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Professor Saoirse O’Sullivan on cannabis research, how to influence the endocannabinoid system naturally, and CBD delivery methods!
Professor Saoirse Elizabeth O’Sullivan (@ScienceSaoirse) received her doctorate from Trinity College Dublin in 2001 and moved to the University of Nottingham in 2002 as a Research fellow where she began researching cannabinoid pharmacology through basic and clinical research. She was made Lecturer in 2007, Associate Professor in 2011, and Full Professor in 2019. She has over 40 peer-reviewed articles and 3 book chapters on the topic of cannabinoid pharmacology. Her specific interests are on the therapeutic potential of cannabis-based medicines in cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, and inflammatory bowel disease. Her research methodologies spanned from cellular and animal models to human healthy volunteer studies, systematic reviews, and early phase
clinical trials. In 2016 she was named the International Cannabinoid Research Society Young
Investigator of the Year. Saoirse now runs an independent consulting company called
CanPharmaConsulting Ltd, and through this, acts as scientific advisor to Artelo Biosciences,
CBDScience Group, Therapix Biosciences, FSDPharma, and Dragonfly Biosciences. She is the science lead for the Centre for Medicine Cannabis (CMC), a non-profit organisation working to shape the UK’s new medicinal cannabis regime in the interests of patients, and secretary to the International Cannabinoid Research Society. She also works with charities, patient groups, and healthcare professionals to educate on the benefits of cannabis-based medicines.9:15 Two major problems in our society are stress and anxiety: how does the endocannabinoid system work to regulate this? Are there natural ways we can influence our endocannabinoid system (We will talk about the singing and exercise article https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30534062/)
9:15 Let's talk a bit about the cannabinoids - namely CBD: What does the research say about the best delivery methods for CBD; what are the major problems we are facing now, and how does the future of CBD delivery look?
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32872355/33:00 In which areas do we have the biggest potential for using CBD therapeutically based on the research we have so far? CBD is only one among many cannabinoids: Which other minor cannabinoids do you see having therapeutic potential based on the current research?
Promising studies with CBD and diabetes type 2 and CBD for Fatty-liver disease. Different cannabinoids for weight management and appetite regulation. THC for appetite induction. THCV (natural CB1 antagonist) for reducing appetite or for metabolic syndrome. CB1 antagonist rimonabant was developed as an anti-obesity drug withdrawn because of psychiatric side effects. CBG to promote weight gain in palliative care without THC side-effects. CBDV is neuroprotective and anti-epileptic, CBDA has higher potency to treat anxiety or pain. The endocannabinoid system protects against cardiovascular effects.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32128848/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27573936/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32608035/
What are your personal top 3 tips for optimal health and wellbeing?
Sleep, exercise, do things that give you the joy to increase that anandamide levels -
Learn about the best ways to support menopause naturally!
Dr Vera Martins is a naturopath and herbalist with a PhD in Cancer Biology. Having worked as a scientist for several years, Vera’s passion for natural medicine led her to study Naturopathy. She specialises in women’s health, providing a body-mind and highly personalised patient-centered approach. Her main area of expertise is hormone balance, particularly peri-menopause and menopause, however, Vera also works with younger women supporting them with conditions such as PMS, PCOS, and infertility. In her practice, Vera uses a combination of nutrition, supplements/herbal medicine, and lifestyle advice, to help women feeling their best.3:00 What is a Naturopath? A health practitioner who takes a 360-degree view of health. Vera believes in natural healing, individual uniqueness, and understanding the root cause of the symptoms.
6:00 What is a herbalist? Vera is specialised in herbalism - using the healing powers of plants. Modern conventional medicine has its roots in herbal medicine
8:05 Why did you choose to go down the holistic herbalistic route?
11:30 What made you specialize in Women's health? Vera used to work in a clinic in London who was pioneering in the treatment of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (B-HRT).
16:40 How do you treat perimenopause and menopause from a naturopathic perspective?
Symptoms of perimenopause are often anxiety, mood swings, sleep problems, fatigue, changes in blood sugar leading to sugar cravings, weight gain.
