Start the year with a look at how effective your medicating is. With regular cannabis use, it’s not uncommon to build a tolerance to cannabinoids. Read on to see if it’s time for a new beginning…
“What are the signs of building tolerance to THC? If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, then you are likely building tolerance to cannabis-Do you require more cannabis per use to get the same effects?-Do you need to use cannabis more frequently throughout the day?-Do you notice that the effects lessen or do not last as long?-Are the effects from cannabis reduced compared to when you started using it?-Are you using more cannabis and spending more money per month than you used to?
What is a tolerance break from cannabis? A tolerance break is a short period of time when you avoid exposing your system to cannabinoids. Dr. Sulak of Healer recommends 48 hours and likens it to a 2-day fast that allows your body to reset it’s sensitivity to cannabis. “With heavy or ongoing cannabis use, your body can develop tolerance to cannabinoids such as THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) or CBD (cannabidiol). As tolerance to cannabis builds, you will need higher and higher doses to feel the same effects as you did when you first started using cannabis therapeutically. In many cases, no amount of increasing the dose will recover all the benefits experienced when first starting cannabis. The goal of a tolerance break is to resensitize your system, making it more sensitive to cannabis so that it will be more effective at lower dosages when reintroduced into your therapeutic regimen.
How often should you take a tolerance break? Dr. Sulak recommends that most of his patients take a 2-day tolerance break once or twice annually, even if they’re not sure they’ve developed tolerance, as a useful exercise that can help inform them just how much cannabis is helping and if they have built tolerance and to it. Rather than use a set tolerance break timeline, it’s better to pay attention to what you experience when using cannabis. You need to take a tolerance break if: -The effects of cannabis at what you assumed to be your optimal dose are diminishing -You seem to require a bigger and bigger dosage to achieve the same level of relief -You feel you have to spend more and more on cannabis to feel well from month to month -The duration of therapeutic relief is shorter compared to what it used to be
How long of a tolerance break from cannabis do you need? For most people, a two or three-day tolerance break length is usually enough, but this can vary depending on the individual. At Healer, we recommend starting with a 48-hour tolerance break that involves using things like voluntary exercise, endocannabinoid-enhancing foods, and breathing exercises to enhance the tone of your endocannabinoid system and prevent any withdrawal symptoms. Dr. Sulak’s recommendation for 48 hours of abstinence, which he learned from interviewing hundreds of patients who had successfully used tolerance breaks, was confirmed by an imaging study that showed cannabis-dependent men had 15% lower CB1 receptor availability in the brain compared to healthy controls. After just 2 days of abstinence, the cannabis-dependent subjects had no difference in CB1 availability compared to healthy controls. Interestingly, the CB1 availability increased only slightly between day 2 and day 28 of abstinence. The intensity of withdrawal symptoms was strongest in the subjects with the lowest levels of CB1 availability in the brain, suggesting that avoiding and reversing cannabis tolerance is not only important for maximizing therapeutic effects, but also for preventing dependence and withdrawal.
How to Take a Tolerance Break from Cannabis Below are Dr. Sulak’s Basics for taking a tolerance break. Healer.com’s Sensitization Protocol link offers a more detailed explanation.
-Set a time and date when you will intentionally start your 48-hour cannabis fast and four days of intentional reintroduction of cannabis designed to help you find an optimal dose that will avoid tolerance-building in the future.
-Use the 6-Day Cannabis Sensitization Protocol for guidance and support, and worksheets to document how your cannabis use changes throughout the protocol.
-Take note of your fast start date and time and end date and time in a weed tolerance break chart.
-Once the break starts, don’t use cannabis at all.
-Use physical exercise and other simple methods demonstrated by Dr. Sulak’s videos to encourage endocannabinoid production and sensitivity.
-Reintroduce cannabis after 48 hours, but do so slowly and with only the dose that produces a minimal effect 3 times per day for the first 3 days. This will make your system more sensitive to lower amounts and is a critical step that most tolerance-break regimens omit.
-On the fourth day after your fast, you may increase your dosage to achieve equal or greater effects from cannabis compared to your experience prior to the fast.” Dr. Dustin Sulak Healer