Cannabis and Women's Health - What Should You Know?

[00:00:00] Welcome to Beyond The Paper Gown, I'm Dr. Mitzi Krockover. Let me ask you a question. Have

[00:00:16] you ever found yourself searching for alternatives to traditional pain management, for conditions

[00:00:21] like pelvic pains such as severe menstrual cramps, pain from intimitriosis, or chronic abdominal

[00:00:27] conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, or inflammatory bowel disease? Maybe you've tried

[00:00:33] many options without finding relief. Well, you're not alone and in fact some women have turned

[00:00:39] to cannabis for their pain relief. I wanted to learn more and thought you might too. So today we're

[00:00:46] speaking with Dr. Janester Wilson King, a board certified OBGYN and an expert on cannabis use in

[00:00:54] women's health. She's a leader in the society of cannabis clinicians and serves on the special

[00:00:59] advisory board for the association for cannabis health equity and medicine. Joining her is Lana

[00:01:06] last, CEO and founder of Emma, a company creating cannabis based therapeutics for pelvic pain as well

[00:01:14] as symptoms of menopause among other conditions. Whether you're here out of curiosity, seeking alternatives

[00:01:21] or just to learn, I know you'll find this conversation both interesting and useful. I know I did.

[00:01:28] Please remember, our podcast provides education and information but should not be considered medical

[00:01:34] advice. I encourage you to consult with your healthcare provider to discuss your own personal

[00:01:40] healthcare needs. I couldn't be more delighted today than to have two powerful women professionals who

[00:01:55] are going to really, I think, open our eyes to a new area of women's health treatment that I'm

[00:02:01] very curious about and I'm sure you will be as well. So I'm going to let them go ahead and introduce

[00:02:06] themselves and then we'll get into a really great conversation. So Dr. Wilson King, please say

[00:02:11] introduce yourself. Sure, glad to. First of all, I'm honored to be here and thank you for the invitation.

[00:02:19] I'm a board certified OBGYN who had a conventional OBGYN practice for many, many, many years. Don't

[00:02:26] want to necessarily tell you how many because then you'll know that I'm almost an antique but

[00:02:32] it's been years and through the years I actually started doing biodegradable hormone therapy back

[00:02:41] in the 90s. And through the years, my practice is just transitioned from full service OBGYN to then

[00:02:50] office GYN and surgery and then come out of the hospital completely and do just office GYN but then

[00:03:01] I realized you really can't take care of women and their hormones in a seven to nine minute

[00:03:09] office visit. So I started a second practice or a second office to keep it separate for women

[00:03:17] who, women and those assigned female at birth who need hormone therapy. And so that's really how

[00:03:25] my practice transitioned to the integrative GYN practice that it is today. And what we do essentially

[00:03:32] is assess where mostly women and those assigned female at birth some men where they are on the

[00:03:41] health and wellness spectrum then try to get them where they want to be through nutritional changes,

[00:03:50] lifestyle modification, whether or not to take supplements, gut microbiome assessments,

[00:03:57] and hormone balancing and cannabis if needed. So we've got a good tool chest of things to help

[00:04:03] individualize our treatment plan for our patients. That's terrific and there's so much there that

[00:04:11] I would love to spend a couple of hours with you but because we have limited time hopefully you

[00:04:16] may be come back. We're going to focus on the last part of what you said and that is cannabis

[00:04:22] which is a relatively new option that I don't think a lot of us know about. And so Lana,

[00:04:28] that's where you come in. Lana LAST who is the CEO of Emma did I say it right?

