Jodi Duval_Cannabis for Health Optimization:
Good morning.
It was so lovely to see you
or some of you last night.
So thank you so much for coming along.
And I hope you enjoy my accent because
I tend to get that everywhere here.
When I'm here, I get pulled over in the
hallway and get asked to say car park.
And I don't know why.
So today, I'm talking about cannabis.
It's quite ironic actually because
in Australia it is still very limited
access and that is quite the funny part.
But I am a bit of a rebel and I do like
finding the best things for my clients
and today I wanted to make this a talk for
you and make it very clinically relevant.
Paint
Jodi Duval_Cannabis for Health Optimization:
a bit of a picture of how beautiful
the cannabis plant can be and
the enormity of how it treats.
And also, the system within the system,
the endocannabinoid system that we have.
I found it so fascinating, and when Dr.
Ted asked me to create a module,
the advanced module for Home Hope on
cannabis, I dived really, really deep.
I had a fabulous time doing it.
And this is just a small little
snippet of what I found out.
So let's get started.
All right.
Dr.
Ethan Russo has come up with, some
fascinating information on cannabis.
He does say that cannabis is the
single most versatile herbal remedy
and the most useful plant on earth.
Cannabis has a little bit
of a stigma surrounding it.
I don't know about you guys here,
but we call cannabis smokers in
Australia, potheads, stoners.
It's got a really bad
connotation linked to it.
I also like breaking the stigma.
Natural medicine or, alternative medicine
has, certain things that said about it.
And so I like to really bridge that gap
and present a much more professional
and medical opinion on that.
It is a fantastically useful plant and I
think some medicines and pharmaceuticals
should be jealous of cannabis.
What it does is incredible.
It's definitely not just about getting
high and we do like high at Home Hope.
So we're going to do a bit of
a walkthrough, just a little
bit of an overview of cannabis.
Then we're going to have, the
amazing endocannabinoid ohm.
So it's a little bit of
a take on the holobiont.
And endocannabinoid system, so we're
doing a bit of a distribution and
regulation and I'm not sure, has anyone
heard of the term endocannabinoid tone?
So, Ethan Russo also talks
a lot, a lot about that.
And then we'll talk about,
amazing detection and correction
strategies, along the same framework
that we have here at HomeHope.
Alright, so it all has to
start at the beginning though.
From the Tibetan Plateau, cannabis reached
Europe approximately 6 million years ago.
And it spread as far as eastern
China by 1.2 million years ago.
Here, really the origin
of cannabis is far.
. Fast spread, but the uses of
cannabis, and being just a medicine,
but it also is a bioaccumulator.
It's a bit of a cleanup.
So it does have phyto remediation
properties and, can clean up
heavy metals, radio, nucleotides,
and much more from the soils.
So this is also when we're looking at the
quality of cannabis, we actually need to
make sure that it is growing in the best
possible way and this can affect outcomes.
Okay.
So the strains, we have a lot
of different hybrids out there.
So majority is hybrids, now, but
we do have Sativa Indica, and there
is a strain called Ruderalis, but
mainly in the hybrid area as well.
So, Sativa is known for its
energizing and uplifting, and
Indica particularly sedating.
So, slightly different effects,
and now they are combined
to have different impacts.
Alright, did we know that there was
this many cannabinoids 100 or over 140?
I think we're at about 144 at the moment.
Different cannabinoids.
The most well known being Delta
nine or the lovely get high one
and the cannabidol, which is a CBD.
These compounds, they interact with the
endocannabinoid system, and, this plays a
role in regulating different physiological
processes which we will go through.
So there, that diagram is just a little
bit more on the cannabinoid biosynthesis.
So here, I really do love this diagram,
and I created this for the module.
It just gives a really good overview
of different actions associated
with your different cannabinoids.
So CBD, as you can see in the
middle, has a huge variety of
different uses and actions.
And then we go through CBC, CBG, CBGC,
and CBN, which all of you have a little
bit of a sneaky bit of CBN as well.
It's a sedative and sleep inducing, and
we also have Delta-9, Delta-8, and there's
a few others that we don't know about.
So that's a really good chart just
to see the comprehensiveness of
treatment options for cannabinoids.
So we have some cannabinoids
here gaining attention.
So we have CBG, CBN.
Delta 8 and Delta 10.
Now Delta 8 got itself into a
little bit of trouble recently but
it does have psychoactive effects.
So Delta 8 is also known to produce a
less intense, high than Delta 9.
So that's where it got a little
bit more of its popularity,
using beer and all sorts.
And Delta 10 as well, so that has,
psychoactive effects, but they're
not too sure, and there's limited
research on that at the moment.
