If you are like me and suffer from severe anxiety then please know that this means that you have a super sensitive nervous system.
Some psychiatrists and even psychologists will tell you
that anxiety happens when we think negative thoughts that stem from fear. Yes
this is true, anxiety affects our thoughts and our thoughts affect our anxiety.
Both feed upon each other in ways that make it really hard to control negative
thought patterns, over thinking, OCD, triggers, panic attacks and manic
behaviour.
Be that as it may, I always like to look at the root
causes in each patient dependent on their symptoms and I have found that
genetics only accounts for about 5% of mental and physical medical conditions.
Let’s take a look at the some of the root causes of
anxiety and how the human companion plant can help us to overcome this new
pandemic of modern society.
1.1. TRAUMA AND ADDICTIONS
So many people have suffered such tremendous childhood trauma that has followed most of us into adulthood. Loss of loved ones and the entire grieving process is utterly traumatic for humans and many never recover.
I believe that everyone has the right to be happy and I’v
always been super passionate about human health and happiness. Truly I’v said
this many times but somewhere in the sinister prohibition parade I have always
believed that it is illegal to be happy in this manic matrix we all live in.
Regardless of my opinion, the truth is that good health
cannot live in an unhappy body and this is not my truth because I learnt this
from a very young age from my Bible and later found a similar teaching in the Holy
Quran.
In the book of Proverbs chapter 17 we learn that “A broken Spirit dries the bones” and I
have always understood this based on my teachings to mean that in order to be
healthy one has to be happy. When a human being’s Spirit becomes so broken that
their bones begin to dry then we know that they no longer have healthy
bone-marrow. And bone-marrow is the epicenter of our immune system. In my
opinion a “broken Spirit” is the root cause of so-called autoimmune conditions.
In the Holy Quran the Scripture speaks of “a piece of flesh that when not well, the
whole body is not well and when well, the whole body is well, and this piece of
flesh is the heart”.
And we must remember that trauma is not only stored in
our memories but in every single living cell in our bodies
2. LIFE
STRESSES
In my opinion at the heart of disease management today is
the way that we can handle our life-stresses. Please don’t get me wrong a
little bit of stress is good for us but today we have two types of stress, good
and bad. Good stress is the type of stress you put on yourself, like setting
targets and goals etc and bad stress is what the government and corporations
give away for free every day, illegal taxes, cost of living, inflation and some
seriously dark agendas (excuse the pun South Africa). These things are slowly
killing our people as stress manifests into dis-ease in the human body.
All of our stress hormones, Cortisol, Norepinephrine,
Adrenaline and others all are known to cause an up-regulation in tumor
formation. Even young people are struggling with their hearts and cardiac
arrest is still the number one killer.
Stress vampirically feeds off our Vitamin B and if not
supplemented this is very dangerous resulting in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome,
impaired cognition and neuropathic pain. It can get so bad that your body stops
producing red blood cells that need Vitamin B and then oxygen supply becomes
crucial. All of this from stress! Cannabis seeds are known to be one of the
highest sources of Vitamin B in the world.
The human Endocannabinoid System is incredibly sensitive to stress because truly we were not designed to deal with these levels of “new age” stresses that are designed to keep us in fight-or-flight mode.
This is when our hormones become so unbalanced and triggers a release of our stress hormones. Remember that the Endocannabinoid System controls the Endocrine or hormone system and this is how Cannabis is able to help calm and balance our hormones at all the different stages of human life.
Stress not only blocks the Endocannabinoid receptors but also halts
the production of our main Endocannabinoid named Anandamide by the scientists.
Anandamide is the human version of THC (Delta 9 Tetrahydrocannabinol) and it is
the Sanskrit word meaning “Bliss”.
This is why I always tell my patients to double their CBD
dose when they know that they are going to be facing heavy stress. We absolutely
have to supplement the Endocannabinoid System in order to survive stress and
anxiety and this is why millions of people use Cannabis for depression, pain,
insomnia and mood elevation.
And ask yourself why does Cannabis make us laugh?
In my book Cannabis is The Human Companion Plant I end
off with this question because apparently scientists still do not know why
humans laugh! Cannabis eases any form of suffering and makes any disease easier
to bear, mentally and physically and spiritually.
It is because of the way that Cannabinoids interact with
not only the Endocannabinoid receptors but also the whole human receptor system
Binding affinity to the Serotonin receptors is a tried and tested therapeutic target for anxiety so this is a big reason for the mood elevation properties of the plant. And it’s not only the Cannabinoids but also the terpenes that offer healing through our receptors.
The plant also interacts with the Limbic and Para Limbic
systems and GABA receptor binding by Cannabinoids is now well established. Basically
all of this means that the components found in the Cannabis plant interact with
our entire nervous system and it is CBD that completely calms our nervous
system down.