Menopause: fatigue, hot-flashes, bone-loss increase cardiovascular
Treatment focuses on the 4 pillars: Stress management, gut-health, liver-function, and blood-sugar balance.
22:00 Stress Management the foundation pillar - When stressed, your body will upregulate the stress response and downregulate the production of sex hormones estrogen and progesterone, and testosterone.
Supplements for stress reduction: ashwagandha (adaptogens) (improve libido, memory, and mood), Magnesium.
Other stress reduction tips: Self-care, yoga, breathing, mindfulness meditation.
28:40 Which supplements can help support women in menopause and perimenopause?
Dr. Martins makes homemade herbal tinctures and powders made based on the client's need. These could be Vitex Agnes Castus, black cohosh, sage, and adaptogens.
34:15 Top 3 overall supplements for perimenopause and menopause: Ashwagandha, Magnesium, Slippery Elm for gut-health (reduce acid reflux, anti-inflammatory, and increase gut-motility). As well as vitamin-D3 and K2 + Omega-3 for bone health and brain and heart health.
Stick to a balanced inclusive diet including proteins at every meal, including healthy fats, and reduce refined carbs. Do not completely cut out carbs. Breakfast with PFF (protein, fiber fats). Do not drink coffee early in the morning (hard for adrenal glands and your gut - substitute with a warm of hot water with lemon. Slow down and incorporate self-care into your life. 10 minutes of me-time in the morning with meditation, yoga, or any other self-care practice.
35:25 Gut Health Support: When hormones decline you get a reduction in stomach acid and this can lead to partly digested food and problems with an unbalanced microbiome. This can contribute to further hormone imbalance.
39:00 MPowder and the development of powders for perimenopause and menopause. Creating a community for Women around menopause, working with experts to support their clients.
51:00 Dr. Martins owns favorite menopause tips:In ancient times it was believed that menopause was a time where women transformed their accumulated knowledge into absolute wisdom.
Resources:
www.veramartinsnaturopath.com
www.mpowder.store -
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Clarissa Lenherr is a Harley Street registered nutritionist and leading workplace wellbeing consultant. As a private nutritionist, Clarissa has helped hundreds of clients back to optimal health and she specialises in digestive health, auto-immune conditions, and hormone health. Her mission is to take the science of nutrition and convert it into easy to implement strategies so that her clients can achieve ultimate wellbeing.
4:30 - What is the enteric nervous system: the connection of nerve fibers in the gut is called the enteric nervous system (ENS) and it is sometimes called the second brain.
8:10 - The brain-gut connection: There is a bidirectional link between the central nervous system and the enteric nervous system in the gut.
12:50: The microbiome is a collection of bacteria that live in our gut. Some of them produce neurotransmitters including serotonin, GABA, and dopamine. 95% of serotonin, one of the most important hormones for mental health, is made in the gut. 70% of the immune system is in the gut which is why an unhealthy gut is often associated with poor immune health, autoimmune disease, and inflammation.
15:10 - Can stress, anxiety, and mental health disorders originate from the gut?
18:30 - How can we use nutrition to improve gut health and mood? Disclaimer: if you have a preexisting medical concern you should see a doctor or nutritionistTips to improve gut health and mood
30 grams of fiber per day (The average consumes only eats 18 grams) - It benefits digestive health, heart, and liver health. It feeds the good bacteria and can improve constipation dominant IBS.Prebiotic fibers are insoluble and they are hard to break down in the gut. It moves whole to the large intestine where the gut-bacteria eat them and produce by-products including short-chained fatty-acids (SCFA). Some prebiotic foods are: Artichokes, Asparagus, bananas, barley, berries, chicory, garlic, green vegetablesProbiotics: food or supplements containing live-bacteria to support our microbiome. They can be found in fermented food like kefir and live yogurt, kombucha, sauerkraut and kimchi, tempeh, and soy. Can be used 3 times/week. Or take probiotics in supplement form. Start low and go slow: Too many fibers and probiotics can cause bloating and diarrhea so start slowly when increasing fiber intake. Red wine can be good for the microbiome in small quantitiesStay away from:
Processed meats and processed foodContains lots of nitrate and unhealthy fats Sweeteners have been shown to reduce the diversity in the microbiome Stay away from chewing gum which contains a lot of sweeteners Be cautious with caffeine which can cause bloating and diarrhea Alcohol affects our absorption of nutritions and our mood and sleep. Refined sugar - less than 30 grams per day30:20: Can food reduce symptoms of anxiety and stress? Simple diet changes to a whole-food, high in fruits and vegetables. Nutrients to support mental health:
Omega-3: From fatty-fish like salmon and mackerel, chia seeds and walnuts Vitamin-3: diary milk-foods, eggs, mushrooms, and from the sunshine. As a supplement - recommended dose: 25-50 microgram/day.35:10 Is intermittent-fasting good for gut-health and mood? Fasting can help the digestive system to fully clear out and reset.
