Epilepsy

One of the main topics in the “medical cannabis use” debate has been in recent years the treatment of epilepsy with various cannabinoids (especially Cannabidiol – CBD), i.e. its main symptom: seizures.

What Is Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder affecting the central nervous system in a way which causes disruption of brain cells activity. This may lead to debilitating seizures with devastating health consequences especially for young children suffering from severe types of epilepsy such as Dravet Syndrome. Unfortunately there is no effective cure available at the moment and doctors have only a few options how to achieve at least some reduction in the number of seizures – and these pharmaceutical “options” usually have serious side effects.

Herbal Hope

It was Dr. Sanjay Gupta, renowned neurosurgeon and popular medical correspondent for CNN, who made headlines worldwide in 2013 with his documentary Weed featuring little Dravet Syndrome patient named Charlotte Figi and her incredible recovery thanks to high CBD cannabis extract treatment.

Charlotte’s story, when she went from having around 300 grand mal seizures a week to two or three a month, helped initiate research all around the world – and in recent months the first results of American and Israeli clinical trials have been finally published.

Researchers studied the effects of whole plant extracts containing high amounts of CBD and little to no THC on hundreds of children with severe forms of epilepsy and called the results encouraging and promising.