Epileptic Seizures Treatment for Children Using CBD and Medical Cannabis

Epileptic seizures were reduced by 86% in children treated with CBD and medical cannabis.

Several children who had suffered from epileptic crises saw an improvement of 86% after they were treated with the complete cannabis plant, according to a publication in the BMJ Pediatrics Open Magazine. These children have not responded previously to any other types of treatment, including a CBD-based product designed to attend to their issues. These results have motivated some investigators to explore the different therapeutic benefits that full cannabis plant treatment might offer to this kind of issue.

The History of the Cannabis Plant

Since the 19th century, several tests have shown the value of cannabis medicine in treating seizures in children. However, many of these tests are just anecdotal. There have been no studies that can scientifically support or validate the efficacy of using the whole plant to treat these symptoms.

Remember, the plant includes two basic parts; the first is THC, considered the active ingredient that makes everybody feel high after using it. Then you have the CBD, which makes the most therapeutical part of the plant.

A Parent's Initiative

After seeing the effect that the whole plant treatment had on their children, several parents started pushing so more studies could be done to analyze the befits of this type of treatment. However, these parents have tried traditional anti-seizure medicaments and purified cannabidiol oil with no positive results.

But then, in 2018, medicinal cannabis (using the entire plant) was designated as a prescription for severe cases of seizures; however, doctors have not been convinced about giving prescription drugs for this type of treatment. The reason for this is the lack of clinical tests that can validate the efficiency of this treatment.

According to the Parents' Data

The National Instituto for Clinical Excellence has established that real-world data is valid as evidence, especially when it is hard to perform clinical testing, for example, in this case. Therefore, the improvement that parents have seen while using medicinal cannabis can be considered valid evidence to prove the efficiency of the treatment.

Because of this, some investigators started evaluating the use of whole plant medicinal cannabis in children that have not responded to conventional treatments, and what they found was simply astounding. The frequency of monthly convulsions in the children who started using medicinal cannabis was reduced by 86%. Parents gave their kids an estimated 5.15 mg of THC and 171,8 mg of CBD per day.

CBD: A Potential Answer for Seizures and Epilepsy

Parents were able to see considerable improvements in the quality of life of their children. They saw their kids were sleeping better, eating better, and their cognition was also better, all of this after they started a treatment using complete plant medicinal treatment. As for side effects, they were mild and not frequent, with tiredness being the most common one.

Conclusion

We can have high hopes of finding more effective treatments for seizures and epilepsy with cannabis. With all of the ongoing developments, CBD has proven to be an essential part of care for treatment alternatives for epileptic attacks.