"My 18/12 year old daughter was diagnosed with epilepsy at 13, she has had a total of 6 seizures and has been seizure free for over 2 years. Dr is in the process of taking her off her medication ,in hopes that she has outgrown her epilepsy. Her seizures seem to corolate with her menstrual cycle. Patient has her medical marijuana card and we live in Michigan. The plan is to be off meds. And see how she does with nothing, if she was to have a seizure, the plan is to try cbd oil. we are trying to research this and find out what kind, dosages and cost, so we can be prepared. She will be off her medication by the beginning of May 2018. Any help is greatly appreciated."
I don’t agree with the plan of using CBD, or any cannabis preparation, as an acute anticonvulsant (to stop a seizure), but if you mean starting CBD to help suppress the occurrence of seizures, which is what your daughter’s medication may have been doing all these years, you might consider starting it before withdrawing the medication. If she does have another seizure while off medication any physician will recommend restarting her medication or another anti-seizure drug with a more fully studied and reliably effective profile than CBD. If the CBD is useful to her as an alternative to her current medication the time to start it is now, before stopping the medication. If she remains seizure-free because of the CBD that’s great. If she remains seizure-free because she has "outgrown" the problem she can discontinue the CBD too, and she will be fine.
drelkind
Hello and thank you for the question,
I would need to know much more about your daughter’s case before suggesting any type of treatment plan – which may quite possibly be to recommend no intervention with cannabis at all.
However, it is true that multiple studies have clearly shown cannabis to be a very effective anti-seizure medication. In fact, the walk in clinic I also work at receives several referrals from the neighboring Children’s Hospital for their seizure patients; I myself have treated patients as young as three.
The story that really put cannabis in the spotlight as an effective anti-epilectic was the story of Charlotte Figi, a remarkable child who was suffering from up to 300 grand mal seizure per week! She was eventually treated with a CBD oil which reduced her seizure frequency down to two to three times per month – that’s about a 99% improvement! That CBD oil was eventually branded Charlotte’s Web.
Therefore, if a trial of cannabis were warranted, I would likely recommend an ingestible CBD product for daily prevention, in combination with a vaporizer pen to be used is she were to experience an aura. I recommend vaporizer pens in the above scenario since they provide the quickest delivery method available.
Please consult with a qualified physician before starting any regimen. I hope your daughter will no longer need any anti-seizure treatment at all. However, if needed, we at HelloMD are always happy to help!
drkim
Hello and thank you for the question,
I would need to know much more about your daughter’s case before suggesting any treatment plan. However, it is true that multiple studies have clearly shown cannabis to be a very effective anti-epileptic.
The story that really put cannabis in the spotlight was the story of Charlotte Figi, a remarkable child who was suffering from up to 300 grand mal seizure per week! She was eventually treated with a CBD oil which reduced her seizure frequency down to two to three times per month, a 99% improvement! That CBD oil was eventually branded Charlotte’s Web.
As such, if a trial of cannabis were warranted, I would likely recommend an ingestible CBD product for seizure prevention, in combination with a vaporizer pen to be used if she were to experience an aura. I recommend vaporizer pens in the above scenario since they provide the quickest delivery of medicine available; carrying an additional cartridge that contained a healthy amount of THC would also be helpful at treating post-seizure nausea. However, as Dr. Elkind mentioned, cannabis has not yet been show to help abort an evolving seizure.
Please consult with a qualified physician before starting any regimen. I hope your daughter will no longer need any anti-seizure treatment at all. However, if needed, we at HelloMD are always happy to help!
drkim