Author: jessica

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Research

Research Version 2.0 is Here!

Johns Hopkins
Research partners Johns Hopkins University

We are thrilled to announce the launch of our new research registry version 2.0 in partnership with Johns Hopkins University! 

If you haven’t been involved in our observational research programs before, now is the time to start. We make it simple for you and every survey can be completed on your computer or mobile phone. 

Why is version 2.0 so much better?  First, you’ll notice improved overall user experience including shorter surveys to save time, and auto-generated research ID’s. 

Certain data is saved on follow-up surveys to speed up the process for you and general and condition-specific surveys are now combined into one. Automatic, unique email reminders will keep you on track, and our Care Team is available to answer your questions. 

So, let’s get started! 

  1. Log in to your Client Portal
  2. Access the Research Portal

Our Observational Research Registry (ORR) is the largest cannabinoid therapy research program in the US and with your help – it will soon be the largest in the world. Bringing more data to light regarding cannabis therapies is REALLY important. Be a part of the movement! 

If you have any questions please feel free to contact us at 719-347-5400 option 1. 
Thank you for your help,

Realm of Caring Team

Categories
Education

5 Tips for Caregivers

Caregiver Burnout
5 tips for caregivers

For most caregivers, being there when a loved one or client needs you is a core value and something you wish to provide.

Shifts in roles and emotions are almost certain. It is natural to feel angry, frustrated, exhausted, alone, or sad. Caregiver stress — the emotional and physical stress of caregiving — is common. It’s normal to feel guilty sometimes, but understand that no one is a “perfect” caregiver. Believe that you are doing the best you can and making the best decisions you can at any given time. 

To help manage caregiver stress:

Set realistic goals. Break large tasks into smaller steps that you can do one at a time. For me, trivial things like folding laundry and organizing emails and paperwork (appointments, reminders, bills, junk, ahhh!) are my least favorite things to do. However, I noticed I became more stressed when I didn’t do these tasks because my house and my brain started to become cluttered, disorganized, with a clothes mountain that I have to dig through to find a pair of socks. It can be easy to go down this path so make sure to prioritize, make lists, and establish a daily routine. I use a gamified app called Habitica to help create lasting habits, increase productivity, manage my household, and my life in general. This app makes it fun to get things done.

Get connected! Make an effort to stay well-connected with family and friends who can offer non-judgmental emotional support. You can also join a virtual meet up group. This can provide validation and encouragement, as well as problem-solving strategies for difficult situations. Connecting with others who are going through similar scenarios. A group can also be a good place to create meaningful friendships! Check out our Facebook event page for Caregiver Connect and Community Connect – both are virtual and private meet up groups hosted via Zoom.

Set personal health goals. For example, set goals to establish a good sleep routine, find time to be physically active on most days of the week, eat a healthy diet, and drink plenty of water. Find ways to nourish your mind, body, and soul. Mindfulness meditation practices, body scanning exercises, breathwork (I personally enjoy the Wim Hof Method), and restorative movements are amazing tools for managing stress. Schedule intentional check-in’s with yourself to feel and release emotions. While yoga and meditation can be beneficial, I do realize it can be difficult for caregivers to find time for such activities. However, there is time if you make time! Set a timer on your phone or watch 3 times a day for a 7-minute workout or stretch to keep you active and resilient to stress. I personally enjoy Lucy Wyndham Reed’s 7-minute 1,000 step workout. I use an app called Calm for free 10-minute meditations.

Use CBD daily. Research suggests CBD may improve or alleviate symptoms of stress, depression, anxiety, pain, inflammation, irregular sleeping patterns, changes in appetite, and immune function. These conditions are all common ailments that occur with caregiver stress and burnout. Check out our research library for condition-specific research articles. If you need product and administration suggestions contact the Care Team! 

Reduce personal stress and increase self-awareness. Ask yourself, “What is causing stress for me?” Sources of stress might be that you have too much to do, family disagreements, or the inability to say no. Identify what you can and cannot change. When you try to change things that you have no control over, you will only increase your sense of frustration. Ask yourself, “What do I have some control over? What can I change?” Even a small change can make a big difference. 

Journaling can be helpful in identifying your needs, wants, fears, goals, and aspirations. It is not selfish to focus on your own needs and desires when you are a caregiver—itʼs an important part of the job. If you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t be able to care for anyone else!

I hope you found this article to be helpful. From my experience, establishing a self-care routine can be challenging with many ups and downs so be patient and have compassion for yourself. If you want to connect with me you can do so at lacie@realmofcaring.org 

Categories
Education

Stratos: Bringing Pharmaceutical Accuracy to Cannabis

Stratos Products
Stratos products

Helping people powers everything we do. 

It’s our mission to offer people safe, pure, and reliable cannabis and CBD products they can trust.

