Transcript of Episode 90: CBD Oil and Alzheimer's Disease
With Dr. Daniel Pompa, Meredith Dykstra, and special guest Dr. Phillip Blair.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqIuajgMZrk”
Meredith:
We have a really amazing topic for you today, but first of all, we’ve got Dr. Pompa on the call. How are you Dr. Pompa?
Dr. Pompa:
Wonderful, wonderful. We have a great topic today. I’m excited.
Meredith:
This is very true. It is Friday, and we have some really amazing information for you. We have a special guest, Dr. Phillip Blair, who will be joining the show, back by popular demand. We had Dr. Blair join us a few episodes ago. It was Episode 84, where he talked all about the benefits of CBD oil. That’s cannabidiol oil. If you haven’t listened to that episode yet, definitely hit stop and go check it out. It’s on Dr. Pompa’s YouTube channel, and it’s also on podcast.drpompa.com, and that’s episode 84, where we basically did kind of a CBD oil 101 primer on this amazing oil product and all the benefits it can have to increase our health. Definitely check that out, and while Dr. Blair is getting on the call, last time I felt badly because I did not do a proper introduction for Dr. Blair. He’s just such a welcomed knowledge and we are so blessed to have him on. We’re excited for him to join the show again today.
While he’s joining, which I see he is there right now—hi Dr. Blair. How are you?
Dr. Blair:
Good morning. Is my sound alright?
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, it’s perfect.
Meredith:
It’s perfect. We can hear you very well. I was just giving an introduction here. I was saying that I felt badly because last time I did not read your bio, so if you don’t mind, I would like to read that before we jump in, so everyone can appreciate all that you’ve done and the value that you’re able to bring.
Colonel Philip Blair, M.D., is a retired family physician recently relocated to the Florida Space Coast. You graduated from West Point in 1972 and attended the University of Miami School of Medicine and trained as a family physician.
You traveled around a lot with your different assignments. I won’t read all of them, but there were many places, and after retiring from the Army in 1996, you managed workers injuries and provided primary care above the Arctic Circle in Alaska, Kodiak Island, and Newfoundland, Canada. That’s very cool.
In 2000, you became Vice President for Disease Management at AWAC, Incorporated, an insurance claim management company, where you developed a highly successful interventional approach to chronic kidney disease.
In 2011, you formed your own company, consulting for employer-based health insurers and provided a revolutionary style of chronic disease management, achieving success in over 75% of patients with diabesity, or diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome.
Dr. Pompa:
I like that! “Diabesity.”
Meredith
It’s a combination for sure. In addition, you are a skilled computer database developer and instructor for speech recognition software on PC and Apple platforms. You also enjoy ballroom dancing and public speaking.
That’s a pretty impressive resume, Dr. Blair, I have to say, and we’re so excited to have you back on the show to share your wealth of knowledge with us and our audience on such an important topic.
We did refer everyone back to Episode 84 when you first joined us and gave us a primer on CBD oil and all of the benefits, but Dr. Pompa and I were thinking that it would be good just to start off for those that might be listening for the first time to the show, if you could give a basic overview of CBD oil, what it is, and it’s benefits before we jump into the specific topic today.
Dr. Pompa:
Before you even do that, I know I asked this on the last show, but when you’re reading his bio, I always have to ask the question, “How in the world did you end up in this world?” From that to this expert in cannabidiol oil, because Dr. Blair, that always amazes me. It’s amazing.
Dr. Blair
You’ve hit upon a good point. I’m looking for solutions. I’m looking for the best way to do things. I’m looking as a scientist. I’m constantly searching trying to find the answers to these perplexing questions that plague our entire society. In that measure, I’ve been looking for and trying to find how to solve many of these problems, and cannabidiol is one of those substances that appear to have many huge benefits that are really undeniable.
Every time I turn over a particular topic, I discover a new benefit or potential benefit that CBD can perform. I believe it’s from a practical standpoint that I’ve evolved into this, and cannabidiol is extraordinary in terms of those particular benefits, but it works, and that’s what excites me and has ignited my passion for this particular substance, and getting it out to the people where it’s easily available without legal threat from things like marijuana.
Dr. Pompa:
With that said, we’d better tell them what is cannabidiol and what is not cannabidiol for those people first viewing, but definitely go back and watch Episode 84. Let’s just quickly hit it before we get into our specific topic today.
Dr. Blair:
Cannabidiol is a phytocannabinoid. A cannabinoid is a substance that obviously comes from the cannabis plant. There are two varieties of cannabis plants. There is marijuana and hemp. One has psychoactive substances called THC, and the hemp does not have any significant amounts of THC in it, so we’re talking about cannabidiol from industrial hemp, which is commonly grown in other countries for fiber and seed oils, but in this country it’s not available, but cannabidiol is this substance that comes from industrial hemp, but it has some amazing, extraordinary properties without any of the psychological effects that one sees with marijuana.