So here are some cannabinoids
yet to gain attention.
Now don't forget there is a hundred and,
forty-four these are just some of them
that we're going through here but again,
little, research done on a lot of these.
So we have CBND, CBE, CBL, and CBT.
So some of these you may not have even
seen pop up in any of the research.
All right, so when I come to the
entourage effect later on, then
this is where we have cannabinoids
and terpenes really making friends.
When we have terpenes, terpenes are
in multiple plant worlds, and we
have more than 200 different terpenes.
Terpenes make it have its distinct
smell, and taste, but it also
has been identified, for a lot
of different therapeutic actions.
So these therapeutic actions are listed
here, again, in a lovely diagram,
as I say that because I created it.
Pinene, limonene, you know, limonene,
obviously lemon, so there's some that
you may recognize here, but they do
have these as isolations, that can
also be used for therapeutic use.
Alright, so now we get to the good part.
So, at Home Hope, and this is what I
loved in my practice and this is what
I wanted to bring more to my practice.
Naturopathic medicine is holistic
in itself, but what I love about
health optimization medicine and
practice is the dashboard, as
Ted had spoken about earlier.
And you really get a good understanding
of exactly what your client is needing.
And there's multiple dashboards
across different tools
that you can also be using.
At HomeHope, a HoloBiont approach
is taken, and understanding
interdependence of all those
systems, organs, and body parts,
and the diverse community around it.
So cannabis is components and
interactions are no different.
And so this is where the
endocannabinoidome comes in.
When we're looking at the entourage
effect, it's the combination of
cannabinoids, terpenes in cannabis
medicine, and this was first proposed
by Raphael, and the endocannabinoid
system exhibits increased activity
when the inactive metabolites are
also closely related to the molecules.
So, we're actually combining the
whole plant really for optimal impact
and optimal effect on our clients.
Botanical drugs may be more effective
than isolated components due to
the entourage effect, which has
been popularized by Ethan Russo.
When we look at these specific
treatments, we're actually making
sure that we're actually matching
some of these impacts across.
And when they are combined,
they definitely have more power.
And I see that as more of a, even as
a community of people, if you bind
together and you have a lot more
power, you have a lot more support.
So here, when I found this diagram,
I was so excited and I said to Dr.
Ted, I'm like, Dr.
Ted, I found something like the holobiont!
And I don't know if he was
as excited as me, but I was.
When you have here, this diagram,
explains that really exclusive, huge
expanded endocannabinoid system.
So the interaction between lipid
mediators, 20 biosynthetic inactivated
enzymes, more than 20 molecular
targets, and so much more.
So this all regulates and maintains
a homeostasis by regulating
pain, appetite, mood, immunity,
stress response, sleep, and more.
So now we dive into the actual
endocannabinoid system, and
it is a relatively new system.
So we'll talk here about endocannabinoid
receptors, and how we actually have
these beautiful use of endocannabinoids
within ourselves as well.
So here, this diagram just really
explains more, visually about the
expanse and the spread of CB1 and
CB2 receptors across the whole body.
There is not many places that these
receptors don't reach in the body.
It is an all encompassing system, and as
I said, there is only a small amount of
areas that aren't covered by this system.
What we have is our own endocannabinoids
and cannabinoids that can interact
with these particular receptors.
So CB1 is primarily located in
the central nervous system and the
brain, and the first to be isolated.
CB2 receptors are present in the immune
system and specific immune cells.
We also have, throughout the central
nervous system and also they play a role
in the effect of the cannabinoids on
inflammation and immunological function.
So there is a little bit
of information there about
where they exhibit the effects.
They also modulate the
activity of the calcium and the
potassium channels ion channels.
So here we have more
cannabinoid receptors.
Now there are a few more, but
these are the major ones that I
wanted to present to you today.
So you had a really good overall,
information, area for cannabis.
GPR18 is recently discovered, a
non CB1, CB2 receptor expressed
in the immune tissues and exerts a
variety of physiological effects,
and it's still being investigated.
GPR55 is activated by cannabinoids
like THC and CBD as well as
endogenous cannabinoids like 2AG,
which I'll talk about in a minute.
And anandamide, which
is our beautiful bliss.
So TRP V1.
And this compound gives spicy peppers,
their heat, and it can also be activated
by cannabinoids and anandamide and THC.
This is really closely
involved in pain perception.
So, when I'm treating my, my clients,
, and I was asked this last night, and
it's really, hard to pick out all these
tools that we are constantly learning.
And cannabis is just one of
those parts of the tools.
However, because of its expanse
across the whole body, it can have so
many uses, but it's set and setting.
