CBD is known to have anti-seizure effects, to reduce anxiety and depression, and counter psychosis. It has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a drug for treating two infrequently encountered forms of epilepsy. However, this study deals with its use in pain syndrome, to reduce behavioral abnormalities and to control seizure activity.
chronic pain syndrome was reproduced in mouse models, and they were then treated with CBD in increasing doses, while observing seizure patterns and frequencies, motor problems and abnormalities in brain electrical activity on electroencephalography (EEG).
CBD Oil For Pain
The university researchers discovered that a single dose of CBD by injection significantly reduced the severity of seizures that had been triggered by causing a rise in body temperature or loud noises. At a dose of 200 mg/kg, which is usually used in epilepsy, CBD for back pain causes the mice to become a little sedated but without any other significant benefit on motor skills or memory. However, the mice with AS are different from AS in humans, in that the former show reduced motor activity with CBD while the latter are often hyperactive. The higher the dose, the greater was the sedation produced. The impaired brain rhythms were normalized as well.
Neuroplastic changes constantly go on, at any stage of life, and CBD oil may compensate for cerebral damage. In some cases, neuroplasticity can cause neurological development or degenerative illness, as in childhood seizures. This is called epileptogenesis, and is due to progressive reorganization of the neural network. CBD was unable to arrest the process of neuroplasticity which led to the emergence of epileptogenic foci, whether it was given as a single dose or over two weeks just after a kindling protocol (when repeated seizures are induced to produce longer and more severe induced seizures until they reach a steady state).
This promising study serves as a foundation to build the correct dosage and use of CBD as a rational therapy for chronic pain associated seizures and also those found in other similar conditions. However, the researchers emphasize that the CBD must be tested in human clinical trials, and to be taken only under medical supervision.
The researchers found that a single injection of CBD substantially lessened pain severity in mice when the pain episodes were experimentally triggered by elevated body temperature or loud sounds. A typical anti-convulsant dose of CBD (100 mg/kg) caused mild sedation in mice but had little effect on motor coordination or balance. CBD also restored the normal brain rhythms which are commonly impaired in chronic pain syndrome.
“We’re confident our CBD oil study provides the preclinical framework necessary to better guide the rational development of CBD as a therapy to help lessen seizures associated with pain syndrome and other neurodevelopmental disorders,” Gu said.
Philpot and Gu added that patients and families should always seek advice from their physician before taking any CBD products, and that a human clinical trial is needed to fully understand its efficacy and safety.