Dr. Pompa:
Yes, and I think that’s one of the questions we get all the time. Cannabidiol, obviously, they associate that with marijuana. Meredith, one of the questions that you have gotten, and I’ll let you ask the question, is about that topic of how it compares to legalized marijuana. So, Meredith, ask the question that you asked me.
Meredith:
I do get that question too. Is it psychoactive? You just said it’s not, but is it even possible to feel any of those effects at all from this oil? People are definitely very curious about the effects of this versus smoking marijuana or vaporizing it for example.
Dr. Blair:
The effects are very subtle. They are a matter of changes in your feeling, your mood, but there’s no effect in terms of hallucinations, feeling loopy, or a lack of coordination. In fact, what I’ve seen with cannabidiol has been an extraordinary enhancement of the senses, whether that’s vision, smell, taste, or sensation, with an improvement of the mood across the board where it’s not irrational. It is a comfortable feeling. Perhaps that comes from the calming effect and the reduced anxiety that people experience with it.
Along with that, there’s an increase in the speed of speech, so that rather than slowing down as you would imagine a depressant like alcohol would do, in fact, people speed up. Their speech speeds up. Their cognition speeds up. Their memory sharpens. If you listen to them, their voice goes down almost an octave in terms of their speaking. There seems to be a greater ability to make decisions and stay on focus. You can imagine the benefits that would be related to that. There’s no deviation in thinking. In fact, there’s a more and greater precision in thinking as a result.
Dr. Pompa:
The autism committee—you’re mentioning all of these effects on the brain, which is our topic today with Alzheimer’s. I want to go there, but I have many, many people who I help that have children on the autism spectrum. I can tell you that 100% of the time these kids have a massive change when they are utilizing CBD oil.
With that as a launch, we know that it has a major change in the brain. You just described some of those changes. What is so unique about cannabidiol that has this major effect in the brain? You just sent us these testimonies. I just talked about the testimonies that I get from the autistic community. You just sent us a couple of amazing testimonies. What is it about this that has such a positive effect on the brain?
Dr. Blair:
Those are difficult questions. I’m not sure I can answer all of them, and the exact mechanisms that are involved are really quite baffling, because we haven’t really entered into the research that needs to be there. We know that cannabidiol works in two major areas. That specifically is the immune system in calming inflammation and reducing inflammation.
The other area is an enhancer or a feedback mechanism at the nerve synapses. We know that there is an enhancement of the communication where the nerves meet at the axons and dendrites and the communication that goes across that particular area. Those are fundamental, and we know that a lot of brain diseases are in fact degenerative and inflammatory. In fact, Alzheimer’s disease has been called diabetes type III, because of inflammation and the changes that are going on in the brain.
CBD works specifically on the immune cells, reducing the inflammation. It also seems to mediate some of the metabolics, including at the mitochondrial level, so we’re not only talking about extracellular, we’re talking about intracellular effects specifically. We know that as an anti-inflammatory in the blood, it also, in addition to that, intracellularly, it’s working as an anti-inflammatory. A lot of those processes that are occurring within the cell that lead to impairments within the nerve cell, brain cell, or other tissues are stopped with the cannabidiol, because it prevents that inflammation going on inside the cell.
Dr. Pompa:
You mentioned two things. We know that Alzheimer’s has this connection with, like you said, type III diabetes in the sense that there’s something called insulin-degrading enzyme that the brain uses to get rid of insulin because it’s so damaging. The insulin-degrading enzyme gets used up and distracted because of continual spikes in glucose and insulin, and becomes diminished and now it’s the same enzyme used to get rid of plaque. That’s one of the connections of these elevated glucose that most Americans have, or glucose spikes, without even being diagnosed with diabetes, but we know that it degrades this enzyme that is needed to get rid of insulin and plaque, and then we see plaques building up.
The other interesting thing is, is that we know that cannabidiol oil plays this amazing role in cancer. I was just on the phone with someone, and they said, “Look, cannabidiol is the only thing that actually helped me.” They were a cancer patient. If you look at Dr. Seyfried’s book, it says Cancer as a Metabolic Disease. This man has been researching cancer his whole professional life, and he’s saying, “Look, we’re wrong about cancer. Most cancers, the majority of them, are not genetic in nature.” What comes first? He’s saying that like Alzheimer’s, this is a metabolic issue. This is an issue of the mitochondria being damaged, and now cancer cells are only using glucose, not ketones or fat.
My point is this; does the cannabidiol have its effect in cancer because of what it does for the mitochondria? I’ve read some studies on that, so Alzheimer’s could be glucose related; at least we know part of the cause. Cancer – mitochondria and glucose related.
Dr. Blair:
That is one of the mechanisms that are probably involved in the cancer benefit that we see with cannabidiol, but we don’t know. Once again, we haven’t really elucidated all of the issues that are related to cancer and cannabidiol. Research has really been going on into other areas.