And it really is important to
actually know when and how and
where and what, just like any other
tool that we're using to put it in.
I will talk through a little bit more
about posology, which is docid, later
on, but when we have our own use for
these receptors and these are anandamide.
And these are our own endocannabinoids,
and so they can actually help bind and
support our receptor strength as well.
So this binds to CB1 receptor, anandamide.
This is the runner's high, so you go for
a run and you feel on top of the world.
It is the most amazing feeling.
Unfortunately, I get that, but I also
have a genetic trait that will break
down my anandamide too quickly, which I
found out when I did the genetic testing.
So I have to do lots of running.
So associated also with mood
regulation And pleasure.
Anandamide's effects are diverse and can
include pain modulation, appetite control,
and regulation of stress responses.
And it is synthesized on
demand and in response to
specific physiological signals.
So, as I said, it is broken down by FAAH,
and that is unfortunately my problem.
So I'm more susceptible to stress
if I don't have enough anandamide.
2AG is another, so these are
also called our signaling
molecules, these endocannabinoids.
So 2AG, prominent endocannabinoid,
it interacts with both receptors and
it's found in high concentrations
in the central nervous system.
And 2AG plays a significant role in
modulating pain, perception, inflammation,
immune responses and neuroprotection.
So it is produced in larger quantities,
than compared to anandamide, and
it's stored in cell membranes where
it can be released as needed in
response to physiological states.
So we also have
endocannabinoid like compounds.
So we have NADA, PEA,
OEA, and also 2- AGE.
Because of my systematic mind, and
I like to treat, and I like to know,
and I'm very inquisitive around
all of this, you know, well, how do
we know what we're going to treat?
Or how do we know if we need to treat?
These are the biggest questions, like,
I've got cannabis, who needs to use it?
How am I going to determine this?
So, this is where detection comes in.
And this is again part of the
framework for health optimization
medicine and practice.
So we can assess tone, and I'll talk a
little bit more about tone in a minute.
And this is a major part of detection.
We can use reports like endoDNA
the one that I was talking
about before where you can
actually test your, addiction.
You can, test your, breakdown.
You can test your specific surrounding
need for certain ratios with, cannabis.
You can also test the plasma,
but it's quite invasive.
The cerebral spine, spinal fluid.
And as Kiran told me last night,
there is GI testing that can
test for receptor strength.
We have multiples and I'm sure there is
a lot more to come in terms of testing
for detection of endocannabinoid system.
So therefore, how do we correct?
And correction comes from
phytoendocannabinoids, using correct
posology, which I call it, you
know, it's a dosing, and home height
foundational health balancing.
You want that brickwork, and this is what,
in a very simple term, we talk about at
Health Optimization Medicine and Practice.
It's that foundational brickwork, so
therefore we can optimize on top of that.
And that is the, um, the beautiful
picture of health optimization.
Alright, so the endocannabinoid
tone theory, or ECT, or clinical
endocannabinoid deficiency.
So here we have low and high symptoms,
so you can track via symptoms, so you
can assess via symptoms, and this
little part here, this is actually just
a section out of my test, and it shows
that, I do have a higher breakdown.
So the individual endocannabinoid
tone reflects the levels of
endocannabinoids like anandamide and
2AG and their synthesis, catabolism
and cannabinoid receptor density.
So deficiency may cause conditions like
migraine, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel
syndrome and pain while excess may occur
in obesity and metabolic conditions
as you can see on that diagram there.
So decreased tone may
lower pain threshold.
So that's some of the things that
you can see with clients, and
impact digestion, mood, and sleep.
So tone can decrease also due to
genetic and congenital injury or
disease related reasons as well.
So this little diagram down the
bottom here is the trifecta,
coined by Russo as well.
This is more common in women and
I've seen this in a few of my
clients, which has been fascinating
after I did the research here.
And you see a combination of these,
different symptoms, whether it's all
three or two, migraine, fibromyalgia,
irritable bowel, more common in women.
And this is, significant of
a low endocannabinoid tone.
All right.
So pathology, cannabis is a different
ball game when coming to prescribing.
It can be overwhelming, it can be,
really confusing for practitioners who
are used to prescribing in other ways.
So it is important to remember that
this THC and CBD in other parts of
the plant, of the cannabis plant
can be biphasic in properties.
Low can give.
Low and high doses, so they generate the
opposite effect, so low can produce high
effects and high can produce low effects.
So starting slow and going
slow, is really the key when it
comes to cannabis prescribing.
So it can be very effective at low dose.
So I'll show you, a teeter strategy,
so it's really, important, and
I've noticed this through my clients
as well, is to teeter, or titer
the dose really, really slowly.
