by Dr. Bill Rawls
Posted 10/19/19

How long does it take CBD to work? Ultimately, that depends on each person and the conditions for which they’re using it. Dr. Bill Rawls explains both the immediate and long-term benefits of CBD, why dosing matters, and how long you should expect to wait before seeing results. Get an essential guide to CBD here.

Video Transcript

Question: How long does it take CBD to work?

Hello, this is Dr. Bill Rawls with a question: How long does it take CBD oil to work?

That depends on the dose that you’re taking, but you do get both immediate effects and long-term effects, which is really one of the nice things about CBD.

It’s not habituating. It’s very safe to take long-term. It’s not going to lead to any long-term side effects or problems.

Initially, taking enough of a dose to help with whatever symptoms you’re trying to deal with — whether that’s pain, mood, fatigue — no matter what, you’re going to get a little bit of a benefit. But it is dose-dependent, and the dose is variable from person to person. So, what I generally recommend is start low and gradually work your way up.

The average starting dose is about 15 milligrams. Now, that’s going to vary depending on the preparation. They’re different, and there are a lot of different concentrations of CBD.

So what you’re looking for is the actual amount of CBD per dropperful or per drop for whatever preparation that you’re using. Some people who are very sensitive may even want to start at 5 milligrams, but 15 to 30 is the average starting dose.

Most people notice a little bit of an effect right up front. For me, I get an adaptogenic effect: I just feel more normal. I feel like myself. I don’t feel weighed down.

CBD just takes care of some of those everyday aches and pains that can bother you through the day. And it tends to be that, for me, a dose earlier in the day will last most of the day, but you can dose it as often as three times a day.

So, if you start at 15 milligrams and that dose isn’t doing anything within hours, or certainly within a day or two, it’s probably that you need to move up to a higher dose. Everybody is different, and it depends on how much dysfunction is going on in your body. People who are using it to control significant back pain, like after a back injury or something like that, may need 50 milligrams or 100 milligrams or even higher doses.

You can safely go to higher doses with CBD oil, but do it very gradually and very slowly. One of the reasons to go slow is that you get an additive effect, because one of the things that is happening with CBD in your body is it’s upregulating receptors.

What that means is the system it’s affecting, the endocannabinoid system, is actually starting to work better. So you get more of the normal chemicals in the endocannabinoid system working, and you get a higher level of receptors.

So, the longer you take CBD, the better it gets, because it’s balancing the endocannabinoid system more and more and more the longer you’re taking it. Which makes it a really, really nice medicinal option that’s very safe, doesn’t have any long-term side effects or problems, that you can carry with you for a long time.

There are different ways to use it. I personally use it intermittently. If I am going through a stressful period or I worked out too hard for several days in a row, I’ll tend to use it when I need it. I don’t take it all the time.

Many people do take a small daily dose and increase that when they need it from time to time. There are different ways you can take it, and they’re all very safe.

Dr. Rawls is a physician who overcame Lyme disease through natural herbal therapy. You can learn more about Lyme disease in Dr. Rawls’ new best selling book, Unlocking Lyme.
You can also learn about Dr. Rawls’ personal journey in overcoming Lyme disease and fibromyalgia in his popular blog post, My Chronic Lyme Journey.