There are a number of research papers here on this topic (but generally the conclusion is the evidence is weak right now):
and better evidence of it helping schizophrenia here (but at about $100/day for the therapeutic dose, few are going to or should try it):
Unfortunately - until it comes out as a medication, it doesn’t really make any sense because if you have the $100/day to try it, you probably already have the best treatment available in the world,
and if you don’t - and you pay less - you aren’t getting the dose that has the best evidence of helping anyone.
cbd for psychosis is an area I wouldn’t have the courage to explore. Medication noncompliance and starting a cbd regimen sounds pretty darn risky if you ask me. I have experimented with cbd rich cannabis with some success (while still on my meds), most of which is detailed in my blog: http:/cbdpush.com.
I found the r4 strain to be most helpful as it gave me some of my self-confidence back. Most of the other strains were a waste of resources.
Well I guess it does technically trigger psychosis in me (I have sz), but that psychosis is so mild and transient I can just play video games for two hours and I barely notice it. Unless I smoke too much. And I don’t get psychotic symptoms after the first 2 hours being high. So I tolerate weed well even though I am sz. Honestly I think if weed makes you really psychotic, you’re OD’ing it. Or smoking some bad skunk ■■■■.
I smoke CBD and for me it doesn’t work as an anti-psychotic, it rather works like some sort of truth-serum. While under influence I sorta get withdrawn into my own world and get confronted with what’s playing in my mind. Thanks to CBD I can figure things out about my symptoms, basically, what’s part of me and what’s part of the disease. It has many different effects on me, sometimes I enter some sort of dream-state, if I’m not psychotic it’s pleasant, when I’m psychotic it’s confronting but I don’t get anxious about it as it creates a clear insight in to the disease on what’s happening and what’s wrong at that moment and that triggers a response on how I can overcome some symptoms the following days. Other times, when stable, I just use it recreationally and love the way all of my senses get excited and it relaxes me. I can go on talking about CBD because it’s effect on me varies from day to day but the conclusion for me is that is has no anti-psychotic effects, rather a more enlightening effect on your mental well-being (if you have insight on your positive symptoms).
For some, like me, one hit of a regular THC joint equals a psychotic episode of 10-15 minutes. Everyone is different, but OD’ing is not the case for all schizophrenics.
One hit of a regular joint might actually be overdoing it when you have sz and no tolerance. In my experience people with no tolerance to weed tend to smoke too much and then they often blame the inevitable psychotic symptoms on an intolerance to weed when really they just got too high (not talking about people with sz, since I don’t know any IRL). And when you have sz you are even more sensitive to it than “normal” people so smoking a joint that someone else made or one you made with no idea of how much weed to use… probably not a good idea.
How does that psychotic episode feel for you though? My psychotic symptoms from weed last longer than 10-15 minutes but they are very manageable. So manageable that I actually prefer them to a mild depression.
It’s ■■■■■■ up, my anxiety rises “10-fold” and my positive symptoms gets all out of wack (very strong auditory and visual hallucinations) which is IMPOSSIBLE for me to manage until the THC has worn off. It all depends on the individual and intensity/severity of one’s symptoms if one schizophrenic can tolerate THC or not.
@astefano I live in Europe and don’t have access to very high CBD strains. The one I’m smoking is industrial hemp which should contain about 5% CBD 0.02% THC. And it’s not the CBD causing high, it’s my out of wack brain that is sorta “high” on it’s own from time to time.
I don’t know what the ratio is. Are you psychotic without weed or is your sz positive symptoms side well managed? Mine is pretty well managed, I think.
It’s wel managed even though I always live on the edge and experience say 2 psychotic episodes a year. Funny story, this year I experienced a full psychotic breakdown (still recovering) but it was while under influence of CBD I noticed my brain went haywire again. Right now I’m stable of all positive symptoms and smoking CBD is kinda a inside-check in the nuthouse if everything is okay up there.
Tried CBD. Both drops and pills. When I was medfree and getting a little bit anxious and somewhat borderline psychotic I’d take a couple of drops. I noticed a difference, it calmed me down somewhat, stabilized my mood, but it was too small an amount to really prevent me from becoming psychotic.
When I was really psychotic I took a larger dose of pills once instead of haldol. It didn’t work until I had maybe 300mg. Then it worked to stop psychosis. I became more calm, more happy and a bit dreamy and sedated. Still felt drugged, but in a more pleasant way than regular antipsychotics.
I’d pay 30 euros for 300mg though so I obviously can’t use it as a standard treatment. I was thinking of growing CDB rich weed myself, but don’t really know if I’d be able to grow enough for it to work. If CBD would come out as a regular treatment I’d try it.
I wouldn’t try it together with your regular meds. Read somewhere that CBD inhibits the working of certain liver enzyms that metabolise meds… so you could get an overdose of meds in your blood.
randomly… @szadmin what is the effects of long-term use of both cannabis and anti-psychotics? would all the negative side effects go away due to tolerance (thinking of the sz newbie smoker’s first smoking side effects described here)? I’m thinking at least three years on both (for me it’s like a decade). My doctors have usually been mum about it, except for this one nurse practitioner who never saw me during my clean times and she thinks I’m just easy going by nature (peh!), she thinks it “cancels out the anti-psychotics” which I think is simplistic and kind of fear-mongering.
i found that starting cannabis after a time away was kind of “noisy” albeit I just went to sleep and woke up feeling much better…but smoking cannabis after a month daily and I have no “noise” anymore. Now, it mellows me out, keeps the irritability away and lets me manage things like fear, paranoia, and anger a lot better. it also helps me sleep and as someone who gets manic pretty easily, that’s no small feat.
I usually prefer to say that I use it for ptsd, which is true, but if that were gone today I’d still use it for the fear from schizophrenia. Plus, it takes the sting out of intrusive thoughts for me (I start letting them drift by instead of trying to locate the source of intrusive thoughts i.e. the news)…so truth be told, I love it long-term, looong-term for my sz, but I say that because I had smoked it periodically since adolescence, so the initial effects that happened due to over-smoking (over-medicating) didn’t outweigh the benefits.
CBD oil can have no THC and wouldn’t get you that stoned feeling that freaks people out here. But yea, soooo expensive.
some company needs to cover cbd on medical lol
Well said, kind of have the same experience. This sorta dreamstate CBD causes is pleasant. I smoke CBD 6 times a week. Don’t know how exactly to explain it but when I’m having a bad day with symptoms it also can be a challenge to get through a CBD “high” if I smoke that day.
Because unlike atypical antipsychotics which have massive side effects Cannabidiol is all natural. I don’t enjoy having to take a blood test every few weeks because I might suffer from liver damage.
Second whether it’a sleep aid or antipsychotic you grow a tolerance. This happens with all drugs. The best part of being all natural is that a psychiatrist would have no issue upping the dosage on a CBD because there are no side effects.
I was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 18 I am 42 now I have only been able to keep a job for the three to six months up until last year I started taking CBD oil tried 3 different kinds before I found one that worked it’s Charlotte’s Web out of Colorado but I have kept a job steady three years since I started using it completely off all pharmaceutical antipsychotics and this stuff works awesome I actually would be happy if I could find something with 0 THC in it I think the .03 levels of THC still counteract the CBD but I have kept a job steady for a year…which I have not been able to do since I was 18… it is because I switch to CBD be careful though and read a lot about it cuz there are a bunch of companies that claim high levels of CBD and have none in them. Google hemp oil Hustlers and you’ll see what I mean
