CBD and Some (Psychiatric) Medications: Dangerous Together

• CBD and Some (Psychiatric) Medications: Dangerous Together
• From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs
• Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans
• Adult Self-Harm Relapse Happens
• Quote About Anxiety

CBD and Some (Psychiatric) Medications: Dangerous Together

Did you know that CBD can be dangerous when combined with some psychiatric medications?

Cannabidiol, or CBD, is skyrocketing in popularity. According to a poll conducted by SingleCare in 2020, 33 percent of the 2,000 respondents had tried CBD¹. It’s touted as wellness-enhancing, and people use it for many reasons, among them reducing symptoms of anxiety, depression symptoms, and insomnia. It’s generally considered safe and effective for mental health concerns, with even a 2019 Psychology Today article encouraging people to use it for a variety of mental health challenges². What many sources don’t tell you, and what the Psychology Today article only glosses over, is that CBD can be dangerous when combined with certain prescription medications, including many psychiatric medications.

How to Tell If CBD Shouldn’t Be Combined with Your Mental Health Medication

If you are taking a medication that carries the “grapefruit warning,” a statement on the bottle notifying you to avoid eating grapefruit or drinking grapefruit juice while taking the prescription, CBD is dangerous^3,4. Both grapefruit and CBD block a group of enzymes made by the body called cytochrome P450. These enzymes are largely responsible for the body’s metabolization of medication. When grapefruit and CBD block those enzymes, medication isn’t processed correctly in the body. Depending on the drug, either too much remains in the system, leading to toxicity and increased side effects, or the medication doesn’t absorb properly, and you don’t benefit from it the way you need to. Either way, your physical and mental health can suffer.⁵

This is particularly worrisome given that more people are taking prescription medications for anxiety and depression than ever before⁶. According to Harvard Medical School, a partial list of common psychiatric medications that carry the grapefruit warning and are unsuitable to take with CBD includes⁷:

• Diazepam (Valium)
• Triazolam (Halcion)
• Midazolam (Versed)
• Buspirone (BuSpar)
• Sertraline (Zoloft)
• Carbamazepine (Tegretol)

This is an incomplete list of psychiatric medications disrupted in the body by CBD. If you are taking any prescription medication and are also taking (or are considering taking) CBD, check your label to see if it carries the grapefruit warning. Also, check with your doctor or pharmacist for more information.

Sources

1. SingleCare Team. (2020, April). The 2020 CBD survey. SingleCare. Retrieved from https://www.singlecare.com/blog/cbd-survey/
2. Bongiorno, P. (2019, January). CBD oil for mental health—should you take it, too? Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/inner-source/201901/cbd-oil-mental-health-should-you-take-it-too
3. DiSalvo, D. (2019, June). What CBD and grapefruit have in common when it comes to drug interactions: Risks you should know. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2019/06/30/what-cbd-and-grapefruit-have-in-common-when-it-comes-to-drug-interactions-risks-you-should-know/?sh=40f3b71d719d
4. Chesak, J. (2019, November). CBD and drug interactions: What you need to know. Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/health/cbd-and-drug-interactions-what-you-need-to-know#the-basics
5. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). (2017, July). Grapefruit juice and some drugs don’t mix. Retrieved from https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/grapefruit-juice-and-some-drugs-dont-mix
6. Marsh, T. (2019, May). Depression and anxiety prescriptions are climbing nationwide. GoodRx. Retrieved from https://www.goodrx.com/blog/depression-and-anxiety-prescriptions-are-climbing-nationwide/
7. Harvard Health Publishing. (2020, October). Grapefruit and medication: A cautionary note. Harvard Medical School. Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/grapefruit-and-medication-a-cautionary-note

Recommended Video

Articles Related to Medications

• Psychiatric Medications
• Psychiatric Medications Treatment
• List of Anxiety Medications—Antianxiety Medications List
• Anxiety Medications: Antianxiety Medications Reduce Anxiety
• Complete List of Schizophrenia Medications
• Complete List of Bipolar Medications: Types, Uses, Side-Effects
• Bipolar Medication Types: How Bipolar Meds Work
• Antidepressant Medications for Depression: What They Are, How They Work
• Talking to Your Doctor About Anxiety Medication
• Sorting Out Anxiety Treatment Options: Medication
• Effects of Psychiatric Medications During Pregnancy
• Psychiatric Medications and Breastfeeding

Your Thoughts

Today's Question: What’s been your experience with CBD and psychiatric medications? We invite you to participate by sharing your thoughts, experiences, and knowledge on the HealthyPlace Facebook page.

------------------------------------------------------------------

From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

On all our blogs, your comments and observations are welcomed.

• When the Past Makes You Anxious
• Cultivate Inner Calm in 5 Minutes a Day
• Finding Relief for My Child's Mental Illness in the Woods
• Which Came First: Depression or Weight Gain?
• 3 Ways to Stop Avoiding Your Life Because of Anxiety
• Self-Harm and Intrusive Thoughts: Changing Your Perspective
• My First Schizoaffective Manic Episode
• Learning to Embrace Bad Days in Depression Recovery
• I'm Fine, I Don't Need Bipolar Medication
• What to Remember About Trust and Honesty with Your Therapist
• Destigmatizing Mental Health Conditions We Don't Talk about
• How to Provide Support for Mental Illness From Far Away
• 3 Ways Writing for HealthyPlace Helps Me Stop Self-Harm
• Validation Alone Is Not the Same As Healing
• Measuring Progress in Mental Illness Recovery
• When is the Right Time to Share Your Eating Disorder Story?
• Anxiety and the Lack of Creativity
• What I Wish I Knew Before I Became a Depression Blogger
• Fear vs. Phobia: When Our Warning Center Goes Haywire
• Responding to Verbal Abuse in Family Situations
• 3 Techniques to Ground You When Feeling Anxious
• How Borderline PD Affects Long-Term Relationships
• How I Overcame Social Anxiety by Acting As If
• Respecting the Boundaries of Mentally Ill Loved Ones

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

------------------------------------------------------------------

From HealthyPlace YouTube Channel

Adult relapses into self-harm are not uncommon. Today we're talking to Hev about her self-harm relapse at 27. Hev had been in self-injury recovery for a decade when an event sparked the old coping mechanism. Find out what happened and how she's doing today.

Subscribe to the HealthyPlace YouTube channel

------------------------------------------------------------------

Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans

Here are the top 3 mental health articles HealthyPlace Facebook fans are recommending you read:

1. Preventing Self-Harm With Gratitude: Does it Work?
2. When Anxiety Becomes Anger
3. Making Time for Self-Care Isn't a Luxury, It's a Necessity

If you're not already, I hope you'll like us on Facebook too. There are a lot of wonderful, supportive people there.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Anxiety Quote

"Living with anxiety is like being followed by a voice. It knows all your insecurities and uses them against you. It gets to the point when it's the loudest voice in the room. The only one you can hear."

Read more quotes on anxiety.

------------------------------------------------------------------

That's it for now. If you know of anyone who can benefit from this newsletter or the HealthyPlace.com site, I hope you'll pass this onto them. You can also share the newsletter on any social network you belong to by clicking the links below. For updates throughout the week, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, subscribe to our YouTube channel, or follow us on Instagram.

Thank you,
Deborah

Community Partner Team
HealthyPlace.com - America's Mental Health Channel
"When you're at HealthyPlace.com, you're never alone."
http://www.healthyplace.com