Ever since I was in high school, I have struggled with social anxiety. Episodes would vary, but in general if I ever was in a new environment or around new people, my anxiety would flare up. This typically resulted from me overthinking the scenario and not knowing what to do. For years, this led to me underperforming and struggling with different life situations.
The Beginning
When I was younger I often thought that I might have some mental illness. Small things would often times overwhelm me. These episodes, I would later realize were anxiety attacks. It took me a while to figure this out though, since the triggering event would not always be the same, but the resulting emotion was usually similar.
Finally, when I went to college I realized that I needed to talk to a doctor to try and get help. I ended up speaking with at least a half dozen different doctors, therapists, and psychiatrists over the span of a few years, each with their own diagnosis and plan of action, but most of them did not work.
One therapist had me to keep a plethora of different journals documenting my different moods and things that made me happy, sad, or frustrated. After a few months of documenting and talking about these emotions, I was no closer to overcoming my condition and he has in no better spot to help me.
Others would try putting me on a variety of different prescriptions, but as they openly said, psychiatry was not a precise science and we just had to try stuff and hope we found something that worked. After a number of different medications, some that made my emotions more severe, others that eliminated all of my emotions, and others that did not seem to do anything, I decided I was done with trying medications.
Natural Remedies
Traditional routes for dealing with mental illness were not for me. I could try to describe to doctors what was going on in my head, but it did not help them identify what was going on or how to fix it. Eventually, one of my friends and I were talking about what we were each going through. Our symptoms were similar and both struggled with new social interactions.
This was when I fully realized that I suffered from social anxiety. He utilized marijuana to help relax his nerves, particularly when he was having anxiety attacks. I began to smoke with him and noticed an immediate improvement for my mental state. However, I also realized that it is hard to smoke weed as a medicine and still be a productive human.
As a result, I turned to CBD as a natural way to deal with my anxiety. Not only did CBD allow me to treat my anxiety without getting high, but I also was able to eliminate smoking from my lifestyle and begin ingesting it instead. I personally opt for CBD oil from Mood CBD, but there are a wide range of options for anyone’s tastes and preferences, ranging from chocolates to vapes to CBD-infused water.
How does it work?
CBD is one of many active compounds in marijuana, but most CBD products find their origin in industrial hemp. Hemp lacks THC, which is the compound that gets you high, and so it is able to be used for legal food purposes and does not qualify as a drug.
The exact mechanism by which CBD makes you feel good is not fully understood, but scientists have concluded that it is an effective treatment for anxiety, seizures, insomnia, addiction, and many other conditions, while also having very few side effects. In my personal experience, I have noticed that if I do not eat before having CBD it will make me a little bit nauseous. This is easily remedied by eating beforehand though. Besides that, it helps me with anxiety attacks and also with falling asleep whenever my sleep cycle gets out of whack.
Overall I highly recommend CBD for anyone who has found that traditional medicine is not hitting the spot with them. It is really easy to take, has far fewer side effects, and in my experience, is extremely effective at treating anxiety. Definitely talk with a doctor and make sure to make the best decision for your circumstances, but do not rule out natural remedies just because doctors are paid to give you a prescription.
