Q&A: What are the Side Effects of Hemp Oil?

07 Nov Q&A: What are the Side Effects of Hemp Oil?

Before you decide to take any new medication, even over the counter, it’s important to understand how they are going to interact with your body and whether you should be on the lookout for any malicious side effects. By now you have probably heard about the many positive impacts that hemp and CBD oil can have to cope with all types of mental and physical ailments, but you should be aware of the full scope of effects that you might experience when using these products. You should also understand that not all side effects are necessarily negative – some of them you may actually enjoy, and some of them might even have a notable benefit for you. Just like with any medication, you need to be very aware as to whether taking hemp oil is actually going to benefit you or whether the side effects are undesirable and something you wish to avoid. We have received a great many questions from our readers and will do our best to answer all of them below:

The positive or the neutral – what are the side effects of hemp oil that you may actually want to experience?

These effects of hemp oil might be desirable depending on the individual – in other words, you might want to feel these things, and you might not, but none of them are causes for concern. Since there are so many potential effects of hemp oil, we are going to save the potentially negative side effects for last and discuss them on their own. If anything, you should understand that the side effects discussed below CAN impact your life but may actually have impacts that you are seeking.

Question: Does hemp oil make you hungry?

Answer: THC and marijuana are known to cause increased appetite (ever heard of the “munchies”?) and can make people feel like they can eat endlessly. Some people love that aspect of marijuana, and some people have to mentally prepare themselves to avoid it – while some people don’t experience increased appetite at all. So it makes sense that you would be curious whether hemp oil, also derived from the cannabis plant, shares the same effect when consumed.

The truth is, while more human studies are necessary to ultimately determine the impact of CBD on the human metabolism, most users will actually experience reduced appetite in addition to a variety of other potential impacts. Hemp oil containing CBD may act in the opposite manner to THC when it comes to influencing appetite – while THC will stimulate or activate certain receptors in your body that will make you hungry, CBD products will actually have the opposite impact, helping other molecules to effectively “block” these receptors and potentially reduce your appetite. Interestingly enough, there are also several animal studies that have been published which not only show reduced appetite as a side effect of CBD use, but also a conversion of fatty molecules within the body to “brown” fats which, rather than increasing the risk of diabetes and high blood pressure, in fact can help to metabolize energy, burn more calories (and as such, burn more fat), and potentially combat those ailments!

So does hemp oil make you hungry or will you actually be eating less? As this is a very new proposition, there is still a massive amount of research and human testing required, but so far the results are looking quite promising.

Question: Does hemp oil make you sleepy?

Answer: Since so many people take hemp oil to calm themselves from anxiety or to try to wind down and fall asleep at night when they are experiencing insomnia, “does hemp oil make you sleepy” is a pretty valid question. After all, if you plan to take hemp oil during the day the last thing you would want is to be walking around like a zombie, unable to focus on anything because your brain is telling you to find a cozy place to curl up and sleep it off. Luckily, the reality is that there is nothing chemical about hemp oil that will directly cause you to feel tired as long as your hemp oil is pure CBD, not containing any THC or any other intoxicants.

CBD in hemp oil will actually work in parallel with your body’s natural cycles, so at times of the day where you would normally feel alert you will still feel that way – and at night time, it should help you to wind down naturally and get a restful night’s sleep. From the limited research available today, it seems that the ability for hemp oil to stimulate sleep or drowsiness depends largely on the dosage that you are taking Low doses of hemp oil are not as likely to alter sleep patterns, and as such you should be cognizant of the dosage you are taking and what time of day you are administering these doses.

Even high doses make not necessarily make you tired, but can contribute to a more uninterrupted sleep or can produce a calming effect that can assist you in falling asleep when you intend to. There is actually plenty of anecdotal evidence from people just like you noting that taking hemp oil during the day actually helps them to focus better by helping to diminish daily stresses and making it easier to stay on task and alert. When does hemp oil make you sleepy? In a nutshell, when you want it to. You need to control usage and dosage yourself, be careful with which products you are purchasing, and ensure you are educated on what dosage works best for you – even through trial and error.

Question: Does hemp oil make you horny?

Answer: This might be the most important questions we have ever answered here at Hemp and CBD guide. Hemp oil is great, right? But does hemp oil make you horny? Will it help you perform countless acts in the bedroom – or make you want to, anyway? Many people swear by just the right amount of marijuana as an aphrodisiac – on the other hand, a lot of folks become disinterested and less apt to want to engage in sexual activity when under the influence.

