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CBD Oil for headache

1 April 2022

Everybody suffers from a headache every now and then. Most of the time it’s innocent and it just makes you have a bad day. However, some people have a heavy headache or even migraine regularly. When this is the case, headache can be a condition that interferes with your work and can have a negative impact on your social life. Regular painkillers can help. But a natural remedy like CBD Oil has positive effects on headache and can lead to good results too.

What are the different types of headache?

Headache is one of the most heard health complaints and causes pain in certain areas in the head. The nerves of the meninges are being stimulated and this can result in a dull ache or a sharp, throbbing pain. The intensity, duration, location and the cause can vary depending on the kind of headache. Tension headache and migraine are the most common types of headache. Cluster headache is a very painful kind of headache, but is less common.

Causes of headache

Headache is very common, but the question is where it comes from. Unfortunately, that’s not always clear. With tension headache, the muscles in the head and neck area tense. External stimuli can be the cause of this, like stress, suddenly stop taking medication that contains caffeine (like ibuprofen), tiredness, sleep deprivation and certain kinds of food and drinks.

Migraine is a type of headache that involves severe pain, caused by hypersensitive nerve endings. It’s not exactly clear why someone suffers from migraine attacks. The stimuli that can cause a ‘normal’ headache, can also trigger migraine. But a migraine attack can also be caused by a combination of factors. Some possible triggers can be:

• Fragrances
• Bright lights or light flashes
• Certain food, like cheese, chocolate, nuts or yoghurt
• Alcohol
• Smoke

When you have a normal headache, you can buy regular painkillers over the counter. In many cases these are very effective. Your doctor can also prescribe a more powerful painkiller, often triptans, especially when you’re suffering from migraine. Most people don’t really want to be on (heavy) drugs the rest of their life. And even paracetamol can cause health complaints with long-term use. It’s becoming clearer and clearer that CBD Oil can be a good solution to help with headaches.

How does CBD work in your body?

CBD is a cannabinoid that comes from the hemp plant and is being recognised by the human body as if it where endogenous. The natural balance in the body is being maintained by the endocannabinoid system (ECS). The ECS can do this by influencing different processes, using its own network of receptors. CB1-receptors are mainly situated in the brain and organs and one of their many important tasks is to inhibit pain and inflammation. CB2-receptors can be found in the central nervous system and they can influence the immune system.

Your body produces its own cannabinoids as well, which send signals and messages to the cells. CBD (cannabidiol) can influence the receptors in the same way, even though it is plant based. This way, it can help with pain like headache, but also relieve stress and other mental and physical complaints.

What are CBD Oil’s advantages with headache?

CBD Oil can have some effects that can bring relieve when suffering from headache or migraine. It relieves pain, has anti-inflammatory properties and it calms you down. CBD can help to relieve your headache in different ways and you can find them here!

Relieving pain

Different studies have shown that CBD has painkilling effects. For instance, it can be used with joint pain like rheumatism and arthritis, nerve pain (for example MS) and also with migraine. However, research also concludes that if you want to take CBD Oil when you suffer from a severe headache, it’s best to combine it with THC, the component from the hemp plant with the psycho-active effects. Scientists from the European Academy of Neurology published the results of their study into cannabinoids in relation to migraine.

48 people participated in this research, all suffering from chronic migraine. They were administered a combination of two mixtures: one contained 19% THC, the other 9% CBD and almost no THC. It turned out that a dose of less than 100mg didn’t have any effect at all. When the patients were administered 200mg, their pain was reduced by 55%. In the second part of this study, people who suffered from chronic migraine and cluster head ache participated. The ones with migraine got a daily dose of 200mg of the THC-CBD mixture, or 25mg of antidepressant. People with cluster headaches also took the THC-CBD mixture or got 480mg of calcium channel blocker.

Results

The study lasted three months. The THC-CBD mixture appeared to reduce the migraine attacks with 40%, but the antidepressant had the same result. Also the pain decreased by 43%. Participants with cluster headaches only felt a little relieve in pain and frequency. So it’s clear that the combination of CBD and THC is pretty effective when it comes to migraine.

Unfortunately, not many research has been done into the effectiveness of only CBD with headaches. One of the qualities of CBD is that it can prevent the body’s metabolism of anandamide. This substance has a link with the regulation of pain. When the anandamide levels stay high enough by taking CBD, this can reduce the headache.

Reducing headache with CBD Oil by sleeping better

One of the most common causes of headache is bad sleep. A restful sleep is essential to provide your body the time it needs to recover from the day’s tensions. When you’re stressed, your sleep can be disrupted. This can lead to more headache, so you’ll sleep even worse. CBD has relaxing properties. It can calm your body and mind down, so it gets easier to fall asleep and stay asleep. Furthermore, it can help to relax your muscles, so tension headaches can be relieved.

Relieving other headache complaints

Research shows that CBD can also help to relieve other headache complaints, like nausea and inflammation. A 2012 study into CBD for neuropathic pain showed that CBD activates the glycine receptors. This can help to suppress inflammatory reactions and pain. The scientists concluded that CBD can be used for chronic pain and inflammatory diseases.

Using CBD Oil with headache?

CBD Oil is a plant-based and pure natural remedy. Even though we don’t really know why some people are suffering from headaches, CBD Oil can definitely bring relieve. There are barely any side effects and you can use it for a long time. Do you want to give CBD Oil a try? We recommend our Full Spectrum CBD Oil, so you can profit as much as possible from the whole range of natural compounds from the best hemp plants. The oil won’t make you ‘high’ or drowsy, so you can use it anytime and anywhere to relieve your headache with a natural supplement!