Cannabidiol (CBD) is a chemical we find in the cannabis plant. At CBD instead, our products come from the hemp plant, making it legal in all fifty states. Many people are using CBD hemp oil to help with their mental and physical health issues and wonder what happens when they stop taking the medication. Does quitting CBD oil cause withdrawals?
Other medications that are on the market like painkillers and anti-depressants can cause withdrawal symptoms when you stop taking them. Because they change your brain chemistry, quitting them can cause your brain to react in a way that makes you dependent on the medication. CBD hemp oil also makes changes in the brain, so does it do the same thing?
What Researchers Have Found
While researchers have been studying cannabidiol and its safety and efficacy, they have yet to report any symptoms of withdrawal, including with long-term use. There are side-effects that have been reported, but they have yet to discover a case where someone experienced adverse effects when taking CBD oil and then stopping administration. In fact, they have found that CBD oil has helped with the withdrawal symptoms from other medications.
CBD Has Shown To Relieve Withdrawal Symptoms
Studies have shown that cannabidiol has helped with withdrawal symptoms from THC heavy cannabis, cigarette use, and morphine. There is no definitive reason as to why CBD oil doesn’t cause withdrawal symptoms after you decide to stop taking it, but it may be because of how different CBD hemp oil is from other medications.
How Is CBD Different From Other Medications?
Unlike many pharmaceuticals, CBD hemp oil isn’t habit forming. Cannabidiol isn’t addictive and doesn’t pose any risks for abuse. The World Health Organization has actually come out and explained that CBD is a safe alternative. You also do not build a tolerance to cannabidiol as you might with other pharmaceuticals. These differences don’t explain why cannabidiol doesn’t offer withdrawal symptoms, but it does give us a good idea of how different it is from other medications.
What Happens When You Stop Taking CBD
What might happen when you stop taking cannabidiol is that the symptoms you were trying to treat may resurface. However, unlike medications like barbiturates and opiates, the resurfacing of the symptoms shouldn’t feel as magnified.
If you want to take a different approach to your medical routine, talk to your doctor about these changes. They can help you find the right treatment plan for when what you are trying isn’t working. They can also monitor you closely to help you document your progress to get you to feeling the way you were meant to feel.
I have a friend who has been taking the CBD oil for about a month now. She has a disease that eventually effects the balance, had started falling and within a few days the oil had performed wonders.
She is having to go through a small procedure, quit taking the oil and now seems to be having sleeplessness and of course is back to falling plus a few other issues.
Can I please get some people to send me side effects that they have experienced after stopping the oil? I am hoping that some of the issues are just side effects.
Hi Bill,
Considering the definition of drug withdrawal is your body reacting to an addiction, it isn’t considered a withdrawal when you stop taking CBD. You cannot have withdrawals unless you have formed a physical dependence on the drug. Studies have shown that CBD oil does not cause the body to become dependent. That being said, everyone is different. The purpose of this article was to explain what the studies are saying about the topic. And the studies have yet to report withdrawal symptoms. Should new studies emerge in the future, you can bet we are going to cover them.
Thank you for your comment!
I get side effects when I quit CBD as well. Mostly though it’s similar to cannabis withdrawal, sweats and sleeplessness. I will say they are milder than smoke withdrawal but to say there’s non is silly. You put a foreign substance in the body to change it, when you stop taking something your body will respond. It takes about 10 days for me to feel back to normal but after that I feel fine. You might try a tapper method next time. I also like to take the oil less than the gummies I feel like I can control my intake better and it works cleaner because it doesn’t have to be broken down like food. Hope this helps.
Hey Lisa,
If you are experiencing symptoms after not taking gummies, it is possible. Just because research hasn’t found it yet, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I would talk to your doctor about your symptoms to rule out anything else. I would also suggest trying a different product as well considering not all CBD oil products are created equally and it could have something to do with any other ingredients.
Hope this has helped!
CBD Instead
I was taking 10 mg of cbd gummies, for only a month, i stopped taking them, i feel funny. Could i be going thru withdrawal?