Epilepsy and Medical Marijuana

[Born420]

Epilepsy and Cannabis

Epilepsy and Cannabis

I was diagnosed with epilepsy in 2004. I was at that time already a recreational smoker at that time. I had several MRI's and scar tissue was found on the left frontal lobe and this was the cause for the seizures. I was then prescribed tegretol, then dilantin, then depakote and finally they tried phenobarbitol and atavan. Nothing worked to stop the once a month sleeping state seizures. Whats' more, now that I was on serious narcotics I also started to develop side effects from the narcotics in addition to contued monthly seizures. This went down over the course of 12-18 mos. During that time i became vegetarian, quit smoking cigs and cannabis and really was in great shape. Once I gave up on western medicine and all the narcotics to control the seizures. I started eating a more balanced diet including meats and dairy. I also started smoking cannabis again. I took note of the fact that when I would continually have a steady stream of indica going in, my seizure would all but stop. I went from having a seizure every month, before being diagnosed. Then on the western medicine drugs my seizures actually increased in frequency to 2-3 per month. Most of the time when I was sleeping. Once I started taking in at least a .5 to 1 gram a day, my seizure went down to once every couple of months or so. I am presently into another month plu run of NO seizures. I smoke a strain that was originally called Menage Trois. It is pretty much a pure indica. It is extremely helpful. I have some Ducksfoot on the way soon and I heard that it is very helpful with epilepsy. I am on the hunt for White Rhino or White Widow as I have read these are two great strains for epilepsy. There are going to be a whole bunch of people that claim to be experts in this area. However, I have found the real experts in studying epilepsy, marijauan and patients, well those experts do not reside in the US. There are neurologists throuhgout europe that are beginning to do blood tests weekly on epilepsy patients that use cannabis as medicine and the neurologist works with the patient to ensure the proper levels of CBD are constantly in the blood stream. We do not ave it like that in the USa...... YET. I think things will change quickly as more and more states legalize for medical use. Neurologists in the USA will get on board soon. You know, why they will, because there is money to be made. Tahts when the US dox will show up for epileptic medical marijuana patients. In lieu of docs in the US working in concert with their epileptic patients that use cannabis medicinally, I am planning on going over to Europe to find a doc to wkr with me. Right now I am sort of on my own with a labtop and some cursory knowledge of growing thanks to some real good friends that showed up in my life. So god bless you man. Handle your business bubblegum. Keep your chin up and don't fear your own mortality because of epilepsy. This is something I am living with, not dying from. Hit me up anytime , I would love to share some information and help one another. Peace Love and Unity.

PS on a lighter note, I jokingly tell all my friends that if they ever see me having a seizure here is what they should do. First, run some warm water in the bath tub, then gather up all of the laundry in the house, then put my convulsing body in the warm water tub, add the laundry and some tide and I will wash their clothes for them. LMFAO.

 

[DoobieDuck]

Born420 a big welcome to IC..I enjoyed your post and truely welcome your information. Sounds like you have been through the gammet of prescriptions and docs. Your sleeping seizures sound very familiar to me. I didn't know the Europeans were researching this much more than the US, good for all of us. Menage A Trios by MOD I grew out a couple years ago and found useful for my disorder, I still have a pack of these seeds. Thanks for posting, we look forward to more from you, and thanks for the "lighter note".....DD.

 

[Doobie Nyce]

I worked with a patient who had HUGE success using blueberry edibles! Much better success than with typical chemmy treatments. She was actually able to start driving again.

 

[rosy]

Hi everybody, I know this thread is quite a bit older... But I hope this even leads to more information since legalisation is quite a bit better, and there are many new CBD-Strains on the market. I'm having trouble finding more information about all this, especially because it's still illegal where I live. My wife is having seizures at night and after about 5 years of no problems with the medicine from the doc, her seizures came back. This was abour 3 Years ago.... We raised the meds up to to maximum of the dose she should take and she has 2 different meds she takes at the same time, and even this doesn't help. I read so much about CBD and epilepsy and MS, which is my wifes main disease, and how much iot could help her.... Well, I tried to give her some weed i bought in Amsterdam, there's about 50 coffeeshops but only 1 had a CBD rich strain on their menu... After she took this, we noticed it helped way more than that other stuff did. She still gets her regular meds and vaporizes some weed before bedtime. But because we can't test the weed for CBD and I don't find any information about what quantity of dosage she should take... I really hope we could have here some more reports by user with the same or similar issues and their stories. I also would appreciate any description of how much and how often you smoke it. My wife usually doesn't smoke cannabis, so it's not intended to get high, which is why i especially would love to hear any reports by using strains like ACDC, Charlottes Web, Suzy-Q and all that other stuff which should contain almost no THC. oh, and Happy New Year, by the way https://www.icmag.com/ic/images/smilies/tiphat.gif ROSY

 

[cannabacca]

I don't know why people would be smoking weed to control epilepsy making and using oil is a much more affective way to go it would definately give you a more consistant blood level as apposed to smoking. Also why search for high cbd no thc strains ? Don't anybody kid themselves there are huge medical benefits from THC along with all the other 65-70 cannabinoids in marijuana, so finding and using pure CBD means you are a medical consumer and not one of those weed junkies ? Researchers make this mistake time and time again it's like discovering red wine prevents clogged arteries so you go out and buy red wine and distil out all the alcohol throw out everything but the alcohol because obviously alcohol is the active ingredient and doing research on alcohol ! If it is pure CBD people want why come here ? you can extract CBD from sources other than marijuana you don't need marijuana to get CBD.