Tips: Have 12-16 hours fasting period overnight (start low and go slow)
4-hour gaps between mealsReduce snacking (not for people with diabetes, pregnancy, or high-stress levels)You can have water, tea or black coffeeEat a balanced diet in the 8 hours - eat the colors of the rainbow, hydrate, and drink lots of water -
Dr. Andrew Agius is a family doctor with a special interest in obesity, weight-loss, and lifestyle medicine and he has recently set up a pain clinic in Malta. Dr. Agius is well-known in Malta for appearing regularly on national TV and he has been one of the driving forces behind the new medicinal cannabis reform in Malta. Dr. Agius owns a pain clinic in Malta from where he prescribes medicinal cannabis among other things to help his patients. We spoke about medicinal cannabis at Malta:
2:30 - How Dr. Agius discovered cannabis medicine to help patients who did not respond to conventional medicine. He learned about cannabis from a patient who used it illegally and who had studied the endocannabinoid system. He started by using CBD (cannabidiol) in 2016; primarily CBD for chronic pain with inflammation. He has since treated fibromyalgia, hypersensitivity, anxiety, PTSD, and chronic pain among others.
7:40 - The endocannabinoid system is the missing link in the puzzle to why cannabis works so well.
8:40 - Getting medicinal cannabis to Malta; CBD became a novel food and Dr. Agius was told not to recommend CBD and the import was stopped. The campaign for cannabis begun. Dr. Agius started an educational program for cannabis and the ECS but was soon told to stop this as he was reported by his fellow doctors. In 2018 medical cannabis became legal and available in pharmacies in Malta.
14.10 - Public education. Educating patients about the endocannabinoid system and how to use medicinal cannabis. Empowering to manage the dose and side-effects. Providing the tools to self-medicate and manage symptoms.
16:35 - At the beginning of medical cannabis in Malta you needed to have control and follow-up after 15 days. Now the first follow-up is after 1 month. In Malta, the only choice is high THC flos, cannabis flower, which is vaporized. After the second follow-up, the prescription can be extended to 6 months with control every half year.
19:35 - The available products in Malta are only 4 different flower products (flos). Only GMP-certified products are allowed in Malta. There are now production facilities in Malta growing GMP-flowers.
20:55 - Some doctors are afraid to prescribe because of the strict guidelines with all the responsibility being put on the doctor. It can be prescribed for any chronic condition which has not responded to one other approved alternative. Insomnia, sleep disorders, chronic pain, mental health, anxiety,
25.00 - Mental health issues are well treated with medicinal cannabis and chronic pain is often associated with anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders. Dr. Agius is also treating neurological disorders and inflammatory disease. A good tool in the tool kit. Very safe and few side-effects.
27:35: How well does cannabis medicine work? In Dr. Agius's view, the success rate is over 95% when using a pharmaceutical-grade cannabis product which is vaporized and combined with lifestyle changes, supplements, and vitamins.
30:32 What is the best delivery method? Dr. Agius believes full-spectrum or broad-spectrum is the best product. He believes in the entourage effect compared to single-molecule preparations. He also thinks the vaporization is a good way of getting pain relief. Terpenes, flavonoids, and minor cannabinoids like CBG, CBN THCA. Certain strains or chemovars are better for certain indications. It is a good idea to change the chemovar to reduce the risk of tolerance.