[00:04:33] Yeah you did thanks Nancy. Okay great so I'll let you go ahead and introduce yourself and your

[00:04:39] company as well and then we'll start on some specific questions. Sure I'm Lana LAST and I'm the

[00:04:44] co-founder and CEO of Emma. I'm a queer female founder and I started this company back in 2019

[00:04:52] because I had like everyone else most of their life have had debilitating period and pelvic pain

[00:04:59] and so being able to manage my pain since I was 10 with my first period to now in my 30s was

[00:05:06] really difficult. I had to take a lot of NSAIDs like Advil and Neproxon to manage that pain plus

[00:05:12] I get ovulation pain and PMS so I was taking a lot of medicine. But I ended up in this hospital

[00:05:20] during my master's with really bad stomach ulcers which were a result from taking so many NSAIDs

[00:05:27] every month. And then I went back to my GP looking for another solution to manage that pain and she

[00:05:32] put me on hormonal birth control but that gave me TIA or tiny strokes so I had to come off of that

[00:05:40] go back to my GP who then tried to prescribe me opioids and that just for me was something I wasn't

[00:05:45] comfortable taking because I have a family history of addiction. So I really had to find something

[00:05:51] that I could use so that I could have some type of quality of life throughout my cycle

[00:05:57] and so I turned to cannabis and that's kind of where the journey of Emma started. I was lucky enough

[00:06:04] during my master's to meet my two co-founders and then last year meet Dr. Wilson King because we have

[00:06:10] this shared understanding and love for knowing that cannabis has a lot of attributes to help women

[00:06:17] in pain. Wow that is quite a journey and thank you for sharing your story with us and just

[00:06:25] for our listeners purposes. Dr. Wilson King is part of your team at Emma is that correct?

[00:06:34] Correct she is our medical advisor. I forgot to say that so thank you.

[00:06:43] No worries no worries you can only wear so many hats and remember you know where you put them

[00:06:49] welcome to my life. So let's dial back a little bit and talk a little bit about cannabis

[00:06:59] so tell us a little bit about what cannabis is in terms of treatment. We're not talking about

[00:07:06] getting high we're talking about therapy and then I'd like to also slide into what specifically

[00:07:15] we know about cannabis and its effect on any women's health conditions so I'll let

[00:07:20] Janessa Dr. Wilson King take that one right now or actually those two questions.

[00:07:25] That's actually yes those are power packed questions for sure but what is cannabis cannabis is a plant

[00:07:33] it's of the cannabis species and it's been used for thousands of years medicinal in all sorts

[00:07:42] of ways. You can use the okay you'll hear the terms hemp and you'll hear the terms marijuana

[00:07:50] and you'll hear the terms cannabis they're all in all three the only difference between cannabis

[00:07:57] or cannabis with THC or hemp hemp is primarily CBD and other phyto cannabinoids but there

[00:08:05] is virtually no or very minimal THC such that there's no impairment so hemp products

[00:08:14] minimal THC don't even have effect a patient and then cannabis is full the full spectrum of

[00:08:23] phyto cannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids etc. And you have the terpenes and the flavonoids in

[00:08:29] the hemp products you just do not have the THC and I don't want to demonize THC. THC is

[00:08:36] medicinal effective very effective in fact it doesn't really it to how you should have the full

[00:08:44] complement of phyto cannabinoids for to help many conditions but there are people who just can't

[00:08:51] handle THC so there are products without THC and they're and contain the rest of the

[00:08:59] cannabinoids and terpenes and parts of the plant that we all know and love. So now to address

[00:09:05] the second question in terms of women I have a saying that I that I use very often and that is

[00:09:15] the health of women and of course those assigned female at birth. The health has multi-factorial

[00:09:24] components including mood, pain, poor sleep and or hormonal dysfunction so the capacity of cannabis

[00:09:32] and this is why cannabis is so great to act as an anti-inflammatory agent, muscle relaxer,

[00:09:39] mood enhancer, sleep remedy and pain relief at the same time make it potentially ideal for those

[00:09:49] facing these types of health conditions. So what that all means is cannabis can help a wide

[00:09:56] variety of symptoms and women and those assigned female at birth tend to have a variety of

[00:10:03] symptoms with their conditions that's what makes cannabis so helpful. Does it matter how it's taken?

