Brian is a father of three and a runner who suffers from arthritis and pain from running injuries. His story is one of the many that inspires Pebble to work with and for families. Read his interview:
Tell us about you. What do you do?
I’m a father of three who lives in California and I work in the transportation field during the day. When I’m not working though, I can usually be found running somewhere (at least for the past 7 years. I keep falling in love with running the longer I do it.
So what inspired you to start using Pebble?
I started running to help me stay fit when my kids were born. I had no idea what I was doing and quickly started developing some injuries. I was trying to increase my mileage and pace faster than I should have and was not running in the right gear. At the time I felt there wasn’t a lot of information out there about [running] injuries.
A couple of years back I developed plantar fasciitis. It was bad. I tried everything from cortisone shots in my feet, to physical therapy, acupuncture, and even different supplements. I tried anything else that could possibly help, but nothing really worked. I ended up taking some time off from all physical activity and that was a huge part of what helped me. Some friends recommended taking high dose CBD, as I tried lower dose stuff in the past with no noticeable benefits. It was stuff that I bought locally. I never felt anything from taking the cheaper CBD.
My friends had me try Pebble, and it worked. Within a couple of weeks I noticed a huge difference. It wasn’t only with pain in my feet, but I’ve been dealing with arthritis in my wrists and fingers for quite a while (lovely genetics) – probably about 10 years now. Nothing worked for my arthritis either. CBD actually has completely made that go away within a month. Over a year later and it hasn’t come back. I was really skeptical when my friend said it may help, but I am a true believer in CBD now.
Awesome! Which Pebble products are you using, or did you use, to help?
My friend recommended that I take a higher concentration since I really was focused on anti-inflammation benefits more than anything else. Plantar Fasciitis is an inflammatory issue, so you really need to get that inflammation taken care of before any healing can happen. At least that’s what my doctor told me. He recommended ibuprofen three times a day, and that’s something I’m wasn’t going to do. I’ve gone down that road in the past and it did nothing but create additional issues for me and slowed my recovery. I was using the liquid caps in the morning, and then the 1500 oil in the evening, right before bed.
And you’ve noticed a change?
Yeah. I did take time off of all physical activities, as well. But I’ve done that in the past, and it didn’t necessarily work for me. This time, I noticed a big difference within a month of starting my new Pebble routine. My Plantar Fasciitis has been gone for almost a year now, and hasn’t come back. That was the last thing I really expected. Pebble has helped me reach my lowest weight since high school and I am in better running shape now than I have ever been in the past. The recovery benefits of the CBD have changed my running and I could not be more grateful.
Have you noticed any other effects while taking Pebble?
My ex-wife and I separated about a two years ago. After a while I started getting depressed. That [depression] created more of a numb feeling and I really didn’t want to go down the prescription medication route with anti-depressants.
My experience with anti-depressants in the past was not very good. It did help with the depression, but it basically took all my feelings away – I would just be numb to everything.
Taking Pebble has also helped with my depression. It didn’t completely go away, but it made it to where everything was manageable. It a really nice additional benefit to the anti-inflammatory characteristics.
That’s really cool! What has your experience been like working with the Pebble team?
My interactions have] just been really good. I’m trying to figure out what the right dosage would be, which products, and why each product would work. Honestly, the website’s set up in a way where that information is available. And I really liked that. I think that a lot of websites out there kind of hide their information, and I don’t know that it’s intentional, but I think it’s really important to have clear direction on how to use a product… I feel like that’s all really clear on the Pebble website.
Last question: If you could share one piece of advice with somebody in your situation, what would it be?
Honestly, I mean, if it’s someone who isn’t currently taking CBD oil and is worried about it or wants to look into it, my recommendation is to try it. A lot of people worry, “am I going to get high off of it? Am I going to feel weird?” I take it every day. I take it before I go to work. I take it before I go to bed. Nobody knows I’m on it, because there’s no difference in feeling, other than I think that there’s a little bit of a feeling of being more comfortable with myself.
It’s just nice to take a supplement and it just works. With my arthritis I hadn’t been able to do pushups because I couldn’t put my wrist back far enough. I’m now doing regular pushups. All the activities that I wasn’t able to do before, even opening jars, I have no problems with now at all. And it’s just been an amazing experience to finally see a product like that. A product that actually works unlike, you know… There’s so many supplements out there where they promise something, and you might see a result, but most of it’s probably a placebo. I don’t feel that that’s the case here. I’ve actually seen real results and can document it (I’ve also seen the testing on pebbles products, which verifies its potency and purity, which is important).
That’s awesome. Well, thank you for answering my questions and taking some time to talk today. It was great to meet you!
It was great to meet you, too!