Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a disorder of the central nervous system that affects movement, often including tremors. This causes a gradual loss of muscle control. While treatment can help, there is no known cure.

Those with the disease have nerve cell damage in their brains which causes dopamine levels to drop. Dopamine is an essential neurotransmitter in the human brain, responsible for transmitting information among neurons and helping with the regulation of various functions, such as movement and emotional responses.

Early signs of Parkinson’s disease

• Tremors
• Difficulty getting out of a chair
• Trouble sleeping
• Trouble walking
• Constipation
• Impaired Balance
• Hunching over or stooping
• The voice becomes soft or low
• Fainting or dizziness
• Facial Masking (frozen in a serious expression)

While Parkinson’s itself is not fatal, its complications can be serious. The CDC rated complications from Parkinson’s as the 14th cause of death in the United States.

Two of the most famous individuals with Parkinson’s’ are Michael J. Fox and Muhammad Ali.

How does CBD help with Parkinson’s?

A 2017 study concluded that Cannabidiol might help the movement impairments in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease by interacting with a receptor known as GPR6.

These studies suggest that Cannabidiol could potentially slow the progression of Parkinson’s by providing neuroprotective effects. Cannabidiol is shown to suppress the excitotoxicity, glial activation and oxidative injury that cause the degeneration of the dopamine-releasing neurons.

A 2020 publication out of Brazil in the Journal of Psychopharmacology has some wonderful news for those of you with Parkinson’s Disease. The report finds that acute CBD administration at a dose of 300 mg decreased anxiety in patients with PD, and there was also decreased tremor amplitude in an anxiogenic situation.

Studies

2020

• Effects of acute cannabidiol administration on anxiety and tremors induced by a Simulated Public Speaking Test in patients with Parkinson’s disease

Older

• Cannabinoids and Tremor Induced by Motor-related Disorders: Friend or Foe?
• Cannabinoids provide neuroprotection against 6-hydroxydopamine toxicity in vivo and in vitro: relevance to Parkinson’s disease.
• GPR3 and GPR6, novel molecular targets for cannabidiol
• Effects of cannabinoids Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol, Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid and cannabidiol in MPP+ affected murine mesencephalic cultures
• Self-Reported Efficacy of Cannabis and Other Complementary Medicine Modalities by Parkinson’s Disease Patients in Colorado
• Survey on Cannabis Use in Parkinson’s Disease: Subjective Improvement of Motor Symptoms
• The CB1 cannabinoid receptor agonist reduces L-DOPA-induced motor fluctuation and ERK1-2 phosphorylation in 6-OHDA-lesioned rats
• The influence of cannabinoids on generic traits of neurodegeneration