[00:10:14] In terms of the how women how you need the effects, smoking or vaping you get one set of action

[00:10:25] quickly. So if you're having acute pain you don't want to swallow or eat a gummy and then have

[00:10:32] to wait an hour and a half for effect for the relief to come, you'll smoke it or vapet inhale it

[00:10:42] addibles will topicals rather and tinctures rather I should say tinctures

[00:10:47] take about 20 to 45 minutes for onset of duration. Tinctures are put in the mouth and sit in the

[00:10:55] mouth for up to three minutes and then you swallow because you're getting some of it absorbed through

[00:11:01] the mucus membranes in the mouth and so you get a little faster onset of action and then oral just

[00:11:08] taking capsules or eating a brownie or a cookie or something like that. On set of action maybe up to

[00:11:16] two hours to a half hours so it just depends on your need at that time. Despite the fact that

[00:11:24] it is faster and I can understand in certain situations why you'd want to but I'm also,

[00:11:30] again, want to point out that vaping and smoking still has an effect on your lungs just like

[00:11:37] smoking tobacco. There was a great paper written by Donald Teskins from UCLA he looked at

[00:11:46] compared smokers and cannabis and nicotine smokers and found that the a lot of the side effects

[00:11:56] are the same you do get the bronchitis, the COPD things like that from smoking cannabis as

[00:12:03] you would from smoking cigarettes. The only difference or the biggest difference was that the

[00:12:09] cannabis users did not have an increased risk of lung cancer so smoking cannabis seemed to be

[00:12:16] more of a protective factor when it comes to cannabis smoking but you get all the other side effects

[00:12:24] so yes that is so true that smoking and vaping we don't know how safe vaping is because we don't

[00:12:33] know what those filaments are doing to the cannabis oil that's in there. We don't know if the heat,

[00:12:41] we were not testing the temperature of the heat so we don't know what's happening inside what

[00:12:46] are there some other products that are being made or is something burning we don't know all of that.

[00:12:53] We think vaping is better than smoking but we really don't know that so yes I don't necessarily

[00:13:01] recommend patients smoke or vape cannabis but in some instances it's the only thing that works and

[00:13:09] for many patients, unfortunately it's the only way they'll medicate. I just wanted to clarify

[00:13:15] because at the beginning of our conversation you talked about the difference between cannabis

[00:13:19] and hemp and if I remember correctly or I understood it correctly cannabis has more THC

[00:13:28] but I'm assuming that a lot of what is used for pain and again this is where I want Lana to

[00:13:34] jump in and talk a little bit more is really the CBD part without the THC and I just wanted

[00:13:41] to clarify it my correct in saying that. Well that's what people can easily bottle you can't easily

[00:13:49] buy cannabis that has the full complement of THC. That comes from a specialized or all-begin

[00:13:57] sensory and you have to go through where like each state has their own medical cannabis program

[00:14:05] or adult use program or both and so that involves doing some different things like in the state

[00:14:13] of Florida if you want to get medical cannabis you can see a physician be referred for a

[00:14:23] recommendation then for an order and then the physician puts the order into the health center.

[00:14:30] The patient has to get an ID card and then you can go to the dispensary and get what you want.

[00:14:38] Some patients find that inconvenient and annoying so they would rather just go get CBD.

[00:14:45] You can buy CBD or maybe some of the other phytocanabinoids that don't impair you by itself over

[00:14:51] the counter that's why it's so widely used but really the full complement of cannabis should be

[00:14:58] used for pain. So there are there are ways that people don't have to be impaired if they don't

[00:15:04] want to be but THC is very medicinal-ly effective. Lana you've been so patient thank you

[00:15:12] and talk a little bit about how did you come to use cannabis or discover it

[00:15:18] and how do you use it? So I'm someone who when I was experimenting with cannabis did not like

[00:15:29] being high but I understood as Dr. Wilson King having the medicinal benefit for when I was

[00:15:36] having my period pain or experiencing ovulation pain or PMS but again I didn't want that like

[00:15:42] imperative effect from THC so together my co-founders and I looked at CBD and CBG and CBD is

[00:15:50] the non-emparing cannabinoid that allows people to have that great anti-inflammation effect

[00:15:57] and same thing with CBG. So when we were building our formulation we looked at preclinical studies