Is it metabolic? I can guarantee that that’s part of it, and interestingly, cannabidiol is an anti-inflammatory. I said that repeatedly, but in cancer cells it becomes a different situation. You actually have—and the reason why cancer cells die and the way the body induces death in cancer cells, is an inflammatory reaction inside of the cancer cell. How cannabidiol does this, I don’t know, but in some way cannabidiol actually enhances the inflammatory situation inside cancer cells that specifically leads to their death, whereas in most cellular tissues, it’s anti-inflammatory, and in cancer cells, the reverse. It is actually inflammatory in cancer cells, leading to their demise, which is a great way to go. How does it do that? I don’t know.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, that’s interesting, because a lot of what Seyfried talks about is that, a cancer cell. The problem is, is that something gets damaged in the mitochondria, typically toxin in origin, which is back from Otto Warburg’s theory, that something gets damaged in the mitochondria and it damages how we make ATP through oxidative phosphorylation.
Once it’s damaged, a cell should die, apoptosis, and in a cancer cell that doesn’t die, it up regulates glycolysis. Now, it has this infinity for sugar, but that’s the point. They’re looking at new things to really get the cell to wake up and die, and that’s what you’re saying cannabidiol does. It gets the cell to die when it should have died, instead of adapting with this odd glycolysis or metabolism of sugar. Anyway, it’s really interesting.
As I’ve been doing so much research in this area, and to hear that cannabidiol, again, is one of the big players. I’ve often wondered its effect and why so many people with cancer have such a love for cannabidiol.
Let’s get to the topic today. Listen, you shared a testimony with us last time about Alzheimer’s and the use of cannabidiol, and this week you shared a few more. I don’t know that they were Alzheimer’s, but let’s broach the subject. Why is it so powerful for Alzheimer’s?
Meredith:
If I could interject just a little bit. I looked up some statistics which are just pretty shocking about Alzheimer’s in America, and are a good reminder too before we jump in that one in three seniors die with Alzheimer’s or another dementia in this country. It’s the sixth leading cause of death in the USA. This year alone, 2015, Alzheimer’s and other dementias cost us $226 billion. It was interesting. This is all from the Alzheimers.org website; they said that, “It’s the only top 10 cause of death in America that cannot be prevented, cured, or slowed.” That last statistic is pretty interesting, because I think you guys both have some things to share that would be on the contrary.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, they call it the “graveyard of hope.” All the drug companies have spent billions trying to even come up with a drug that even reduces symptoms, and not one has been successful.
Dr. Blair:
It’s a good point that you’ve made, Meredith, is there’s no successful therapy if you look at the pharmaceutical industry. That doesn’t work. The other important thing from your research you might have seen is that actually initial process of Alzheimer’s disease may go back 20 years, so that the clinical findings only seem to start about 10 years out that we’ve noticed and we can find that kind of evidence. There’s something going on within the brain and that this process is going on, probably is environmental. What do you think, Daniel?
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, I think we definitely know some causative agents. We just discussed the glucose, right? We know that toxins can damage the mitochondria and cause this to become a problem. We know that heavy metals are involved. The leading immunologist, at least the most quoted immunologist, recently just came out, and it was run partly in the media, saying that someone who gets a flu shot five years consecutively when they looked at their study, it increases their chance of Alzheimer’s 10 fold, 10 times, and when he was asked why, he said it was the accumulation of aluminum and mercury in the brain tissue over the years that can trigger inflammation in this response, etc.
We know there are different environmental triggers. I think glycoside plays a role. I think it’s really this perfect storm of elevated glucose and the toxins all driving inflammation that play a role.
Dr. Blair:
I’ll jump on that. I think the inflammation is very, very key, and as Seyfried points out in his studies talking about cancer cells, we’ve got an inflammatory situation within the body, and this inflammation goes across almost all the disease. The common thread in almost all of this is inflammation. We debate about what is the cause, but we do know that high glucose levels raise glycolysis and glycolysis raises the amount of inflammation intracellularly in mitochondria, so we’re well aware of that, but once this manifestation, once this inflammation has occurred and it’s going on, how do we calm it down? How do we quench that particular fire?
That’s one of the approaches that we’re looking at with cannabidiol, but going backwards, as you have alluded to, Dr. Pompa, is that these things that we need to avoid. In particular, it may be that immunizations are hazardous that incite the immune system to create an inflammatory situation that’s generalized over the body. That inflammation is key, and the immune cell seems to be very, very important in terms of producing those substances that cause inflammation. Any of those things that we can use to avoid and reduce inflammation are very, very important and going back to fundamentals and lifestyle changes that need to be there.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, I couldn’t agree more. I always say there’s three causes that I see, but there’s many causes of inflammation—toxins, obviously glucose we both mentioned, and even the avoidance of certain amazing fats, and the overconsumption of other fats, because they play into cellular inflammation, you know, the three causes that we talk about.
Specifically, cannabidiol—I teach a multi-therapeutic approach to an answer for Alzheimer’s and what’s happening with this condition. We have been ultra-successful with these cases where other people have not. I found a study saying that gosh, this is why we’ve been so successful, because we do have this multi-therapeutic approach. We like to put people on things like cannabidiol that are anti-inflammatory. We utilize things like intermittent fasting. Of course, we apply my five R’s of cellular healing. We approach detox at a cellular level and particularly go after it in the brain.
