Why did the CBD oil industry rake in $512 million in 2018? And why is it expected to reach $1.8 billion by 2022?
There’s a reason why more and more people are turning to CBD – it works. Now, what people use it for varies between pain ailments to schizophrenia. It’s an herb that helps with the symptoms of both mental and physical problems and those who use it swear by it.
If you’re thinking about using it for your own health conditions, then you may be wondering how much you should take. Especially since many physicians don’t prescribe CBD oil, which leaves it up to you to decide on the correct dosage.
Pretty scary.
The good news is that you can’t overdose on CBD oil. But even on that note, you don’t want to take too little where you’re not getting the full effect. And you don’t want to take too much and waste your precious product.
So we’re here to help you figure out how much CBD oil you should take.
Let’s take a look!
Dosage Depends on the CBD Type
If you’ve done any amount of research on CBD, then you know there are a variety of forms it comes in. CBD oil is just one type.
There are three categories CBD products are broken down into – ingestibles, smokables, and topicals. For example, with the ingestibles, you have:
- Liquid CBD oil and tinctures
- Encapsulated CBD oil
- CBD-infused gum
- Cooking oils
- Edibles infused with CBD
- Paste concentrated with CBD
- Sprays and spritzers
- Dissolvable CBD powders
Then for the smokables, you have crystalline isolates, waxes, and eliquids, which you can place inside of vaping pens.
Lastly, the topicals come in the form of transdermal patches, CBD-infused lotions and balms, and bath bombs.
So with the multitude of products on the market, you have to decide which of them you plan to use and why. You’ll find certain forms of CBD are better for certain problems.
For instance, if you have muscle pain, then a topical CBD balm may be ideal. However, if you’re looking to calm your nerves, then smoking or ingesting CBD oil may be recommended.
Top-Rated CBD Brands
Rank | Brand | Shipping | More Info |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Verma Farms | Worldwide | |
2 | Verified CBD | Worldwide | Unavailable |
Deciding Between the Types of CBD Oil
Choosing which CBD oil products to buy depends on the effects you’re looking for. Each product typically comes with a recommended dose, which is great.
Yet there are some products like lotions and gum that don’t. But to help you decide which to choose, here are a few tips and guidelines.
Liquid-Based CBD Oil
Liquid CBD comes in the form of extracts, oils, and tinctures. Normally, tinctures come with a suggested serving size, i.e. 1 ml. In this case, it’s recommended that you follow the serving size to see how well it works for you.
If you aren’t feeling the effects within two hours, then you may want to increase the dose or frequency. Ideally, you want to place the CBD oil beneath your tongue for 60 seconds before swallowing.
This allows the CBD oil to assimilate into your bloodstream faster, giving you quicker and stronger results. Then the oil that you swallow will slowly go through your digestive tract before reaching your bloodstream.
However, by this time, you’ll only get a small portion of the CBD oil, making it less potent. This is why taking CBD oil sublingually is preferred. It can take minutes to start feeling the effects, but may take up to two hours to get the full effect, and will last just as long.
As for the CBD liquids that you smoke in vaping products, you can expect to get an immediate result. The quickest delivery for CBD is through inhalation.
When using a vape pen, it’s recommended that you slowly drag for three seconds. Then fill your lungs with air, hold for a few seconds, then exhale. The effects can last for up to an hour or so.
Some vape pens come pre-filled with CBD oil, but there are cartridges you can purchase as replacements once you run out.
Edible CBD Oil
Dosage for edible CBD oil is a lot more lenient than ingesting or smoking concentrated forms of CBD. This makes it easier for folks who are looking for lighter, but longer lasting results.
There are different ways you can eat CBD oil, such as baking and cooking with the oil. You can also chew the gum.
The effects of edible CBD oil isn’t as potent. It takes longer to kick in, but has drawn out effects for about two to four hours. The amount you take will play a role on how strong the effects are.
Topical CBD Oil
If you’re looking to make CBD a part of your daily routine, then topicals are a great pick. You can use this in conjunction with edibles, smokables, and transdermal patches.
This too has a slow onset of effects, which varies based on multiple factors. For example, your skin temperature, hair growth, fatty tissue, and so on.
Folks who use this tend to have arthritis, muscle pain, and similar issues.
Transdermal Patches
Now, you can also find patches you place on your skin that contain CBD oil. What’s attractive about these is that is steadily releases CBD into your bloodstream throughout the day.
Since it’s taken through your skin topically, it can take hours before you begin to feel the effects. However, once they kick in, the effects can last one or two days.
It’s an ideal solution for those battling with chronic pain. Or those who are going on a long trip and won’t be able to smoke or ingest CBD oil.
