Dean McDermott just got super candid about his sex life with his wife, Tori Spelling. McDermott opened up on the latest episode of his podcast, Daddy Issues, after he, his cohosts, and guest Denise Richards started talking about how often they have sex with their partners.
McDermott said that he and Spelling have sex “every day,” and he said that they use an “awesome” CBD-infused lube in the bedroom. (In case you’re not familiar with it, CBD stands for cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive compound found in the cannabis plant.) McDermott’s cohost Adam Hunter said he uses a lube infused with THC, the compound in cannabis that produces a high. “You just put it on, and the vagina gets tighter, and then you last longer,” Hunter said.
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For his part, McDermott said the lube that he and Spelling uses is “amazing” and “fantastic.” He added, “The one we used doesn’t have THC in it. It’s just like a CBD kind of thing.” McDermott also saidt hat Spelling “totally” likes using the lube as much as he does.
Is CBD-infused lube safe for sex?
Backing up a moment: There are a lot of claims out there about what CBD can do. Despite that, the US National Library of Medicine points out that “insufficient evidence” supports many of those claims. CBD is “likely effective” for treating seizure disorders, the US National Library of Medicine states, but there’s not great evidence to support its use for a slew of other conditions, including anxiety, insomnia, and multiple sclerosis.
Unfortunately, there’s really no good research on the effect of CBD as a personal lubricant. “Anything you hear about it is anecdotal,” Lauren Streicher, MD, a professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, tells Health.
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What benefits can CBD lube have for sex?
While many experts don’t know about CBD lube, Dr. Streicher notes that CBD is a vasodilator, meaning it helps open up your blood vessels. “If someone had an increased vascular supply from a vasodilator like CBD, it would theoretically increase lubrication,” she says. Still, given that this hasn’t been well researched, it’s difficult to say whether CBD itself is a good lubrication enhancer, or whether the lube it’s mixed with is helpful, Dr. Streicher adds.
Everything else about CBD lube is mostly anecdotal. “People report a better sexual experience, increased relaxation, a more intense orgasm, and even report sleeping better after sex,” Jamie Alan, PhD, an assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University, tells Health. “Of course, some people report that they don’t feel any different.”
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Are there any risks of using CBD lube?
If you use it here and there, you’re probably okay, Dr. Streicher says. But CBD products as a whole aren’t regulated and, as a result, “they’re not completely risk-free,” she warns. There’s also a chance that CBD lube, like anything you put in your vagina, could alter your vaginal pH and open you up for a risk of infection, Alan says.
That said, CBD lube is “likely safe,” Alan explains, adding that “there aren’t many recorded adverse effects of CBD.”
If you want to try a CBD lube and it doesn’t cause irritation or any other issues, it should be okay to continue to use it, Dr. Streicher says. (If you do start to experience problems, though, stop using it ASAP.)
As for the claims that any type of lube (THC, CBD, or otherwise) can make your vagina “tighter,” Dr. Streicher says that’s not a good thing. “The only thing that would make a vagina ‘tighter’ is if it caused the tissues to swell because it was an irritant,” she says. “You don’t want to irritate your vagina on purpose.”
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Overall, Dr. Streicher says she doesn’t discourage the use of CBD lube by her patients, but she doesn’t go out of her way to encourage it, either. “If someone comes to me and says they’d like to give it a try, I’ll say fine—but it’s not on my list of recommended lubricants,” she says.
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