37:40 The future of medical cannabis in Malta. Less control and easier access. Give cannabis the same status as opioids/morphine. More research and access to more delivery methods and products from Malta.
Links:
http://www.painclinic.com.mt/andrew-agius/ -
Karen Pallisgaard is a Danish senior yoga & meditation teacher and psychotherapist in training. She is also a bestselling author of several books about yoga, meditation, mental health, and slow living. She is known for making yoga and meditation everyday-friendly and accessible to everybody.
We end with a breathing meditation.
Listen to the podcast here:
Content:
1:10 - Introduction to Karen as an author, meditation and yoga teacher, journalist, and bestselling author. A curious soul, writing her way through life, trying to live as conscious as possible.
3:00 - No fitting into the box; multipotentiality, working with many identities.
4:40 - Hverdagsmeditationer: Karen's newest book about meditation, what is meditation.
6:45: Meditation is non-dual; the experience of non-separateness, the philosophical background of meditation.
9:30 - The science of meditation, the benefits of meditation: reduction of stress, depression, and anxiety rewiring the brain, lowering cortisol, improved immune system, help focus, creativity and productivity, improve sleep, lower blood pressure, reduce chronic pain. It makes us more compassionate and helps us live better lives.
14:15 - Meditation and mindfulness for children, getting familiar and comfortable with emotions.
15:45 - Training your meditation muscle, why we need to meditate every day, the negativity bias, how to deal with the reptilian brain. Either you are a slave of your thoughts and emotions or you become the master.
18.38 - Building a meditation routine; have discipline, in the book you find a 4-week program, starting slowly, start with 5 minutes.
20.00 - Breathing to connect with your body, different meditation techniques, finding a meditation teacher.
22.40 - Meditation apps can be helpful in the beginning, you need to be able to meditate without later.
23.30 - Karen's journey, working with trauma with spirituality, the 7-year rule of spiritual growth.
27:10 - Dealing with pain and suffering, pain as part of life, and as a spiritual practice. Acceptance is key for meditation and mindfulness, meditation is not wellness.
32:40 - There is no destination to the journey, waking up every day, the ambition to stay present and not be ruled by rules of society, stop comparing ourselves to others.
35:20 - What happens after COVID-19, how to stay with the slow living, keeping a consciousness practice, make fewer plans, walk slowly, eat slowly, lessons from COVID-19.
39:25 - Collaborations at the Mindfulness Manor - Retreat with Karen from October 22nd-25th, 2020.
40:00 - Mindfulness of breath meditation.
Resources:
https://www.karenpallisgaard.com/
Køb hverdagsmeditationer: https://www.saxo.com/dk/hverdagsmeditation_karen-pallisgaard_haeftet_9788740055054
Retreat: https://www.mindfulnessmanor.com/retreats/becoming-who-you-are
Meditation and mindfulness resources:
Yoga videos with Karen: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoO42_aCyG-q9ok79kdkS8g
Sally Kempton: https://www.sallykempton.com/
Yoga Glo: https://www.glo.com/
Headspace meditation app: https://www.headspace.com/ -
In this episode, Dr Julie Moltke speaks to one of the leading cannabis psychiatrists in the world. Based in Colorado, Dr Mark Braunstein has been prescribing cannabis for two decades. On his own journey as a physician, he has changed his practice from following a traditional poly-psychopharmacology treatment regime to more plant-based and lifestyle-based treatments, including medical cannabis and cannabis-assisted psychotherapy.
Dr Braunstein explains his way to become a cannabis psychiatrist, his interest in psychedelics, his traditional training in psychopharmacology, and moving to Colorado to prescribe cannabis which was newly legalized.
The conversation touches wilderness treatment/using nature as a treatment, the nature of wellness, and how to incorporate it with medicinal cannabis use.
Dr Braunstein explains about treating PTSD with medicinal cannabis and how it can help balance the endocannabinoid system, helping nightmares, anxiety, and insomnia.
