19 December 07 - 01:22
Cannabis helps epilepsy
Epilepsy is a neurological condition which affects approximately 1 in 100 people. Depending on how wide spread in the brain the neuroligical disturbance is (the focus), there are a range of possible seizures from lapses in consciousness (absence) or convulsions (Grand Mal) to grimacing or repetitive movements (temporal) to just odd sensations (auras).
Epilepsy is as individual as the people who have it and everyone has their own patterns of seizures. There are sometimes triggers for seizures such as sleep loss, low blood sugar, stress or even boredom. Some common causes of epilpsy include head trauma, birth injury, hormonal imbalances, and viral attacks.
Some kinds of epilepsy can be well controlled by anti-convulsant drugs, but a few forms do not react well to these.
Anti-convulsant drugs have potentially serious side-effects, including bone softening, reduced production of red blood cells, swelling of the gums, and emotional disturbances.
Other occasional effects include uncontrollable rapid eye movements, loss of motor co-ordination, coma and even death. In addition, these medications are far from ideal in that they only completely stop seizures in about 60% of patients.
Cannabis has long been known to have anti-convulsant properties, and these have been investigated from the 19th century. Large amounts of anecdotal reports and 1-patient case studies indicate the assistance of cannabis in controlling seizures. Cannabis analogues have been shown to prevent seizures when given in combination with prescription drugs.
Patients report that they can wean themselves off prescription drugs, and still not experience seizures if they have a regular supply of cannabis.
www.ukcia.org/medical/epilepsy.php~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Approximately twenty-five percent of people with EPILEPSY, or one million Americans, have seizure disorders which cannot be controlled by conventional methods. Many of our patients come to us having been labelled 'hopeless'.
http://www.andrewsreiter.com/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The journal Neurology stated in a 2004 article by D. W. Gross, M.D., et al., "Marijuana Use and Epilepsy; Prevalence in Patients of a Tertiary Care Epilepsy Center" (Vol. 62, pp. 2095-2097)
"Twenty-one percent of subjects had used Cannabis in the past year with the majority of active users reporting beneficial effects on seizures. Twenty-four percent of all subjects believed Cannabis was an effective therapy for epilepsy.
Despite limited evidence of efficacy, many patients with epilepsy believe cannabis is an effective therapy for epilepsy and are actively using it."
www.neurology.org/cgi/content/abstract/62/11/2095~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Testimony (anon) "I had a car wreck in 1995 and was knocked into a coma, suffered traumatic brain injury and became epileptic. I have tried many other epileptic medications and I am taking two now: phenytoin and lamictal. They help, yes, but I always ended up having another seizure.
I have found that since I began smoking cannabis, it honestly helps with my grand mal and petit mal seizures. When I do not have it the seizures begin again by themselves and it is impossible to stop them with anything else at the time with the same effect that cannabis can give to you.
I promise you it is really the one thing in my life now that I am extremely thankful for because it has helped me to return to a more of a normal life."
www.medicalmarijuanaprocon.org~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Historically one of the commonest medical uses of cannabis preparations has been as an anti-convulsant. O'Shaughnessy (1842), for example, recommended the use of cannabis to control seizures in epilepsy, tetanus and rabies (Nahas, 1984).
Animal studies have provided some support for this use in showing that THC has dual effects on convulsions, i.e. it can produce convulsions in susceptible animals, AND suppress the maximum severity of convulsions from a variety of causes, while cannabidiol (CBD) appears to be a potent anti-convulsant (Chesher and Jackson, 1974; Consroe and Snider, 1986; Institute of Medicine, 1982).
There is a single randomised placebo controlled study of the administration of CBD in 15 patients with epilepsy that was not well controlled by conventional anti-convulsants. Four of the eight patients who received CBD in addition to their usual anti-convulsant drugs were free of seizures throughout the study period, and three were improved. By contrast, only one out of seven patients in the placebo condition showed any clinical improvement (Cunha et al, 1980). Despite this suggestive evidence of efficacy in epilepsy, CBD has not been widely used in clinical management. Perhaps this is not surprising given the absence of evidence of its efficacy (Through forced abstinence) , the existence of other effective anti-convulsant drugs, and concerns about the safety of chronic use in the management of a chronic disease. It is perhaps more surprising that there has been no further research on the anti-convulsant properties of CBD, especially as it has no psychoactive side effects (Nahas, 1984).
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/Publishing.nsf/Content/health-pubs-drug-cannab2-ch84.htm
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