Does CBD oil help you with your depression and/or anxiety?

@lalyfa

Welcome to Mayo Connect. I am a Volunteer Mentor and not a medical professional. As such I can offer the benefit of my personal experience, as can others on this site, but not medical diagnoses nor medical opinions. We strive to help each other with the understanding that we are all different and what works for me may not work for you. I have gotten so much good from participating in Mayo Connect that I love it.

Yes, I have used CBD tincture and CBD Living Water for anxiety. I haven't used it for depression as I already take an antidepressant. It doesn't seem to interfere with my Citalopram.

I decided to try CBD when I was withdrawing from Tramadol, a synthetic opiate I had been taking for pain (with 2 other medications) for over a year. As I began slowly reducing my use, I experienced a lot of anxiety and muscle tremors in my legs especially. I know that using a marijuana medication meant that my pain doctor would not prescribe for me again, but I was getting off the pain medications one by one anyway, so I don't care.

The CBD Living Water was my favorite as it just was like drinking bottled water and was immediately available in my system. Within a few minutes of drinking one serving, my anxiety began reducing. It was so benign that I thought perhaps it was just my own thoughts that were calming me down--my belief that it would help. So, I bought the CBD tincture as kind of a test to see if I reacted the same. The next time I was having withdrawal anxiety I used the CBD Tincture. I didn't realize at that time that it can take up to 2+ hours to have effect when you take the tincture, but that was actually good for my test purposes. My anxiety continued for another hour until slowly the tincture began taking effect. I decided then that the CBD Living Water worked best for my anxiety.

CBD Living Water is expensive at $5.00 per bottle with 2 servings. It has no flavor (the tincture had a sweet weird flavor I didn't like) and is easy to drink. I only used 4 bottles to help me through my withdrawal. I don't use it now, but I will if I have anxiety in the future. I am impressed with how helpful it was in my withdrawal. I think it would help in withdrawal from cigarettes too. I did that 34 years ago though.

Are you willing to share what you're anxiety is about? I had panic and anxiety attacks for years and used Ativan and later Lorazepam for them, especially when I had to fly in planes. About 6 years ago I started taking Citalopram antidepressant, and all my anxiety/panic attacks went away. I only had it again recently during my withdrawal process. I know my relief from anxiety is from the Citalopram. I even did 7 zip lines in Costa Rica a little over a year ago. My flights there, to Panama and back were anxiety free. That has been so incredible for me! I love traveling now.

Please let me know if you have questions,. I also hope others on Mayo Connect will let you know their experiences with CBD and Marijuana as medical alternative treatments.

Gail B
Volunteer Mentor

Hi, all — as there has been a lot of discussion in this thread about using CBD oil and marijuana (prescribed or otherwise) 1) to control depression and anxiety or 2) to treat side effects of tapering off of antidepressants, we requested input from a Mayo Clinic pharmacist on the topic.

She recommended the following resource from the Minnesota Department of Health: http://www.health.state.mn.us/topics/cannabis/patients/patientinfosheet.pdf, which talks about warnings for using medical marijuana. In this info sheet you'll find sections about:
- Risks for use by children, adolescents, and young adults
- Risk for use by women who are pregnant or breastfeeding
- Risk of psychotic episodes and psychotic disease
- Risk of cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome
- Risks for use by persons with serious heart or liver disease
- Risk of dependence and addiction

The pharmacist also mentioned that one would assume risks to be greater when used without medical oversight (e.g., CBD oil, cannabis water, etc.) She indicated that it’s important to remember that this could be an addictive substance, so using it to “wean” off other addictive substances may just be trading one addiction for another.

The info sheet also includes information about:
- Driving, operating machinery, or doing work that could harm people when under the influence of medical cannabis
- Advice on starting low, going slow
- Keeping medications secure and in their original containers
- Sharing with or selling cannabis to others

I hope this helps with some of the questions people were asking.