There is a reason why I refer to CBD as the “King of
Cannabinoids” !
People sometimes think of CBD as the weaker sibling of
THC because scientists write that it is “inactive” meaning in their language
that CBD will not make you feel “high”. Well I always ask my patients whether
they are high or if they just feel better? 99.99% they tell me that they can
admit that they simply feel better.
We have to accept that even though only THC has the deep
binding affinity with the CB1 and 2 receptors, it is by no means the “be-all-an-
end-all” of Cannabis medicine.
In my opinion and when I consider overall medical
benefits of CBD I truly believe in this molecules healing powers especially in
the way it can completely calm the nervous system down. I suffer with
tachycardia often during the day it goes up to 140 and I simply puff on a CBD
joint 3 puffs and it’s coming down already. That is a 19% CBD strain that
belongs to South African Breeder Dean Malan and is called Canna Health Genetics
#16 (CHG#16) and I highly recommend this strain for helping prevent anxiety
from becoming all encompassing.
We must never underestimate the power of CBD and CBDA
(the acid version within the growing plant) is 1000 times stronger than CBD in
nausea and migraine studies!
Why are seeing such an increase in anxiety among high THC
consumers?
In the 1970’s a 6% THC level was considered high and
today we have “over 30’s” clubs with the average percentage testing around 25.
In my judging work over the past 4 years I can tell you that for sure the THC
is getting stronger and stronger.
The biggest problem with super high THC plants is that there is hardly any CBD in there so the medicine becomes super potent and the body lacks the natural plant protection that is CBD.
And then you also have to think
about synthetics as well like Delta 8 and THCP products, even some “CBD
isolates” that are super potent. Synthetic THCP is 33 times stronger than plant
THC and 60 times stronger than Delta 8 THC.
In general pharmaceutical cannabinoid synthetics are up
to 800 times stronger than plant medicine. There is a very good reason why THCP
and Delta 8 THC are only found in miniscule amounts in the actual plant!
Synthethic THC products act a full agonists of our receptors where plant THC only acts a partial agonist and this is the reason for super-potency.
CBD is naturally found in higher amounts in low THC
varieties such as Cannabis ruderalis and some so-called hemp strains. So if you
are looking for a high CBD plant you must look for a low THC variety. We have
to be careful that in our quest for super high THC strains we do not risk out breeding
CBD.
What is the Biphasic Effect of Cannabis Medicine and how
does this affect anxiety?
Biphasic medicine means that high and low doses can have
opposite effects and this is a common effect in many medications for example
the contraceptive pill, some insulin drugs, antacids and of course alcohol, you
can see it clearly how like the first 2 drinks can appear to calm a person and
raise their spirits but after that “1 too many” a certain type of psychosis
seems to set in and a lot of people simply pass out.
In Cannabis medicine I call this “dagga psychosis” and I attribute
it to the super high THC levels people are now consuming and believe me, I also
enjoy these strains especially for the pain but the truth is that it does give
me and so many others who have come to speak to me, disturbing anxiety symptoms
like tachycardia, depression and so many other symptoms we experience.
We can see the biphasic effect in how the high THC is
giving the opposite effect that lower THC strains offer like calmness and euphoria
instead of psychosis and paranoia that I am seeing so much of today and this is
obviously a huge concern for me for the future of our freedom to access this
plant.
At my recent talk at The Canna Club in Plettenberg Bay
someone in the audience told a story of how he had lost consciousness and
passed out due to loss of oxygen according to the medical team that assisted.
He informed me that there is now published scientific research to prove that
high THC can alter oxygen absorption and I still need to read these papers.
If you consider that the average rosin press extract is 4
times the THC potency as in the bud then shoo! That is super high, but what is
really interesting, I was having a chat with one of our Master Growers Natie
Fereirra and he told me that this is not strictly correct because he can take a
“4% THC plant and convert it to an 80% dab” Wow that is pure alchemy right
there!
The biphasic effect of Cannabis medicine is not only involved in
mental health, I see this a lot in my sleep clinic patients when so often it is
the lowest possible dose that ends up stabilizing sleep architecture as opposed
to higher THC dosing. In other words when the THC is too strong for a certain patient then the medicine will have the opposite effect and keep them awake.
Another good example is a patient I treat for arthritis, a person
who has a well established Endocannabinoid System and I made him a high CBD and
very low THC oil extracted with virgin organic coconut oil. Well after checking
up on him he explained and sent me photos of how he experienced the complete
opposite effect and had to go for a steroid injection! I was horrified as I had
never seen the biphasic effect in arthritis and the patient was not allergic to coconut oil.
