The woman who couldn't feel pain
EOs & your endocannabinoids
Once upon a time, there was a woman who didn’t feel pain. Not like the rest of us, anyway.
Doctors were befuddled when she went through an operation for arthritis in her hand, and didn’t need much pain medication afterward.
The same thing happened when she needed a hip replacement.
The doctors were like “We have to load you up on pain meds!”
And she was like, “Nah, I’m good.”
The docs gave each other confused looks and decided to have a chat with her. According to this Scientific American article, she told them, “I don’t feel pain too much. One time I didn’t realize my hand was on the stove until I smelled burning flesh.” (Not a direct quote.)
So the doctors asked if they could analyze her genome, and she was all “Yeah, go for it.”
What they found was a genetic mutation.
The woman doesn’t produce a lot of the enzyme FAAH. This FAAHr-out enzyme breaks down a natural molecule produced by the body called anandamide.
Yes, that’s really it’s name.
Yes, it’s really named for the Sanskrit word “ananda,” meaning bliss or happiness. Anandamide is the bliss molecule. Your body produces it naturally. When you have good amounts of anandamide going, you’re feelin’ groovy. It’s excellent at, among other things, suppressing pain signals.
And FAAH breaks down anandamide.
Except, for Ms. Wonder Woman, it wasn’t breaking down anandamide. The bliss molecule was near-constantly circulating. Along with living a low-pain life, Wonder Woman also didn’t have much depression, anxiety, or sadness.
Anandamide had her back.
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What does this have to do with cannabis?
Anandamide is structurally similar to the molecules in marijuana.
As Harvard says, that means: “All of us have tiny cannabis-like molecules floating around in our brains.”
And just like cannabis, anandamide activates your endocannabinoid system. And that’s where it works its magic.
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Hold up. I have an endocannabinoid system?
Yeah, but it hasn’t been very well studied. Scientists are still learning about it.
How they discovered this system cracks me up.
(If I’m wrong about this, I will forever prefer my own interpretation.):
They wanted to know why did people like the Weed so much, and what effects did THC have on the body? And they noticed these little receptors that seemed to have no other function than binding with TCH. These little receptors were all the fuck over the body, including the brain.
In fact, they outnumbered a lot of other types of receptors in the brain.
The scientists were like… “What is going on. How did we not notice this before. How is there a bodily system whose only purpose is to bind with cannabis.”
But it was totally a thing.
So they named it the endocannabinoid system.
And later, they discovered that your body produces its OWN cannabinoids. Like anandamide. I bet they face-palmed and were like, “If we had known this before, we would have named it the ananda-doid system. Or the groovalicious system. We wouldn’t have named it after weed.”
Hindsight is 20/20.
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So what all does your endocannabinoid system do?
There’s too much to get into here.
But according to the brains at Harvard:
“The ECS regulates and controls many of our most critical bodily functions such as learning and memory, emotional processing, sleep, temperature control, pain control, inflammatory and immune responses, and eating.”
Considering Wonder Woman’s story, it’s really good at the pain control thing.
At first, I’m inclined to feel jealous of Wonder Woman.
Then I remember that the young men of our species are already inclined to do weird random stunts and I reluctantly admit that the ability to feel pain has played an important role in our survival.
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Now let’s talk about essential oils.
Some essential oil components act on your cannabinoid receptors. (I’m not saying they have the same exact effects as THC or anandamide. Just that they act on the same receptors.)
One component that stands out for its talents here is β-caryophyllene.
This little guy has been found in some essential oils and even foods, making it a dietary cannabinoid. Your body doesn’t synthesize it. (But I don’t suggest downing a teaspoon of essential oil.) It binds with the CB2 receptor.
And once there, it does its magic:
“Upon binding to the CB2 receptor, β-caryophyllene inhibits… proinflammatory cytokine expression in peripheral blood… [and] strongly reduces carrageenan-induced inflammatory response in wild-type mice… These results identify [β-caryophyllene] as a functional non-psychoactive CB2 receptor ligand in foodstuff and as a macrocyclic* anti-inflammatory.”
* “Macrocyclic” just means it has more than 12 atoms.
So it inhibits inflammation from several angles.
(It’s also being studied for its ability to help prevent dementia, BTW.)
You can use oils rich in β-caryophyllene to activate your endocannabinoid receptors and tell pain to fuck right off, thank you very much.
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Oils rich in this happy little molecule:
Balsam copaiba oil (Copaifera officinalis)
Black pepper oil (Piper nigrum)
Clove bud oil (Syzygium aromaticum)
Ylang ylang oil (Cananga odorata)
These aren’t the only oils that contain β-caryophyllene. And β-caryophyllene isn’t the only EO molecule that activates cannabinoid receptors.
But if you want to help your endocannabinoid system to kick pain’s ass, these oils are a good place to start.
Try blending 15 drops total into 1 oz of carrier, like jojoba oil (Simmondsia chinensis).
I’d usually go with 30 drops for a pain relief blend, but some of these oils are intense. Like ylang ylang. Too many drops of that heady floral can have me tossing out my entire blend and starting fresh, so I don’t get a headache.
And clove bud oil—furgetaboudit. It’s awesome, but it can cause skin irritation. And it’s not right for anyone on blood thinners, or if you’ve just had surgery. Stick with 2 to 3 drops per 1 oz of carrier.
Balsam copaiba is a great choice, though. It contains about 50% β-caryophyllene, and it’s a gentle oil with a mild aroma. I’d feel comfortable blending 30 drops of it into 1 oz of carrier.
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This has been a sneak peak into my upcoming book, Natural Pain Relief with Essential Oils. (Yup, I’m still writing it!) You’ll learn more about endocannabinoids there.
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REFERENCES
Scientific American. (March 20, 2019.) The Case of a Woman Who Feels Almost No Pain Leads Scientists to a New Gene Mutation. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-case-of-a-woman-who-feels-almost-no-pain-leads-scientists-to-a-new-gene-mutation/
Harvard Health. (August 11, 2021.) The endocannabinoid system: Essential and mysterious. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-endocannabinoid-system-essential-and-mysterious-202108112569
Gertsch, J., Leonti, M., Raduner, S., Racz, I., Chen, JZ., Xie, XQ., Altmann, KH., Karsak, M., and Zimmer, A. (July 1, 2008.) Beta-caryophyllene is a dietary cannabinoid. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). 105 (26) 9099-9104. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0803601105