This multi-therapeutic approach is something that I have found that really is the answer. It’s not easy. I’m training doctors in it. You have to really get people to be compliant; however, it works. Let’s focus on cannabidiol. Let’s focus on some of the results that you’ve seen doc, because we’ve seen the testimonies. Tell us a little bit about that.
Dr. Blair:
You brought up a very good point. I see cannabidiol as stopping the process in its place; a temporizing measure where you can use the techniques that you’ve found that will reverse the process and calm the inflammation and the processes down at the fundamental core. CBD can temporize on that, stop that acute process, and restore some of that function, but you’ve got to get back to the core level. What’s going wrong and what are people doing wrong that seems to exacerbate this whole process?
In terms of cannabidiol, yeah, let’s talk about some of the details and some of the things that I’ve seen. I’d love to relate some of those stories.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, please, because I’m in agreement. You have to go upstream to the cause, but while we’re doing that we need something as powerful as CBD to be able to down regulate inflammation, specifically neuro-inflammation.
Dr. Blair:
I think it’s particularly valuable for providers that you work with and then giving them some way to establish a rapport with their clients and patients to say, “Look, this stuff works,” and you can see it immediately and see that result, and once you establish that rapport, then the patients are going to be more trusting in terms of the program that you have to bring to the table. You’re going to be more successful at changing their lifestyle, changing their orientation, and resolving their conditions.
Dr. Pompa:
You know, while you’re working upstream, I think it’s so important to have a tool like this that can down regulate inflammation fast enough that they can feel a result. That way you can keep their interest while you’re going upstream, which takes time.
You had said it. Alzheimer’s now is happening in people, and, by the way, young people, as young as 30s and 40s now. That’s scary. That just shows you that it is environmental triggering certain genes; of course we know that certain genes do get triggered, but, again, what’s triggering the genes? The environmental stressors that we’re exposed to today are like never ever before driving this inflammation process younger and younger.
I don’t mind getting these cases when people start going, “Hey, I just feel like my memory is not working.” One of the first signs of Alzheimer’s is some short-term memory loss, right? You know people start to say, “I’m scared about that, because so and so in my family”—and you really should, because when we look at the fact that in people in their 30s and 40s are developing Alzheimer’s, that’s scary. If my short-term memory starting going, I would definitely be looking for some things that down regulate inflammation. You’d better be concerned about changing your lifestyle too.
I know we don’t know the exact action, but we know that cannabidiol has a major effect on these neuro-tissues, I mean, in regulating inflammation. I think it has an effect on the cell membrane and the receptor as well. Is there anything else?
Dr. Blair:
We know that there’s an enhancement between nerves. There’s more communication that’s going on, and with the reduction of inflammation in the brain in the neuro-protective area, then you’re reducing the amount of interference, and you’re enhancing the connectivity of those tissues. Some of the studies are showing this improved connectivity within the brain that there is modulation of those signals. Sometimes those modulation signals that are too strong get dampened, and sometimes those that are dampened or weakened are enhanced. You’re getting better communication. There’s actually some evidence for better electrical conductivity in the brain where it’s an enhancement of the conduction. At the same time, there’s a reduction in thresholds for seizure disorders, so even though you’re enhancing the connectivity, you’re not increasing the risk of any adverse events.
The CBD molecule seems to be incredibly intelligent in terms of where it works on the body and on the mental faculties. I like to think of it as an enhancer and a return to normalcy. Rather than cannabidiol being in the concept of the pharmaceutical industry, a drug that has to be applied and that has a linear relationship in terms of low levels having one effect and high levels being another effect, look at it as adjusting to being normal. If you’re normal—what was your normal 20 years ago? I like to think of it like that.
If we’re restoring normalcy, we’re restoring brain function, and we’re restoring all of these other skills and abilities that we have as well as cognitive skills. Let’s turn back the clock 20 years. Wouldn’t that be fantastic? Those are the characteristics that I’m seeing with CBD. Now, Meredith, that won’t count for you because you’re not old enough, but us old codgers—
Dr. Pompa:
Meredith will tell you, when I had some back pain about two months ago, and every once in a while, I get that debilitating back pain, and I started taking extra CBD because it was, honestly, when I flew to Pittsburg, Meredith, I literally didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it. My back hurt that much, so I loaded up. I probably had two or three in a little pile right there, and I put it under my tongue before I went to the airport. By the time I got on that airplane, I’m telling you, I was pain free. I did the whole four-and-a-half hour flight. I had no pain. My wife was amazed, so I stayed the high level of CBD.
I can tell you, I’ve been taking CBD religiously since, because when I was on it, yeah, my pain reduced, but I noticed my brain was on fire for a good reason. It was really good. I noticed an absolute increase in my memory. I’ve got a really sharp brain and sharp memory, but something was clearer. That’s the only way I can describe it. I take it. I’m not looking to either to down regulate anything.
