Pneumonia can be very dangerous to have if you don’t treat it properly. It can be hard to know what to do or how to best treat something like this. What if there was more you can do than just antibiotics? While it is recommended to use those during said infection, there are compounds you can add to your health care to help with recovery. Currently, Covid-19 has been linked to pneumonia after the initial infection. The pneumonia itself can be considered an after effect of Covid, though this is not the case for everyone. Let’s look into what pneumonia and CBD are and how CBD can help you when you’re sick.

Let’s start with pneumonia itself. Pneumonia is an infection in the lungs that can cause one or both lungs to be inflamed and fill up with fluid. With pneumonia, the air sacs may fill with fluid or pus. The infection can be life-threatening to anyone, but particularly to infants, children, and people over 65. Symptoms may consist of coughing with phlegm or pus, fever, chills, and difficulty breathing. Antibiotics can treat many forms of pneumonia. Some forms of pneumonia can be prevented by vaccines.

But how does CBD tie into this?

CBD is a non-psychoactive product, meaning that it does not give you a high or any of the mind-altering effects of THC (also known as tetrahydrocannabinol). There are different CBD products that work better for different conditions, but they truly do help make a difference for whatever condition that you may have. Along with the different conditions it can help, it also comes in different forms. There are gummies/edibles, oils and tinctures, creams and lotions, capsules/pills, and even vapes! Early studies have found that CBD may be a potential alternative to traditional medications for treating anxiety and depression. CBD is able to help due to being able to sooth irritated lungs. This is due to CBD’s anti- inflammatory properties, it also is able to reduce the pain signals that are sent to your brain, thus helping to reduce overall discomfort. When it comes to inflammation, CBD does wonders internally and externally. There have been many studies done that proved that CBD can help with lung functionality. An example of this is with asthma. CBD oil also acts as a bronchodilator which may benefit those with asthma symptoms by dilating the respiratory airways. In addition to its anti-inflammatory properties, CBD may also decrease hyperresponsiveness in your respiratory airway by reducing sensitivity to triggers that may cause an asthma attack.

One way CBD appears to reduce the “cytokine storm” that damages the lungs and kills many patients with COVID-19 is by enabling an increase in levels of a natural peptide called apelin. Apelin is known to reduce inflammation. There have been researchers who have reported that CBD’s ability to improve oxygen levels and reduce inflammation as well as physical lung damage in their laboratory model of deadly adult respiratory distress syndrome. Now they have shown that apelin levels go way down with the viral infection, which has killed 1 million people worldwide, and that CBD quickly helps normalize those levels along with lung function. Apelin is a pervasive peptide made by cells in the heart, lung, brain, fat tissue and blood, and is an important regulator in bringing both blood pressure and inflammation down. When our blood pressure gets high, for example, apelin levels should go up in the right place, like endothelial cells that line blood vessels, to help bring it down. Apelin should do the same to help normalize the significant increases in inflammation in the lungs and related breathing difficulties associated with deadly adult respiratory distress syndrome With CBD, it can make your recovery process much easier. Always consult your doctor before trying any new treatments. At AHS, we have specialists and a nurse on staff who can help answer any CBD questions you may have.