And you can actually get to a point
where you're getting impact and
then bring that back down again.
And it's individual for each and every
person, so you can't give a specific dose
for one person and expect to suit all as
we do with all of the other medicines.
So here you can see a little
bit of an idea there and the
interactions that it has within
the within the enzymes as well.
So we have the CBD and also CBN and THC.
So here, is just a bit of an example of
what it might look like, to see a little
bit of a tater dosing strategy there.
There's also so many forms of cannabis.
And that is the confusing part as
well, we've got smoking, vaporizing,
edibles, juicing, tinctures, capsules,
suppositories, and topical as well.
What do we choose?
And that's also considerations
for our clients as well.
Vaporizing is preferable over smoking.
Smoking, we do have impacts on the lungs.
Everyone knows the side effects of THC.
Alright.
That's the one that obviously gets us
high, but it can be disorientating, so
that can come with dizziness, it can
come with, feeling a little bit nauseous,
same with CBD, but there's more of us
know the side effects, and it can be
unpleasant for some and pleasant for
some, depending on what you're expecting
and the dose that you're using for these.
Although normally CBD is relatively
safe and doesn't come with side
effects, it can have a few, and
these are the ones that, we look at.
So sedation, decreased appetite,
elevated liver function tests, vomiting,
pneumonia, and there's some that can
lead to a little bit of, , tiredness and
then obviously not recommended to smoke
because of the side effects on the lungs.
All right, so it wouldn't be complete
without looking at what else you can
do for your endocannabinoid system.
But fats is a big one to have as a
combination with your CBD, and they
found that it was increased by 14 times
in the blood when consumed with fats.
In this little diagram here, all of
these are huge components of, being
healthy, of your endocannabinoid
system health, and this is, social
interactions pulled out there, just
as an example, but all of these things
are equally as important to balance
a really good endocannabinoid system.
All right, so we have
some misconceptions here.
There's concerns obviously, the stigma
surrounding cannabis the more we
know about it and the way that we
can see it grown and all these other
things is really, really important.
So we have here some quality
variances at alteration, we've
got the pesticide residue, heavy
metal contamination, being that
bioaccumulator, it can take on a lot more.
So the use of various growth hormones,
they all affect the profile of the
cannabinoids and the terpenes as well.
So IQ is a huge one.
Jodi: A lot of people
associate cannabis with low IQ.
That's where the stoner
and the pothead comes in.
And, increased consumption has been
associated with lower short term memory.
However, they found that this is not
a permanent change and it generally
resolves, except when there has
been chronic use at a younger age.
And this is the same
with psychosis as well.
So we can test for schizophrenic
tendencies through genetics.
And this is what I recommend to those who
have had any experience or bad experience
with cannabis in the past to make
sure that we don't have susceptibility
towards schizophrenia or psychosis.
And then we're actually
looking at more likely being a
genetic issue if that happens.
it's not high risk, but there's
definitely an increased risk in some.
And those also who have consumed it at
a very young age in a developing brain.
So addiction and dependence, some
of these tests that you can, see
who's more likely to become
addicted to substances and not.
4 percent compared to 14 percent
alcohol, what's worse, yeah?
Now, fertility is a big one.
There's more research that is needed.
THC is mainly associated with the
fertility issues, reduced sperm quality
and menstrual cycle disturbances.
Obviously not recommended in pregnancy
and normally with my clients, I
tell them to avoid cannabis for a
period of time, especially when I'm
looking at my fertility clients.
Now,
Jodi Duval_Cannabis for Health Optimization:
I found personal lubricants, inhalers,
inhalable powders, toothpaste,
breast strips, pet products, and
beer, cocktails, it goes on.
So, there's so much more
coming out at the moment.
However, as you can imagine,
, there is consumer issues.
We have quality, consistency, dosing,
we have cultivation practices, tracking,
pesticides and chemical residues,
molds and fungus, heavy metals,
microbial contamination, and it goes on.
Standardization, testing
challenges, regulatory oversight.
Label and packaging, confusing
packaging, and this is where
Delta A got itself into trouble.
You can get 10 milligram THC beer
with the effect in 20 to 30 minutes.
Overall I really wanted you guys all
to take away from this is that the
curiosity for cannabis, to have an ability
to see it as something quite special.
It's this overarching, impact on
this system behind a system, which I
call it, and the endocannabinoidome,
which is this intricate, huge part
of controlling so many different
physiological processes within our body.
So thank you for listening to me.
And we do have the advanced cannabis
course, if anyone is wondering.
So if you want more,
it's a lot more in there.