[00:16:03] done by say Dr. Ethan Russo, Dr. Mike Armer out of Australia to see what type of research had been

[00:16:11] done and what they found was really interesting so they a few different people found that in terms

[00:16:17] of managing endometriosis we found that other clinicians found that there was this out of balance

[00:16:27] endocannabinoid system in the vagina and reproductive organs and that introducing cannabis into

[00:16:34] the vagina and the reproductive organs balanced that ECS system which then reduced the flares

[00:16:40] that occurred for endometriosis which was really interesting and so what we built was a vaginal

[00:16:47] and rectal suppository using CBD and CBG isolate for period and pelvic pain. We wanted something

[00:16:55] that was a localized or like right at the source delivery for that type of pain and so that's what

[00:17:02] we started with was this great spository called OV relief. Dr. Wilson King had talked a little bit about

[00:17:09] how long the effect started when you took it in a different ways because the vagina and the

[00:17:16] rectum armukus membranes does that mean that you get a quick relief or even immediate relief?

[00:17:23] Our vagina is very similar to the mouth at the same type of membrane so although it's not

[00:17:28] it's not instantaneous it's not going to be immediate we've owned in our observational trials

[00:17:33] and with my own experience taking the product multiple times a month like during my menstruation

[00:17:39] and not that it takes around 30 to 45 minutes to work to feel that full benefit but everyone's

[00:17:45] body is different right and the type of pain that they're experiencing is different so we've had

[00:17:50] some people in our observational trials who it worked for after 10 minutes. For myself personally

[00:17:56] I hit that average of about 30 to 45 minutes but it's a great time to be able to lay down and

[00:18:03] relax with a heating pad to just let your vagina absorb the CBD and CBG in our base to be

[00:18:11] able to do its job and get through the vaginal epithelium. Remind me are you FDA approved or cleared?

[00:18:19] No so we are considered an FDA cosmetic so again that can be the same as this reduces the

[00:18:28] appearance of wrinkles rather than saying like this will get rid of your wrinkles it's that type

[00:18:33] of wordplay but that's fine because it allows us as a company to take into accountability our own

[00:18:42] scientific rigor and so that's how we actually stand out from our competitors. If you're a

[00:18:47] cosmetic you don't need to do any of the scientific research that you should do especially for

[00:18:53] women's health but we decided to go above and beyond that and do that. And what specifically have

[00:18:59] you done in terms of research has it been a you know on a clinical trial or observational trial

[00:19:07] what have you done? So we've done in vitro studies so we looked at ourselves in a test tube

[00:19:16] setting with a vaginal epithelium cells in our lab and competitors self-sour competitors

[00:19:22] and so what we found was pretty interesting. We found that one we preserve the vaginal pH at a 3.8

[00:19:30] which is super important for keeping the flora normal in your vagina. We found that our competitors

[00:19:37] actually pushed that pH to a seven which is huge because that can cause BV yeast infections

[00:19:44] and UTIs. BV meaning bacterial vaginosis. Exactly yes thank you. And then we also did our drug

[00:19:52] release profile and so we found that we have this really great burst of all of our active ingredients

[00:19:59] like CBD and CBG that lasted over 50 hours in vitro whereas our competitors had this tiny burst

[00:20:05] and then it died out really quickly. We're also water soluble, we're not oil-based so people who

[00:20:13] use our product don't need to refrigerate it they can use condoms to without them worrying

[00:20:19] that they're going to break and get pregnant whereas our competitors all use oil and this factors

[00:20:23] into that condoms can break if you use oil which again is that fear of getting pregnant if that's

[00:20:29] not something that you want. So we've done that as well as our stability studies so we know how

[00:20:35] long we're good for on the shelf and then we did two observational trials. The first was on primary

[00:20:40] dysmineria or normal period pain and then found that there was 80% total relief as well as relief

[00:20:47] from nausea, migraines and also helping some sleep which is really important when you're in pain

[00:20:54] and then we did a second observational trial looking at endometriosis which is called secondary

[00:21:02] dysmineria. An endometriosis we found that there was an 80% relief in the like

[00:21:10] knocking down three points on the one to 10 scale so if a one is I have no pain, a 10 is like I'm in

[00:21:16] the most excruciating pain. If someone in our observational trial was an eight they ended up using

[00:21:22] our product and lining out a six which is massive for endo because it's such a difficult disease

[00:21:29] to manage. And so that's what we've started off doing and then we're we're slowly moving to do

[00:21:37] more science. We're just trying to fundraise for that now and what about safety?

