“My sleep is so much better than it has been for a decade, I no longer have headaches, or feel groggy. Even my skin and concentration improved.”

New studies show prescription cannabis helps PTSD patients, and one patient says she’s never felt better.

One in three people who have experienced some kind of traumatic event suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Karen Julia, now 44 years old, was diagnosed with delayed onset PTSD in 2012 as a result of a challenging childhood.

Karen, a wedding photographer, says, “I’d been made homeless at 15 and successfully divorced my parents after a lifetime of neglect and abuse.”

“At the time I focused on getting myself through school and found solace in ­photography,” she adds, “It wasn’t until years later that the past trauma I’d had started seriously impacting my life.”

The worst symptom that Karen was experiencing was severe sleep disruptions, which is a common problem for those who are suffering from PTSD. Flashbacks and panic episodes are two more typical symptoms that can be very debilitating.

“I was like a ball of adrenaline,” says Kare, adding “and would be wide awake at the slightest sound at night.”

She continues: “The sleep deprivation was terrible. It had a profound effect on my personal and professional life. I was exhausted and struggling to work.”

Karen believed that the typical antidepressant prescriptions were only concealing some of her symptoms rather than addressing the problem, as is typical among many PTSD patients.

She now claims that medical cannabis has “given her life back,” and a new study indicates that she is not alone in this.

Numerous PTSD patients now have newfound hope because to the medication.

At the International Cannabinoid Research Society Conference last month, the UK Medical Cannabis Registry presented 20 brand-new research papers on a variety of ailments, including PTSD.

Data from 162 PTSD patients who received a daily dose of 5 mg of cannabidiol (the same active ingredient in CBD oil) and 145 mg of the psychoactive cannabinoid THC, the compound principally responsible for the effects of marijuana, were examined in one of the articles. At one, three, and six months after starting treatment, all patients reported a significant improvement in their PTSD, anxiety, and sleep.

Karen’s experiences definitely corroborate the outcomes. Since she was formally diagnosed with PTSD in 2013, she has tried many different treatments, such as eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, which helped lessen her symptoms but didn’t help with her sleep problems.

She was starting to lose hope after almost ten years, but after some respite from high-dose CBD oil, she chose to try medical cannabis oil.

Glasgow resident Karen claims that after three months of nightly use, the advantages were considerable. She claims, “I feel like a different person. I’ve never felt better.

Karen was shocked by the relief that the medicinal marijuana provided as well as the absence of adverse effects.

“I thought medical cannabis would make me feel high and negatively impact my work, but I actually feel a sense of calm,” Karen adds.

Participants in the study also mentioned only minor or moderate side effects, such as weariness, but no significant problems.

According to Karen, “the first six weeks of taking the oil was a restorative, healing time.”

“My sleep is so much better than it has been for a decade, I no longer have headaches, or feel groggy. Even my skin and concentration improved.”

In April of this year, a study similar to the UK trial came out in the US. The findings showed that throughout a 12-month period, all 150 participants reported a reduction in the intensity of their PTSD symptoms and were 2.57 times more likely to recover than individuals who did not use cannabis.

In another study, 14 PTSD-afflicted veterans received cannabis products at individual prescribed doses over a 90-day period. The results were striking, with a 47% decrease in overall PTSD symptoms. Amazingly, 71% of subjects were PTSD-free by the end of the research.

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