What drugs should not be taken with CBD?
Over the years, legalizing marijuana in most American states and other countries has spiked its consumption and uses. A drug that was once termed as”illegal” has recently become more widely and openly used than ever before.
Scientific studies have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that marijuana has several physical and mental health benefits. This is all thanks to its key components, the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD).
However, the side-effects that these marijuana components, especially CBD oil have on the human body when taken alongside other prescription drugs, are yet to be fully understood. More research is being conducted to determine CBD drug interaction when used with other prescription medications.
In this article, we will take an in-depth look at prescription drugs that should not be taken with CBD products, as well as the medications CBD interact with.
Keep reading!
Table of Contents
What Prescription Drugs Should Not Be Taken with CBD Oil?
On a general level, medical experts do not consider marijuana to be a harmful drug. It indeed has various side effects, but that would depend on what prescription medication you are using it with. cbd can cause drug-drug interactions, some of which may have adverse effects on human health. Below, we will be looking at some of these potential interactions.
It is common knowledge CBD products may interact with prescription pills when you take the two simultaneously.
For this reason, your doctor would always ask what drugs you are currently on before he/she prescribes any other medication to you. These questions are asked to safeguard you from facing the adverse effects which the wrong combination of drugs may have in your body.
If your doctor has no clue what drugs you are currently taking, then what he/she prescribes to you may interact with each other and cause all sorts of harm in the short and long term.
That being said, you have to be 100% open about the drugs you are taking when you visit your doctor for medical advice. You may be surprised to hear this, but even over-the-counter medicine combined with CBD can cause the most undesirable health issues.
As relatively harmless as CBD is considered, all the facts about how it interacts with other prescriptions are unknown.
Marijuana has been an illegal substance for a very long time, which is why many medical experts have not bothered to invest too much time to study all its possible effects and interactions with other drugs.
Nonetheless, since its legalization has become more widespread, the need to understand this drug and all its effects to its full extent has become increased. Both legal and public acceptance have promoted more studies to be carried out, and as the years pass by, more will be revealed on the potential interactions of CBD with other prescription pills.
Sad but true, since all is not fully known about how CBD drugs interact with other prescription medications, those who use them together will continue to do so at their own risk, which is why you should always consult with your doctor before you combine CBD drug with other drugs.
While your doctor may not know it all, he/she will have a fair idea of what to expect. You would have to agree that partial knowledge is always better than zero knowledge.
On a general level, taking CBD with any medication that depends on CYP450 enzymes can either inhibit or induce CYP450 enzymes’ production, which could have adverse effects on the user. However, the magnitude of these effects has not been fully determined.
You may not know this, but over 50% of all medications known to man are heavily dependent on CYP450 enzymes for metabolism.
For this reason, you have to do a careful check on which of the prescribed drugs fit this criterion. It would help if you also are on the lookout for delayed effectiveness, including all side effects.
Below, we will list out some drugs that have CYP450 effects that may be of concern when used with CBD. These are –
· Antiarrhythmics
· Antibiotics
· Anesthetics
· Angiotensin II blockers
· Antihistamines
· Antipsychotics
· Antidepressants
· Anti-epileptics
· Benzodiazepines
· Beta-blockers
· Calcium channel blockers
· HIV antivirals
· HMG CoA reductase inhibitors
· NSAIDs
· Oral hypoglycemic agents
· PPIs
· Prokinetics
· Steroids
It would be best if you were very careful with a class of drugs when using CBD, and these are called prodrugs. The reason for this is that prodrugs must be metabolized before they can become active healing compounds.
If you take CBD and inhibit your CYP3A4 levels, then the version of the prodrug you take may not work at its full potential or have zero effects therapeutically. Codeine is an excellent example of a prodrug, as well as ADHD drugs.
How drugs interact
Drugs work by being metabolized and removed by enzymes when they get to the liver. The cytochrome P450 enzymes specifically. cytochrome P450 (CYP3A4) is the most dominant enzyme that can be found in the liver. It is also tasked with metabolizing more than half of the prescription medications in modern medicine, both in the clinic and over-the-counter.
Nonetheless, cytochrome P450 CYP enzymes are famous for causing several drug-drug interactions. Some drugs are known to induce enzymes’ metabolic activities, while others are known to inhibit them.
A drug that inhibits the cytochrome P450 slows down metabolism, which will lead to an accumulation of drug concentrations. In this instance, there will be potential interactions and drug toxicity.
Coincidentally, THC and CBD are both metabolized by CYP3A4. They are also metabolized by CYP2C9 and CYP2C19, respectively. The bottom line is when you take CBD along with certain prescription medications, the compounds THC or CBD may inhibit nor induce metabolism.
What Medications Does CBD Oil Interact with?
There are several medications CBD can interact with. We will be looking at some of them below.
Warfarin
If you’re on warfarin, then the use of CBD oil alongside it will increase the risk of bleeding.
This is because warfarin has a very narrow therapeutic window, which means even the slightest changes in the anticoagulant’s effect can be dangerous.
Both THC and CBD can inhibit the CYP2C9 enzyme’s metabolic activity, which means a spike in warfarin levels, hence the risk of bleeding.
Theophylline
This drug is a bronchodilator widely used for treating several asthma symptoms, as well as bronchitis, emphysema, and other diseases that affect the lungs. Smoking marijuana could speed up the metabolic clearance of theophylline and lower the drug’s healing effects.
Medical research has not been able to prove whether this effect is a result of the cannabis itself or smoking in general. This is because smoking tobacco produces an identical effect. This connection remains questionable since no other form of using cannabinoid (besides smoking it) induces theophylline clearance.
Clobazam
Taking CBD can spike the effects of the drug Clobazam.
It is a benzodiazepine that is used for treating seizures that are linked with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome.
