So many of us have experienced severe headaches that can ruin your entire day within minutes. Unfortunately, migraine headaches are becoming increasingly common due to stressful and demanding lifestyles.
Those who suffer from chronic migraines specifically know that prescription medication options aren’t great. You have to take them at the onset of the migraine in order to work. They often leave you so drowsy that you may end up having to take a nap just to carry on with your day.
Enter; CBD oil. CBD is one of the major compounds found in the marijuana plant. Unlike its well-known counterpart THC, CBD doesn’t make you high. That’s because CBD acts on the cannabinoid system, a biological system that regulates several physiological and cognitive functions.
CBD has recently been found to be effective for a number of health conditions, including migraines. While researchers are still investigating the exact mechanisms by which CBD oil helps to alleviate migraine symptoms, some initial studies have suggested the following.
CBD Oil for Migraines: How does it work?
According to recent research data, CBD oil has the ability to relive migraines. This could have something to do with the fact that CBD is a strong analgesic with incredible pain relief properties.
Migraine patients have reported that CBD oil can decrease pain from debilitating to manageable in a short period of time. In some cases, the compound alleviated their symptoms altogether.
Taking CBD oil for migraine headaches preventatively on a routine basis can reduce the frequency, duration and severity of your symptoms.
Researchers say this is due to the fact that those who suffer from enhanced pain response conditions like migraines have often been found to have a clinical endocannabinoid deficiency.
This condition is called “endocannabinoid deficiency syndrome” and it’s characterized by a lack of natural endocannabinoids production and taking a daily CBD oil supplement can help you make up for this deficiency.
The great thing about CBD oil is that it’s pretty safe and doesn’t come with the risk of addiction or overdosing. The worst thing that can happen if you take too much of it is a feeling of grogginess.
The benefits of taking CBD oil help for migraines
There are usually three main areas that CBD oil helps with, namely:
- Severity:
Many patients report that CBD oil helps to reduce the severity of migraines. On average, CBD oil can help to bring down the severity of your migraine from 9/10 to 1 or 2/10.
- Duration:
Patients also report that CBD oil helps to reduce the amount of time that migraines last. It used to be that you’d have to catch the migraine at just the right time in order to treat it properly. Failure to do so would lead to continued migraine pain for up to three days. However, using CBD oil delivers completely different results. You can take it at any time and it’ll deliver targeted relief. In fact, the migraine headache typically dissolves within an hour or so.
- Frequency:
Taking CBD oil can reduce the frequency of migraine headaches from three times a month to once every three months. In the best case scenario, CBD oil can eliminate migraine headaches for good.
Furthermore, there’s a group of nerves and blood vessels in the brain called the trigeminal vascular system or TGVS for short. Its’ widely thought to play a role in the development of migraines, as activation of the TGVS leads to increased sensitivity of certain nerve cells in the brain.
This can lead to increased pain signals which in turn increases TGVS activity, causing a positive feedback loop that keeps you stuck in the grips of a migraine. CBD acts on a part of the TGVS that helps to stabilize it. This helps to slow it down and effectively lessens migraine headache symptoms.
The great thing about CBD is that it can be taken at any point during the migraine attack still be effective.
Dosage
Dose needs vary based on your size, weight, how well you absorb the CBD and your metabolism. You may find it helpful to take a certain CBD oil dose daily for prevention and then take a slightly higher dose to get rid of migraines that are in progress.
For best results, start by taking the lowest possible amount daily, note the amount that you took, and increase incrementally until you notice your migraines diminishing.
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