Dr Braunstein talks about treating children with medicinal cannabis for conditions like autism, ADHD, and bipolar disease and the stigma associated with treating children with medicinal cannabis.
Dr Braunstein discusses cannabis dependence and points out that "Intentional conscious use, prevents misuse". Dr Braunstein is also educating us about dosing and titrating the dose of CBD and THC, and lastly, he explains about his work with drug-assisted psychotherapy.
For more resources:
Dr Mark Braunstein:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-braunstein/
Medicinal cannabis & psychiatry reading:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Marijuana-Mental-Health-Michael-Compton/dp/1615370080
Drug-assisted psychotherapy:
https://maps.org/research/mdma
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6041963/
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In this third episode of the Holistic medicine podcast, Dr Julie Moltke is interviewing Dr Tina Horsted, anesthesiologist, pain physician and owner of Clinic Horsted, the leading pain and medicinal cannabis clinic in the center of Copenhagen. Dr Horsted has prescribed medicinal cannabis for over 5000 pain patients.
Content:
00:13 - Introduction to Dr Tina Horsted, Pain physician and owner of Clinic Horsted
1:16 - The Danish Pilot Study, Dr Horsted's medical experience and journey into medicinal cannabis
2:52 - The first few years of prescribing Cesamet/Nabilone in Denmark
4:22 - A Danish pharmacist starts to make medicinal cannabis from extract directly at Glostrup Pharmacy.
4:58 - Resistance from other doctors in Denmark - stigmatization of cannabis
6:28 - Starting the pain clinics, the birth of Clinic Horsted
8.30 - Looking at the whole patient, taking a holistic view
9:09 - A clinic for all nordic countries, a center for medicinal cannabis in the nordic countries
10:05 - Making a prescribing guideline for clinicians
10:35 - The typical pain patient is a female between 50-70 years old, fibromyalgia, chronic neuropathic pain, nausea, and vomiting. Male patients have mostly failed back surgery or muscle and joint pain, trigeminus neuralgia.
11:59 - Medicinal cannabis can help people reduce their other drugs. We first stabilize patients on their other medicine and then they can reduce opioids. Many are addicted to opioid medications when they come.
13:01 - Medicinal cannabis and addiction, cannabis can help people reduce their opioid medicine. Cannabis has an addictive potential of 8-10% for opioids it is 20-50%.
14:25 - How to accept life as a chronic pain patient
15:14 - How good is medicinal cannabis at treating chronic pain, between 50-60% of patients in clinic Horsted has a good effect from medical cannabis and can reduce conventional medicine.
16:26 - Side-effects from medicinal cannabis; most people become tolerant to the side-effects when dosing slowly.
17:00 - What kind of pain does cannabis work on? Chronic neuropathic pain, arthritis and bone and joint pain, rheumatoid arthritis.
18:10 - The other benefits of cannabinoids: improvement of sleep, mood, social interactions, cannabis can help improve mind, body, and spirit.
19:18 - How to find the right dose (CBD has no side-effects). Start with THC 2,5 mg in the evening, increasing after 3 days to 2,5 morning and evening, and then increase after a week to 2,5 mg x 3 per day, depending on the patient. Nobody died from medical cannabis.
22:30 - The difference between medical cannabis and cannabis-based-medicines
22:58 - The-effects of medical cannabis (dizziness, tiredness, euphoria is rare when taken in the right dose, dry-mouth, anxiety, quick pulse.
24:17 - What to do if you overdose cannabis: Drink and eat sugar.
24:42 - The stigma around cannabis. The difference between recreational and medical use of cannabis
25:50 - Dr Horsted has never seen a patient who got addicted to cannabis. She has neither seen withdrawal symptoms from THC. Tolerance is developed and then the dose needs to be increased
28:08 - Mindfulness for chronic pain patients. It can help patients deal with chronic pain on a daily basis, all chronic pain patients should learn MBSR and breathing techniques, acceptance is key.
