Born 10-weeks premature, Tiegan has been a little fighter since her first breath! If you’re wondering “Does Cannabis Help Seizures?” She is the answer.
Editor’s Note: Any testimonials or endorsements found on this site are for anecdotal purposes only. The information in Rxleaf testimonials is not intended as direct medical advice, nor should it be relied upon as a substitute for consultations with qualified healthcare professionals who are intimately knowledgeable about your individual medical needs.
I’d like to share a story of TRIUMPH. It isn’t my story. It is my 12-year old daughter’s story, of how we learned that cannabis does help seizures. I’m just blessed to participate in it!
So, Teigan was born ten weeks early. She had a stroke, grade 4 bleeding on the brain, brain seizures, a collapsed lung, and more. As a result she has cerebral palsy, epilepsy, developmental delay, and she is cognitively impaired. She has autism and ADHD. Her back was broken in three places from osteopenia. When she was a mere four months old we received the news that Teigan had stage 4 neuroblastoma (cancer of the nervous system). It returned three times.
Does Cannabis Help Tiegan’s Conditions?
Fast forward 12 years to now. I finally was able to obtain Teigan’s MEDICAL CANNABIS CARD!!!! We use different oils, tinctures, lotions, and edibles.
Now when my daughter reaches her hand out to grab something, it no longer tremors. Her seizure activity has nearly disappeared. When she goes into a meltdown (where she would usually become violent), I am able to give her an edible to calm her down and stop the meltdown. Her speech has improved and her focus is better.
Teigan takes 19 pills a day that I crush up and put through her G-tube. She also has medications on hand that we given when we need. This is way too much medication for anyone, let alone a 75 lb 12 year old girl. My goal is to work closely with Teigan’s doctor and get her off as many meds as possible.
MEDICAL CANNABIS is literally going to save my daughter’s life. Soon she won’t need to take 10 pills a day for seizures. And soon she won’t need pharmaceutical drugs to make her sleep. Perhaps soon the lotion may take the place of her muscle relaxers. Medical cannabis has already taken place of her Klonopin.
People, medical cannabis has improved my daughter’s quality of life and our entire family as a whole. I am so thankful for this. It is a miracle for my family.
I know this post was long. Thank you for taking the time to read it till the end. Feel free to share. People need to know how important medical cannabis is and other parents like me need to know that there is HOPE!!!!
From RxLeaf – Hope For Tiegan
Tiegan’s story is a familiar one, but in no way does it make it any less heart wrenching. As Tiegans’ mother tells us, her young daughter has to take over nineteen pills a day, ten of which are to control seizures.
Although she has only just received permission to treat her daughter with medical cannabis, her mother has already seen improvements to her quality of life. This includes a noticeable reduction in seizures. So does cannabis commonly help with seizures like it seems to be doing for Tiegan?
Does Cannabis Help Seizures? Let’s Look at the Science
From what we know thus far, there is a fascinating relationship between endocannabinoid signaling and seizure activity. As only one example from within the research, a 2010 study published in Epilepsia discovered anandamide, which is a naturally produced cannabinoid, was reduced in patients with epilepsy. [1]Romigi, A., Bari, M., Placidi, F., Marciani, M. G., Malaponti, M., Torelli, F., … Maccarrone, M. (2009). Cerebrospinal fluid levels of the endocannabinoid anandamide are reduced in patients with … Continue reading
Cannabinoids, (the unique therapeutic molecules found in cannabis), seamlessly interact with the endocannabinoid system. It makes logical sense to study their influence on seizure activity. To date, this may be one of the most robust areas of cannabis research, with many well-controlled studies in advanced clinical phases demonstrating this effect.
Further Research
Does cannabis help seizures? Here are a few examples from the scientific literature. In 2016, also in the journal Epilepsia, researchers treated 18 patients with tuberous sclerosis complex epilepsy subset. They reported, “After 3 months of treatment with CBD, the median weekly seizure frequency decreased for all seizure types experienced by patients in this study.” The parents of the participants also reported cognitive improvements in eighty-five percent of cases and behavioral improvements in more than sixty-six percent of cases. [2]Hess, E. J., Moody, K. A., Geffrey, A. L., Pollack, S. F., Skirvin, L. A., Bruno, P. L., … Thiele, E. A. (2016). Cannabidiol as a new treatment for drug-resistant epilepsy in tuberous sclerosis … Continue reading
In 2018, Cureus published “Epilepsy and Cannabis: A Literature Review.” In the report, the authors highlight two specific and exciting findings. The first is that the most recent studies with sample sizes of more than 100 participants “showed that CBD use resulted in a significant reduction in seizure frequency.” The second finding details how the “adverse effects of CBD overall appear to be benign.” This review, backed by important clinical trials, tells us that cannabis, especially CBD, effectively reduces seizures without significant risk.[3]Zaheer, S., Kumar, D., Khan, M. T., Giyanwani, P. R., & Kiran, F. (2018). Epilepsy and Cannabis: A Literature Review. Cureus, 10(9), e3278. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.3278.
Cannabis for Seizures, Scientific Fact
Today, cannabis for seizures is one of the most well-researched areas within cannabis science. Further, several different formulas have already gone through the final stages of clinical trials in the US and abroad.
In the US, the question “does cannabis help seizures” was even settled by the approval of Epidiolex by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In 2018, Epidiolex (a pharmaceutical preparation of CBD) became the first cannabis-derived drug on the market in America. It is specifically used for the treatment of intractable forms of epilepsy in children. If the FDA approves of it, it must be true.
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