So How Much Should You Take?
It’s important to note that there’s no official serving size for CBD oil. This is why physicians can’t prescribe it to you. The most common dosage amount we hear is to take one dropper of CBD oil daily.
Yet, you’ll find some who triple that dose with one dropper three times per day. This is why it’s important to experiment with the product you’re taking.
There are certain factors that play in role in this, such as the concentration of the CBD, your body weight, body chemistry, and severity of the condition you’re treating.
On that note, it’s safe to say that you need to come up with your own dosage based on your particular needs.
Here’s how.
Estimating Your Body Weight
The first step is to determine your body weight, which is simple if you have a scale. The more you weigh, the more CBD oil you’ll need to have the same effect as someone with a smaller body and lower dosage.
Ideally, you want to take between 1 and 10 mg per 10 lbs. So if you weigh 150 lbs, then you will take between 15 to 150 mg of CBD oil. Again, the amount depends on how chronic your pain is.
It’s a good idea to start off with the smallest dose to see how you feel, then work your way up 5 mg at a time.
Now, there are some people who will take the same amount as a friend who weighs similarly. But this isn’t a good idea.
This is because not all people have the same body chemistry. Your diet, medical history, supplement-intake, and ailments all play a role in the dosage of CBD oil you should take.
In this case, your friend may have great effects from taking just 20 mg, while you may need a higher dosage at 45 mg.
So just start small and work your way up until you know for sure.
Measuring Your CBD Oil Tincture Dosage
CBD oil tinctures are one of the most fastest growing products on the market. And it’s gaining popularity because it’s discreet (compared to vape pens) and it’s easy to take.
As we mentioned earlier, some products suggest you take a dropper and hold the liquid under your tongue for 30 to 90 seconds.
One dropper is around 1 ml. So if you’re trying to find out how many mg you should take based on your body weight, then you can use the following formula:
CBD oil mg in bottle / number of ml in the bottle = mg in your dropper.
So if you have a 3,000 mg bottle with 75 ml of CBD, then it’ll look like this:
3,000 mg / 75 ml = 40 mg per dropper.
If you’re starting out with 20 mg, then you would take only half a dropper.
Remember, the key is to gradually work your way up to an amount that works for you.
Get Started Trying CBD Oil
We’re living in exciting times, especially wit hhemp becoming legalized in the U.S. More discoveries are being made about this wonderful plant all the time, along with other natural herbs.
Having chronic pain can be a difficult thing to live with. Unfortunately, most of the strategies out there for dealing with chronic pain are either not effective enough or require narcotic pain medication that can be dangerous and addictive. That’s why so much has been done lately to legalize marijuana for treatment of pain in the United States. But hemp can be nearly as effective as the more psychoactive part of the plant.
What is CBD?
CBD oil is oil that is made from the parts of the marijuana plant that are nonnarcotic. Most of the hemp plant is made up of the leaves which contain THC. THC is the substance that causes the psychoactive effects of the marijuana plant. But CBD oil is made from the parts of the plant that do not contain THC or contain THC in such negligible amounts that people that use it do not experience any sort of psychoactive results. You get the health benefits of the marijuana plant without getting high from it in other words.
There are several different parts of the marijuana plant that are used to create medications and supplements in addition to the marijuana leaves which are the part of the plant most used in therapeutic settings where marijuana is legal for medicinal use.
For example, hemp seeds can be extremely effective and CBD oil that is made from the rest of the hemp plant can have remarkable medical benefits. Many of these have been shown in actual scientific research studies. There are perhaps a dozen different actual health benefits that come from using hemp seeds or CBD oil regularly. Of course, you need to make sure that your dosing is correct, which is exactly what this article is all about.
Factors to Consider Before Dosing
There are definitely some things that you need to keep in mind when it comes to dosing. Because CBD is so new, there are no standards for dosing as of yet.
The FDA often steps in and recommends a serving size of a particular food item or dosing amount of medication, but in this case, you have to rely upon anecdotal information from other users. One of the most common recommendations is to use the eyedropper tool that is often included with CBD oil follow the manufacturer’s recommendation.
However, that may not be the appropriate dose for everyone. There are certain factors to keep in mind when it comes to dosing with CBD oil.
The first thing that you want to be concerned with is the concentration of the CBD oil. Not all CBD oil is the same. Of course, it is unlikely to be harmful if you take too much, but it is also likely to be ineffective if you take too little. You also need to take into account the weight of the person taking the dose. Generally, the more body weight and fat that a person has, the higher of a dose that they are going to need. Another thing to keep in mind is that body chemistry varies from one person to another, and what is a good dose for someone else may not be the appropriate dose for you.
