CBD is a decent option for children and adults suffering from specific forms of epilepsy. However, like any anti-epileptic drugs, it can lose its effectiveness in the long term and you may need to increase the dose to manage the seizures. The dose of CBD for epilepsy has proven to offer some benefits; however, proper research is still needed.
The previous research has shown that the effectiveness of CBD can fade away when it is used for pain management and in the treatment of animals with seizures. This is the first big study to prove it can help with humans as well who use CBD for children with epilepsy and even adults.
The word marijuana implies the leaves and female flowers of the cannabis plant. Medical cannabis is whole-plant marijuana or chemicals present in the plant used for medicinal applications.
Cannabinoids are elements in cannabis that react with cells in the body (termed as cannabinoid receptors) to gain certain effects. Two major ingredients are:
THC: Tetrahydrocannabinol is responsible for the psychoactive effects of "getting high"
Cannabidiol, or CBD. CBD does not result in psychoactive effects yet has shown some positive effects on specific body systems. This is where it tends to be effective in decreasing seizures in people with epilepsy.
Epidiolex: It’s an oral solution taken twice a day. Epidiolex is the first-ever drug approved by FDA to have an ingredient sourced from the cannabis plant. CBD does not give a high. It is caused by THC - the other compound in the pot.
To find out how effectively CBD dose works for epilepsy in children and adults, researchers recruited 92 children and adults with no response for seizures to other meds. All were given a specific dose of CBD for roughly 20 months.
The new study showed the use of CBD dose for children with epilepsy in a broader pool of patients. It included victims of Lennox-Gastaut and Dravet as well as people with epilepsy that was a result of a stroke.
Around 57 percent of people saw their monthly seizure frequency reduced to half while taking CBD dose. This showed that the use of CBD for epilepsy treatment is effective.
However, tolerance was found in 1/3 of the patients within seven months. Researchers needed to increase the dose by 30 percent to gain the same results; else, the seizures would increase by more than 30 percent for the same dose, according to the findings.
As a result, the doctors hiked the dose of CBD for patients with increased tolerance, and out of them, 12 people responded favorably while 15 did not.
Around 1/3 of patients stopped taking CBD dose owing to reduced effectiveness or because of the associated side effects. The most common side-effects were sleepiness and gastrointestinal issues, like nausea, low appetite, and vomiting according to the reports.
These results show that CBD can prove to be a valuable drug for treating epilepsy, but can’t be treated as a magic pill for treating seizures. There is still a need for more viable research and studies to understand how CBD dose for childhood epilepsy and other kinds of epilepsy can be fruitful.
Does Cannabis Have Side Effects?
Marijuana or cannabis tends to have multiple side effects based on how you use it. For instance, if smoked, the negative impact of smoking on a person’s lungs and heart apply to marijuana.
It is crucial to accept that even though marijuana is a plant, it breaks down inside a liver like other medicines. People tend to believe that marijuana is 100% safe to use as it is a plant or oil extracted from a plant. But medication interactions can happen and lead to severe reactions. So always consult your physician before consuming any form of CBD for epilepsy or other conditions.
