7.09.2013

medical marijuana, please

Calvin suffers from medically refractory epilepsy, which means that his seizures are not fully controlled with the use of drugs or dietary therapy. He is not a surgical candidate (cannot benefit from neurosurgery) because we believe his seizures are generalized, involving the entire brain from onset. In the past seven years calvin has tried nine different anticonvulsant medications in various combinations. All have failed to fully control his seizures. He's tried two rigid dietary therapies (ketogenic and low glycemic diets) with no positive results and currently takes three powerful anticonvulsant drugs yet continues to have prolonged seizures, each lasting as long as eight minutes.

Calvin must endure many side effects from the anticonvulsant medications including, though not limited to: headache, nausea, indigestion, hyperactivity, ataxia, visual disturbances, dizziness, lack of coordination, lack of focus, irritability, memory problems, attention deficit, poor appetite, muscle fatigue, sleep disturbances, psychomotor hyperactivity, behavioral issues and gross developmental delays. It is difficult to know which of these side effects, such as the psychological ones, might prove to be permanent.

Medical marijuana hybrids with high CBD to THC ratios have proven in many cases to reduce and sometimes eliminate seizures in children with medically refractory catastrophic epilepsies such as Doose syndrome and Dravet syndrome, while causing little to no side effects.

Calvin's quality of life is negatively affected by his continued seizures and heinous side effects from the anticonvulsant drugs he must ingest every morning, noon and night. I believe that as long as he has seizures and suffers these side effects he will never reach his full potential, he will continue to have behavioral problems such as hyperactivity and he will never feel completely physically well.

Medical marijuana, please.


8 comments:

  1. I hope you are able to get access to this to see if it will help him! Keep us updated!

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  2. I hope Calvin will soon get some, any, therapy that will help him feel better.

    If the mix of anti seizure meds are not lessening the seizures, and are having heinous side effects, why does he have to keep taking them? Won't he have better quality of life without some or all of them?

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    1. but without them he might have many, many more seizures. it is a vicious cycle.

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  3. As you know, Washington has legalized all marijuana use now. But the dispensaries are still doing a booming business with all kinds of patients seeking out mmj for their pain and suffering... This article explains what you need.. a non psychoactive part of the plant called CBD. A really helpful dispensary could help you correctly titrate the dose so that your son was getting the correct dose to ease the seizures, and make him come back around to being healthy... From what I have read about seizures, this could be one of your few options and seems to really work... Are you back east...?
    http://www.prisonplanet.com/marijuana-helps-6-year-old-beat-severe-seizures-replaces-pharmaceuticals.html

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  4. Here is the contact number of the Dispensary in the news article I attached. It might be worth a phone call to discuss with them your son's health issues.. You can ask them what options there are with regards to the state you are living in...

    Harborside Medical Dispensary
    1840 Embarcadero Oakland, CA 94606
    (510) 533-0146

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  5. I think a lot of people don't understand that medical marijuana has actually been modified to remove more of the high but retains most of the effects that cause relaxation. I'm glad that legalising it in some states and countries has been able to help so many and I hope that you receive the help you need too!

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    1. the kind i have been using for calvin since february has not been modified to remove THC. it is simply not processed using heat which allows the THCA to remain in its acidic, non-psychoactive state. heating it turns THCA into THC. high CBD medical marijuana is not the only kind that is useful in fighting epilepsy.

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