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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 and awesomely root them 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, she talks about how she helped a family member who suffered from chronic pain use CBD to get off opioids. Additionally, she shares her own experience with CBD and opioids, which may have even contributed to plaques in her brain. 

But first, a little about Alice’s story.

Meet Veteran and Registered Nurse Alice Mangan

Several years back, Alice, a veteran and ICU nurse, suffered from multiple sclerosis (MS). She 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. Then she stumbled across a group of veterans that was exploring cannabis and other alternative therapies. The hope was to help prevent the staggering number of veteran suicides. Long story short, she discovered the amazing benefits of cannabis compounds and other holistic therapies. Some scientists and doctors are studying and using to bring balance back to out-of-whack endocannabinoid systems (ECSs) — including her own! 

Alice was a huge player in legalizing medical cannabis in Missouri. She has helped many people in many ways find healing through cannabis and other holistic methods.

Using CBD to Get Off Opioids

When Aspen asks Alice to tell her how she got into helping patients with CBD, cannabis and holistic therapies, Alice tells the story of a family member who was in danger of losing her life and her children because of her chronic pain and opioid situation. This story illustrates the importance of an effective CBD product — how quality and full spectrum, which includes the power and efficacy of many other cannabis compounds combined, are crucial. 

Alice Mangan (R.N., Veteran): I had a family member that had rolled her car three times in a row during her eighth accident in over two and a half years. She was on a lot of opioids and she was taking them as prescribed. But with a genetic defect of MTHFR, you don’t metabolize medicines like everyone else does, so they just had to keep going up and up on her dosage. She had done back ablations, where they burn the nerves. She’s tried all kinds of things. The problem is, is the opiates still had to go up there for her to almost function but she wasn’t quite functioning perfectly.

What’s at Stake When Using Opioids for Pain

Alice Mangan (R.N., Veteran): So with this family member, they were already scared. Their two kids came out of car seats. She winds up going to the hospital, and it was very apparent that I said, “You’re going to be illegally healed or legally dead.” She said, “They’ll take my kids.”

We started looking for CBD products, so she would not have a hot test, so they would not take her kids and so that she could hopefully dial back off of the opiates. I didn’t think we’d really get her off, but within 45 days, and after trying six different CBD oils, CBD pills, it was all kind of just junk. This ugly black paste came floating across and it looks like RSO but it’s more like RHSO. It’s hemp oil. So there’s almost no THC. Full of terpenes, full of cannabinoids, full of cannaflavins, or flavonoids, chlorophyll, all these things. They have such remarkable things in and of themselves, but as a whole product that tastes kind of like crap. I mean, it was kind of game, set, match.

We were able to get her off of all that stuff right in time for her to get her medical marijuana card. But the heavy lifting was really done with this stuff. And I mean, at first she’s like, “All of these oils, all of these pills, none of it’s working. The opiates are free. I get them with the insurance.” So it’s a hard choice to make that shift.

Aspen Jewel (Elevate Holistics): Where can the people buy that?

Alice Mangan (R.N., Veteran): So I ship it basically everywhere, Kansas isn’t supposed to have it because it has .2%. If it’s over 0.09, they’re not wanting it there. But we can basically ship it everywhere. Or you can come by our store down here at Webb city, Missouri, right by Joplin and pick it up in person or go to our website, www.alicecbd.com and pick up either the ugly black paste, the CBG, or the lion’s mane.

 

Opioids vs. CBD and Effects on the Brain

Alice tells us how she was able to avoid using opiates for her MS diagnosis and how previous opioid use might have contributed to damage in her brain.

Alice Mangan (R.N., Veteran): The best thing is I have a lot of auto-immune disorders but the multiple sclerosis was diagnosed upon them doing an MRI and seeing the plaques on my brain and on my spine. For three years, the neurologist at the VA kept saying … Well, almost three years. The first year it was like, “I can’t agree with this, but I can’t tell a grown woman what she can or can’t put into her body.”

What Alice was putting in her body, of course, was cannabis compounds like CBD, CBG, terpenes, and lion’s mane. 

Alice Mangan (R.N., Veteran): I knew they couldn’t take my benefits unless I went to jail for using cannabis so I did my homework first. And I knew they couldn’t take my disability or my medical benefits. They just wouldn’t be able to prescribe opiates to me. Guess what? I didn’t need them. I couldn’t really take them anyway. They have horrible side effects. What I was able to do was convince her by the end of three years that this was helping. And a year and a half ago, when she reviewed my scans, she said, “Okay, I don’t know what to say, except for, I think I’m a believer,” because my plaques were gone on my brain, all except for one that she said was probably from the opiate use.

For more about CBD, terpenes, and other holistic therapies, check out AliceCBD online. 

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About the author

Ally Hilbert is the Content and SEO Manager here at Elevate Holistics, working to publish and run Elevate’s blogs and landing pages, as well as conduct keyword research, competitor analysis, and more. After having brain surgery at the age of 17, Ally became fascinated with medical cannabis and its benefits, and, at 18, had her first CBD-related piece published. Today, she’s been writing about cannabis for the past six years, and simply can’t think of a better company to get to do it for. When she’s not writing or editing, Ally’s side-by-side with her pup Sadie in Seattle.
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