[00:21:46] So there's only been one ever cannabis product to go through the FDA and it's called epa-dilex

[00:21:54] an epa-dilex is a drug that's given to children who have epilepsy and so they are given it

[00:22:00] orally through their mouths around seven grams a day with castor oil which is massive that's

[00:22:05] a huge dose. And so they were very rigorous because it's used for children they've done three

[00:22:10] different animal trials human trials there's been a lot of science behind that and so we took a

[00:22:16] look at that study that drug and worked our way backwards in terms of safety. So we only have 50

[00:22:23] milligrams of CBD and CBG isolate in our product that's way less than seven grams taken orally a day.

[00:22:32] We also looked at preclinical studies done on cannabis and endometriosis and pelvic pain

[00:22:38] and looked at the dosages there and came up with where we land. So we actually have no side effects

[00:22:45] whatsoever in any of our products which is pretty amazing. That's speaking to the cannabis but

[00:22:52] what about any of the other inactive ingredients is there any risk of sensitivity or irritation

[00:23:02] or anything like that? No so the base formulation that we use has gone through the FDA and is

[00:23:08] approved. So there's nothing there at all for sensitivity or anything like that. It's if anything

[00:23:16] our product is better for sensitivity because again we don't use oil everything is water based.

[00:23:24] Talk a little bit about what you would use the rectal suppository for versus the vaginal.

[00:23:31] Yeah that's a good question so a lot of people who have bowel endometriosis will use it

[00:23:38] rectally and vaginally but because the membrane between the vagina and the rectum is very thin

[00:23:44] it really doesn't matter if it's used vaginally or rectally for that. However people who have

[00:23:50] colon cancer and are undergoing chemo have been buying our products to use it rectally just to

[00:23:56] manage that really brutal pain as well as IBS and IBD so that's been really interesting

[00:24:01] that we're getting different groups of people who have different chronic problems and pain

[00:24:07] using our product. We also had people undergoing IVF or egg freezing who have had pelvic pain who

[00:24:13] have been buying our product to manage chronic flares like endo or specific types of pelvic pain

[00:24:20] while undergoing this treatment. This is such an under looked kind of part of the body when managing

[00:24:27] pain with cannabis that I think we've just been so lucky and grateful to have so many people use our

[00:24:33] product for different things but it runs the gamut. For sure and when Lana said IBD and IBS

[00:24:43] IBD is inflammatory bowel disease like Crohn's ulcerative colitis, IBS is irritable bowel syndrome two

[00:24:52] different conditions. We're working with Dr. Wilson King and our team to provide educational webinars

[00:25:00] and series for cannabis and women's health so we really want people to understand you know how to

[00:25:07] read a cannabis label like what's the difference between hemp extract versus isolite right to have

[00:25:13] that type of information so you as a woman who's managing a pain can go and feel empowered

[00:25:19] as a buyer is so important so we're going to be coming out with that series as part of our

[00:25:24] subscription program so that people can feel educated. And what my my favorite thing is that now

[00:25:30] guided cologists and clinicians are reaching out to us asking us like hey my patients are asking

[00:25:36] about cannabis what can you tell me about that. Patients are the ones who encourage doctors to learn

[00:25:42] about cannabis. Are you talking about a cannabis specialist and where does one find one?

[00:25:50] We're getting more physicians involved in cannabis and learning about the endocannabinoid system

[00:25:57] and helping patients. Now in the state of Florida you can find a cannabis clinician by going to

[00:26:05] the Department of Health website there's a list of the doctors you have to take and they

[00:26:10] are certifying a certification exam in order to recommend cannabis in the state of Florida.