Well I love a good medical mystery and I asked the patient who truly believes in the benefits of the plant but had never used topically or internally before, to give me a chance and do some more research and make him a new batch of medicine. All my research kept coming back to the biphasic effect I even looked at his blood grouping and consulted with my mentors and still nothing was coming up from the science or from common sense.
Long story short I made him a new batch of medicine using
a different plant and I waited a week (serious anxiety) before checking up on
him and Give Thanks all was well and the photos revealed the reduction in
inflammation and I was so happy for the patient. This is a classic example of
one of the ways the biphasic effect can manifest and we must never forget that
this plant is a medicine regardless of how you consume it because it causes
changes in the body....just like coffee and sugar!
For those who are curious about how I made the new batch
of medicine I am happy to share that I decided to use a male plant that is
higher in CBD and this turned out to work really well for this patient. All
Praises to the Plant!
So I really loved the way Brett Pollack expressed his
perspective in the recent Phakisa Interview on The Canna Club channel and I asked
Brett if I may use his words that I would like to share with you
“There’s
more to this plant than just a 30% THC content, and a plant with less than 20%
is jut?...No….it’s not….it means that there’s other things in there potentially
taking effect on your body and your mind” ~ Brett Pollack Cannabis Lawyer
Give thanks Brett for these words of wisdom and I can
tell you that “these things” Brett is speaking of are things like CBD, CBG, CBC,
and the terpenes and the flavinoids present in the plant that botanists refer
to as The Entourage Effect.
And this why in my country in the rural lands of Mpondo
grows the perfect ratio of CBD to THC, the sought after 1:1 ratio that doctors
love and adore for so many reasons but mostly because of the incredibly low
risk of side-effects. In my opinion this is the competitive advantage of the
medicine that has always been produced in rural Transkei.
It upsets me greatly that our landrace farmers are being
excluded and I even heard from one of Simon’s friends that the legacy farmers were
told by SAHPRA I think, stand to be corrected, that their medicine ‘has no
competitive advantage” this is complete lies but that is another paper. It upsets me because I cannot return to my isi-Xhosa family because they will come for me again because I do not have their permits to cultivate.
So my message to you about ‘dagga psychosis” is to be
conscious of responsible adult consumption and harm reduction methods.
We must always respect the plant as a medicine and as a
teacher plant.
Another thing I am very concerned with that we are
starting to see a lot of is people with pre-existing mental health conditions
consuming high THC levels and many people that have weaned themselves off their pharma
meds and are self medicating with THC without consulting with a registered
practitioner.
As a society I would like to see all of us looking out for our brothers and sisters and becoming aware of what your friends, family, club members, work colleagues etc are dealing with in their lives so that if the time comes, hopefully never, then you will have a better perspective and point of reference on how to help them.
And the best advice I can give on this topic is to always
make sure that you have a high CBD oil and bud available, because truly the only way to
calm the nervous system almost instantly as
we know from epilepsy studies is by using CBD.
Cannabis also offers spiritual nurturing to help us deal
with anxiety and there is a lot of science that I discuss in the book about how
Cannabis helps with aversive memories and even nightmares and terrors so common in people suffering with anxiety and PTSD.
3. DEHYDRATION
AND INFLAMMATION
There is a lot of science that you can research on how
these two can cause anxiety. Both of these are fast becoming a chronic health
crisis today.
By the time your mouth tells you it is dry…you are
already dehydrated and not only your body but your brain also becomes
dehydrated.
It is crucial to consume 35 ml of clean structured water per kg of body weight every day. Nothing more and nothing less because we can also over-hydrate but that is another study.
Dehydration depletes our Tryptophan that is the building
block of Serotonin and this is how it causes anxiety.
Today it is becoming a challenge to get clean structured
water that isn’t filled with high levels of heavy metals and other chemicals
and these days they are also adding sulphites to drinking water, tap and bottled even so-called "spring water" and
sulphites are known to cause anxiety even in tolerant people.
There is a very good reason why the plant makes us thirsty! In South Africa we speak about "the droogies"! and I have seen this so often how this plant can force human beings to hydrate with water! Also another study!
Scientists speak about the “Inflammation/Anxiety
Connection” that explains how inflammation leads to oxidative stress throughout
the body and causes anxiety. Cannabis is a known potent anti-inflammatory and
through its binding affinity with the Serotonin receptors offers Human beings relief for
anxiety.
4. IMBALANCED
VAGUS NERVES
I can almost guarantee you that every person suffering
with severe anxiety also has imbalanced vagus nerves. These are the two longest
nerves in the body and they control the “gut brain connection” for mental and
physical health. On a spiritual level they have their origin in the Pineal and
Pituitary glands. (6th and 7th chakras)
There is a very simple test you can do that Iv mentioned
in previous papers but happy to repeat here. Take your torch and look into the
back of your throat at the “small tongue” or uvula. This little tongue should
be pointing directly down into the throat but if pointing to the left or right
this is a sign of imbalance and you need to take steps to rectify this. I use
these techniques almost daily and it is incredible how 15 minutes can
completely reduce tachycardia.