That being said, if your hemp oil contains THC it may or may not have these impacts for you as well. Pure CBD hemp oil, however, will not share these intoxicating effects – but can be used to balance the effects of THC to make them more tolerable and accessible for those people that are not getting positive effects from THC. You might hear a lot of people refer to marijuana as “too much to handle”, or even that it causes disinterest in moving let alone engaging in sexual activities. While there are no guarantees, you might want to try to take some CBD oil well in advance (at least 30 minutes prior) of using THC to mitigate the overwhelming nature of the THC itself, thereby allowing your brain to navigate the intoxicating effects, to feel stimulated in all the right places, and at the end of the day to have an elevated sexual experience.

Beyond balancing THC with CBD, however, there may be application for hemp oil to help with your sexual experiences by lowering anxiety in general. When you are more clear-headed and able to focus on what’s right in front of you, it makes sense that your sexual experience would be improved. It is important to note that there is a huge shortage of research on this subject and a lot of this is speculative, but there have been a great number of people who have spoken out about increased libido when using CBD products with over 60% of people from a recent survey agreeing that CBD has helped them in the bedroom.

The negative – what are the side effects of hemp oil that you might want to avoid?

Question: Is hemp oil a blood thinner?

This is an especially important question if you are taking hemp oil or other cannabis products to cope with pre-procedural anxiety or stress. While there is limited data available on the potential of hemp oil and CBD products to thin your blood, there have been some animal studies that have shown that these cannabis-sourced products have had an anticoagulant effect. This could actually be a good thing if you are in need of a substance to help thin your blood, but could be drastically negative if this is an unintended side effect that could potentially cause you harm. The best idea, as always, is to consult your doctor to find out if hemp oil is physically going to work for you.

It is worth noting that while hemp oil may not necessarily be a blood thinner on its own, CBD products have been known to interact poorly with other medications including blood thinners, potentially increasing their effects in an unintended or unexpected way. Again, it is crucial to consult with your doctor if you are taking other medications and also intend to take hemp oil to discuss the safest method of consumption, what time of day you should be consuming the hemp oil at, and whether it’s a good idea at all depending on your other medications. Critically speaking, “is hemp oil a blood thinner” isn’t the only health-related question you should be asking!

Question: Can hemp oil cause headaches?

Answer: You may have heard that hemp oil can actually help you treat headaches and migraines. Plenty of people use hemp and CBD products nowadays to avoid traditional over-the-counter medications that could become far too habit-forming and expensive. But can hemp oil cause headaches when it’s not being used to treat them? You will probably see some testimonials online from people swearing that their headaches are created after taking CBD oil, or at least that this has happened on a few occasions.

However, there is little evidence to support that hemp oil can cause headaches especially when you are purchasing good quality, pure hemp oil products made with premium ingredients. Just like with any type of medication or remedy, poor quality ingredients in your hemp oil could be the culprit behind the stimulation of headaches. Keep in mind this is purely speculative, but when you don’t make purchases from reputable manufacturers you really have no way of knowing what might have been added to the product.

The manufacturer might have used low quality hemp that was treated with pesticides or other chemicals during the growing or processing phase, or might have used additives in the oil itself to influence flavor or shelf life that could be the cause of a headache. It could also be complete random chance – it could be these people were about to have a headache anyway. It just so happened that they took some hemp oil right before the onset of the headache, and now the CBD product represents the cause for the headache. It also could be that hemp oil simply does not work for you as a treatment for a headache to begin with – this is very possible and obviously would cause some notable frustration or stress which could aggravate your symptoms. Headaches are also a common symptom of allergies, which is our next FAQ.

Question: Can you be allergic to hemp oil?

Answer: The short answer here is – yes, absolutely. Hemp oil, being derived from the cannabis sativa plant, could be an allergen the same way that unprocessed marijuana or hemp could be an allergen. However, headaches are not noted as one of the symptoms of a cannabis allergy. Instead, if you are allergic to cannabis you might notice a runny nose, sneezing, itching, and swelling and watering eyes, similar to other airborne allergy symptoms, or in more severe cases you might have trouble breathing or notice wheezing or other unpleasant symptoms when inhaling cannabis smoke or vapor, or even in the presence of airborne pollens produced by the cannabis sativa plant.

