Cannabis for a TBI?

Elana Frankel is not the first person to suffer from a traumatic brain injury (TBI).  She’s one of many to have discovered that cannabis has transformed her thinking about the effects of a TBI. 

Her injury occurred seven years ago and quickly learned three things – 1) she would present like a stroke victim, 2) recommendations for care would include brain and bedrest for 1 to 3 years, and 3) that living with a TBI would be a lifelong adjustment. 

“While I do not remember the actual fall, I do remember waking up unable to speak, think clearly or walk. My brain felt like it was constantly short-circuiting and the physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioral disruptions confused me. Prior to this event, I was the creative director of an online retailer, with a team of 40 people. I was the mother of 2 small children, then ages 4 and 6, and a wife. I taught yoga and mediation and practiced 3-4 times a week. The idea of brain rest, quietly lying in a dark bedroom with no stimuli, for an extended period of time, was disheartening, to say the least,” said Frankel.

Similar to others who had been down the same road, Frankel and her partner began looking for alternatives and read research about TBIs and CBD. They made the decision to give it a chance.  Frankel said that friends and family, well versed in cultivating, extraction, and formulating all wanted to share their products.  She found quickly that with so many options and unlabeled products, her best course of action was to start low and slow.  About four months into her journey, she had discovered the right protocols for her own individual needs – intake methods and dosage had to be tracked to determine what best met her needs. 

She cites there were 4 things that changed with her TBI and how cannabis helped her heal:

  1. My eating habits. When my Parietal Lobe was bruised, I lost my sense of smell and taste so food became unappealing and nutrition went out the door. The right dosage and ratio of THC to CBD stimulated my appetite and boosted my healing through diet and nutrition.
  2. Understanding and expressing language was impossible. My impaired communication skills left me with cognitive and speech difficulties. Basically, I spoke gobbledygook. While many equate cannabis and slurred speech, a dosage of lower THC and higher CBD gave me relief. Honestly, I don’t know how or why. It just did.
  3. Mood. It may be obvious but it needs to be stated. With any life-threatening injury, anxiety, stress and depression sets in. Cannabis helps…a lot.
  4. Breathing. Science has evolved when it comes to mediation, breath work and healing. With cannabis, I accessed calmness and mindfulness.

“Of course, cannabis alone wasn’t the only factor in the healing process and I believe that the combination of cannabis and these four factors brought me tow here I am today: founder of IndigoandHaze.com; founding editor in chief of Women and Weed magazine; author of the book Women and Weed; Chief Growth Officer of medicalcannbismentor.com; creative consultant; and advocate.”

What the Heck is the ECS, and Why Should it Matter to You?

The Endocannabinoid System commonly shortened to ECS, was discovered some 30 odd years ago by researchers looking to understand how cannabis works in the body.

What they discovered was the Endocannabinoid System. It regulates a vast range of biological functions to maintain homeostasis, i.e.  keeping the body in balance and systems functioning effectively, such as:

  • Sleep- wake cycles
  • Pain tolerance
  • Memory & Learning
  • Motor control
  • Appetite & Digestion
  • Mood
  • Immune system
  • Metabolism
  • Inflammation
  • Stress
  • Muscle formation

There are three main parts to the ECS: endocannabinoid receptors, endogenous cannabinoids and the endocannabinoid metabolic enzymes. Because this is such a broad subject this is an overview of one part of this amazing system, the Endocannabinoid Receptors and how Cannabis interacts with them.

ENDOCANNABINOID RECEPTORS: respond to both endocannabinoids and phytocannabinoids (Cannabis)

There are two main cannabinoid receptors, CB1 and CB2, which bind with a set of fatty acid-based molecules called endocannabinoids. These cannabinoid receptors are found in various locations in the body.

CB1 receptors are found primarily in the brain and the central nervous system (CNS). Some are found in the pituitary, adrenal and thyroid glands, fat, muscle and liver cells, and the digestive tract, lungs and kidneys.

CB2 receptors are found mostly in peripheral organs relating to the immune system, the spleen, thymus, tonsils, and gastrointestinal system. Their primary role is the regulation of inflammation, cell migration, and programmed cell death. They also have a role to play in bone mass, density and bone health.

Endocannabinoids bind to these receptors in response to an imbalance in the body. Their job is to help maintain homeostasis, which is our body’s process of maintaining a stable internal environment capable of sustaining life.

So how does Cannabis figure into the ECS? Cannabis is a phytocannabinoid (plant-based) and as such also binds to Endocannabinoid Receptors to help balance the ECS and maintain homeostasis. Both THC and CBD have this binding ability.