Our careers didn’t start out in cannabis, they began in the pharmaceutical industry. When people go to Walgreens or CVS, they trust that what they buy is safe and will help them get better. And while the pharmaceutical standards for manufacturing and production are well-trusted, some of the motives behind pharmaceutical companies are not.

We get it. And we got out because of it. 

We started to see some of the highly controlled drugs we were developing to “help” people being abused by patients, doctors and pharmaceutical manufacturers. Instead of helping people, we started to see the drugs hurting them. 

We knew there had to be an alternative to truly help people that didn’t involve potential long-term damage. 

When we learned about the healing effects of cannabis, it reinvigorated our passion to help people. From that day forward, we’ve worked to create cannabis and CBD products with the same pharmaceutical standards as what you’d find on pharmacy shelves.

What We Do

Before our team spends months developing a product, they spend time at the drawing board. After comparing the different ways to ingest cannabis and CBD, we narrowed the options down. Our research found that tablets, tinctures and topicals are the best options for rapid onset, longevity, and body receptivity. 

Because health and safety are top priorities, our focus is on products that are vegan, sugar-free, and gluten-free, and our topical products are paraben-free. Excipient ingredients are pharmaceutical grade, and all of our hemp and cannabis are grown in Colorado.

Every product is tested multiple times during the manufacturing process. This includes pesticides, microbial growth, heavy metals, potency, and residual solvents to ensure your safety.

You can put us to the test by reviewing a Certificate of Analysis for our CBD products. We include one with each online purchase. We want to earn your trust, and we will go to any length to earn it. We are grateful that nearly 700 dispensaries in Colorado have entrusted our THC products to their customers by adding them to their shelves.

We’d also like to share a bit about our products for you to consider.

Tablets:

This option is portable, discreet, reliable, convenient and long-lasting. Unlike infused food products such as gummies, which may require 90 minutes to take effect, tablets have an onset of 15-30 minutes and can last up to 8 hours.

Tablets can be halved or quartered based on your dosing needs. Be sure to take the tablets with a fat source (such as a spoonful of peanut butter) to experience the maximum benefits. Cannabinoids are fat soluble so they need to bind to a lipid to absorb into the body.

  • Stratos CBD tablets are available in Full Spectrum 300 (30 tablets of 10mg each), Full Spectrum 750 (30 tablets of 25mg each), Isolate 300 (30 tablets of 10mg each), and Isolate 750 bottles (30 tablets of 25mg each). 
  • Stratos THC tablets are available in Sleep (Indica THC), Energy (Sativa THC), Relax (Hybrid) and CBD 1:1, CBD 2:1, CBD 15:1, CBD 25mg (THC and CBD). Tablets come in doses of 5mg, 10mg, or 50mg. Available in bottles of 75mg, 100mg, 300mg, or 500mg. 

Tinctures:

We want you to get the most out of your tincture, and quickly. To increase absorption and speed up onset, we use high-shear technology to break down cannabis and CBD molecules into smaller particles. This allows the plant to take effect in less than five minutes and last 3-4 hours. 

Placing a tincture under the tongue (sublingual absorption) is up to 10x faster than anything you chew or swallow (first pass digestion absorption). Place the tincture under your tongue, wait 30 seconds, then swallow. The tincture then heads straight to the bloodstream. 

  • Stratos CBD tinctures are created with hemp-derived CBD oil and MCT oil and are available in 500mg and 1000mg quantities for Full Spectrum or Isolate.
  • Stratos THC tinctures have two options:
    • A tangerine tincture created with MCT oil and cannabis oil available in Sleep 1:1 (Indica, CBD), Energy 1:1 (Sativa, CBD), Relax 1:1 (Hybrid, CBD). Each come with 100mg of THC and 100mg of CBD. There is also a 15:1 CBD option with 100mg CBD and 6.67mg hybrid THC.
    • A chocolate mint tincture created through a phospholipid emulsion of water, MCT oil and cannabis oil. This special emulsion offers the highest bioavailability tincture option available and must be mixed well before taking. It is also available in Sleep 1:1, Energy 1:1, Relax 1:1 and 15:1 CBD.

Topicals:

If you’re looking to target a specific part of the body, such as your back or legs, then a topical salve is perfect. Our salves are infused with a whopping six essential oils, shea butter, coconut oil, and beeswax, so it’s like a big hug for your skin. This smooth, silky salve can be massaged wherever you need it, and you’ll feel the benefits within minutes. For those concerned about any psychoactivity, it’s important to note that you won’t “feel high” by applying a THC product to your skin (it must be ingested).

  • Stratos CBD topicals have 500mg each, and are available in Full Spectrum or Isolate.
  • Stratos THC topicals include Soothe 1:1, which is infused with 100mg THC and CBD, and Soothe ER, which includes 300mg THC and 300mg CBD.