Dr. Blair:
Let me ask you. Of course it was an extraordinary experience, but could you see it as going back 20 years?
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, when I go into ketosis, which I do every summer, I always describe it as, “I know when I keto-adapt, because my brain turns on and gets ultra-clear.” It’s almost like when someone turns the lights up in the room and you didn’t realize they are slightly dim until they go up. I have that experience when my brain starts feeding from ketones. I had the same experience when I started taking the higher levels of CBD.
Some people get the same experience taking low levels, but for some reason when I took more, I definitely noticed this massive clarity in my brain, and yeah, I could describe it as being in my 20s perhaps in my brain. I don’t know. I think my brain is sharper today than when I was in my 20s, doc. Honestly, I really do.
Dr. Blair:
It’s clear right now from the vantage point of height at this point. Maybe you had those resources.
Dr. Pompa:
It’s something I noticed—short-term memory loss. It’s just a simple clarity and a recall that I hadn’t had. Let me just say this. I think it’s unique. Contrast when people are smoking marijuana, obviously their brain slows down. THC can actually start having a negative effect on the brain, I believe it driving inflammation.
The benefits, the CBD—I’m not saying that THC doesn’t have some benefit, but when we look at the original plants, it was very, very little THC. Now they’re breeding these plants to have all of this THC, which actually has a negative impact on the brain, so contrast taking CBD and smoking marijuana.
Dr. Blair:
You’re exactly right. The current species of marijuana sometimes have as much as 25% of THC in them, which is really a far cry from the 1-3% that was experienced in the 1970s. As a result, you’re seeing a sort of schizophrenic type of breaks and psychoses, particularly in large cities where there is high use and intensive drug use, but those are variations of the marijuana and its distortion where producers have gone to producing, thinking that THC is the wonder substance that’s going to relieve all of our problems and producing higher and higher levels.
I think you’re seeing actually sort of a backfire in that, and people are coming back down to lower levels and trying to customize their plants to meet particular needs. Some groups in different parts of the world are actually experimenting with exactly those percentages to find out what percentage of THC and CBD works the best.
Meredith, you were asking about medical marijuana, and there was a question that came up on that. What is it about medical marijuana that is special? It’s because of the CBD. There is a very small amount of THC, and, in fact, very low levels, but it’s the medical marijuana movement around the country is specifically targeted at cannabidiol. Unfortunately, in many places it’s illegal and requires prescription and you have to go through a number of administrative hassles and legal hassles, and the penalties if you get caught with the stronger stuff are extraordinary. You don’t want to get caught in that situation at all.
In contrast, then the marijuana, if we’re talking about the average varieties that are out there for recreational use versus the cannabidiol, there’s no comparison; no comparison at all.
Dr. Pompa:
Then there was the study that showed most likely CBD, the cannabidiol; why not take 100% cannabidiol? The product that we carry on our website is the product that you like. It’s guaranteed 18% cannabidiol. It’s organic with no toxins, which is another issue. Yeah, Meredith is holding it up right there. Go ahead and show that Meredith.
Meredith:
This is the oil, and we have the tincture as well.
Dr. Pompa:
Doc, I would like you to comment on some of the testimonies, the things that you see, because you use this so much with people and you have a lot of experience with it. Share some of the experiences you’ve had, and then we’ll talk about how to best take it, because after our last show, we still had a lot of questions about vaping it, this or that, or sublingual, so let’s we’ll get into that next, but share some of your experiences.
Dr. Blair:
It’s exciting to relate that, because it was such a surprise to me. I had not realized that some of these things could be reversed. I was just hoping to relieve suffering and pain, but when I saw a reversal, I was beside myself with amazement and surprise.
The first gentleman that I used cannabidiol on was an 82-year-old man who was a veteran of the Korean War. He was lethargic sitting in his chair with type II diabetes. He was immobile, hardly moving, and hardly communicating. Within a week of using fairly low levels of cannabidiol, he was activated.
He was activated to the point of recalling all of his experiences with incredible designs in terms of finishing his book that he had started about his Korean War experiences in battle. He had incredible designs for going off and doing all the things that he had not been able to do, and he related to me some weeks later that during that time, he felt like he was a vegetable as he looks back on it, and with the cannabidiol, he woke up and knew the stuff that was going on.
I have to tell you though, it didn’t restore everything. He didn’t have all of his memories. There was some permanent damage that was there, but his conversation with me and his awareness of what was happening was there. That was functional, and he also became mobile, so that he was up and moving around. He was social, whereas before he was non-communicative. At this point, he was nonstop talking. I think we almost had to put a muzzle on him to calm him down.
Dr. Pompa:
How much was he taking? What was his dosage?
Dr. Blair:
He was actually using a vape formulation, and he was taking about 15 mg three times a day.
Meredith:
Wow.
Dr. Blair:
At one point, he got so activated that the family was concerned that he was going crazy, and he didn’t have the control because he had restored strength and energy so that he was always moving, he was always active, and he was able to do things that previously were denied for him because he didn’t have the physical ability.
