Multiple sclerosis, known as MS, is an unpredictable and often disabling disease that disrupts the flow of information between the brain and body. According to the National MS Society, more than 2.3 million people are affected by MS worldwide.
Celeste Miranda, CEO and founder of CBD Expo Tour and MACE Media Group, was diagnosed at 40 years old with MS and sought out CBD as a natural healing remedy. Celeste is the woman changing how the world views cannabis products and is on a mission to educate the public on the power of CBD. For Celeste, her experience with CBD and struggle with MS is a personal one. She believes that CBD is not a last result but should be the first solution.
Check out our interview below with Celeste talking about all things MS, CBD and the upcoming 2019 CBD Expo Tour.
1. Please tell us about how you were diagnosed with MS.
About eight years ago, I woke up in the morning and could not feel anything from my waist down. I could move and walk normally but when I would scratch my leg, I couldn’t feel myself doing it. I went into the emergency room and about 16 hours later, I was told that I had MS and had three lesions on my brain and two on my spine.
2. What are some of the difficulties and symptoms that you experienced with MS?
The main symptoms that I experience with MS are muscle spasticity, fatigue and brain fog.
3. What medicines or therapies did you use to treat MS before trying CBD?
I was originally prescribed two medications; one almost gave me a rare brain infection and the other wasn’t strong enough so it caused a bunch of relapses. I was also prescribed a multitude of muscle relaxers to help my muscle spasticity.
4. What brought you to seek out CBD as a cure for your MS?
I hated the feeling of being on muscle relaxers and felt like I couldn’t function while on them. I had a client at the time that was a producer of a CBD gum and he offered to send me some to try out. I would take it at the same time that I would normally have taken a muscle relaxer when I was starting to get spasticity in my legs from the MS. I tried the gum and within 10 minutes, my spacitiy went away, completely.
From there, I started researching CBD and this was as new forms started coming out – gummy bears, oils, and things like that. So I got completely off all the muscle relaxers and to this day, I am only on my monthly infusions of Tysabri and CBD.
It took me a lot of research and time to learn the correct dosage for my body. In the morning, I do a smaller dosage and then in the evening, when I know my spasticity usually gets bad, I’ll take a larger dosage. I’ve got it extremely dialed in and those are the only two things I am currently on; the tysabri and CBD. Hopefully, one day we’ll know that it helps enough in lesion prevention that I can get off the Tysabri but for now I am on both and am thrilled because I am no longer on muscle relaxers.
5. What was your doctors reaction to you taking CBD?
The doctors knew from the beginning how I got off the muscle relaxers but they originally did not say much. About three years ago, my doctor at Stanford called me and told me that they had gotten approved for research on MS and CBD and needed my help to get it off the ground. Within two weeks, we were making a bunch of noise and had money coming in to reach the $150,000 goal. At that point, my doctor called me and told me to stop immediately. When I asked why, she told me that Stanford had just lost one of their biggest financial contributors over this and that she had no choice in the manner. To say the least, for the last three years I have been a patient at Cedars-Sinai. I guess in the end, money talks.
6. Tell us about your background and how your experience with MS & CBD ties into your career in the cannabis industry?
Ironically, it all happened at the same time. I had switched my marketing firm from “mainstream” to cannabis shortly after being diagnosed with MS. They were unrelated, but the timing was close.
7. Tell us why you started CBD Expo?
For me, it is personal and the whole purpose of the CBD Expo Tour is education. There are so many questions surrounding CBD and people are very confused about it. Our main goal is to provide education and also to get exposure to some of the products that we think are the best ones out there.
8. What is CBD Expo?
CBD Expo is not like your normal trade show – we focus on both the medical and education sides of our event. We are not a fly by night company, we are here for the long run. We chose our locations for the 2019 Expo strategically because we want to create a surge of knowledge into these communities. So for example, our next conference that is coming up, CBD Expo Midwest in Indianapolis, was chosen because we saw a large amount of sales coming from Indiana from our first show in the West. We took a poll from our exhibitors and it turned out that 70% of their sales were from Indiana. After finding this out, it only made sense to choose this region as our first destination for our 2019 tour.
9. What are the main highlights for the 2019 CBD Expo Tour?
All of our locations are themed and contain panels and carefully selected presentations to create a well-rounded show and meet the needs of each region.
-CBD Expo Midwest (Indianapolis, IN – March 15-16, 2019) focuses on CBD 101: Basic CBD Knowledge and Industry Trends.
-CBD Expo South (San Antonio, TX – June 28-29, 2019).
-CBD Expo Mountain (Denver, CO – October 11-12, 2019) focuses on compliance, regulation, investments and business.
-Cannabinoid + Natural Products (San Diego, CA – December 5-6) focuses on cannabinoid research and cannabinoid formulations.
We are very excited to for CBD Expo Tour 2019 and would like to encourage anyone who is interested in learning more about CBD from experts in the field or launching their own CBD business to join us. More information on the 2019 CBD Expo Tour can be found at http://cbdexpo.net/.
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