Bekii Spain says CBD oil has helped her cope with severe anxiety. Image: dailymail.co.ukBekkii Spain, 27, from Sligo started experiencing panic attacks in 2015 after developing a sudden fear that her throat was going to close up, which led to her being admitted to a psychiatric hospital for two months.
A woman from Sligo has revealed how she overcame anxiety and panic attacks so severe that she ended up in a psychiatric hospital, with the help of CBD oil.
Twenty-seven-year-old Bekkii Spain says she begun using CBD oil, after reading an article about how to anxiety by a mental health blogger, and decided to give it a try.
The first day she tried it the oil, containing a natural extract of hemp, a non-marijuana strain of the cannabis plant, she started building up to a panic attack but found it 'stopped in seconds'.
'For this natural product to stop that, I was so shocked I actually laughed,' she told dailymail.co.uk.
'I texted my mum straight away to tell her and lay there for a while trying to get my head around it. At this stage, I had been dealing with this for two years and had never had a panic attack stop that quick, ever.'
Bekkii's battle with anxiety started three years ago with severe panic attacks, which would result in frequent trips to hospital.
'I was constantly on edge,' she recalled.
'The reason I would have panic attacks was because I had this constant fear that my throat would close. I would make people bring me to hospital in a panic.'
'Eventually I was admitted to the local psychiatric hospital. I was there for two months - not because I had to, but because I was too scared to leave the building.
'I went from being an outgoing person to being scared of everything in a matter of months.'
'The anxiety impacted my everyday life greatly. I was always the girl who loved going for a coffee in town and going away for trips, or going out on the weekends with my friends.
'This was all taken from me when my anxiety started. It's close to impossible to lead a normal life when dealing with anxiety.
'I didn't want to be left on my own at 24 years old and I always wanted my mum, dad or sisters with me.
I constantly had that feeling something bad would happen and needed to not be on my own, in case it did.'
'The panic attack stopped in seconds.'
Recalling the first time she tried the oil, Bekii said: 'I started building up to a panic attack. After taking the oil the panic attack stopped in seconds. This had never happened me before.
'My panic attacks would usually build, and build, until I had no control over my own body and felt helpless.'
Now Bekkii is at the stage where she might only take CBD oil once a week or less.
While she's also a leader in a non-clinical Sligo support group for people dealing with their own mental health issues.
'I only need to take it when I feel overly anxious or stressed,' she said. 'I am so positive about my future at the minute. It has been a game changer.'
So what is CBD oil?
The Journal.ie reports that CBD oil is: ''A chemical constituent of the cannabis plant and products based on it can be legally sold in Ireland.
CBD does not produce the same psychoactive effects that THC produces, so it does not get users high in the manner associated with the recreational use of cannabis.
CBD-based products have been used by patients suffering from a range of conditions including epilepsy, chronic pain, spasticity, insomnia and anxiety.''
