CBD Oil - Hype or Hope?

HYPE OR HOPE - A Personal Study

What's the hype?

By now we've all heard of CBD oil and its many touted benefits. To be clear, CBD is not THC and will not get you high. Here is a better explanation:   CBD Oil Review

Background

I keep hearing that CBD is a panacea for everything from insomnia to chronic inflammation. I am on a quest for something natural to help my husband, whose osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia pain are destroying his quality of life. His doctors have tried several meds, all of which caused adverse reactions. I have some creaky joints of my own, plus stress, so investigating a purported one-stop magic bullet seems logical.

At the organic co-op last year I noticed sealed pouches of a CBD product by Extract Equilibrium (EEQ)* and decided to try it out. The price was steep for my pocketbook, $40 for a tiny bottle. The checkout lady mentioned that many people were reporting success with it; in fact, some folks were mixing it in their dog's food. 

At home I observed the mini bottle.  A dose is 0.7 mg. or one full dropper, and there are only 15 servings in the bottle, or $2.67 per dose.  With dismay I realized it would cost far too much to use enough daily to produce any noticeable difference. I put a quarter dropper under my tongue; what the heck, I bought it. It wasn't too, too bad. Like a super strong olive oil. I didn't notice anything, joint pain relief or otherwise, and put it aside.

A few nights later I was having a lot of anxiety after a bad day at work and tried again with a half dropper full. After a while I thought it helped calm me down. I didn't take it regularly though, saving it only for evenings after a stressful day. It took a year to occasionally nip my way through almost all the bottle, obviously with no cumulative effects.  

The Reconsideration & Trial Commencement

With my husband's pain (and concurrent rotten mood) reaching out of control levels I've decided to be the guinea pig in my personal CBD experiment, consume it regularly and log any positive effects. To start I finished off the EEQ 300 mg., taking half dropper-fulls morning and evening. I still had creaky joints but seemed to feel less stressed. An unexpected, and hopefully not just placebo, effect occurred - my reflux noticeably calmed down, which could likely be a coincidence. It's too early to confirm.

I returned to the co-op for more CBD, fingers crossed that prices have gone down with all the media buzz. An associate lead me to the front where two locked glass cabinets now hold a variety of brands and products - mostly tinctures, but also capsules, gummies and products specifically for kids and dogs!  That sold the deal for me - if people are giving this stuff to their dogs, it has to have merit.  

I was drawn to Sunsoil* tincture because of the reasonable price and the label. Sunsoil is USDA certified organic and promises "full spectrum hemp extract made with organically grown ingredients."  Moreover, their products are made in Vermont from plants grown on their Hardwick farm. Vermont is one state over from me and I'd like to support a small farm in the process. I selected the unflavored variety with 600 mg CBD per bottle and 60 servings of 1 ml. each. $30 per bottle, or $0.50 per dose, works.  

I took my first dose (half dropper, .5 ml.) that night. Uggh - this one does not taste like olive oil; it has a stinky, skunk-weed funk to it. The next morning I put another .5 ml. under my tongue and prayed I wouldn't smell like bong water at work. Fortunately the taste went away pretty soon, and a cup of green tea helped quell it. That night I gagged my way through a full dropper at once (don't recommend) to increase the dose to a full 1 ml. Next morning I split it into two .5 ml servings so as not to drown in it. It's more manageable that way, but still tastes like skunk. All I can say at this point is, with a flavor like this - the stuff had better deliver.  

Twice the size, 1/5 the price

A note on the flavor difference:
My quest to uncover the reason for the taste disparities turned up a useful tidbit:  EEQ is a "CBD hemp seed oil," produced by cold pressing only the hemp seeds. The Sunsoil product is "full spectrum CBD oil," produced by extracting oils from the entire plant using a CO2 extraction process. Here is a better explanation:   

full spectrum v. hemp seed CBD oils

There is so much to learn and I hate to rely on internet sources, but that is the information at my disposal right now. I'll continue gagging it down and report back soon.  

A few reference notes:  I wonder if the hemp seed oil is what alleviated my reflux symptoms.  Hemp seed oil is used in cosmetics, lotions, and as a healthy oil supplement. I tried a little of the EEQ hemp seed oil product on my hands and it was silky smooth to the touch and relieved dryness with no residue.

*I have no professional connection with EEQ or Sunsoil, and received no compensation for blogging about these products.


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