30:00 - The Danish Pilot Study for Medical cannabis. 2,5 years with the program, Dr Horsted's experience prescribing medical cannabis in Denmark, lack of products, the resistance from danish doctors is easing.
33:10 - The future of cannabis medicine, it is here to stay
www.clinichorsted.com
https://www.drjuliemoltke.com/podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/dk/podcast/the-holistic-medicine-podcast-by-dr-julie-moltke/id1519846556 -
Jesper Westmark – How to deal with difficult emotions, anxiety and stress following COVID-19.
1:09 – Guided meditation with Jesper Westmark
6:22 – Introduction to the podcast and to the retreat center Sjövik
8:21 - The concept of retreating, where does the concept come from, what are the benefits, and what happens when we retreat. Seeing your world as it is, connecting to you as consciousness and love.
9:55 – The story and definition of the word retreat
10:25 – The importance of nature to connect to our innate wisdom, using the natural environment to reset
12:47 – Can we take what we learn on retreat with us into our daily life
14:03 – Meditation is a healing treatment, it benefits our mental and physical health, using the right medicine for the right things
15:58 – Surviving instead of living; Meditation can help deal with stress and anxiety, it is hard to see when we have lost ourselves but meditation can help us land in ourselves 19:14 – You have to recognize your patterns before you can change them, bring them into consciousness.
19:55 – COVID-19; how to deal with stress, fear, and anxiety during change and uncertain times. Fear is created when you go out into the future instead of staying in the present moment. The future is not real.
22:16 - Watching the news will increase fearful feelings of stress, anxiety, and loss of control
23:24 - Use the COVID-19 situation to develop a meditation practice, it will also boost your immune system, fear does the opposite.
25:51 - How to deal with feelings of anxiety: allowing your feelings to be as they are, stop suppressing the difficult emotions. Stop searching for fear and anxiety in your environment and create a safe and peaceful environment.
28:29 - Taking responsibility for yourself and letting go of fixing others, be the change you want to see.
29:15 - Learning how to meditate: use guided meditation, find resources online on www.jesperwestmark.com, go on a meditation retreat in your local community
31:20 - Mirror neurons; how we learn unconsciously from other people, meditating together
32:00 – What is stress, why do we like to be stressed, losing yourself to the stress in city life, how we look at work
35:43 – Lessons about stress and how we live from COVID-19, connecting to ourselves, 37:40 – Ways of escaping, running away from who you are,
39:10 – COVID-19 gives us the time to look at who we really are
39:57 – The interest for retreats is increasing -
This is Jesper Westmark - From Hairdresser To Meditation Teacher; The remarkable Story!
Content
1:07 – Meditation, Arriving in the present moment
6:16 – The awakening and the early years (Brøndsted Center with Dr. Gerda Tyrsted)
16:12 – Recommended spiritual literature:
- Eckhardt Tolle, The Power of Now/A New earth/Silence speaks
17:30 – The early lessons on the spiritual path; The life as an international hairdresser and living with shamans and Indians
20:34 – Learning how to lose yourself and how to find your way back
24:21 – Communicating with spirits
31:07 – Becoming a meditation teacher and trauma therapist
35:44 – How to release trauma
39:10 – You are already perfect, embodying the present moment and releasing trauma with a loving presence.
40.17 – Premeditation and being meditated, how to reach trauma and the subconscious through meditation
43:20 – Allowing things to be as they are
46:16 – 25 years at Sjövik, building a retreat center
49:26 – Letting go and redefining yourself is a death process
51:07 – The retreats at Sjövik, Teaching people to heal themselves
53:20 – The importance of learning to show vulnerability in society
54:40 – The purpose and path of Jesper Westmark, learning to listen more to ourselves
57:30 – We do not see the world as it is, we see it as we are
59:30 – Going into the forest; isolating to discover who we truly are
1:01:10 – Retreats with Jesper Westmark in Sweden and the rest of the world
1:01:41 – Closing meditation
Resources
https://www.jesperwestmark.com/
https://www.facebook.com/jesper.westmark
https://www.mindfulnessmanor.com/retr...
https://eckharttolle.com/