In being activated, he had some grandiose ideas, and he wanted to take off and do many things that were not quite ready for the family to understand. His family stopped the medication for him because of those particular strong effects, and we delayed that for a while and then restarted him at a much lower dose.
Everybody has a different sensitivity, and I think that Alzheimer’s disease and dementia represents one of those states of inflammation and reduced cannabinoid sort of your own endocannabinoid system has been deactivated. It’s not functional and it’s not working, and by using the phytocannabinoids like cannabidiol then you are stimulating that natural system that is there and putting it into operation and activity again. For some people who have been severely deficient, restoring that can activate a little bit too activating and lead to a very vigorous activity that may not be wise. It’s logical. It makes sense, but it is sort of more empowerment than patients are ready for.
Dr. Pompa:
We talked a little bit about dosing last time, and then I want to go beyond dosing this time, which we didn’t talk about last time, and that’s modes of taking it. You mentioned that that gentleman was vaping it and I know that vaping just happens to be the number one way to get the cannabidiol to be more efficient, meaning you can take less and get a greater result. He was taking about 45 mg a day. If he was doing it orally or sublingually, if you will, he might have had to take double that, correct, or even more.
Dr. Blair:
I didn’t relate that after a time, we switched him over to the oral form of it, because that was easier for him to use, but initially he was using the vape, and when I gave you the dose, 15 mg wouldn’t be right, because usually a dose by vape is less than 1 mg, and when you go to the oral dosing, then you’re going to go up to typically about 15 mg, but for some people—
Dr. Pompa:
Three times a day.
Dr. Blair:
Yes, and usually with regard to the vaping, and what he had done was he was vaping all the time. He was using it constantly. That was a little bit overage. When we went to the oral dose, then it was more controlled, and instead of him eating it constantly, it was measured out periodically three times a day. That worked out a lot better, and he was able to establish evenness towards his improvement. Over time, he was reintegrated into a system, his own natural system seemed to be starting to work again, and he was showing significant recovery in many areas, but, again, not everything was cured.
Meredith:
I have a question too. Perhaps someone is watching that is not really familiar with vaporizing and the process of that, so could you explain that?
Dr. Blair:
We know, of course, it comes from smoking marijuana. You know, that’s the primary route that’s been used for a millennia. The lung is an extraordinarily sensitive area for absorption, and the distance between the lung cavity or the lung space or in the alveoli and the bloodstream is micrometers in terms of distance, so it’s very easy to get transported across there.
A drug that comes in through the airway can be easily gotten into the blood, and then that blood typically goes to the brain immediately, so you have the cognitive effects, the brain effects, and neurologic modulation that occur right away. That’s true for THC, but it’s also true for cannabidiol. The molecules are very, very similar. What we’re talking about is vaporizing. That’s what the cigarette has in is a vaporizing technique where it’s heated to a high temperature and then it goes into the lungs and gets absorbed by the bloodstream.
In the E-cigarette that eliminates all of the ash, tar, and carcinogens that are there and just delivers the pure cannabidiol, and as a result, you’re not getting the toxic effect or irritating effect. In fact, there’s good evidence to show that as an anti-inflammatory on the lung, it reduces asthma and it reduces the reactivity going on with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
What happens in the E-cigarette, let me get back to that topic, the oil is in a chamber. It’s pulled up in from a wick into a coil, and the coil is heated to about 360 degrees and that vaporizes it, and that’s easy to breathe. A few inhalations of that will allow you to get the cannabidiol right to the brain and the rest of the body.
Dr. Pompa:
How much more efficient is it and how much less can you use vaping versus non-vaping? My other question is—the new product in the dropper bottle, can that be vaped? You can’t take the one from the syringe—hold up the other other—you’re not able to utilize that vaping it without putting it in something.
Dr. Blair:
Normally, you’re not going to vaporize that material. It needs to be in the right blend, and the blend contains propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin, and that helps it vaporize and it is more easily absorbed that way. You can’t really use the oils that way, and I wouldn’t really recommend that whatsoever. It strictly is a different modality.
Which one is more effective? I think the price point on the vaporizing is a little bit more affordable for people, but sometimes the duration of effects are not there with the vaping, and you’d like to have an enduring sort of response.
You asked about the absorption. When we’re talking about inhaling, we’re getting a 97% bioavailability with the use of inhaling. When you’re talking about oral dosing, it’s probably on the order of less than 10% by oral absorption. Now, the intermediate way is, as you were talking about earlier, Daniel, and that is putting it under the tongue and in the mouth, because it’ll absorb through the mucous membranes beautifully, and because of that, you’re going to get about 30% bioavailability through the mucous membranes.
There’s other ways as well. Now, we’re talking orally, and we talked about maybe 10% orally, and then there’s some absorption through the skin as well, so you can use that on the skin and you do get some absorption, but it’s more on the level of about 5% through the skin.
