Your 20mg CBD Edible Did Nothing? Here’s Why That Can Happen
CBD

Your 20mg CBD Edible Did Nothing? Here’s Why That Can Happen

It seems like you can buy CBD products almost anywhere these days. Regulators say there’s not yet enough proof showing that CBD (cannabidiol) is effective in supporting wellness.

That has several implications, but here’s an important one: there are no definitive guidelines for CBD dosing. One “expert” may suggest starting at 5mg, another will say 10 or 20mg, and yet another may recommend 30, 50, or 100mg of CBD. And you can find CBD products available in all of those dosages.

CBD doses can be difficult to choose — and their effects can be difficult to predict — for many reasons. That’s even truer when you’re taking CBD edibles. For example:

  • CBD’s effects still aren’t completely understood.
  • Some people think CBD will provide results they feel almost immediately. But cannabidiol doesn’t make users high, and its apparent benefits don’t necessarily kick in right away.
  • Research indicates that different doses are required for different conditions in order to provide CBD’s apparent benefits.
  • Cannabidiol’s effectiveness can vary widely depending on factors like the user’s weight and BMI, metabolism, medical conditions, and medications they may be taking.
  • CBD products can vary widely in their quality and effectiveness.
  • CBD edibles must be digested before the cannabidiol they contain is freed for use in the body. That can take as long as several hours and much of the CBD will be lost in the process.

In short, no one, including companies that put dosing instructions on product labels, knows with any certainty how much cannabidiol an individual user should take or what effects it will have on them. So a 20mg edible may “work great” for one person and do nothing for the next.

If a 20mg CBD edible “does nothing,” you might want to try a slightly higher dose, ask your doctor for advice — or keep reading for a closer look at the many variables we’ve listed.

CBD’s Effects Aren’t Completely Understood

There has been a flood of stories about CBD’s potential benefits over the last few years, but all of them stem from preliminary research studies. There’s also quite a bit of conflict between some of the research reports.

That’s not to say cannabidiol doesn’t provide potential benefits. The preliminary evidence implies that it might.

However, much more research must be done before CBD potential wellness benefits.

Only then will there be reliable information on the proper doses of CBD required to achieve the desired outcomes. At this point, no authorities or experts know for certain whether a 20mg edible will provide benefits to a user, what benefits those would be, and how long it would require for the benefits to be noticeable.

Don’t Expect to Notice CBD’s Potential Benefits Immediately

CBD isn’t THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the active ingredient in marijuana that gets users high. Anyone expecting to feel any sort of buzz after using a CBD product will be disappointed.

CBD is similar to THC. They’re each plant compounds known as cannabinoids that are found in hemp and cannabis plants. But because of slight differences in their chemical structures and the way they work in the body once ingested, THC is intoxicating and CBD is not.

There is a very small amount of THC in most CBD products, but it’s nowhere near enough to deliver the mind-altering effects that cannabis induces. Without getting into the weeds (no pun intended), THC and other plant compounds are left in cannabidiol because they all work together to make CBD more effective.

(Those who don’t want any THC in their bodies can opt for broad-spectrum CBD products, which contain at most a trace of THC, or CBD isolate products, which contain no other plant compounds at all. Both options are somewhat less effective than cannabidiol containing low levels of THC, which is known as full-spectrum CBD.)

As for a 20mg CBD edible that “does nothing,” some purported benefits of cannabidiol (providing sleep support) may be felt within a couple of hours after using a CBD product. But many others, may not be apparent for days, weeks, or even longer.

CBD Doses Don’t Appear to Be “One Size Fits All”

In the absence of concrete data proving that a specific dose of cannabidiol helps all users, the available information is often more confusing than helpful.

The UK government, for example, says people shouldn’t take more than 10 milligrams per day. Many so-called experts recommend 20mg starting doses. Researchers have used doses ranging from 25mg to 600mg when studying CBD’s effects.

This rundown isn’t intended to be health or medical advice; that should be sought from your doctor or another healthcare professional. It’s simply dosage information that might prove helpful to some.

