CBD Oil Therapies and Epilepsy

For those among us that have been following CBD oil therapy research and possible treatment research involving Medical Marijuana, we have known for some time about the ability of CBD to severely influence the effects of epilepsy on a patient.

   In a 14-week study, 60 kids and teens with a severe form of epilepsy known as Dravet syndrome were given doses of CBD and saw their number of monthly convulsive seizures fall from 12 on average to about six, reports Live Science.

   Backing up what some parents have been claiming for years, researchers are now hailing a compound in marijuana as a “game-changing medication” for epilepsy. Based on testimonials from parents, Orrin Devinsky of NYU’s Comprehensive Epilepsy Center set out to find proof that epilepsy could be treated with cannabidiol (CBD)—and he says he did according to Fox News.

   Three patients saw their seizures stop entirely, the researchers say in the New England Journal of Medicine. One downside: Almost all patients who took CBD reported side effects, including vomiting and diarrhea, per Scientific American.

   Although medicinal cannabis and industrial hemp both derive from the species Cannabis sativa and contain the psychoactive component tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), they are distinctly different strains with unique phytochemical compositions and uses. Hemp has lower concentrations of THC and higher concentrations of cannabidiol (CBD), which decreases or eliminates its psychoactive effects. The legality of industrial hemp varies widely between countries. Some governments regulate the concentration of THC and permit hemp that is only bred with an especially low THC content.

   CBD doesn’t get users high. CBD oil is made from Industrial Hemp which contains less than .1% THC. THC is the element of Cannabis that gives the Euphoria feeling for recreational users.

   THC and CBD are the power couple of cannabis compounds — they work best together. Scientific studies have established that CBD and THC interact synergistically to enhance each other’s therapeutic effects.

   Each compound both CBD and THC, have their own respective healing characteristics, but tend to work better together, new research is showing.  

   62 percent of caregivers said the condition of the child in their care improved overall. That’s compared to 34 percent of caregivers of children who took a placebo, who went from having about 15 monthly seizures to about 14.

   Given this study and others, Devinsky says it’s “medieval” that marijuana is deemed a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act. Drugs in this category have “no currently accepted medical use,” according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, but that’s “simply untrue,” he says.

   With all the personal testimony, out there of the positive effects has on disease processes, when are the pharmaceutical companies going to wake up and realize that the public is waking up. That the public knows about the positives of CBD, Hemp, Cannabis and Medical Marijuana therapies?

   Dravet Syndrome is just one of the medical afflictions whose pathophysiology is halted by CBD Therapy. How many more diseases can be thwarted by CBD oil?