Less appears to be more when it comes to treating epilepsy with the marijuana extract cannabidiol, a new clinical trial suggests.
Patients taking a 10-milligram (mg) daily dose of pharmaceutical grade cannabidiol (CBD) experienced nearly as great a reduction in seizures as patients on 20 mg, and with fewer side effects, said lead researcher Dr. Orrin Devinsky. He is director of NYU Langone's Comprehensive Epilepsy Center in New York City.
This is the third clinical trial to show that the cannabidiol medication Epidiolex is useful in treating two rare forms of epilepsy, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome, Devinsky said.
An advisory panel for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration unanimously recommended in April that Epidiolex be approved for use in the United States. The FDA does not have to follow the recommendations of its advisory panels, but it typically does. By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, May 16, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- read more >
Chelsea Leyland's Big Crusade for Cannabis
The DJ, who was diagnosed with epilepsy at 13 years old, opens up about ditching western drugs for CBD oil. - Harpers Bazaar
People will often ask Chelsea Leyland, who was diagnosed with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy at 13 years old, if she’s high.
“Everyone associates cannabis with getting stoned,” she says. “But that’s not what it is. It's medicine.”
The New York-based British DJ and actress quickly begins to list the benefits of CBD oil (a natural, non-psychoactive concentrate extracted from hemp used to treat everything from back pain and migraines, to PTSD and concussions, to epilepsy and autoimmune diseases like fibromyalgia), while railing against the western medicine she took for 16 years that left her suffering side effects like heart palpitations, panic attacks, fear, anxiety, insomnia and memory loss.
“Everyone associates cannabis with getting stoned. But that’s not what it is. It's medicine.”
“There were so many things about myself that I questioned: is this my personality, or is this because I take medication, or is this because I'm epileptic? After I introduced CBD into my life, I noticed many of these negative side effects began to disappear,” says Leyland of the moment she decided to replace her epilepsy drugs with CBD oil nine months ago. “CBD is anti-inflammatory for the body and the brain,” she explains. “It works on the brain’s endocannabinoid system (responsible for a variety of physiological processes including appetite, pain sensation, mood, and memory) to calm the nervous system, which is why it's anti-seizure.”
Leyland was first introduced to CBD oil by John Lycett Green, the founder of Medical Marijuana Genetics, and she admits she was dubious of its benefits. “It's hard to comprehend that CBD could help, having been surrounded by so much epilepsy my whole life,” she says, mentioning her older sister who suffers from a more severe form of epilepsy. “It just didn't seem logical, or rational, that some hemp oil could help treat seizures. I never thought it could impact my life on such a huge scale. Because surely, if it could really treat seizures my neurologist would be giving it to me!” Follow Chelsea on instagram @cbd4epilepsy
by Olivia Fleming
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a9640704/chelsea-leyland-medical-marijuana-cbd-oil/