We hope we’ve piqued your interest. If you’re still reading, we’d like to say thank you: visit www.stratoscbd.com 

Want to see if you’re eligible for discounted products?  Have questions about how to use Stratos’ products? Call Realm of Caring’s Care Team 719-347-5400 Option 1 

Learn more about what we offer or reach out with questions or comments at info@stratoscbd.com or info@stratosthc.com – we’d love to hear from you.

Categories
iROC365

She is more active with more verbal communication

Story provided by Grace’s family

Grace is doing so well since she has been on her CBD, I can’t even explain how appreciative we are. We have not seen any seizures, and her skin is looking so much better. She is more active with more verbal communication and seems to be getting her milestones caught up. Her bloodwork is improving, we are feeling so blessed! Sending the RoC team HUGS <3

 

365 layout FEB7 1

Categories
iROC365

The cannabis oil kept the pain away completely

Story provided by Mary Lou

I didn’t use any more opioids, just cannabis oil. I was able to work from home the day following surgery without any impairment from medication. I was able to reduce the dosage after about a week. The next surgery I had was to remove 2 adjoining molars, she had to cut into the jawbone to remove a twisted root. This time I increased the dosage of cannabis oil without taking any opiates at all. The cannabis oil kept the pain away completely. This could really help the post-surgery opioid addiction problems we have in this country, and this is a completely viable alternative to pain medication.

Categories
iROC365

Chloe is now seizure free

Story provided by Chloe’s family

Chloe has been taking cannabinoid therapy for three years and after an EEG to measure seizures, we were told Chloe is now seizure free! To put the icing on the cake, her neurologist admitted to us that she truly believes it was all the oil! She said she has never seen someone with the type of seizures that Chloe has recover so well.  

Categories
iROC365

Jason knows that he MATTERS!!

Being on CBD has given Jason hope. He hasn’t had that in quite some time and being accepted into this program and starting to take CBD he has found hope. He knows that someone out there cares and is listening. He knows he matters!

The grant money has helped him with everyday needs like food and medication. People with disabilities get pushed aside a lot and don’t get nearly the amount of help they need. The fact that the Realm of Caring exists and that there is someone out there pushing boundaries to help people is a wonderful boost. It reminds him, and me, that if we just have faith, everything is going to be okay.

Story provided by Jason’s family

Categories
iROC365

In a time when we had lost all hope

Thank you so kindly for your random act of kindness and love.  You are more amazing than you will ever know. We’ve never come across or met anyone like you or a group of people so amazing as you and the RoC team. It’s like having an extended family that has more kindness, love, and compassion in their hearts than some of our own blood family members.  Thank you!

In a time when we thought we had lost all hope for a cure, for a chance at life, RoC was there, helping us with this miracle oil.   You have opened your hearts and arms to us and truly made us feel welcome, appreciated, and loved. We appreciate you and thank you and the entire team from the deepest depths of our hearts.   You have kindness and an inner shine that sets you apart from the world, a presence that needs to be recognized, for all that you do and for being “you.”  Thank you!

Story provided by Stacey

Categories
iROC365

Did I mention she can see again?

Born happy and healthy, Jaqie was stricken by the first of what would be thousands of seizures just days after a normal well check which included scheduled vaccines. Up to that point, Jaqie had progressed normally according to the doctor’s growth charts. After that first seizure, Jaqie was only four months old and would never be the same. She would actually regress.

Over the years, through pharmaceutical trial and error, Jaqie would lose her fine motor functions, unable to hold her own head up. She couldn’t scratch her own butt if it itched, nor vocalize it to someone who could. She never learned to sit, scoot, crawl or walk. The medicines, forced as the only option for relief, proved to make her worse. By the time she was two years old, she was pronounced legally blind.

The doctors threw their hands in the air and said there was nothing more to be done.  In April of 2014, unwilling to believe she was a lost hope, we put cannabis oil in our toddler’s mouth.

Today, Jaqie not only scratches her own butt when it itches, but she also rolls over, cries, laughs, babbles, kisses, hugs, stands with help (that’s huge for a child that previously had zero muscle tone) and she takes no pharmaceutical drugs. Cannabis only.

Did I mention she can see again?

Story provided by Jaqie’s parents

Categories
iROC365

He is a bit more focused

Ruben’s most recent EEG exam has shown much improvement. We will continue to proceed with a longer EEG exam to get the most accurate results. Also, it seems to help his ADHD. He’s a bit more focused.  This has been such a blessing. At the moment I am unemployed to be a full-time caregiver to my 2 boys who have a disability.  I don’t know how we’d be able to afford it otherwise.

We are truly grateful for the Realm of Caring organization and those who have helped make this grant possible so that my son has a chance at better health and a better future.  My son has been on Valporic Acid for the past 5 years to control his seizures but to know that something much more natural may be helping not only his seizures but his overall health and behavior is more than I could ever ask for.

Story provided by Ruben’s family

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