 

[rosy]

Thanks for your reply, Cannabacca. You're right, it might be easier to make an oil to use it. I don't know where you're from, but over here in my country it's all illegal and it's quite hard to find any information. I could easily make such an oil, but I don't know any aimed concentration... The thing with CBD only might be a bit short termed, but it's just because of the inner thought, not getting high. But having a low THC Concentration up to (maybe) 5% still could give the medical benefits of THC, and with higher CBD concentration it shoud be possible to prevent getting high. That's why I hope for more detailed information and personal reports like the one above from Born420. Since we have no doctors or medical centers who are actively working on and with Marijuana, I have almost no chance instead of just trying and doing my own research, but on risk of my wife's costs. I don't know if there's really a risk, surely not by just doing marijuana, but if we would decide to get her off that other drugs wich surely have more side effects, this really might be risky. e.g. she gets 2 types of anti-epilepsy drugs. This causes depression. Therefore she gets anti-depressant, which increases the risk of getting convulsions. And so on... Please, whoever has some personal experience with this kind of things, I highly appreciate some storys. Even bad storys if somebody had bad luck and things didn't turn as expected. Thank you, Rosy

 

[oldchuck]

I have epilepsy and Cannabis does control my seizures almost like magic. But just smoking a joint of ordinary weed does not do it. It has taken me three or four years of study and experimentation to figure out what works best for me. I'm still working on it.

I have posted on this subject in several other threads. Just click on my profile and look up my old posts. In brief:

In my opinion CBD stops seizures in their tracks. It doesn't take much and it doesn't last very long. I make a concentrated alcohol tincture and use it in a little 10ml plastic spray tube. When I anticipate a seizure, you know, the aura, as quickly as I can I spray about 2ml under my tongue. Takes a couple of minutes and the seizure melts away. I haven't had a serious one for many months now.

By contrast, I used to take a lot of different conventional AEDs in pill form like your wife. None of them worked completely or even partially and they all had undesirable side effects. Now I use only the Cannabis but the cannabinoids do not seem to stay in my system for long. When I have tried eating it in oil form, like in oral medication form, I still have to use the tincture to stop the incidental seizure.

You can buy CBD only extract made from hemp on the internet. It costs a fortune and in my opinion is a big time rip off. I like to balance the CBD with some THC. I grow my own and make my own extract. Dosing doesn't seem to need to be very precise. I have not been able to do any serious lab testing. but cross the right hemp variety with almost any high THC variety and the F1 generation produces a higher CBD and lower THC plant with very nice hybrid vigor.

 

[rosy]

Hey oldchuck, thank you for your opinion. To clear the situation a little bit. My wife suffers from MS, which in her case destroyed cells in a brain-area where there are usually the reasons for epilepsy located. Please keep in mind I'm no native speaker and I'm neither a medical guy. Anyway, the epilepsy is in this case a side effect of the MS. When the seizures first appeared, she had them also at daytime. She got an aura and had several seizures within a couple of weeks. After like 6 months she had enough drugs to have no "noticable" seizures. After like 5 years they came back, maybe because of further brain-damage... Now she still has some from time to time, but only at night. Mostly shortly after falling asleep. We are actually recording her sleep on tape, which is not as sexy as it sounds. I actually give her CBD oil like the one mentioned, but Í have to give her a higher dose than the bottle says. Like you said, we have to try.... But it helps so much hearing others have success with it. I'm no fool, I know if some people have successhtis doesn't mean it will help everybody, but it gives hope. I ordered some nice strains and try my luck growing some flowers to see what helps. Do you think a tincture of alcohol would be better that making oil? In the process of making it, I see no big difference. Both should be easy to make and with the right oil it should have a nice shelftime. Now I will check your posts

 

[oldchuck]

Sounds like you pretty much know what you are doing, Rosy. Satavex, made by GW pharm, is approved medication for MS in several countries. It is a 50/50 mix of THC and CBD extracted from the plant. My own mixture is probably heavier on the THC, maybe 75/25 THC/CBD. GW also has epidilox in clinical trials for epilepsy now. It is almost all CBD and has shown good results on children with severe seizure disorder.

I prefer the alcohol tincture because it is fast. When I feel a seizure coming on I don't have time to digest a pill or even smoke a joint. With the small spray tube always at hand I can treat it immediately. Everybody is different. I know a guy who favors rubbing concentrated oil on his gums for quick action. Too sticky for me. I'm sure you will figure out what works best for your wife. Good luck.