CBD products are everywhere these days, in the form of oil, gummies, capsules, lotions, gels, beverages, and even alcohol. Known for their nerve-calming, pain-curbing, and sleep-enhancing effects, CBD products have become a go-to wellness product for millions of Americans.
Be it students, working professionals, or older retired people, everyone is singing its praises. Some recent studies show that CBD has the potential to help seniors or older people live healthy lives and see a decline in chronic pain over time.
Based on anecdotal reports of data from several clinical trials, there’s no doubt that CBD can help chronic pain seniors. However, there’s more to it, and if you are planning to gift your grandpa some CBD gummies for pain, this article is all you need to read.
What is CBD?
CBD or cannabidiol is a natural plant compound. It’s extracted from hemp plants to make various wellness products like gummies, oils, and tinctures. It’s from a family of compounds known as cannabinoids, and there are over 110+ of them in hemp plants.
CBD is the most widely used, studied, and effective cannabinoid to date. It’s generally considered safe and effective, even at very high doses. It’s also used to make a prescription drug called Epidolex, which is given to treat severe epilepsy conditions in kids. In fact, it’s the only FDA-approved cannabinoid-based medicine for now.
Is CBD safe for seniors?
Yes, CBD is 100% safe for seniors. Unlike the high-intoxicating cannabinoid THC, CBD is completely nonpsychoactive. It can’t make a person high or dizzy. As per 2018 farm laws, only industrial hemp plants are used to make CBD products.
These plants have only trace amounts of THC, and in the products, it cannot be more than 0.3%. THC at such minute levels doesn’t affect cognition.
Seniors can use it every day without worrying about its impact on their senses. Even if they accidentally take high doses sometimes owing to old-age memory issues, it won’t cause any major trouble. It’s too difficult to take too much CBD, the threshold to see any major side effect is way too high.
Even doses as high as 1500 mg in clinical trials don’t affect the body negatively. At home, CBD products don’t have more than 50-60mg CBD per serving, so if your grandpa accidentally eats extra gummies, he’ll be just fine.
Of course, they may feel slightly more sedated, relaxed, and sleepy or even slightly dehydrated and headache, but these effects will wear off in a few hours. Still, you should make clear dosage charts for seniors at home who are planning to catch the CBD train for their anxiety, pain, and sleep troubles.
Can CBD help seniors in managing Chronic pain?
Yes, CBD can help seniors deal with chronic pain stemming from various health conditions like arthritis, post-surgical pain, back pain, headaches, neuropathic pain, fibromyalgia, and more.
A 2022 published systematic review found that CBD is effective in older people in providing mild to moderate pain relief stemming from the conditions stated above. Experts believe that CBD is much better than opioids for management, especially for older people, because it comes without the risk of addiction, dependency, and side effects.
How exactly does CBD work for pain relief?
Despite what age group we belong to, all of us have an endocannabinoid system in our body. It’s a complex cell signaling network that is spread throughout our body. It’s made of endocannabinoid receptors – CB1, CB2, and certain proteins.
Our body makes two endocannabinoids called anandamide and 2Ag, they interact with the said receptors to control our memory, anxiety, stress, pain, sleep, and other such functions.
Out of these two, anandamide exhibits pain-relieving, anti-inflammatory, and muscle-relaxing properties. When we take CBD, it increases the amount of anandamide produced by the body. As a result, our body becomes relaxed and pain perception also goes down.
It lessens the sensation of pain, but these effects take time and one should not expect overnight change. Seniors must use CBD for at least a few weeks to months to see significant pain relief from chronic pain.
How should seniors take CBD?
If you are buying CBD for older people at home, make sure to get their preferences right. Get them CBD gummies if they prefer flavors and taste over onset time. Gummies may take a few hours to work, so you can give them some a few hours before bedtime.
However, if seniors around you need quick relief from sudden jolts of pain, then CBD oil can be a much better choice. When taken sublingually, it hardly takes 15-20 minutes to work its magic. But be mindful of the odd earthy hemp taste, because most brands don’t sell flavored oils.
So this is for internal pain, but what if a senior needs something more for spot pain? Like swelling and soreness in elbows, knees back, or neck? In that case, you can offer them CBD-infused creams and gels.
They come with a fast-absorbing formula and can work better than regular anti-inflammatory gels. With edible forms of CBD, dosing is of utmost importance. So make a proper chart for seniors, and ask them to start with a low dose of 10-15 mg initially.
Not down the changes for some time, maybe even keep a journal, and review it weekly to see how much pain reduction has happened and whether the dose should be increased. Slowly dosage will definitely go up because our body becomes tolerant to the same amount in a few weeks.
Our Thoughts
To sum it up, Yes, CBD can help chronic pain in seniors. Studies have shown that it’s effective in reducing overall pain sensation. It blocks pain signaling pathways and brings down inflammation.
Seniors may see relief from all kinds of chronic and acute pain like arthritis, fibromyalgia, neuropathic, joint, muscle, and more. It does take time to work, and dosage must be monitored carefully, especially if seniors around you have memory issues. Lastly, make sure to get CBD products for seniors only from reputed and well-tested brands like Colorado Botanicals.