[00:26:16] And you'll see a list of those who have passed the exam and are certified to recommend cannabis

[00:26:22] in the state they're listed by name and county and you can find you can find a doctor somewhere

[00:26:31] sure you for sure. And I was just going to say very briefly that on our website too my dash

[00:26:40] Emma aiamay.com we're going to be uploading a resource with clinicians we know who prescribe or

[00:26:47] recommend cannabis and it runs the gamut from gynecologist to integrative specialists to pelvic

[00:26:52] floor therapists and acupuncturists because those are people that we work with and so we know

[00:26:58] recommend products and understand cannabis education. So we're also going to be uploading that resource

[00:27:04] for people across the US. Talk a little bit about the use of cannabis with parimenopausal symptoms.

[00:27:11] So using cannabis to address some of the issues. Now what happens in parimenopause and menopause

[00:27:19] is your hormone levels decline and progesterone being the first hormone to decline you lose about

[00:27:27] 75% of your hormones before age 50 whereas estrogen only falls by 30% by age 50 so you see how

[00:27:35] your estrogen dominant for a number of years and that leads to bloating midsection weight gain

[00:27:41] moodiness irritability cravings for sweets and chocolates breast tenderness headaches and

[00:27:47] some anxiety all of those things and that's in parimenopause and post can happen in post menopause.

[00:27:54] Cannabis can it's a great sleep medicine so cannabis can help to address the sleep issue

[00:28:00] if you don't want to take hormones or if hormones aren't working for you. Cannabis can address

[00:28:06] anxiety can help with the fatigue. You can take some cannabis products that will help stimulate you

[00:28:14] help get you going. Our repositories too if I can hop in here in Genester have been used by

[00:28:21] women who are menopausal for painful sex actually which was really interesting so we were just

[00:28:28] considering like pelvic and period pain yeah and now we have people who are like hey not only

[00:28:34] am I going through menopause and having pelvic pain but I'm having dysperunia painful sex and

[00:28:39] have been using the repositories for that which is great because we have such a long dissolution time

[00:28:45] so we are seeing this adoption for sex which is really really interesting. Besides the

[00:28:51] suppositories do you have any other products? Yes yes so we are coming out with an oral capsule

[00:28:58] that has the exact same formulation as our suppository except we've also added a new cannibinoid

[00:29:05] CBDA which is showing really great results for managing extreme pain that's associated with cancer

[00:29:12] so we're going to be adding that into our oral capsule which is coming out this spring and then

[00:29:18] Dr. Wilson King and my co-founder Dr. Mally Maybode she's our chief scientific officer

[00:29:24] they're creating a vaginal suppository for menopause specifically just so that we can offer

[00:29:33] something that's a bit more focused for that age group so we do have more products coming out into

[00:29:38] the market. How will that one be different than the one for the original one? We've done a lot of

[00:29:46] research over the past two, three years working with different gynecologists and formulation experts

[00:29:52] in the menopause world to really come up with a better more suitable formulation that adds

[00:29:59] more say moisture to the vagina so that there's less tearing or thinning of the walls

[00:30:06] in combination with cannabis because we all deserve that personalized healthcare so yes right now

[00:30:13] you can use our suppository if your menopause will have this issue but our next product specifically

[00:30:21] for menopause is going to be better in addressing these specific issues. And how can people obtain your

[00:30:30] products? Yeah so right now you can go onto our website my-ema-am-am-a-a-m-a-e.com and purchase our

[00:30:40] product there or we're on the sexual wellness store its rhythm as well as a period tracking app

[00:30:47] called ORCID. We're going into more retailers online but it's honestly best just to order from us

[00:30:53] because if you have any questions I'm the person that answers along with my co-founders and I just

[00:30:59] to give a shout out to my co-founders as well they're both really amazing human beings who

[00:31:06] between the three of us we suffer from what they call the evil triplets so period pain pelvic pain

[00:31:12] and IC or like very extreme bladder pain. And so Melanie, her borg she's a cellular biologist

[00:31:20] she's our COO and she suffers from IC pretty brutally and so she uses our product for that

