With over two decades of experience in nursing and the past 10 years focusing on cannabinoid therapies, Eloise Theisen is one of the best people you could have guiding you as you start out on your CBD journey.
She was one of the first people to bring a controlled, clinical dosing regimen to the world of medical cannabis, and is the co-founder and CEO of Radicle Health.
If you’re new to CBD, and especially if you’re struggling with the often confusing and imprecise advice surrounding dosing, we caught up with her to help you find out the best way forward.
Medical Cannabis Before Sensible Dosing: Why Eloise Made Her Dosing Regimen
Eloise initially took an interest in dosing after seeing some of the ridiculously high-THC products on offer, “California’s cannabis market at that time was unregulated. Many consumers who were new to cannabis had no idea what a dose was and products often came in hundreds of mgs of THC. In fact, there was a 1000 mg brownie that people could purchase!”
Perhaps unsurprisingly with such high-dose options, she said, “I started to see the effects that unregulated products and undefined doses had on consumers. Many of them would experience unwanted side effects like dizziness, sedation, increased heart rate, paranoia, and extreme dry mouth. I wondered: if we controlled the dose, could we control the outcome better?”
She continued, “Over the years, I started to track the different doses of cannabinoids and record the outcomes. That allowed me to develop some best practices around dosing. I found that when you provided more defined dosing parameters, consumers felt more comfortable exploring cannabis.”
Getting Started With CBD – Common Mistakes and the Value of Guidance
The fact that CBD is a consumer industry these days leads many people to try to work out the right dosage for themselves. We asked if this is a good idea, and Eloise responded that it “really depends on the person,” but stressed:
“I will always advocate for someone to work with a knowledgeable healthcare provider. There are a lot of nuances to cannabis and an experienced healthcare provider can help sort through a person’s unique health history, medication regimen, goals of treatment, and concerns about the use of cannabis. In some cases, it can help consumers find the right dose and product sooner than if they tried on their own. That being said, I have seen many consumers navigate cannabis on their own as well. As with any new regimen, it can take time and patience to find the right plan.”
The big downside to handling the details for yourself is that you may be making mistakes without even realizing it. She also points out that many people don’t stick with CBD for long enough:
“I often see that people give up on CBD before they get results. It can become time consuming and expensive to find the right treatment plan for one’s self. People may not realize they need CBD more frequently or a different dose and therefore they do not see results. Additionally, I see people purchasing the wrong product for their needs.”
Finding Your Ideal CBD Dose
There is tons of advice out there for finding the best CBD dose for your needs, and one thing you’ll notice pretty quickly is that the recommendations can vary pretty wildly.
Eloise was more than familiar with this issue, “That is a great question. I often mention this when working with consumers. It has to do with several factors.”
It largely comes down to the entourage effect, as Eloise explains, “In some of the research, the CBD product is an isolate, which means it only contains CBD and nothing else from the plant. There have been several studies that have demonstrated single molecule CBD, a CBD isolate, is less effective than the whole plant. It is known as the entourage effect. Other studies have shown that you need higher doses of CBD when it is an isolate.”
Understandably, this can be frustrating for users, who want a specific dosage recommendation of a product to fix their issues, but Eloise points out that we still don’t have enough data to be that specific.
She pointed out that, “medicine rarely works that way even though it is our current model,” and said that she has come to appreciate the “art” of cannabis medicine:
“Individualizing the treatment can lead to better outcomes with fewer side effects. That being said, having some established dosing ranges can help reduce the time it may take to find the right dose.”
In general though, if someone has generalized anxiety and no significant medical history, starting with 25 mg CBD for anxiety is a safe dose to consider.
We asked Eloise how she would recommend that someone get started if they had anxiety issues. Is it right to “start low, go slow”? She said “My answer is always ‘It depends,’” continuing:
“I would like to know more about their health history, medications they may be taking, past history with cannabis, the type of anxiety they have and the root cause of it. For example, is the anxiety mostly at night before bed or does the anxiety come with panic and physical symptoms? Then I would like to know more about the CBD products they have access to as some of the CBD products can have levels of THC that could potentially make the anxiety worse. In general though, if someone has generalized anxiety and no significant medical history, starting with 25 mg CBD for anxiety is a safe dose to consider.”
And it doesn’t really matter how you consume your dose, according to Eloise, but there are some advantages to tinctures, “Oils are a little easier to control the dose. If someone is really sensitive to cannabis or if they are nervous about how they will react to the dose, cannabis oils can allow for more control over how much they consume. Gummies are a good option for someone who maybe has some cannabis tolerance and can take higher doses.”
So the best advice for finding your CBD dose is:
- Get advice from a healthcare provider if this is an option
- Use a broad or full-spectrum product if you can
- Choose an oil if you’re less familiar with cannabis, gummies are also good otherwise
- Follow general advice for the best starting dose for your condition (e.g. 25 mg for anxiety)
- Increase your dose gradually as needed and don’t give up on it too soon
Conclusion: Things Are Getting Better, But There Is Still Work to Do
We asked Eloise if the progress made over the past decade has removed the stigma surrounding CBD, or whether there is still work to do. She was clear in her response, “There is definitely still more work to do. I think there has been a shift and that healthcare professionals are less reactive if a patient discloses their use. But the stigma is still ingrained in so many different facets of health care. We cannot move past the stigma until more healthcare professionals are educated.”