Epilepsy is a disorder that affects approximately five out of every 1,000 people, characterized by the appearance of a significant number of seizures, as well as the need for the use of different drugs for the control of such seizures.
There are children who suffer very frequent epileptic seizures with episodes several times a day without noticing changes when undergoing pharmacological treatments, which on the other hand left terrible side effects. Parents and science ensure that Medical marijuana helps alleviate seizures in children with epilepsy when traditional drugs fail.
Understanding childhood epilepsy
The childhood epilepsy It is a chronic disease of multiple origin characterized by the presence of repeated crises caused by excessive discharge of a group of brain neurons, associated with a wide variety of clinical manifestations.
In addition to this neuronal discharge, which causes epileptic seizures, other alterations may also appear at the motor, sensory, affective or even cognitive levels. On the other hand, the appearance of sudden and unexpected crises and their tendency to recurrence is characteristic of epilepsy.
We can classify different types of childhood epilepsy according to whether the crisis originates in a certain area of the brain or these discharges affect several parts of the brain at the same time. We can also mention which are the main childhood epileptic syndromes.
Regarding the treatments, taking into account the individual characteristics of each child, one can speak on the one hand of a psychological treatment and on the other, of a pharmacological treatment, in addition to surgical treatment, as appropriate.
When talking about how epilepsy influences the development of the child. There are three main factors that make children who have epilepsy see their cognitive performance more compromised: the consequences that come from epilepsy itself, the alterations that could exist before the onset of epileptic seizures and possible side effects caused by the medication.
Three cases and marijuana as hope
Charlotte
In 2013, the case of Charlotte Figi, a 6-year-old girl with Dravet syndrome, a rare and serious form of epilepsy, became the first person entitled to use cannabis for medicinal purposes in Colorado, USA. UU.
He had lost his ability to walk, talk and eat because of his frequent crises when his parents decided to try a kind of medical marijuana with low THC content. THC, also known as tetrahydrocannabinol, is the chemical agent that causes the psychological effects of marijuana. His case was so resonated that he gave his name to the medicinal cannabis oil, Charlotte's web.
Abby
Another known case is that of Abby. When he was born they saw signs that something was wrong. He could not see with his left eye and when performing an MRI they detected that a calloused part that connects both hemispheres was missing in his brain. It also had congenital defects and microcephaly, a smaller than normal head.
The reason for all these problems was Aicardi syndrome, a rare and uncured genetic disorder that affects about 1,000 people in the United States, almost exclusively women.
Abby suffered frequent seizures, has had two severe epileptic seizures a day and doctors warned that any day an attack could leave her unable to breathe and end her life.
Given the impossibility of treating her in Florida, where she resides, due to the high medical costs, and despite how difficult it would be to change her residence, her parents no longer thought about it. They left their two older daughters who are studying to go with Abby to Colorado (USA), to try a marijuana therapy, where its sale and use is legal.
Graciela Elizalde
Another case is that of Graciela Elizalde, a 9-year-old Mexican girl authorized to use marijuana as a treatment. He has a severe form of epilepsy (up to 400 episodes of daily seizures) and after unsuccessfully trying dozens of treatments to combat it, his parents began a fight for Mexican authorities to authorize an experimental treatment with a marijuana derivative used to treat These patients in other countries.
"We do not use marijuana, we are not activists either, we simply seek treatment for our daughter because we are desperate"The drug is made with Cannabidiol (CBC), an oil derived from the cannabis sativa or marijuana plant, which has no psychoactive effects and that can help alleviate the effects of the spasms it suffers.
"It is not about promoting the use of cannabis to treat diseases," says Dr. Ana Mingorance, Director of Research at Dravet Syndrome Foundation Spain and responsible for the meeting, "but to assess whether purified cannabidiol could become the drug that thousands of those affected by drug-resistant epilepsy wait ”.
What marijuana can do against epilepsy
It is not the first time that this herb is related to cures to diseases such as parkinson's, AIDS, cancer and chronic pain.
Symptoms of epilepsy can be mitigated in cases where drugs do not achieve the expected results, reducing spasms and increasing verbal coordination. There are even 2% of patients who have tried marijuana as a medicine that get rid of all the seizures they suffered before.
As published in Scientific American, the largest study conducted so far, demonstrates that a cannabis-based medication is effective in treating epilepsy resistant to other treatments, although there is still a lot of research to clear the reasons. The study authors declared.
"I think, based on the evidence we have, if a child has tried multiple drugs that are standard and epilepsy is still serious and quality of life decreases, then the risks of testing CBD could be considered low and modest, at best of the cases".
As Abby’s parents told CNN,
"Marijuana has almost completely eradicated Abby's severe epileptic seizures. When they left Florida, she was having two to four attacks per week, lasting approximately 8 to 12 minutes. In Colorado, she has had about one per week. and lasts only a few seconds. Only a drop of high THC marijuana oil under the tongue stops seizures almost immediately. "
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