[00:31:27] and then Dr. Mally Maybawd who hails from Iran and came to Canada in 2015 and got her PhD

[00:31:34] in drug discovery and delivery she has multiple patents under her belt with drug discovery

[00:31:41] and she suffers from the same as me chronic period and pelvic pain so together we all know what it's

[00:31:47] like to like suffer and not have any options. You mentioned the gender pain gap for our listeners

[00:31:54] explain what that is. Yeah so the gender pain gap is where women or people who identify as women

[00:32:02] receive less care based on their gender essentially so for example there was a study done

[00:32:10] in the UK that looked at men and women who went to the emergency room for the exact same problem

[00:32:15] abdominal pain. And what they found was that women had to wait over 60 minutes to see a physician

[00:32:23] or a doctor while men only had to wait 45 minutes. Women were given anti-psychotics,

[00:32:30] men were given pain medication. So that is an example one example of the gender pain gap

[00:32:39] where we're not heard or understood or trusted. What did I not ask you that you thought was

[00:32:46] important for us to address? You will not die from cannabis, you will not die from cannabis,

[00:32:54] you can overdose on cannabis but all you do then is lay down and go to sleep and when you wake up

[00:33:01] you'll feel much better so it won't kill you like opioids do. That's one thing that's very important

[00:33:08] to know. Along that line what about the addiction potential? Very very low it's about

[00:33:16] 9 to 10 percent of people will become addicted. It's more a psychological addiction rather than

[00:33:26] physical. You could stop if you use cannabis every day, you could stop using it. You'd be a little

[00:33:31] irritable for a few days, few weeks and that's it and it's not like with alcohol addiction and withdrawal

[00:33:38] you can actually die from it and you can't die from cannabis. If you're just using it maybe

[00:33:48] topically or pure CBD is that even a risk? Topically no because there's no systemic absorption

[00:34:00] and CBD or the non-impairing phytoconabinoids you can still overdose on those but you won't die

[00:34:13] from them. By the way low doses of CBD are not impairing but you can take a high dose and

[00:34:22] who knows what that amount is for each individual but high doses of CBD can cause some

[00:34:29] impairment? I think there's this balancing act of yes I want us to be successful in business but

[00:34:38] I also and want to make an impact on women's lives but it's really important for us to also do

[00:34:43] the advocacy work. To really walk the walk and talk the talk is really important to us so advocacy

[00:34:50] for our company is a big thing. We again not just want to make an important product that helps but we

[00:34:56] really want to change the way that women's health has talked about and research. I will ask my final

[00:35:04] question and that is if you have one or two tips for our listeners in terms of what they can do

[00:35:11] directly to improve their health? Absolutely actually I love questions like that. The first thing I would

[00:35:20] say is that number one you should try to get sleep. You make sleep a priority in your life.

[00:35:32] It's another area where you may not necessarily think about it being a part of wellness but lack of

[00:35:40] sleep causes weight gain, causes irritability, causes all sorts of problems in your life and sleep is

[00:35:51] definitely important. The next recommendation I have is embrace healthy eating. Don't mean you have

[00:36:02] to be a vegan or a vegetarian. Just make healthy choices, make better choices, healthier choices

[00:36:12] maybe cut down on your fat intake, maybe use less dressing on your salad, maybe eat red meat

[00:36:22] once a week instead of five nights a week. Use other types of proteins to get your protein. Protein is

[00:36:32] real important especially for women over 40 but you don't want to necessarily eat all red meat. That's not

[00:36:39] the healthiest thing to do either. So just make healthy choices. The third thing is set up

[00:36:47] establish an exercise routine. I don't recommend anybody go to a gym at least not early on.

[00:36:57] Just maybe go outside and go for a walk. It's actually been proven that regular exercise has

[00:37:05] a lot of benefits. You get a 30% lower risk of depression, dementia and early death.

[00:37:15] Just go for a walk in your neighborhood. Walk out your door for 15 minutes turn around and come back.