Think of these endocannabinoid receptors, CB1 and CB2 as a lock and both cannabis (THC and CBD) and the endogenous cannabinoids (present in the body) as the key. THC binds with the CB1 receptor to provide medicinal benefits related to pain, insomnia, stress and a plethora of other issues.

CBD interacts with the CB2 receptor to affect our immune system response and provides many other health benefits. And when taken with THC, can increase THC’s effectiveness (the “Entourage” effect) and ameliorate unwanted intoxicating effects.

Cannabis isn’t the “gateway drug” that it’s been stigmatized as – it’s plant medicine that can help relieve many painful and debilitating physical conditions. Cannabis education is key – so find knowledgeable people specifically trained in the use of Cannabis to help you find what works best for YOU.

In conclusion, I’m providing a quote from Dr. Dustin Sulak, a renowned expert in the use of Medical Cannabis and CBD and Founder, Healer.com:

“The ECS is perhaps the most important physiologic system involved in establishing and maintaining human health. Endocannabinoids and their receptors are found throughout the body: In the brain, organs, connective tissues, glands, and immune cells. In each tissue, the cannabinoid system performs different tasks, but the goal is always the same: homeostasis, the maintenance of a stable internal environment despite fluctuations in the external environment. Cannabinoids promote homeostasis at every level of biological life, from the subcellular, to the organism, and perhaps to the community and beyond. “ 

I’ve included a list of resources with links if you’d like more information, but be sure to check out our video on the ECS below!

© 2021 Jean-Anne Taru Fisher

Used with Permission

 

Dr. Sulak’s video: Your Endocannabinoid System Explained

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZYjJf0t2OQ

PubMed: Cannabinoid Receptors and the Endocannabinoid System: Signaling and Function in the Central Nervous System

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5877694/

Healthline: A Simple Guide to the Endocannabinoid System

https://www.healthline.com/health/endocannabinoid-system#thc

Metagenics Institute: The Endocannabinoid System: Components, Actions, and Optimization

https://www.metagenicsinstitute.com/blogs/endocannabinoid-system-components/

Natural Practitioner Magazine: The Endocannabinoid System & Phytocannabinoids

https://naturalpractitionermag.com/the-endocannabinoid-system-phytocannabinoids/

 

visit our youtube channel

How Cannabis affected Kate’s Crohn’s

Most people in the industry will tell you that they have a personal cannabis story that led them to their current role.  One such industry leader, Katie Stem, CEO of Peak Extracts in Oregon is no exception. 

Stem was diagnosed at the young age of 21 with Crohn’s disease and like other sufferers, she wanted freedom from the symptoms and day-to-day struggles.  Moving from Minnesota to Oregon in 2004, she took a job at the Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU), which is a research hospital. 

After completing the move, her visit to a gastroenterologist to discuss Crohn’s led to his recommendation to try cannabis as a treatment for the symptoms.  At the time, Oregon’s MMJ program was new and fortunately, Crohn’s was on the list of qualifying conditions, so Stem was able to obtain a patient card.  She would go on to experiment with different strains and through the process learned that different strains had a huge impact on different symptoms.  With her self-education came the notion that she wanted to find consumption methods aside from smoking, which is when she began making her own strain-specific edibles. 

“I worked at OHSU for several years doing research on MS. My work there was mostly focused on natural products and pharmacology. We were comparing normal pharmaceutical drugs and interventions compared to green tea, fish oil, or grape seed extract, and what the effect on all of those things were on inflammation and the progression of MS,” said Stem in a subsequent interview. After ending her tenure with OHSU, she went to school for Chinese herbal medicine and became certified and the master of her own practice in 2010, all the while, continuing to make infused chocolates.

Today, Stem is the CEO of Peak Extracts, which focuses on full-spectrum formulations rather than isolates.  Her work at OHSU with EGCG, a long acronym that she says is the active component in green tea, led her to the business model for Peak.  “Ultimately, it’s better for the patients, it’s a more nuanced effect and it’s different from strain to strain, because there’s a huge variety of pharmacologically active substances.  A lot of the terpenes can affect the way that reuptake or absorption occurs.  It’s a super varied myriad of compounds, based on how you extract it and how you preserve all the characteristics.” 

Today, Katie Stem has found fulfillment in her career, which Crohn’s and cannabis brought her to.  “That’s why it’s so important that people can choose, because what makes someone sleepy might make someone else really hyper. There’s something special about the chemistry of each of these strains, so I really want people to be able to choose what they are going to go through.”

Visit Instagram below for more patient success stories!

Instagram