Whenever someone thinks about taking supplements, it’s always beneficial to consult a doctor first. It’s the best way to find out whether the supplement product will interact with prescription medications or not. As CBD is a supplement, you have to do the same thing if you’re thinking about taking it. Just like every other supplement, it can interact with the drugs you take in various ways. For instance, it can dangerously increase the potency of your prescription drugs or negate their effects entirely. So, if you’re wondering whether CBD can be the cause of this issue, you should continue reading. This topic will attempt to shed some light on the subject.
- Priming drug metabolism: Before delving into the thick of things, you have to find out a bit more than what you know about how the human body metabolizes medicines. Basically, your body depends on various enzymes to break down just about everything that you send to your stomach through ingestion. It can be anything from medicine, food or beverage, supplement, or anything else. Therefore, if something influences the way your enzymes behave, it will dictate the potency of the drugs you take.
- CBD and enzymes: CBD can block or inhibit a specific group of enzymes created within the liver called cytochrome P450. This collection of enzymes is in charge of metabolizing medicinal products. As you can see, CBD does, in fact, interact with the bodily procedure of metabolizing drugs. It’s interesting to note here that the grapefruit does the same thing. If you take a look at medical blogs posted on the internet, you’ll find that they always ask people to avoid eating grapefruit before or after taking specific medicines.
- The effects can change: Now that you’re aware of CBD’s effect on medicines metabolized by P540 enzymes, you may wish to ascertain how it happens. It’s quite natural for an existing CBD user or someone else, who wants to use it in the future, to find out whether it can increase or decrease the potency of lifesaving medicines they take. Well, the truth is that this substance can dictate the potency of drugs in any direction. It can weaken or strengthen them. Researchers have yet to discover the dosage level of CBD that may interact with the metabolism of various medicines. Back in 2013, one study couldn’t find any interactions along the metabolic pathway called CYP for a dosage of almost 40mg of CBD. However, another study conducted later found that a dosage as low as 25mg prevented people from metabolizing a drug for epilepsy.
- The solution: If you’ve been going through this write-up from the beginning, then you can contemplate the uncertainties faced by every CBD user and enthusiast. That’s why it’s best to consult your physician before you start taking this substance, along with any prescription medication. Your doctor will want to keep tabs on your blood levels of the medicines you consume to ensure you aren’t taking more or less than what you need.
Endnote
There isn’t anything else to clarify. You have to visit your doctor and inform him/her if you’re already taking CBD as a supplement or planning to start. Only board-certified and trained physicians can tell you whether CBD will interact with your prescription medicines. They can increase or decrease your CBD dosage or the drugs your take to ensure you don’t get sick.