[00:37:23] Make exercise a part of your routine before you start spending money on it. So that's the third

[00:37:31] third recommendation is that. But the fourth one is self care. We got to learn how to de-stress so we

[00:37:41] got to learn to take care of ourselves. It is important that chronic stress has a strong

[00:37:50] link to the six leading causes of death, heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents and

[00:37:57] liver cirrhosis and suicide. So there needs to be a wellness plant that includes

[00:38:05] de-stressing, take time to meditate, get a massage, get a facial, do something for you,

[00:38:13] show kindness and value to yourself and that will help you to help others. And lastly,

[00:38:22] pay attention to your mental health. Do not hesitate to see a therapist. If you know things trigger

[00:38:31] you, avoid them. It's okay to say no. I can't, I don't want to do that. It's okay. If they're really

[00:38:38] your friends, they'll still be your friends. If they aren't your friends after that, they never were.

[00:38:45] That's all. But yeah, you want to make sure that you address your mental health. However you do

[00:38:53] that, quiet time, finding something that relaxes you. Laughing. Laughing is a huge remedy for a lot

[00:39:02] of things that bother people. It's a great stress reliever. Find a good comedy or find something

[00:39:12] that makes you laugh. And I'm going to date myself, but it never fails. If I turn on an episode

[00:39:20] of the Golden Girls, I will laugh. I will laugh my head off. I think they're having a renaissance.

[00:39:29] They are. They seem to be for sure. So it's really laughing is there's nothing better than laughing.

[00:39:41] And those are my five things that I would recommend. Talk to each other. Educate yourselves and

[00:39:48] educate each other on the information that's out there. Keep your eyes open in your ears to

[00:39:54] the ground about women's health because it is important. Even if you're a healthy woman and you

[00:39:59] don't have any problems, there's most likely a woman in your life who does and who could use

[00:40:05] anything that you learn or hear about to help them in their journey. This is how women for

[00:40:10] like millennia have learned about our own bodies is by talking with each other and learning from

[00:40:15] each other. So we're really big on teaching women and people born with a uterus to understand cannabis,

[00:40:23] buyer product, or don't, but at least be able to read a label and understand the ingredients so

[00:40:29] you know what you're putting in your body and that you can feel empowered by that. So please share

[00:40:38] the knowledge that you have of yourself and other people and brands like us who are doing the

[00:40:43] hard work to really spread the information, help us spread the information basically.

[00:40:50] And then of course self-compassion is a big one. And that's something that as somebody who

[00:40:56] is a millennial okay I have no kids and I don't know how other people do it with kids but

[00:41:02] I own a business that's like my baby and it is a struggle in this day and age to be a woman. It

[00:41:08] is really hard. There were supposed to be super women non-stop and it is an impossibility

[00:41:16] to do that so please have some self-compassion and pat yourselves on the back because it is not

[00:41:22] easy to be where we're at and remind yourselves that this will affect your health and so it's okay

[00:41:28] to take a step back and love yourself that way and show yourself some kindness and ease.

[00:41:36] Beautifully said and monolass thank you so much for coming on and also informing us about

[00:41:44] a really important issue. Dr. Janester Wilson King thank you so much for being with us today.

[00:41:51] Thank you so much it was an honor to be here with you. I love the work that you're doing.

[00:41:57] Thanks so much.

[00:42:03] As we close today's episode we've covered a lot of ground and I want to thank Dr. Janester Wilson

[00:42:09] King and Lana last for a great conversation. For those of you seeking more information or considering

[00:42:16] cannabis for health reasons I hope this episode offers a starting point for your own research

[00:42:22] and discussion with your healthcare providers. We've added some resources in our podcast notes so

[00:42:28] please check them out. Also I invite you to check out our website at BeyondThePaperGown.com

[00:42:35] and subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on the podcast as well as women's health

[00:42:40] news activities events and more. And before you leave us today please take a moment to subscribe

[00:42:46] to our podcast and read us it helps us get noticed as always thank you for joining me and take good care.

[00:42:54] Our podcast is produced by Patrick Shambayati and myself and our associate producer is Kaila McMillion.