How to select and dose your medical cannabis and CBD
There are three main questions you need to ask yourself when it comes to medical cannabis:
- Do I need THC, CBD or a combination of THC and CBD?
- What dosage do I need?
- What form should I take (i.e. oil, smoke, vape)
This article will help you answer all three of these important questions.
Tantus Health Co works with a team of medical professionals to ensure that our patients are well-informed about the many medical cannabis and CBD products that are available to them and how they might help alleviate their medical conditions.
Tantus can help guide you during the process of selecting, trying out, and hopefully maintaining use of effective medical cannabis and CBD products. Our medical team can help patients find new products and develop a treatment schedule that will help alleviate their medical symptoms. Many patients come to us looking for help and medical advice for things like: anxiety, pain relief, trouble sleeping and arthritis.
Our medical cannabis news and research section has lots of helpful articles on the most recent research on CBD and cannabis. We hope the information contained in our news and research section helps you learn more about how medical cannabis and/or CBD might help you and make you a more informed patient.
What you should look for in a medical cannabis product
To start, you will need to consider whether THC, CBD, or a combination of THC & CBD (the two most prominent active compounds in cannabis) is best for treatment of your symptoms. You can go here to read more about CBD and how it is commonly used, as well as more about what it is.
Once you have figured out (with guidance from a healthcare expert of course) whether CBD, THC or a combination of both is best for you, it is time to look at the various CBD and cannabis products on offer.
On the Tantus Health product page for instance, you will find that there are CBD-only, THC-only and CBD+THC combined products. Next comes choosing the correct dosage. This is an important discussion to have with our medical team. You can easily set up an online appointment with one of our medical team in just a couple of minutes and they will be able to go over your medical history, recommend products and very importantly recommend the correct dosage.
So what is a high THC dose?
If you are purchasing a product with THC, it is important to get the dose correct. Too much THC, especially if you are new to medical cannabis, can be too powerful and you may experience adverse effects like dizziness and grogginess. A general rule of thumb would be that 20% THC content is considered “very strong”, and 33% is the highest potency currently available. Most cannabis strains in Canada are between 15% – 20% THC.
You can also look at the Total THC listed on the product. So for instance, Tantus carries a THC vape cartridge with a total THC of 375mg. This would be considered a product with a high level of THC. We also offer a THC vape cartridge with 750mg total THC which is considered a very high level of THC.
For a lower THC product, look for something with a total THC below 375mg.
How should I consume my medical cannabis product?
Now that you figured out the two big questions: THC, CBD or THC+CBD and the dosage level, it is time to think through how you would like to consume your cannabis product.
Luckily, there are a lot more ways to consume cannabis that do not involve smoking it and inhaling it into your lungs. While smoking dried cannabis leaf is a preferred method for some people, it is not necessarily the most healthy way to consume cannabis. Also, a lot of people do not like the smell of smoking cannabis.
Other than smoking cannabis, you can eat or drink it. You can use an oil and put it under your tongue or swish it around in your mouth and swallow it down. You can use a vape pen to inhale it. Some people even like to cook with CBD or THC oils, however this is an area of expertise and it takes time and experience to figure out how to do it right.
You might not know this, but the method of consumption does matter.
You don’t have to smoke cannabis to enjoy its benefits.
If you smoke cannabis either as a dried flower or as a vape oil, the THC high comes on much quicker and does not last as long. If you use an oil or another means of ingesting cannabis the onset of the high can take a lot longer and the high tends to last for many hours.
Newer to the market are CBD and THC topical creams. For instance, here at Tantus we sell a CBD facial cream that some of our patients find works great for them. There is early research finding that the anti-inflammatory qualities of cannabis can help people with problem acne.
The way you consume medical cannabis is an important consideration and it is something we highly recommend you talk to your doctor or one of our medical cannabis experts about. Your final main consideration should be the amount of consumption. Health Canada and your Doctor can provide safe dosage guidelines.
When it comes to dosage, always start low and go slow and figuring out what “low and slow” means for you is a great question for you to discuss with a medical professional like your doctor or one of our online medical cannabis advisors. Too often I hear people tell me that they tried THC oil and they just felt really, really dizzy and they likely will never try it again. This is a shame because it means they dosed incorrectly and will likely now never be in a position to judge whether medical cannabis could help alleviate their psychical or mental symptoms.
A deeper look at properly dosing medical cannabis oils.
Taking cannabis oil is preferred method for a lot of our patients. Taking cannabis oil is convenient and easy to do. Just put a drop of oil under your tongue, hold it there for as long as you want (I only hold it there for about 30 seconds) and then swish the oil down with some water.
Underneath our tongues are many capillaries that lead directly to our bloodstream. Ingesting this way basically transmits the active ingredients right away, without having to be metabolized or broken down by our livers and stomachs.
Taking the oil is easy, but getting the dose correct will take a bit of time and testing. Of course, this all best done at the instruction of a medical professional.
It is important to remember that every person is different, and the exact dosage of a medical cannabis product varies between patients. Patients really need to safely explore what works for them.
A patient should place a few drops or a full dropper of oil under their tongue, and hold it there for 30 seconds. Health Canada states that onset of effects via this method is 5 – 30 minutes; peak effects at 1.5 – 4 hours, and duration is 12 – 24 hours. 24 hours is meant here medically: still in your system, but not likely that you would still be feeling noticeable effects – though you could.
Think medical cannabis or CBD might help you?
CLICK HERE to book an online appointment with one of our medical cannabis experts who can answer your questions and give you the medical document you need to purchase medical cannabis products from our site.