Medical Research: Parents of children with severe epilepsy are turning to medical marijuana in a desperate attempt to find relief and a life for their kids. Meanwhile, the medical community grapples with how to deal with the growing popularity of an unproven cure.
An article from Today's Parent: The day before Mandy McKnight gave her then six-year-old son Liam cannabis oil for the first time, he had 70 serious tonic-clonic (formerly known as grand mal) seizures. A few times an hour, around the clock, he would lose consciousness while his whole body stiffened and convulsed for about three minutes. On top of the seizures and the exhaustion and disorientation that followed, Liam was knocked out by the side effects of the cocktail of anticonvulsant drugs he was taking several times a day. “Most of the time he would just lie on the couch drooling, basically catatonic,” says McKnight. “It was a nightmare.”
Liam, now eight, has Dravet syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy caused by a rare genetic mutation. He was diagnosed when he started having seizures at nine months old. Before then, he had been a healthy, happy baby. Over the next five years, Liam was placed on 10 different medications and a special diet, but nothing worked: his seizures were becoming more intense and more frequent. Prolonged and repeated seizures (ones that last longer than five minutes and don’t allow for recovery between them) can be life-threatening, and by 2013, McKnight says she and her husband needed to act. “We felt like Liam was going to die if we didn’t do something.” They had heard success stories from other parents of kids with Dravet syndrome who were experimenting with cannabis oil-edible oil infused with strains of medical marijuana with high levels of cannabidiol (CBD), a chemical that may reduce the frequency of seizures. They decided to give it a try. Liam’s paediatric neurologist was skeptical and refused to write a prescription for an unproven treatment, but they were hopeful, excited even. “We felt like it could be life changing for our family,” says McKnight, who has two older daughters.
They were so anxious they travelled from their home in Ottawa to meet with a paediatrician in Edmonton, recommended by friends in their community, who was willing to write a prescription for medical marijuana. Reassured, the McKnights mail-ordered dried marijuana from their assigned licensed producer, and then worked with a Montreal-based medical marijuana dispensary to learn how to turn it into edible cannabis oil. In June 2014, after his inaugural dose of high-CBD cannabis oil, Liam had his first seizure-free day in two years-and then he went 10 more days without seizing. He started walking around, talking and feeding himself. “All of a sudden, he was looking us in the eye for the first time,” remembers McKnight. “I was finally really meeting my kid, who had been living in a fog of medication and seizures.”
McKnight is part of a growing network of parents whose children have rare, difficult-to-treat forms of epilepsy who have exhausted traditional options and are turning to medical marijuana. These parents swap cannabis oil recipes on Facebook, share contacts for neurologists who are willing to write referrals to medical marijuana clinics and spend thousands of dollars a year on specialized plant strains (none of which are covered by drug plans).
The idea of using CBD on kids went mainstream in 2013, after a documentary by Sanjay Gupta, a US neurosurgeon and medical reporter, featured the story of a six-year-old Colorado girl with Dravet syndrome who had experienced a dramatic decrease in seizures while on a daily CBD oil regimen. High-CBD cannabis oil is used commonly, and with great anecdotal success, for kids with severe epilepsy, but there are also reports of parents using it to treat their children’s autism, ADHD and anxiety. So far, most of what parents have to go on are reports from other families, though initial clinical studies of CBD are beginning to build evidence to support what parents using it already know. But with research very much in its infancy and no long-term studies or standardized product they can prescribe, most paediatric neurologists are reluctant to recommend cannabis for kids. In fact, the Canadian Paediatric Society recently released a statement saying that while research is ongoing, cannabis should only be considered as a possible treatment in “exceptional cases.” In the meantime, some desperate parents are forging ahead, accessing cannabis through Canada’s legal medical marijuana program and figuring out on their own how to dose their kids.
Using marijuana to treat children can seem radical-as a recreational drug, it’s still illegal, and some research on heavy-pot-smoking teens suggests it can damage developing brains. Even for parents who now give it to their kids, the idea took some getting used to. “I was never a recreational user,” McKnight says. “If you had told me five years ago I’d be doing this, I would have said, ‘You’re crazy! I’m not giving my kid cannabis!’” Vancouver mom Sherri Brown has given CBD oil to her six-year-old son Quinn, who was diagnosed with epilepsy and autism. She’s become accustomed to fielding questions and criticisms from parents on social media. “Somebody jumped on me in an autism Facebook group and commented, ‘That’s irresponsible,’” Brown says. “The stigma around it being a dangerous illegal drug is going to persist for awhile.”
Medical marijuana advocates are quick to explain that not all cannabis products are the same. Parents of kids with drug-resistant epilepsy choose CBD oil because it’s made from strains of the cannabis sativa plant that are bred to be both high in CBD and very low in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the chemical responsible for the stereotypical “stoner” high. It’s important to note that kids dosed with high-CBD, low-THC oil are not getting high-in fact, McKnight and some other parents say that, compared with their kids’ lethargic, stoned behaviour on traditional anticonvulsant pharmaceuticals, when they’re on CBD, they appear brighter, more active and more engaged in the world... Read The Full Story.