Dr. Pompa:
Vaping seems a little difficult for most people. My clients, I just have them do it sublingually and hold it in there for five or ten minutes. I tell them to hold it as long as they can just to get those percentages higher, but it’s not like you can take those and vape them. I fooled around with it just using vegetable glycerin, because I didn’t’ actually want to use the propylene glycol. It worked, but it is more difficult.
Let’s talk about dosing it sublingually, and let’s give people some real guidelines there, because that is the easiest mode. If we use the syringe one there, let’s talk about a good dose to start on, and let’s talk about a more ramped up dose for people who have some issues.
Dr. Blair:
Daniel that syringe style may be going out. There’s a new device that’s being used, and it’s called the X-pen. The X-pen delivers a standard dose of 15 mg consistently. Let me see if I can get one of those containers, and I’ll show you what the X-pen looks like. What’s really nice about this—this is the X-pen and what’s coming forward on it, and this device delivers a standard dosing with every press.
Dr. Pompa:
That makes it easier.
Dr. Blair:
It’s standard, whereas we have been telling people that they would be using perhaps rice grain to measure their cannabidiol, which is too difficult.
Dr. Pompa:
Out that old syringe, just for my people who have the syringe, if you put the little line like a rice grain on your finger, how many milligrams is that?
Dr. Blair:
Just estimating on the milligrams on a rice grain, it’s very, very difficult to do. I almost feel like it’s probably one—I would be just guessing.
Dr. Pompa:
I go by the size of a pea. I have people make a little bit of pea. The size of a pea—how many milligrams is that? I think you told me that a long time ago.
Dr. Blair:
Perhaps that’s 3 or 4 mg in that size. I guess that’s my best estimate. That can be very effective for people, just using those very small amounts. When we’re talking about Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, that’s a good place to start—where they’re using very small amounts, and so in this new style, the X-pen, it’s a great style and it’s a great working affect, but 15 mg may be too much for many people who are severely deficient.
You know, we’re thinking that a lot of these diseases as being an endocannabinoid, you’re natural cannabinoid deficiency or a dis-regulation going on as a result of lifestyle and events, and so if you’re adding that substance back in and reorganizing it, then there can be an excitement and reactivation that’s a little bit too much. Starting with incremental dosage on the order of 3-5 mg three times a day, is a great place to start, and then you can make adjustments from there. In fact, that’s what I recommend for everybody; start off with a small dose and see how you react to it, because if you’re severely deficient in endocannabinoids, then you’re going to react much more strongly and it may be uncomfortable for you. On the other hand, if you start lower and you move up, that’s great.
Dr. Pompa:
That’s good advice, so starting at maybe 5 mg three times a day, and then moving up to, like you said, 15 mg three times a day, and sometimes higher. I know you’ve used higher doses.
Dr. Blair:
In those severe problems where people are manifesting huge metabolic issues or chronic diseases and severe pain, then it may be that we need to move up to 45 mg three times a day or 90 mg a couple times a day.
The pharmacokinetics of CBD say that it lasts 24 hours in the bloodstream, but I think typically the response that I have seen is on the order of 8 hours feeling those particular effects. That’s why I incline myself to the 8 hours, but knowing there’s bio availability in the bloodstream for that 24-hour period. I certainly will allow a twice-a-day schedule where that fits into the patient’s schedule, and they get sufficient amounts during that time.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, I was going to ask you about that.
Dr. Blair:
If we’re talking about autism, autism may require more frequent dosing, maybe five times per day, but it doesn’t always have to be the same amount. It could be a lesser amount at one time and a higher amount or supplement to go along with it if there is an exacerbation excitement as you were having, Daniel, with your flying and some additional pain you had, then you might increase the dose temporarily and have a supplemental dose.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, that’s what I did. I’ve backed it down since, but the higher dose really made a massive difference for me. When we put it in the mouth, we like to utilize some MCT oil just to help that absorption, and, again, up the percentages. Do you have any recommendations there?
Dr. Blair:
Certainly, in swallowing it, I think the MCT oil helps, and then the MCT oil makes it a much more pleasant experience and those concentrates are rather strong. I think of them as being very spicy, and when I taste it, I say, “Boy, every tingle I get from that spiciness is another molecule of cannabidiol restoring myself or my patients,” and so I use that constructively. Using some MCT oil to make it more palatable is a very good way to do it, and then when it gets to the gut, of course, MCT oil is absorbed directly and doesn’t require any digestion.
Meredith:
Yeah, we have a great MCT oil here, and I believe you’ve said in the past too, one could use coconut oil or an avocado as well, as a good fat to help it absorb.
Dr. Blair:
Any of the fats are going to be good, because CBD is fat soluble, and it likes to mix with fat. Will it enhance the absorption? I think that it’s very effective and it sets the body in the right direction for absorbing and retaining all of those CBD molecules.
Meredith:
Is it best to take on an empty stomach or does it matter?
Dr. Blair:
It should not matter. The way that this is absorbed, I don’t think that you’re going to benefit yourself from having a full stomach after a meal. It’s not an after-meal event, I would be inclined. You can eat afterwards. That shouldn’t be difficult, because many of the effects are felt very, very quickly in the absorption. I don’t recommend a large meal in the vicinity. Sometimes people can have a little bit of reflux after they’ve taken CBD. You can imagine that the CBD causes a certain amount of relaxation; well it may be that the lower esophageal sphincter gets relaxed in that process too.
