Singer-songwriter Courtney Love recently opened up about her recent struggle with severe anemia and the powerful healing effects she experienced after taking CBD.
Anemia is a condition in which someone doesn’t have enough healthy red blood cells to carry the amount of oxygen that the body’s tissues need. This can cause fatigue, weakness, irregular heartbeats, shortness of breath, lightheadedness, chest pain, headaches and other symptoms.
Love refers to her anemia-related pain as ‘debilitating’ and ‘indescribable’
Love explained her experience with the condition in a recent Instagram post.
“People, I’ve been sad, and extremely sick,” she wrote, adding that she had been “[d]ebilitated,” in “indescribable pain” and “basically bedridden” because of her condition.
She explained how in August she weighed only 97 pounds and she almost died in the hospital because of the anemia.
“[H]emoglobin I had none,” she wrote. “I thought I was broken for sure this time.”
A history of addiction limited Love’s treatment options
However, Love’s history with substance abuse and addiction has been covered widely by the media, which proved to be a stumbling block as she sought treatment for her anemia.
"I was stigmatized for being an addict . . . [w]hile in debilitating acute pain,” she wrote. She explained how she felt that doctors had stigmatized her for nine months before she met one particular pain management doctor who empathized with her situation and introduced her to CBD.
“I’m so good now. And on CBD oil. Which has removed ALMOST ALL the physical symptoms . And all the pain,” she wrote. “It’s magic.”
Possibly in an effort to avoid further stigmatization, she added, “I’m still 100 percent sober by the way.”
How might CBD help someone who has anemia?
First, it is important to understand that there are different types of anemia. This means that CBD’s capacity to provide effective relief may be different from case to case.
Unfortunately, very little research has been done on the interaction between CBD and anemia, and the research that has been conducted does not appear to indicate that CBD could cure the condition. However, research has shown that CBD may be able to help ease some symptoms and conditions that are linked to certain types of anemia.
The results of these studies seem to indicate that cannabinoids in general or CBD specifically have the potential to
Reduce nerve-related inflammation
Lessen pain
Suppress irregular heartbeats
Limit nausea
By easing these symptoms, CBD may help some people with anemia find relief from their condition. What’s more is that CBD is non-addictive, unlike the opioid medications that might otherwise be prescribed to patients whose anemia symptoms cause them severe pain.
In Love’s case, it seems like CBD was an effective option. She wrote that although she is still feeling “frail” she hopes to be “strong again soon.” She clarified that she hopes to be a “new sort of strong with wisdom and more empathy than I had for people with physical illness.”
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