Hi!

It's been so long! I hope you're doing alright.

Thank you. I appreciate that. It's definitely working for me, but so far it has been more of symptoms treatment than healing I guess, though it's still too early to tell and I can't be sure even now. It may be helping me in ways that are not obvious to me. I hope it can help you too if you end up trying it!

Hello David, and thank you for your outstanding work here! This is one of the best threads ever posted within this forum. Indeed, I am a long-time sufferer with most of the symptoms you have, and mine are a result of Lyme Disease with its most common coinfections, Babesia and Bartonella.

I developed my first symptoms in 2005 at age 45 and now, at age 59, I have many years of education in both Neuropathy (and in my own case Small Fiber Neuropathy), and Lyme disease, too.

Indeed, having Lyme has forced me to literally obtain a medical education!

I have been on and off this forum for many years, during which time I was very grateful for Mrs. D. and her outstanding guidence (and I hope she is doing better?).

David, I would like to chat with you directly about the topic here, and what is the best way to do so?

Many thanks!

David

Hello again, David!

I am rapidly coming up to speed on CBD and its various forms and, again, many thanks for your outstanding posts!

OK, questions ...

As a 59-year old male who weighs 180 pounds (20% over my ideal weight), and suffers primarily from Lyme-related SFN (and cervical spine issues), what oral capsule dosage (in mg) from a vendor such as "Bluebird" or "Fully-Activated" would you recommend for potential pain relief?

Specifically, Bluebird sells 15 mg capsules (quantity 30) for $40.00, whereas "Fully-Activated" sells 30 capsules ranging up to 105 mg of CBD at prices of $180.00 for the 105 mg (gasp!).

I am someone who wants to simply pop a capsule rather than having to play compounding pharmacist (grin).

Also, is the CBD best absorbed with or without food (or does it matter)?

Many thanks, and I look forward to your comments!

David

Hello all!

I ordered a 30-day trial of "Full Spectrum CBD" capsules from "Fully-Activated" in Colorado, after a long and productive chat with its owner, Nick.

I will take a total of 90 mg daily in two-divided doses for my various Lyme-related neuropathies (and aches and pains), and then report back here. I am currently not on any other medication, so I make an excellent test subject.

We arrived at 90 mg in total daily, as it appears that an effective dose is one-half of your body weight daily (and I weigh 180 pounds). I will also take it on an empty stomach.

I did a lot of research in the last 24-hours and, needless to say, am very impressed by the potential of the cannabinoids! These suggest a whole new era in pain management, and I look forward to taking my first dose!

David

Hi David,

Nice to meet you! I'm glad you're so proactive about healing yourself. Many of us have no one else to help us, certainly not conventional medicine. But it seems like you've done plenty of research on that front too.

I'll send you a PM and we can chat online if you like since you have lots of questions it seems.

It looks like you're well on your way with CBD. :)

Have you been able to treat your lyme at all in hopes of treating the neuropathy?

Yes, I have done a number of treatment programs over the years with 80% success in resolving the neuropathy.

David

Interesting and wonderful to hear. Now I'm curious: what have you done? It might be worth detailing some of it to help others on here, or perhaps you've already done that on another thread?

Also, on a side note, the salve from Fully Activated is excellent for more surface issues, including neuropathic itch and burning. It alleviates mine immediately.

I’ve read and re-read this entire thread - thank you for your knowledge and experience. I’ve had severe body-wide neuropathy/neuralgia for 7 years. The doctors now feel it’s more of a centralized pain problem because they’ve never seen it so widespread. It’s unexplanable, except that I had a severe case of parvo virus b19 months before it began. I contemplated pursuing medical marijuana for years, and finally obtained my NYS license a couple months ago. I had such hope. I must say, though, I am almost wondering if it is making my pain worse. Could that be possible? I’m using less than prescribed, which is 5 mg 1:20 thc/cbd sublingual or capsule 2-4 times daily, both because of cost and the fact it makes me feel a little spaced out and tired. I’m still experimenting with what might work, but am wondering if anyone else has experienced an increase in pain? If anything, it does relax me a bit through my pain so it’s worth something. I continue to be an enigma - not a happy place.

I'm sorry you're suffering and conventional medicine hasn't been able to help so far. I'm in the same boat.

You raise a number of issues here. I'll try to address some of them and hope that helps.

First off, you will need to experiment yourself, since no one else can tell you what is helping or harming you except you, to the extent that that's possible, to the extent that you feel it. Cannabis might be making things worse for you, but only you can tell, and after some experimentation with dosage, strains and methods of administration.

Cannabis is very diverse and each strain has a variety of phytochemicals. Some strains are terrible for me, others work magic. Some make my symptoms worse because of the combination and/or ratios of cannabinoids and terpenes, others relieve them and give me great comfort. If you're using dry flower that's easy to know, but each oil or edible is also made from some specific flower with specific ratios and kinds of a variety of phytochemicals.

You're using 1:20 THC to CBD, so you might need to change that ratio, or maybe try another oil from another plant with other terpenes than the one you're using. You might increase the THC, or you might even try CBD isolate since THC and other cannabinoids could be what is causing you problems.

Regarding dosage, 5 mg is very low. In studies the doses administered are usually hundreds of mg for human adults. Sublingual is a good method of administration for bioavailability.

Hopefully this answers some of your questions.