At Elevate Holistics we get to meet people who’ve had very specific beneficial experiences with cannabis and holistic therapies. And we get to introduce those people (and their knowledge!) to you. Some of these people turn their experiences into passions and livelihoods that are awesomely rooted in advocacy and helping others. Our own Aspen Jewel recently interviewed one such person — Alice Mangan of AliceCBD Boutique. Alice shared her story and gave us some fresh insight into cannabis compounds, endocannabinoid deficiency, and some other holistic therapies we were excited to learn about. In this post, Aspen and Alice talk about how CBD works differently in the body than THC and other cannabinoids and how this is beneficial—especially in one-to-one ratio (CBD:THC) strains and when paired with certain terpenes.
But first, a little about Alice’s story.
Meet Veteran and Registered Nurse Alice Mangan
Several years back, Alice, a veteran and ICU nurse, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) and became disabled. “I had already had several diagnoses with chronic major depressive disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, bulging discs and others — what seemed like unrelated things.” She was taking pharmaceuticals, injections even. However, the side effects worsened her condition, and she eventually felt hopeless. It was at this time she stumbled across a group of veterans that was exploring cannabis and other alternative therapies that might help prevent the staggering number of veteran suicides. Long story short, she discovered the amazing benefits of cannabis compounds and other holistic therapies that are being studied and used to bring balance back to out-of-whack endocannabinoid systems (ECSs) — including her own!
Alice was a huge player in getting medical cannabis legalized in Missouri, and she has helped many people in many ways find healing through cannabis and other holistic methods.
Alice Compares CBD to THC
After chatting about CBG vs. THC, Aspen brings up how she’s noticed that CBD takes longer to build up in your system and that its effects are more apparent in the long-term, while THC has immediate effects. She asks Alice to elaborate on these CBD characteristics.
Alice Mangan (R.N., Veteran): Right. So THC is working on and binds directly to CB1 and CB2 receptors. You’re going to have that immediate response with it because it’s kind of on those receptors that create immediate response, versus CBD will go into the cell and it kind of attaches differently on the receptors. And CBD is a very powerful molecule but it’s not really potent. So it takes a little bit more, and it can take more time to see certain things because it’s not going to cause that thing here, where you see, you feel it and some like it and some don’t, and hopefully you can get to where you love all of it.
Terpenes and CBD Effects?
Alice Mangan (R.N., Veteran): But CBD is going to take a little bit longer to do things like turn down inflammation and those things that we’re hoping to see. Now, some people, especially when your receptors are kind of primed, it seems like you can get immediate effects with CBD. Especially if you have great terpenes with it. So I really don’t even say I sell CBD. I just say, I have Alice CBD drops with BCP or Beta-caryophyllene. That’s one of my favorite terps and. I have some friends down in Tulsa that one of them patented it, the BCP molecule. They’re not making any money off of it but they’re seeing the novel and great ways that it is benefiting them.
Aspen Jewel (Elevate Holistics): Yes. I completely agree. Caryophyllene is one of my top three favorite terpenes. It’s great for inflammation. I get a lot of inflammation in my chest and it’s amazing. I also sit all day, so a one-to-one ratio on my back, cannabis oil or cream, that is amazing. Will you talk a little bit about one-to-one ratios? I know you were talking about the balancing act and how the endocannabinoid system does that and with THC and CBD working together simultaneously, I feel like it’s kind of the perfect balance.
The Benefits of CBD and 1:1 Strains
Alice Mangan (R.N., Veteran): Yeah. So it kind of keeps THC from acting so naughty and it does a lot of things that THC doesn’t. So THC again, it’s going to have the direct effects of using the CB1, CB2 receptors and stuff but it sounds like CBD can actually go into almost any cell. And even down into the cell, not just on the cell surface. Some of the things that they’re talking about is helping insulin resistance by slipping through those gates into the cell. And where insulin goes, sugar is going to follow, so we see, that can happen.
Now some people still need to add THC, and a doctor once explained to me, about a couple of years ago, that some people will still need THC, especially I think to help produce their insulin, but with insulin resistance, they talk about CBD. There’s other things that CBD will do that they used to think only THC could do, and that’s things like apoptosis, that prescribed cell death, especially in cancer cells. We want them to die. CBD can do that. CBD’s also been reported to help prevent angiogenesis, which is that food supply to those cancer cells.
For more about CBD, terpenes, and other holistic therapies, check out AliceCBD online.
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