In this interview, Seedella founder, Lisa Guerra talks to Sasha Kerry Smith about why she started Seedella, why cannabinoid therapy matters, how she used it to rebuild her health after she was diagnosed with an autoimmune illness, and what she wants people to gain from her workshops.
SKS: Why do you want to help women with autoimmune conditions and menopause symptoms?
LG: Well, first of all, I am one of these women so I can relate to them. But the main thing about cannabis is that it can calm the nervous system and create balance in the body, which improves health.
A lot of people have heard about CBD or tried it but they don’t get much relief from it. In reality, women who are dealing with pain, for whatever reason, an osteoarthritic condition for example, they need THC for pain relief. If it’s dosed correctly it can alleviate the symptoms, meaning they can move around again, and get their lives back.
SKS: How does THC impact your quality of life?
LG: It’s had a massive impact on my life. The first time I took some THC oil at night before going to bed, the next morning I woke up pain-free and happy for the first time in years. It was life changing.
SKS: How long were you bed-ridden for?
LG: Because I was sick, the timeline is hazy. But I was stuck in bed for about eight months. The worst of the illness lasted for a few years. For example, it would take all my energy just to get up and have a shower. So, after a shower, I’d have to lie back down again because I was exhausted.
SKS: How did you contract this illness?
LG: Around fifteen years ago, I went on holiday to Cuba and picked up some kind of bacteria while I was there. I had serious stomach cramps, was doubled over in pain. When I got home, the doctor gave me antibiotics and it went away for a while but then it came back again, and then that went on for a while. Some days pain, other days okay. I had no idea what was going on.
Things got really bad at the end of that year. On the eve of New Year’s Eve, I went out with some friends and the next day, I couldn’t get out of bed. It was like the worst flu ever. Freezing cold with four duvets on top of me. Then sweating. No energy. Aches and pains. Swollen glands. That was my life for years.
SKS: So your days were totally disrupted?
LG: Completely. It would take me an hour to get out of bed. Do one thing. Lie back down. Breathe. Tell myself it was okay. Ignore the pain. Force myself to get up again. But I had so little energy I couldn’t even hold a hairbrush to brush my hair.
SKS: Did you get medical attention?
LG: Well, I was in no man’s land for ages. First, they sent me for blood tests, did a blood test on my right arm, and that night I couldn’t lift my right arm. Then I had to go back for another test, which was a nightmare because it was such a struggle to get out of the house. They wanted to do another blood test, so I said, use the other arm this time, and then the same thing happened. My left arm was paralyzed after the test.
Plus, the tests didn’t help them figure out what was wrong with me, so I was none the wiser. But I was left damaged for weeks after that because I couldn’t move my arms. After that, I went for scans, colonoscopy, endoscopy, all the tests, and they still couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me.
You know, I would make an effort to make myself look a bit presentable before I went outside. Which was a lot of work. But it mattered to me. This one doctor took one look at me and said, “there’s nothing wrong with you. It’s all in your head. Get some Paracetamol from the chemist downstairs.” I burst into tears, and said to her, “have you any idea how much effort it took me to get here?”
SKS: What did you do?
LG: I found a different doctor who wanted to do a fresh round of tests. By then, I’d been on Google and figured out I had the Epstein-Barr virus, which can lie dormant in the body until it’s triggered. I believe the bacteria I picked up in Cuba triggered it in me.
So, I specifically asked this new doctor to test me for the virus and it came back positive, and that helped us understand what was going on. But it didn’t fix the problem. They have no idea how to treat this virus.
SKS: And what alerted you to the Epstein-Barr virus?
LG: I came across the Medical Medium, Anthony Williams, and he talks about how the Epstein-Barr virus is connected to so many conditions, in particular, autoimmune conditions like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.
When it’s triggered, it affects every system, immune system, endocrine system, all of them, and makes any illness ten times worse. So someone who has migraines will have worse migraines, or a woman in menopause will have way worse symptoms.
SKS: When did you discover cannabis could help?
LG: I’ve been a recreational user for a long time but I was never a regular user. And when I was sick I couldn’t smoke because my glands were swollen. So, smoking just wasn’t an option. But then I met Ben, a healer I call The Intelligent Hippie.
He can put his hands on you and know what’s wrong with you – yeah, one of those magical kind of people! Can’t explain it. He put his hands on me, and the first thing he said was that cannabis oil could really help me.
So, he came to my apartment and showed me how to make it with butane gas, and without blowing up the kitchen. We made this tiny amount of oil, and he said to take a tiny drop before going to bed.
Well, the next morning I got up and out of bed without thinking. For years, I’d had to force myself, negotiate with myself to get up and get moving. This morning, boom, up, no negotiation. I couldn’t believe it.
I was in such shock I said to my husband, “I feel really happy.” That’s when I remembered I’d had a drop of oil the night before, and understood the difference it could make to my life. From that point on, I really got into it, and started to learn all about it.
SKS: How did you source it back then?
LG: Oh God, I went through a few years of meeting guys in car parks. That was awful. I’m a medical patient, after all, which means, the quality of oil really matters to me. I can’t take any old thing. And you don’t know what you’re buying when you buy from the black market. So, that’s when I decided to grow my own and started experimenting, looking for strains that might work for me.
SKS: What were you looking for from a strain?
LG: I liked taking the THC oil at night because that was great for sleep and getting up the next morning. But I needed a different oil for during the day, something not so psychoactive that I could take in the morning before going to work. So, I went looking for higher CBD strains and that’s what got me interested in cannabinoid therapy.
Once I started to discover that whole world, I was fascinated, and started signing up for various courses so that I could learn as much as possible. That’s when I discovered the 1:1 seeds, which have a balanced ratio of CBD and THC, and are my favourite strain because I still get a mild hit of THC for pain relief but I can get on with my day without any of the psychoactive effects.
SKS: Is it easier to source seeds today?
LG: No, not really. Most seed houses produce high THC strains. But for people like me who are looking for high CBD strains or 1:1, it’s much harder to find those strains.
That ties into one of the reasons why I created Seedella, to help people get to the right information as quickly as possible, and bypass the years of fumbling around in the dark the way I did. Once you’ve got the right info, and of course, the right support, it’s much easier to build a personal pathway to wellness.
SKS: Is that the kind of education your offer in your workshops?
LG: Yes, I want to show people the different sides of this plant. The market is currently dominated by high THC strains and this idea that everyone wants to get high. That’s fine but no one needs to learn how to get high.
But if you learn about the diversity of the plant and how to work with ratios, you can change the effects, and get the benefits of the plant in many different ways. That’s the kind of knowledge I want to share with people, as well as show them how easy it is to use their connection to the plant to improve their day-to-day quality of life.
This interviewed has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Disclaimer: Cannabis as a medicine is not suitable for everyone.
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