Since most of the allergy symptoms are based on exposure to the skin or lungs, it is unlikely that ingesting hemp oil will cause you any severe allergy symptoms – but you can always test it on your skin first by dropping a bit of the oil on your skin and waiting to see whether the affected area gets red, itchy, or inflamed. There is potential to be severely allergic to cannabis sativa, and also to be severely allergic to oil made from hemp seeds, which is quite different from your standard CBD hemp oil. There have been some reported cases of anaphylaxis in humans from ingesting hemp seeds which are completely unconnected to using cannabis sativa in its other forms.

There have also been cases of anaphylaxis in people from contact with cannabis sativa in its various forms. If you experience difficulty breathing, dizziness, fainting, itchy and flushed or pale skin, low blood pressure, swelling of your tongue and/or throat, a weak and rapid pulse, and vomiting after contact with cannabis sativa, or hemp oil, or hemp seed oil, ensure that you see a doctor immediately and get yourself tested for potential severe allergies.

Question: Can you take too much hemp oil?

Just like with any substance you are consuming, you should exercise caution and start dosages small to find out how it interacts with your body and brain health. Hemp oil is expensive, and also effective at low dosages so there is rarely a need to take so much of it that you might worry about a potential overdose. However, if you have taken so much CBD that you are worried if you can take too much, rest easy.

There have been no known reports to date of an overdose on hemp oil or on cannabis products in general. Put quite simply, hemp oil interacts in such a way with pre-existing receptors in your body and brain except those areas (like the brainstem) which could cause a lethal overdose by disrupting respiration. One study from 2011 actually showed that the human body can easily tolerate a dosage of 1500mg per day of CBD – this is about 30 times what would be considered a fairly heavy daily dose of hemp oil.

Question: Can hemp oil make you dizzy?

Answer: Since hemp oil is commonly taken for relaxation or as a sleep aid the impacts or symptomatic relief are generally noted before this type of side effect. If you are lying down, as an example, because your day is coming to an end and you are trying to get to sleep, it is unlikely you’re going to feel dizzy. However, there are cases where taking hemp oil containing CBD can cause dizziness for a few different reasons. First of all, it can lower your blood pressure which may result in feeling dizzy.

Ingesting CBD hemp oil may also cause temporary changes in the way blood flows through your brain or the way your brain sends signals to your nervous system an the rest of your body which could also cause lightheadedness or a dizzy feeling. Our suggestion is if you are experiencing persistent lightheadedness causing you discomfort, you should check your blood pressure first and foremost. If you are noticing a drop in your blood pressure after taking hemp oil, you should likely reassess your dosage. It is possible that you are taking too high of a dosage which is causing discomfort, and a lower dose may help you avoid feeling dizzy after administering hemp oil.

Question: Can hemp oil give you diarrhea?

Answer: Hemp oil is used very commonly to actually help with gastrointestinal problems like acid reflux and upset stomach. However, it does have the potential to cause the opposite effect. If you are experiencing gastrointestinal problems after taking CBD hemp oil, you should look into a few different things. The quality of the product you are ingesting can have a massive impact on how it makes you feel. Where was the hemp oil initially sourced from? Is it possible that the product you have been using was sourced from a farm where their production methods weren’t quite up to standard, or they used certain chemicals or pesticides that your system does not enjoy.

It is also possible that the carrier oil being used is causing your stomach and gastro system some distress. Perhaps the sensitivity is not to the CBD or hemp itself, but to the carrier oil (whether it’s coconut oil, grapeseed oil, or whatever!). In this case, you could try switching brands or switching types of hemp oil to one with a different carrier, to see if that might help alleviate your gastrointestinal issues. Just like with anything else, when you are experiencing discomfort, you may also wish to lower your dosage to see if anything changes. Ultimately, if you have tried switching brands, switching carrier oils, and lowering your dosage and are still having problems with diarrhea after taking hemp oil, you should see your doctor for further advice and likely stop using hemp oil as a treatment in the meantime.

So many questions about hemp oil, so little time

Like we said, there have been a ton of questions about hemp oil and each of them seems more interesting than the last. The real answer to the overall question “what are the side effects of hemp oil” depends on you and your body’s interaction with this medication. For the most part, you will likely not experience any side effects but you should pay attention to some of the things we discussed and some of the advice mingled in, in case you do start to experience any unwanted or adverse effects after consuming hemp oil.

If you still have burning questions about hemp oil, CBD oil, or hemp products in general, as always, we welcome you to reach out and we will do our best to answer them for you. As more people start to use hemp and CBD products every day, you can be sure that there will be more research, new discoveries, and new questions to create some very necessary dialogue, and we will be here to share it with you.