In my opinion based on my research the secret to
stimulating the vagus nerves is to have your head below your heart like doing a
head stand. This is why many people find yoga really helpful. Many healers have
a flip bed in their rooms where you can be turned upside down to stimulate the vagus
nerves.
You can do breathing and even cold showers there are a
number of different ways to achieve vagal nerve stimulation and you can find what suits you best but this
therapy is really helping a lot of people with anxiety.
Cannabis is the only plant that can induce autophagy and
vagal nerve stimulation
Recently I wrote about this topic I will leave the links
here below for you and I had my comprehension of how this works in the body
confirmed by one of my mentors Dr Henry Ealy, you can see the video on my
Rumble channel SistaVee.
https://xhosastyles.blogspot.com/2023/02/how-does-cannabis-stimulate-vagus-nerves.html
https://xhosastyles.blogspot.com/2023/01/autophagy-one-of-secret-weapons-of.html
https://rumble.com/v2zga56-dr-henry-ealy-q-and-a-16-feb-2023.html
(go to 1:55:28 for my question, the last question!)
5. PATHOGENS
I would urge anyone with severe anxiety to ask their
doctor for a simple heavy metal toxicity test to test for the main 4 culprits, mercury,
arsenic, cadmium and lead. And while you are there ask for a Vitamin B12 test as well. You can also consult with a frequency vibrational
healer who might have a frequency vibration machine like a Rife machine that
will give you accurate results for both tests often more accurate than blood tests.
Some other pathogenic culprits for causing anxiety are
parasites, viruses, bacteria and mold is a very big one. So many people been
sick for decades and doctors don’t know the cause and it turns out to be mold
and it is very difficult to get rid of but you can Detox from mold, parasites and heavy metals in a standard
90 day program.
All of these cause anxiety because of the severe damage
they cause to our nerve endings and they way that they devour our Vitamin B and
other nutrients. They can also cause pain, inflammation, tumor formation, hot flushes and
cravings.
A lot of women believe that they have been in menopause for many years but I'm here to tell you that the menopause only lasts 12 months after the last menstrual cycle. This is a natural pattern of creation. I have found in many of my patients that there was always another root cause of ongoing hot flushes and I urge women in this situation to go and get tested or simply just do the 90 day detox to reset your system.
6. PHARMACEUTICAL
SIDE EFFECTS
You would be shocked to learn how many pharmaceutical drugs can cause anxiety as a known side effect, so please do look at the insert inside the packaging because it is there in plain sight.
Drugs like benzodiazepines, epilepsy meds,
anti histamines, sleeping tablets, ADHD meds like Ritalin and even certain
nasal inhalers that contain Albuterol. All of these can cause severe anxiety
and it is shocking that medications designed to calm the nervous system have
such severe and opposite effects by design. We must seriously question this!
For stress and anxiety I highly recommend using high CBD
strains and today we are blessed with strong and stable CBD genetics. Some of
my favorite strains besides CHG#16 are Blue Shark, Feno Dream and Cherry Wine
by Natie Fereirra.
Here is a link to my medical review on CHG#16
https://xhosastyles.blogspot.com/2023/06/smoking-cbd-bud-fighting-anxiety_26.html
With CBD I have seen healing occur at 20 mg right up to 1000 mg and while Cannabis can’t take our problems away it does help to keep our anxiety out of our chest, throat and gut, and stop it from interfering with our days and nights.
In my opinion the only way to get a grip on anxiety is to
constantly observe ourselves. We must study ourselves, our behavior, mood,
feelings and triggers. We have to know what makes us happy and we must be
deliberate about the way we wake up and the way we go to sleep and how we
structure the time in between and we must also remember to congratulate ourselves for
showing up! No one else can show up and live your life for you only you can do
this - and for myself and so many others, self observation is proving to be a valuable tool.
Through Cannabis we can learn to gauge what steps to take
to heal ourselves, instead of just being a passenger in our own lives that
prevents us from being who we wish to be.
Cannabis can help us to focus on our thoughts and become
more aware of who we really are beneath our anxiety and to realize that fear is
the real sickness. Cannabis can also help us to achieve greatness, to let our little
light shine and to become the best version of ourselves and for this reason alone we should to continue to pursue medical freedom and education by fighting for plant medicine.
This paper is based off my talk on Anxiety at The Garden Route Cannabis Cup in Plettenberg Bay 5 August 2023 and my recent talk about mental health at The Canna Club in Plett