Featured Post
Do not make the work of Deaf YouVideo content look like your own. Give credit where it is due and requires that articles be based on reliable published sources.
Posts Archive
Most Viewed Last 7 Days
-
Why are annoying Jehovah's Witnesses door knockers so disrespectful to Deaf people, the community around the globe. This blog actuall...
-
The Biblical of Deafness "I Cannot Hear" by John Conrad Ruppel. The Bible verses about " Deafness ." John Ruppel of...
-
This is a short glimpse into the lives of some of Thailand's Deaf working girls in Bangkok. Anyone had experience with Deaf women in...
-
Play Free Creepy and Scary Game: Sinthai's The Halloween. Here comes a brand new scary game from the creator of the popular game The ...
-
Deaf News: Michael Hubbs is a con artist, claims his former pastor who turned atheist. Michael (Mike) Hubbs is a con artist in the Deaf ...
-
Full documentary in the role model of female bodybuilders, Shelley Beattie, ‘Deaf Woman BodyBuilder’ Deaf Mosaic exclusive interview cov...
-
Deaf cats tormented, cruel laboratory experiments and killed in University for the cochlear/hearing implant industry. Warning: Graphic Co...
Most Viewed Last 30 Days
-
Why are annoying Jehovah's Witnesses door knockers so disrespectful to Deaf people, the community around the globe. This blog actuall...
-
The Biblical of Deafness "I Cannot Hear" by John Conrad Ruppel. The Bible verses about " Deafness ." John Ruppel of...
-
Prank and Spank, Annette and Scott Kerr has announced that possibly leaving YouTube. The tubers entertaining Deaf couple Annette and Sco...
-
Parental guidance is advised, The content may contain R-rated material, nudity and profanity not suitable for anyone under the age of 18. ...
-
This is a short glimpse into the lives of some of Thailand's Deaf working girls in Bangkok. Anyone had experience with Deaf women in...
-
Deaf vlogger WonderGent aka James Timothy "Tim" Troutman arrested for possession of child pornography. DALE CITY, Virginia -- A ...
-
An Omaha girl died of bacterial meningitis over the weekend after deteriorating very quickly. OMAHA, Nebraska -- Katie Engle, 7, was a se...
Most Viewed Of All Time
-
An Omaha girl died of bacterial meningitis over the weekend after deteriorating very quickly. OMAHA, Nebraska -- Katie Engle, 7, was a se...
-
The U.S. Winter Olympics Deaf Speedskater, Michael W. Hubbs arrested and mugshot for probation violation in Utah. SALT LAKE CITY, Utah --...
-
Democratic Vice President Joe Biden mocking an ASL interpreter. DANVILLE, Virginia -- Vice President of the United States of America Joe B...
-
Parental guidance is advised, The content may contain R-rated material, nudity and profanity not suitable for anyone under the age of 18. ...
-
Jehovah's Witnesses' ASL version "Stop Masturbating" under fire for misleading signs with facial expressions and body lang...
-
Deaf Protest will be held at the White House in Washington the District of Columbia on Sept. 5th and 6th 2015. WASHINGTON -- President Ob...
-
SportsMX - Kitchen Talk: "The Ugly Truth" Interview With Ricky Taylor. The premiere of Kitchen Talk show from SportsMX . This ...
-
The Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump - Marlee Matlin and Gilbert Gottfried were incredibly hilarious performances. NEW YORK CITY -- M...
-
Deaf News: Michael W. Hubbs announced that he was hositpalized by stress symptoms. SALT LAKE CITY, Utah -- Michael (Mike) Hubbs of short...
About This Site
Deaf YouVideo is public web site and a free assessment for everyone. A public web site is a web site that you can use to have a presence on the internet. It is a public facing site to attract customers and partners, and it usually includes increase traffic. Feel free to exploring the online community - Deaf, Hearing-Impairment, Hearing-Loss, Sign Language, News, Events, Societies, Resources, Links, Videos, Vloggers and much more. Be sure to Bookmarks this website.
Submitted content, to whom it may concern of posting on this site: YouPrivacy
Submitted content, to whom it may concern of posting on this site: YouPrivacy
Videos and Channels Powered By YouTube
RSS Feed Content
Deaf YouVideo provided by YouTube, Blogger, Google Feedburner, RSS Feed are a way for websites large and small to distribute their content as well beyond just visitors using browsers. The feed icon feeds permit subscription to regular updates, delivered automatically via a web portal, news reader vlogs or blogs and etc. Submitted content and/or disabled by request consume content and will be immediately removed from Deaf YouVideo. If you see the content appears "error, blank, and feed not support", click home or refresh your browsers.
Copyright © 2020 Deaf YouVideo All Rights Reserved.
Deaf YouVideo. Powered by Blogger.