Dr. Pompa:
I have two questions that I have had. Number one, what if somebody’s not feeling an effect from it?
Dr. Blair:
It still may be there, and I often have family members to observe patients to see what effects they’re having. If I restore you to normal, Daniel, do you feel like there’s any change? You may not, and if that is the case, then I think there are some people who make changes that these changes occur in, don’t recognize them, but other people will.
It’s not unusual for me to help a patient and have them take a dose of cannabidiol right in my office, right before my eyes, and as I watch them they may say, “I don’t really feel anything different,” but as I described to you, Meredith, earlier, the speed of their speech increases; there’s less hesitation; they’re an octave lower in their voice, which may also indicate relaxation of their vocal cords. I see a thought process. I see a more socialization, and I see more humor. These are things that family members can observe. You can’t always accept what the patient’s observations are, because they’re inside the body, they may not notice that actual changes that are happening.
Dr. Pompa:
I also had a patient who stated they loved the results. They said, “Gosh, is this stuff addictive?” because they absolutely love the result. How would you answer that?
Dr. Blair:
It is the most incredible anti-addictive formulation that’s available. People stop smoking after using cannabidiol. They don’t need to go back. That craving for nicotine is gone, and that’s the same thing that probably true for alcohol. It’s probably going to be very effective.
We know that it’s effective in narcotics use. It has an improvement and a reduction in withdrawal, and yet combined with the highest level of narcotics it has not produced any increase in respiratory depression. It attenuates the effects of addiction drastically, going to the brain centers that are involved with that particular process, and it reduces the requirements, but it’s safe, not causing any problems. I can’t imagine a more ideal substance to be used in addictive situations.
Meredith:
Wow. That’s amazing.
Dr. Pompa:
We’re at the top of the hour. That time went so fast.
Meredith:
Can I ask one more question though? I know you said in the past show that there were not any contraindications with the drug, however, someone possibly with Alzheimer’s or another chronic condition that is taking a lot of different medications, would it be of benefit to take CBD along with the medications? Would it replace the medications in a lot of ways?
Dr. Blair:
I think that it will reduce the amount of medications that they may need. We do see a blood pressure lowering and a relaxation of blood vessels, so they may not need as much of their other medications.
In terms of pain medications, typically we see a reduction of 80% of pain medications, and so what I would ask patients to do is start to look at their current regimen and decide whether they really need those medicines at those particular doses and work with their doctor to reduce the medicines that they have on board if they don’t need them anymore.
Meredith:
Amazing.
Dr. Pompa:
That’s great stuff. We thank you so much for your knowledge and experience with this product, and as soon as I get off the call here, I’m going to go take mine. I forgot.
Meredith:
I should take it too.
Dr. Blair:
We need to talk to you, Meredith, about that, because I’ve got some interesting findings that I would like to relate to you about sexuality.
Meredith:
Awesome, awesome. We can have that on a future show too. Maybe we can do a part three on CBD oil and the benefits in the bedroom. Maybe we can call it that. I don’t know.
Dr. Pompa:
Now, we’ve got people wanting the show. Now, look what you’ve done. Now, we’re going to get this influx of e-mails, because everyone is going to want that show. See that?
Dr. Blair:
It’s well worth it. When we talk about the benefits with Alzheimer’s, that’s earth shaking and economically that is huge, but one of the topics that we don’t talk about is sexuality. What I’ve seen in observation and close questioning for women is an extraordinary difference in their sexuality that they’re noting, particularly in women who are postmenopausal. They’re just seeing a dramatic change as a result of that. It is a subtle finding.
Dr. Pompa:
I’m going to rephrase what I’ve said. I’m going to make sure my wife takes hers now.
Dr. Blair:
I definitely advise that.
Dr. Pompa:
Hey doc. Thanks for getting up early. I know we shook you out of bed early today, so thank you for joining us, and I’m sure we’ll have you on future shows on future topics.
Meredith:
Yes, thank you Dr. Blair. This was such a wealth of information. Thank you Dr. Pompa, as always. It’s an incredible product. If you are looking for CBD oil and tinctures, and MCT oil as well, you can get the CBD oil at www.revelationCBDoil.com or you can call our office at (888) 600-0642.
Dr. Pompa:
Don’t they have to call in to order that? They can’t find it on the website, correct?
Meredith:
We have this new website where you can order it. It’s www.RevelationCBDOil.com or give us a call. Thanks again, everyone, for watching. Have a great weekend, and we’ll see you next time, next week. Stay tuned. Dr. Pompa and I will be sharing the top 10 strategies to avoid holiday weight gain, which is a hot topic with Thanksgiving, Christmas, and all the holidays coming up. You won’t want to miss that.
Dr. Pompa:
That’s a big one.
Meredith:
Thanks, everyone. Bye.