Hi, all — as there has been a lot of discussion in this thread about using CBD oil and marijuana (prescribed or otherwise) 1) to control depression and anxiety or 2) to treat side effects of tapering off of antidepressants, we requested input from a Mayo Clinic pharmacist on the topic.

She recommended the following resource from the Minnesota Department of Health: http://www.health.state.mn.us/topics/cannabis/patients/patientinfosheet.pdf, which talks about warnings for using medical marijuana. In this info sheet you'll find sections about:
- Risks for use by children, adolescents, and young adults
- Risk for use by women who are pregnant or breastfeeding
- Risk of psychotic episodes and psychotic disease
- Risk of cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome
- Risks for use by persons with serious heart or liver disease
- Risk of dependence and addiction

The pharmacist also mentioned that one would assume risks to be greater when used without medical oversight (e.g., CBD oil, cannabis water, etc.) She indicated that it’s important to remember that this could be an addictive substance, so using it to “wean” off other addictive substances may just be trading one addiction for another.

The info sheet also includes information about:
- Driving, operating machinery, or doing work that could harm people when under the influence of medical cannabis
- Advice on starting low, going slow
- Keeping medications secure and in their original containers
- Sharing with or selling cannabis to others

I hope this helps with some of the questions people were asking.

Hi, all — as there has been a lot of discussion in this thread about using CBD oil and marijuana (prescribed or otherwise) 1) to control depression and anxiety or 2) to treat side effects of tapering off of antidepressants, we requested input from a Mayo Clinic pharmacist on the topic.

She recommended the following resource from the Minnesota Department of Health: http://www.health.state.mn.us/topics/cannabis/patients/patientinfosheet.pdf, which talks about warnings for using medical marijuana. In this info sheet you'll find sections about:
- Risks for use by children, adolescents, and young adults
- Risk for use by women who are pregnant or breastfeeding
- Risk of psychotic episodes and psychotic disease
- Risk of cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome
- Risks for use by persons with serious heart or liver disease
- Risk of dependence and addiction

The pharmacist also mentioned that one would assume risks to be greater when used without medical oversight (e.g., CBD oil, cannabis water, etc.) She indicated that it’s important to remember that this could be an addictive substance, so using it to “wean” off other addictive substances may just be trading one addiction for another.

The info sheet also includes information about:
- Driving, operating machinery, or doing work that could harm people when under the influence of medical cannabis
- Advice on starting low, going slow
- Keeping medications secure and in their original containers
- Sharing with or selling cannabis to others

I hope this helps with some of the questions people were asking.

Hi, all — as there has been a lot of discussion in this thread about using CBD oil and marijuana (prescribed or otherwise) 1) to control depression and anxiety or 2) to treat side effects of tapering off of antidepressants, we requested input from a Mayo Clinic pharmacist on the topic.

She recommended the following resource from the Minnesota Department of Health: http://www.health.state.mn.us/topics/cannabis/patients/patientinfosheet.pdf, which talks about warnings for using medical marijuana. In this info sheet you'll find sections about:
- Risks for use by children, adolescents, and young adults
- Risk for use by women who are pregnant or breastfeeding
- Risk of psychotic episodes and psychotic disease
- Risk of cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome
- Risks for use by persons with serious heart or liver disease
- Risk of dependence and addiction

The pharmacist also mentioned that one would assume risks to be greater when used without medical oversight (e.g., CBD oil, cannabis water, etc.) She indicated that it’s important to remember that this could be an addictive substance, so using it to “wean” off other addictive substances may just be trading one addiction for another.

The info sheet also includes information about:
- Driving, operating machinery, or doing work that could harm people when under the influence of medical cannabis
- Advice on starting low, going slow
- Keeping medications secure and in their original containers
- Sharing with or selling cannabis to others

I hope this helps with some of the questions people were asking.

i am interested in comments re CBD for depression or anxiety also. i live in a state where it's legal so i did buy some cookies with that ingredient. it did relax me but i can't evaluate it other than that. i haven't read the research which i'm sure is out there.