Finally, you need to keep in mind the condition that you’re trying to treat. For example, if you are treating chronic, severe pain, then you may need a higher dose then someone taking it for the health benefits.
Estimating CBD Dosage on Body Weight
One of the things that you can do is estimate your dose based upon body weight. If you’re using it for pain relief, this is a good way to determine how much you need based upon the severity of your pain as well.
For example, someone that weighs between 86 and 150 pounds should take nine milligrams for mild pain, 15 milligrams for medium pain and 18 milligrams for severe pain. Someone that weighs between 150 and 250 pounds should go with the dosage of 18, 22 and 27 milligrams for mild, medium and severe pain respectively. If you are over 250 pounds, then you should go with 22 milligrams for mild pain, 30 milligrams for medium and 45 milligrams for severe pain.
These are just some basic guidelines that will help you. You may find that you have to adjust your dosage a little bit because the CBD oil is upsetting your stomach or is not as effective as you wish it would be for severe pain.
But these are pretty good guidelines that will get you started and close to where you need to be on dosing. You’ll have to check your bottle and find out how many milligrams comes in the eyedropper that your bottle contains.
Gradual Dose Increases
Gradual dose increases is another way that you can determine what your correct dose should be. This is another method that works well when you are taking CBD oil for pain relief. You can start off with a couple of different doses per day, and make those doses fairly small until you know how they are going to affect you. On your next dose, if you are not getting the results that you want, then increase it slightly. You can continue doing this until you have been able to alleviate your pain.
If you’ve never used CBD oil before, this is one of the more accurate testing methods available right now. Unfortunately, one of the downsides is that based upon the concentration of CBD oil in your bottle, you may be unable to identify exactly what your dose will be because every bottle’s going to be a little bit different. But the only way you can get a more accurate reading is if you had capsules that had the exact milligrams and were the same every time you bought them.
Talking to Your Doctor
You may also want to talk to your doctor. CBD oil is perfectly legal in most states, even if marijuana is illegal, and your doctor will be glad to discuss dosing with you and all of the other things that you need to keep in mind when you’re using CBD oil.
Your doctor should be familiar with all of the different factors that must be taken into account when it comes to choosing what sort of dose you should go with her CBD oil. Not all doctors are familiar with CBD oil or the medical benefits that come with it, but it is easily found online and it is always a good idea to consult with your doctor when starting a new treatment.
How to Use Your CBD Tincture
Learning how to use your CBD tincture is pretty simple. You can do it a couple of different ways. The tincture is the eyedropper tool. Many people simply use the dropper to extract liquid and then put it under their tongue to let it soak in.
The number of drops that you should use will depend upon how many milligrams your dropper is. Most manufacturers will give you a recommended dosage on the bottle though.
How to Measure Vape Dosage
Measuring the right CBD vape dosage is an important part of keeping CBD oil. The best way to measure this is by knowing how many drops of CBD liquid or cartridges you go through in a single day and how many milligrams that liquid or cartridge is.
It’s important to note that you cannot use standard CBD oil within your vape. It has to be specifically for vaping. The difference with this method of administering CBD oil is that you will be taking in your dosage of CBD throughout the day instead of all at once.
Other Ways to Measure CBD
There are some other ways that you can measure CBD oil as well. One of the best ways is a method that we discussed earlier briefly. Getting CBD capsules that have the right amount of CBD oil in them according to the number of milligrams listed on the bottle is one of the best ways that you can get an accurate dose and figure out what your dose is going to be.
More importantly, you know the next time you buy that particular brand and bottle that you are going to already know your dose and will not have to experiment.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that there are plenty of ways that you can take CBD oil and figure out what your dosage is. CBD oil for pain relief is one of the best natural solutions you can get. It has enormous benefits, so the time that you take to find the right dose is definitely worth it.
If you’re looking for a way to help your pain in a natural way, then CBD is the way to go.
Use the above tips to help determine the best dosage size you should take. Then let us know in the comments what worked for you!
I’ve tried CBD oil and gummies. The oil was from PureKana, an oil that came highly recommended on many sites. I’m also a chronic pain patient. 2 spinal fusions, DDD, broken sternum and 2 fractured thoracic vertibrae. Neither the oil or gummies did anything for me in terms of pain relief or anything else for that matter I’m desperate to find some sort of pain relief as my doctor is seriously under medicating me. what advice do you have for me? Any is appreciated.
Very useful and informative blog. I think this blog may help to find the best dosage of cbd for pain.
CBD Spray is an opportunity for concealable and convenient access to ingesting Cannabidiol while on-the-go.