How Cannabis Helps You in Dealing With PTSD?
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD is one that leads to negative thoughts both for your own self and for others. You even get to experience stress, anxiety, and sleep problems. Cannabis also helps patients in alleviating the symptoms of PTSD. Various studies are being conducted over the years to assess the safety of the drug.
Currently, cannabis is legal in 33 states of the U.S and more states are thinking of taking legalization into consideration. And if you are living in a state where cannabis is legalized, it is easy to get your 420 Med Evaluations.
Read on further to learn how cannabis helps you in dealing with the symptoms of PTSD.
Using Cannabis For PTSD
Medical health professionals often prescribe antidepressants like Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft for treating PTSD. These prescribed medicines do help in managing some of the symptoms but these medications don’t work the same for every single person. And upon that, they can even cause side-effects like constipation, dry mouth, sexual dysfunction, diarrhea, and sleep problems. Psychotherapy is also a treatment for PTSD symptoms and tells how to restore your self-esteem and teaches the way to deal with the symptoms.
However, using cannabis for managing the symptoms of PTSD is the most effective and the best one. And the best part is cannabis doesn’t have any side-effects, that medications like antidepressants have.
How Does Cannabis Help?
Patients of PTSD, who don’t take cannabis for the disorder have seen a significant rise in depressive episodes, according to a study, which was published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. Also, various studies done by Vanderbilt University and NYU showed that patients with PTSD have lower anandamide levels as compared to patients who don’t have PTSD. Anandamide, which is a bliss molecule, plays a major role in managing painful memories and stress levels.
It has also been found by researchers that improper signaling of neurotransmitters like glutamate and serotonin can result in a fight-or-flight response. Cannabinoids present in the cannabis plant are effective in decreasing painful memories. Also, CBD is very helpful in turning off traumatic memories. And thus alleviating PTSD. The chemical components of cannabis interact with neurotransmitter GABA and thus promote sleep and reduce anxiety.
CBD helps in improving the blood flow of the regions of the brain like the hippocampus, that are involved in memory processing, according to a study. Clogged blood vessels in our brain are signs of decline in cognitive functioning, trouble in taking decisions, and memory loss. However, with the increase in blood flow, cognitive functioning gets boosted, and thus memory improves as well. Any damage done to the Hippocampus can lead to memory problems because it is connected to storing and recalling information and decreasing fear responses.
The compounds of the cannabis plant help in easing nightmares in PTSD patients. According to researchers, 72% of the PTSD patients have shown a significant decrease in the intensity of nightmares on using cannabis. Moreover, the quality of sleep also improves.
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