However, CBD has been FDA-approved to treat seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. This is the very first marijuana-deriver drug to be FDA approved. CBD inhibits CYP2C19, so using both drugs alongside each other adds to Clobazam’s efficacy.
This will lead to a 3-time increase in the concentration of plasma in Clobazam’s active metabolite.
A disadvantage here is that this interaction increases Clobazam’s side effects. For this reason, doctors are advised to reduce the dosage of Clobazam when the patient is using it alongside CBD.
Valproate
This is another drug that is used to treat epileptic seizures.
It can also be used to treat manic episodes of bipolar disorders, as well as treat migraines.
Using CBD alongside valproate puts the user at risk of spiking the enzyme levels, which could harm the patient’s liver. Clinical trials have shown that about 21% of patients who have epilepsy and are on valproate and prescription CBD (Epidolex) at the same time experienced elevated transaminase levels, which were above three times above normal.
These clinical trials also revealed that epilepsy patients on concomitant CBD, valproate, and Clobazam was at 30%.
Suppose you carefully study the prescription information for Epidolex. In that case, you will see a recommendation to stop or reduce your dose of Epidolex or valproate if there are elevations in liver enzymes.
Alcohol
Alcohol is not a prescription medicine, yet it remains a drug.
Hence, alcohol can also increase THC levels right after it is smoked.
Nonetheless, the effects are not long-lasting. Its effects include an increase in the pressure of blood level, excitement, and in some cases, anxiety. There is a lot more research required to have the best understanding of the interactions of CBD alongside other drugs.
To this day, not all the drug-drug reactions are known.
Is CBD Safe with Other Medications?
As beneficial as it is, CBD needs to be adequately studied to determine the outcome when taken with other medications. This is a huge concern, as the right answers could save lives and prevent several health complications.
CBD drug interactions vary, depending on the type of drug and the dosage it is taken.
Therefore, knowing whether CBD is safe to take with other drugs is of the highest importance. Prescribed drugs come with a lot of elements, and so does cannabis. This means there is a chance of undesired metabolism when these drugs are combined.
For example, if you read the label on some medicines, you may be warned against taking grapefruit on that particular medication. This is because it could have adverse effects on how the patient’s body metabolizes the specific drug.
The answer to the above question – is CBD safe with other medications is not 100% definite. This is because CBD interacts with various drugs in different manners.
We don’t expect patients to be experts in how CBD drug interactions, that is why it is advised that you seek medical advice before you begin combining the drugs.
Consult a Doctor Regarding CBD Drug Interactions for the sake of your long and short-term health, as well as saving your life, you should first understand how a combination of CBD oil and other drugs may affect your physical and mental health.
As we mentioned earlier, CBD oil will react differently with different prescription medicines and your doctor will have an excellent idea of the components of each drug and the impact they will have on you.
For this reason, they should be the very first people you speak to before you begin to administer any drug while using CBD at the same time. In this instance, their advice would be priceless and could be the difference between having sound health and a deteriorating one.
It is in your best interest to be as honest with your doctor as you can be. No information regarding the drugs you are using should be held back from them.
Does CBD Interfere with Blood Pressure Medication?
A lot more people are generally embracing the use of CBD to manage their medical conditions because of its myriad benefits and advantages.
Patients who suffer from hypertension and high blood pressures are exceptional cases, being that theIR situation is very delicate.
CBD can be used to treat high blood pressure in many cases (depending on the severity, of course); however, there is no research to suggest that it is 100% responsible for reducing high blood pressure.
On its own, CBD can help reduce stress and anxiety. It can also be used to help treat insomnia. All three of these (stress, anxiety, and insomnia) are all causes of high BP in humans, so CBD oil is a recommended substance to treat them with.
If you are already on blood pressure medication which is also referred to as beta-blockers, you need to be careful about using CBD.
A common mistake with many patients is taking an overdose of either high blood pressure medication or the CBD product itself. Depending on the particular drug, you may not even need to take CBD oil at all. In other cases, you may only need a small dose of it to manage high blood pressure correctly.
Recent studies have found that using CBD while on high blood pressure medication could be risky. We already know that CBD can help reduce blood pressure, but combining it with other NBP drugs could cause your BP to go below the standard rate, and this is very dangerous.
Having the belief that reducing HBP will improve your health could prompt you to Believe that having it further reduced with CBD is a good thing. Well, that is false. This is because low blood pressure is just as dangerous as HBP.
As advised earlier in this article, your best move would be to first consult with your doctor before you combine CBD with any high blood pressure medication.
To be on the safe side, if you are suffering from HBP, then it is best you take CBD alone as treatment. Keep in mind that you have to be careful to take it in the right dosage, preventing you from lowering your blood pressure below the average healthy level.
If you must combine CBD with other blood pressure medications, it should be used in low dosages.
All the same, the importance of consulting with your personal doctor cannot be overstated. They are in the best position to give you the best advice regarding the dosage of CBD you can take on its own and the dosage you will need to take when combining cbd with other BP drugs.
Conclusion
Before marijuana was made legal in some countries and states, there was little interest on the part of clinical experts to explore or study the drug-drug interactions, its effects, and side effects. For this reason, there is not substantial knowledge of how CBD interacts with many prescription drugs.
However, in recent years, more and more countries and states have legalized alcohol, and the concerns of how they interact with other drugs have risen. Many clinical trials have been carried out to determine how CBD and other drugs work on the human body.
While marijuana is a relatively safe drug, a wrong combination with certain prescription drugs could adversely affect a patient. These effects are yet to be fully determined, which is why the experts continue to work tirelessly to find the right answers.
These answers will not only help us understand the drug-drug side-effects; it will also help save lives and prevent several health complications.
We trust this article on what drugs should not be taken with CBD to avoid complication was helpful.
Thanks for reading.
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