Living in the Weeds: Cannabis & Holistic Nursing

Welcome back to our series, Living in the Weeds, a series that explores the lived experiences of neurodivergent people who consume cannabis.

Today’s guest is Olga Hall, aka The Cannabis Nurse or The Plant Practitioner. Olga is a nurse practitioner with over two decades of experience and the owner of Ananda Holistics and Wellness Center.

We talk about:

• Olga’s background as a nurse practitioner of 20 years, and how moving into holistic nursing changed her perspective.
• How her ADHD diagnosis helped her understand patterns of behavior
• Why she prefers daily dosing with tinctures
• The dosing differences between CBD and THC and why some cannabinoids require a steady dosing
• Alternative dosing methods such as transdermal patches and inhalers
• The overlaps between ADHD and Autism symptoms
• How Olga utilizes functional and psychedelic mushrooms
• The limitation of cannabis for sensory issues and time blindness
• Managing ADHD symptoms with diet, sleep, and exercise

Ready to start tracking your cannabis consumption? Grab one of Lucy’s Tracking Journals here and save 10% off at checkout with code CANNABISWRITER.

Why I Love This Episode

Olga is a wealth of information. From our discussion about how ADHD can hide throughout a woman’s life to diving into alternative dosing methods like transdermal patches and inhalers, it’s clear that Olga takes education seriously. Her pivot from 20 years as a general nurse practitioner to being a holistic nurse comes from her desire to change how we perceive medical health care and being well in the country – because our current systems are not working.

Subtle Ways ADHD Manifests

Olga shared with us that she was diagnosed with ADHD years ago, and it never registered with her that it was a neurodivergence that affected her daily life. In fact, it wasn’t until just a few years ago that she began to come to terms with what it truly means to have ADHD and how it impacts her daily life. From hyper-fixing on food to being unable to sleep or concentrate on household finances, Olga gives concrete examples of how ADHD can manifest in subtle ways.

Dosing Cannabis Daily with Tinctures

Olga told us that she prefers to dose with tinctures in her morning coffee for a few reasons. The big reason is that tinctures combine the length of effects that edibles have with a faster onset method through sublingual absorption. Using tinctures allows her to be incredibly precise in her dosing and allows her to combine cannabinoids, usually THC, CBD, and CBG. She also shared that some cannabinoids, like CBD, require a steady dosing schedule to work most effectively. Lucy tells her clients that the D in CBD stands for daily – something we can all agree on.

She also uses functional and magical mushrooms to help with her ADHD symptoms and has found that mixing functional mushroom tincture in with her cannabis tincture is the best delivery method for her.

Other ways to consume cannabis

We touched on a few different delivery methods for neurodivergent people consuming cannabis. Many people can’t smoke on a daily basis or multiple times a day due to the constraints of their professions. Dosing with tinctures is one good way to overcome this, but tinctures aren’t for everyone. I asked her about transdermal patches, an underrated delivery method in my opinion. Transdermal patches allow for continuous delivery of cannabinoids over 8 – 12 hours, perfect for someone who is on their feet all day or deals with chronic pain. Because transdermal patches are absorbed through the skin, they also work quickly.

Olga also suggested cannabinoid inhales as another alternative method for dosing, something I had never heard of before.

Holistically Managing Neurodivergence Symptoms

Before we signed off on our conversation, Olga emphasized the importance of taking a holistic approach to neurodivergence symptom management. While she’s more than happy to help her patients find cannabis products that serve their needs, she also focuses on sleep, diet, and exercise. No amount of joints or tinctures can overcome the effects of a poor night’s sleep or being sedentary on a day-to-day basis. Neurodivergent symptoms are little warnings about our body’s needs, and getting your steps in, eating well, and prioritizing sleep goes a long way to living your best life.