How I Used CBD & THC Tinctures To Stop Anxiety From My Stressful Job

By: Carol Heard

Cannabis is my go-to for managing stress, anxiety, depression, sparking creativity, pain management, arousal, focus, and insomnia. Whew, a lot- I know!

I had no clue that cannabis could be a remedy for all these things, I’ve pretty much learned and gained all this cannabis knowledge from the 10 years I’ve been using it.

Currently, I mainly use cannabis for managing my stress and anxiety, so I’m going to share my journey of how I discovered cannabis and my favorite products that I use for anxiety and stress.

My Canna-history

As a girl who grew up in Northern California, I was the only one in my circle of friends who didn’t smoke cannabis.

Whenever someone needed to pass a pee test, I was their gal.

One day I was having a pretty shitty day, my boyfriend was flaking on my 21st birthday, and I decided, “whatever, I’m gonna smoke weed.”

So I did it, after a few puffs of a joint I could feel the happiness settling in. It made me forget about the fact that he wasn’t coming, so from that moment on, I loved it.

I smoked every now and then to have a good time. For me, smoking weed was better than drinking- because there was no hangover.

At that time I pretty much smoked whatever was given to me, I had no idea about the different strains and attributes that came with them, that was until I started working at a cannabis dispensary.

One of my first professional marketing gigs as a freelance designer was designing a website for a cannabis dispensary.

I ended up getting hired as their receptionist, and eventually became a bud-tender. Since cannabis was on discount and I got to try whatever I wanted it, I began to discover the different strains and discover the effects and attributes for each strain by going to Leafly.

Some of my favorite flower strains are Black Jack, Maui Wowie, Jack Herer, and Grand Daddy Purple.

I smoked Black Jack, Maui Wowie, and Jack Herer whenever I wanted to focus, be happy and relieve stress, and Grand Daddy Purple was used for insomnia and pain management.

At that moment in my life, I really didn’t realize how much cannabis helped with stress and anxiety, because I didn’t face much of it at the time.

It wasn’t until my late 20’s when I began my job as a creative manager at a small creative agency, and that’s where I started to feel the side effects of stress.

The Anxiety & Stress Got Real

Insomnia became an every night thing for me. I tensed up in my shoulders due to stress and I felt like crap, I was irritable with my family.

Nausea and having low energy was just apart of me on the daily, and that’s how I discovered that I was facing the symptoms of stress.

While working at a small agency, I was wearing many hats at a company of five people, I was overworked, underpaid, and unhappy.

I wasn’t happy with the work I was doing, and I wasn’t pleased with most of the clients I was working with, and it began to take a toll on my body.

Around that time, I quit smoking cannabis and vaping because my lungs were getting worse since I had asthma.

But the benefits of marijuana managing my stress were undeniable, and I could tell the difference with and without marijuana. So I began to look into other options.

I did some research and discovered that CBD tinctures were a great way to manage stress. So I ordered Irie CBD’s Daily 250mg tincture to help manage stress, and it helped.

I noticed that with CBD my mood improved and my response to stressful situations wasn’t so tense anymore.

I could respond to these situations with a clear head and overcome stressful situations at work, I loved it.

However, at night trying to sleep, insomnia seemed to get worse. So I figured I’d try a different brand to see if I can get rid of the insomnia problem.

The next tincture product I tried was Care By Design’s 2:1, it had 240mg of CBD and 120mg THC.

I wanted something a little stronger, so I decided to use a tincture with THC, it was better, and I loved it as well. I was able to sleep without any issues of insomnia, it helped manage my moods at work, and helped me power through stress with a positive mindset.

However, I was taking this tincture about three to five times a day which was costing me a lot of money. So I decided that I needed to up my dose. Unfortunately, for the brand Care By Design, it really didn’t go any higher than the 2:1, so I decided to take another leap of faith and switch the brand I was using.

I discovered Papa & Barkley’s Releaf tincture 1:3 at another dispensary, it had 200mg of CBD and 700mg of THC, and this was the winner.

I only needed to take a small dose once a day, and the bottle would last a month. It helped me manage stress, and it managed it fast!

I remember one time I was getting ready to snap at someone at work with a rude response, and I took a deep breath dropped a drip of the tincture on my tongue, and within a few seconds, my response that could’ve been a response that made me lose my job, was responded with in a more professional manner.

I was able to handle whatever came at me with a smile on my face. Since then, my go-to has been Papa & Barkley’s Releaf tincture!

I do wish that they had a sativa version because taking too much of this tincture can cause me to get a little too stoned to function. But it’s about knowing your dosage, so always start small and then increase your dosage.

Tinctures > Anxiety Pills

My Papa & Barkley Releaf tincture was great for handling stress, but I didn’t discover how great it was for anxiety until I had an anxiety attack.

I quit using my tinctures for about a week. I did it because I felt like I was in a good place mentally, and I wanted to save money, so I took a break.

One night I was updating a colleague who just got back into town while a majority of our office was on vacation, so that left me in charge.

If you know how a small office of five is, having three managers out of the office while you are the only manager is pretty crappy.

I was sick, my asthma was pretty bad, it tends to gets worse when I have a cold, and I was working on one of my first clients (I began moonlighting so I could leave my current position), but I was also managing a stressful situation from my job on the phone with a manager who just got back into town.

My asthma began to get worse, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe, so I started to panic and had an anxiety attack while I was on the phone.

That night I was rushed to the ER, and I was given steroids to help my breathing. They told me I was also having an anxiety attack and asked if I wanted some pills to calm down.

I needed them badly, but I declined.

I declined because I’m the daughter of a mother who has psychosis, and I know what these drugs can do to you. I didn’t want to turn into a person who wasn’t there mentally.

Some of those anti-anxiety medications can require you to remain on them regularly, and if you don’t, you can have withdrawal symptoms.

The thought of me relying on these anxiety meds that seemed to do more harm than good wasn’t ideal for me.

So the next day after getting out of the ER I went to the dispensary and purchased another Papa & Barkley Releaf tincture, and immediately it helped my anxious feelings and calmed me down.

I was able to function and be myself while taking my cannabis tincture, it was exactly what I needed.

In the end, I knew using tinctures to handle my stressful work situation wasn’t the way to go. Something had to go, so I took the necessary steps to try to leave my job, but for the few months that I was there, it was beneficial to have the tinctures to keep me in a good mental state.

Freedom From Stress & Anxiety

After a couple of months, I ended up leaving the agency and began freelancing on my own.

It’s been about a month, and I feel like a weight is lifted off my shoulder; all those symptoms of stress that I experienced, are now gone.

The CBD + THC tinctures I used saved my sanity and prevented me from relying on pills that would turn me into someone I’m not.

I’m thankful to have these options because while I’m battling stress and anxiety, I am still able to be me, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

My name is Carol Heard and I am a creative consultant and designer who believes in cannabis and its many benefits. I write blog posts about cannabis and enjoy working with cannabis based brands. I specialize in web design, graphic design, social media, creative consulting and personal branding. For more information on my services and blogs you can go to www.carolheard.com and follow me on Instagram at @carolbalangitan.