  • 5mg or 5mg: The twice-daily dose that many “experts” suggest for those just starting with CBD
  • 10mg: The UK’s recommended daily maximum dose of cannabidiol
  • 20mg or 25mg: A commonly-suggested daily dose
  • 25mg: The amount of CBD some studies have found effective for sleep issues
  • 30-600mg: The dosages various studies have found to be effective for pain
  • 75-300mg: The amounts various studies have found to be effective for Parkinson’s disease
  • 300-600mg: Dosages various studies have found to be effective for anxiety
  • 1500mg: The amount of daily CBD that research has shown to be well-tolerated by users

While those numbers may seem to be all over the map — and they are — they underscore an important point: a 20mg CBD edible may have done nothing because it wasn’t enough to do what the user was hoping for.

Factors That Can Affect CBD’s Effectiveness

Not every user is the same, and not every substance, medication, or drug affects every user in the same way. That’s just as true for CBD as it is for any other substance.

These are just some of the individual factors that can play a role.

  • Weight and BMI: The amount of fat and weight a user is carrying can determine how quickly or slowly CBD is absorbed into the body and how much of it is “bioavailable” for use.
  • Metabolism: The rate at which a person metabolizes CBD can determine how quickly the cannabidiol becomes effective and its bioavailability.
  • Existing Medical Conditions: Among other issues, cannabidiol may make the side effects associated with some medical conditions worse, and it may not be a good choice for some with underlying conditions like liver or kidney disease.
  • Medications: CBD can interact with a number of prescription and OTC medications including some popular blood pressure, cholesterol, antianxiety, and pain drugs (but certainly not all of them), as well as over-the-counter meds like Benadryl and Allegra. In most of those cases, either CBD or the drug will become more or less effective than expected.

It’s strongly recommended that those with existing medical issues or on medications talk to a medical professional before starting CBD.

One more factor may be responsible for a user believing their 20mg CBD edible “did nothing.” CBD products are no different than other products; there are multiple levels of quality.

Electronics from a sketchy overseas website may not work, a generic cleaner may not do the same job as a name-brand one, and CBD products from low-end companies may not be as effective as those from top-quality ones. The cannabidiol may be sourced from poor-quality hemp, production may be subpar, or the seller may simply be scamming customers.

It’s hard to know if you’re buying top-shelf CBD edibles, so the best advice is to only purchase CBD products from reputable websites or vendors. Cut-rate CBD products are generally no bargain.

The Drawback of Using CBD Edibles

There are certainly good reasons to choose edibles as a method for consuming cannabidiol. They may provide multiple doses, they’re easy to carry around, they’re a discreet way to take CBD, and they’re (hopefully) delicious.

There’s a big drawback, though, and it can affect the cannabidiol’s performance.

Whenever you consume CBD in the form of a food or beverage (that includes adding CBD oil to a smoothie, for example), it goes on a side trip before getting to work. The food or drink containing cannabidiol must first be digested before the CBD is free to do its work in the body.

Edibles can be particularly problematic because the candy, cookie, or other food can spend as long as two hours in the GI system before CBD reaches the bloodstream. Not only does that delay effectiveness, but a lot of the cannabidiol can be “lost” during the digestive process. Even if you’ve taken a 20mg edible, you’ll be getting a lot less than 20mg of CBD.

You can avoid those issues by either dropping CBD oil under the tongue so the cannabidiol is absorbed by sublingual tissues and moved into the bloodstream, or by using a CBD vape that delivers the cannabidiol to be absorbed by lung tissues. Neither method requires digestion, so more CBD is available to the body and it works more quickly.

In Conclusion

If a 20mg CBD edible “does nothing,” the problem may indeed be with the quality of the edible. But the issue may instead be an insufficient dose; a user’s weight, metabolism, or medical situation; their choice of administration method — or unrealistic expectations.

Buying high-quality CBD products, being sure to buy full-spectrum edibles, speaking with your doctor about dosages and how they’ll affect you, rethinking your choice to use edibles instead of sublingual CBD oil, and fully understanding what you should expect when taking cannabidiol would be good places to start, if you think that your CBD edible “isn’t working.”

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