio-availability of CBD is to mix it with a high fat snack or meal. Nut butters, avocado, nuts and hemp hearts and seeds are all perfect choices! So is having CBD dissolved in coconut oil or hemp seed oil, like many CBD tinctures and edibles already do! Our InsideOut CBD tinctures use hemp seed oil as its carrier oil.

This brings us to the question of dosage or serving size. Each person’s human endocannabinoid system is different and as such will react differently to CBD concentrations and serving sizes. There are countless variables such as weight, diet, metabolism, genetics, environment, product consistency, and more that make a universally prescribed dosage is impossible. With these facts in mind, most people who are new to CBD begin their journey by starting with the minimal suggested CBD dosage on our products, then gradually increasing the dose until they achieve the desired results. This is called the go "low and slow method".

There is also another method that some professionals are advocating and it is called the "shot gun" method where by the persons starts out with the maximum dosage to gain the desired therapeutic response as quickly as possible, then titrate back until the desired therapeutic response is maintained. The goal is to use the minimal serving as possible to maintain the desired therapeutic outcome.