‘I’ve virtually cured my 20-year battle with anxiety and back pain with CBD oil’ Karen Barr says taking CBD oil has enabled her to quit her antidepressants

Demand for cannabis products – said to alleviate a host of health problems – is expected to accelerate sharply in the UK over the next 12 months.

The plant’s benefits were put in the limelight after two children with epilepsy, Alfie Dingley and Billy Caldwell, were given special permission to import cannabis oils early this year.

While studies have demonstrated effectiveness with certain conditions, much of the hype surrounding the plant has yet to be properly investigated. Yet there’s certainly a large quantity of anecdotal reports.

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Karen Barr is one of those who swear by it – claiming CBD oil has helped her enormously in her 20-year battle with anxiety and back pain.

i asked the 49-year-old from York how it’s helped her, and here we examine the research on cannabis and pain, as well as what proof there is it can help with anxiety.

‘I’m a different person’

Karen says she’s suffered with chronic back pain brought on by pregnancy and childbirth and spent years struggling as an office worker sat for long periods in front of a computer.

She’s tried a nerve block injection in her spine – considered a temporary fix – and has regularly taken painkillers.

The panic attacks came on without warning like a smack in the head with a hammer Karen Barr

“It’s a struggle using the vacuum and I’m now a carer and it hurt to push clients in wheelchairs,” she explained.

Karen had also been plagued by panic attacks since her early 20s, when her body would go into “fight or flight” mode causing her heart to race, sweating, shaking and sensations of shortness of breath.

“The panic attacks came on without warning like a smack in the head with a hammer,” she said. ” It felt like I was going to die. I can’t pinpoint any reason for my anxiety at all. When I was younger I would have panic attacks every day, it was hell.”

Karen said that while the frequency and intensity of the attacks settled somewhat, she never really got a grip on overcoming them. Instead she took paroxetine, a type of antidepressant known as an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) – for 18 years.

While these pills can in rare instances cause serious side effects such as suicidal thoughts and chest pain, Karen said she generally suffered no problems. However, while the NHS says paroxetine is safe to take for a long time, it does warn being on it for more than a year has been linked to a small increased risk of getting diabetes.

“I was just keen to get off being on an antidepressant for that long,” said Karen. “I didn’t like that I needed something unnatural to make me feel calm.”

I still feel a little anxious but I haven’t had a a panic attack yet Karen Barr

Karen read that CBD oil is said to help with both pain and anxiety and decided to give it a go. She’s been taking a supplement made by Power Health – the five per cent potency version made from hemp seed oil – every day for four months. She noticed a difference within a week.

“I can whizz through my four-bedroom bungalow with the Hoover now,” she said. “I have so much more energy. I’ve virtually cured my 20-year battle with anxiety and back pain. I still feel a little anxious but I haven’t had a a panic attack yet. I feel like a different person.

“My family have noticed a difference too because I’m normally quite cranky and can sometimes take out my anxiety on them.”

The research on CBD and anxiety

Last year, news that the World Health Organisation declared that medical marijuana has no health risks made waves.

More accurately, what they did announce in a press release was they considered the non-psychoactive component of cannabis — cannabidiol or CBD — safe enough to not be subject to government restrictions. CBD, unlike tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), does not cause the high for which marijuana is best known.

The authority said there was evidence showing CBD “could have some therapeutic value for seizures due to epilepsy” and that cannabidiol is not likely to be abused or create dependence.

While THC appears to bring some unique health benefits, scientists warn that anxiety reactions and panic attacks are also the symptoms frequently associated with recreational cannabis use.

Much of the research on cannabis has examined the use of marijuana rather than cannabidiol oil. Studies on CBD is still in its infancy, but there are findings to suggest some people can find relief from anxiety.

A small 2010 study by the University of São Paulo found it reduced symptoms of social anxiety. Using brain scans, the team linked this to changes in blood flow to the regions of the brain linked to feelings of anxiety.

A 2015 analysis of past studies published in the journal Neurotherapeutics concluded CBD oil is an effective treatment for various mental health conditions, including social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and generalised anxiety disorder. The researchers did stress that data on long-term use of CBD oil is limited.

What’s the difference between medical marijuana and CBD oil? Cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are the two most well known cannabinoids found in cannabis. Medical marijuana contains THC, the psychoactive compound that gets you “high”. CBD oil, an extract from industrial hemp (a variation of the cannabis plant), contains no, or very little, THC. While almost all cannabinoids are controlled substances under the Misuse of Drugs Act, CBD is not and it is therefore legal in the UK. The Home Office says that it can contain a maximum THC content of 0.2 per cent. CBD oils are available in the likes of health food shops such as Holland & Barrett. In 2016, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said that CBD products, if advertised for medical purposes, needed to be licensed. Many are therefore sold as ‘food supplements’. A couple of months ago, the Home Office announced that doctors will be able to legally prescribe medicinal cannabis that contain higher amounts of THC to patients in the UK from the autumn. In the meantime, an expert panel was set up in June to review such cases which have to be deemed ‘exceptional’.

Studies on CBD and pain

CBD is thought to help stop the body from absorbing anandamide, a neurotransmitter associated with regulating pain. Increased levels of the compounds in the bloodstream may reduce the amount of pain a person feels. It may also limit inflammation in the brain and nervous system.

A study in the European Journal of Pain on arthritic rats found that they experienced a significant drop in inflammation and signs of pain, without side effects.

There has also been research suggesting cannabidiol helps people with multiple sclerosis who suffer pain from muscle spasms. A report found that short-term use of CBD oil could modestly reduce levels of spasticity.

The same researchers carried out a study of systematic reviews covering dozens of trials and studies on CBD use for general chronic pain, concluding that there is substantial evidence it is an effective treatment. Another study in the Journal of Experimental Medicine echoes these results.

The study authors also found that people were unlikely to build up a tolerance to the effects of the oil, so they would not need to increase their dose continually.