Unfortunately, nowadays, people suffer from epilepsy and they can’t take medication. This means that they have to live with the condition for life, which is something no one wants. But now, research has shown that some people, who are suffering from epilepsy and are not on medication are actually getting better quality of life, and they are able to take on the world like they didn’t have epilepsy. They are not worried about seizures anymore.
Patients who suffer from epilepsy have a difficult time overcoming the physical, emotional, and economic challenges that come with the disease. Even with the use of pharmaceuticals, many struggle to make it through a single day as a result of uncontrollable seizures. A recent study from the University of Minnesota found that a non-pharmaceutical approach called Cannabidiol (CBD) may help to alleviate the symptoms of epilepsy
A new study from Germany has found that some patients with epilepsy are benefiting from using a non-pharmaceutical method called cannabis. The study was led by a team of scientists from the University of Bonn and University of Tübingen, who conducted an experiment on 38 patients with epilepsy. The patients were given either a placebo or cannabis for six treatment sessions, and then monitored for six months. The researchers found that patients who received cannabis saw a significant improvement in the quality of their lives.. Read more about pubmed and let us know what you think.
Patients who suffer from epilepsy, which affects some 3.4 million people across the United States, report experiencing improved quality of life and a more restful night’s sleep after consuming the non-psychoactive cannabinoid CBD (cannabidiol). This is according to a recently published study featured in the peer-reviewed journal Epilepsy & Behavior.
CBD seems to enhance the tolerance of conventional epileptic medicines when used in combination with typical over-the-counter (OTC) prescription pharmaceuticals, according to a $2,770.8 million worldwide market. Researchers also claim that “artisanal CBD” may help with a variety of mental problems, including anxiety.
Despite the fact that the research did not find a significant difference in seizure control between cannabis users and non-users, the authors of the study clarify that “both groups contained a large percentage of people with no previous month seizures.”
According to an extract from the study, “these results highlight the need for controlled research to identify optimum CBD product kinds, dosages, and concurrent use of other medicines that optimize prospective therapeutic benefit while limiting potential risks.” “Cross-sectional and longitudinal assessment of cannabidiol (CBD) product consumption and health among individuals with epilepsy,” a research on artisanal CBD and epilepsy, was released on Tuesday, July 27.
What is the difference between artisanal CBD and industrial CBD?
This study on CBD and epilepsy was carried out in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine researchers and was funded by Realm of Caring, a non-profit organization dedicated to reinventing cannabis through research and education. The study focused on a particular kind of CBD. It’s referred to as “artisanal CBD.”
Unlike “pharmaceutical CBD,” which has been FDA-approved to treat Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and has no traces of the psychoactive component THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), artisanal CBD is non-mechanized and often includes varying levels of CBD and THC.
“Pharmaceutical CBD is presently a restricted prescription medicine, and insurance coverage is often limited to individuals with certain authorized reasons. As a consequence, a significant number of epilepsy patients choose to utilize alternative CBD products, which are readily available as dietary supplements from commercial vendors,” the authors stated.
Despite the increasing availability and variety of alternative cannabinoid products such as artisanal CBD—as opposed to pharmaceutical CBD—studies evaluating their effectiveness and/or safety are very uncommon, according to the authors. According to the authors, “making inferences regarding the clinical usefulness of these products is uncertain.”
“These results are consistent with studies showing that practitioners using CBD in clinical treatment for epilepsy report using it both to enhance patient quality of life and to reduce seizure frequency,” they said.
The survey results of 280 epilepsy patients were analyzed by the researchers.
A total of 280 epileptic patients responded to questions about using artisanal CBD products in a study. In addition, the survey findings included answers from 138 patients who had never used cannabis before. All patients were carefully selected from social media postings and Realm of Caring patient registries, with a subset of 190 participants receiving follow-up survey answers.
The majority of patients (74%) were Caucasian, with more than half (55%) of them being female. The average age of the patients was 21 years old, and almost 90% of them had no history of non-medical or recreational cannabis use. 93 percent of survey respondents reported epilepsy as their major health problem, while the other 7% had cancer-related epilepsy, sleep disorders, autoimmune diseases, neuropsychiatric conditions, or a variety of other severe ailments.
CBD users are less likely to go to the ER.
CBD-consuming epileptic patients are not only less likely to seek medical treatment in an emergency department, but they are also less likely to take a “sick day” at work or school, according to the research authors. According to the results, although some symptom indicators (such as pain) do not vary substantially between consumers and non-consumers, epileptic patients who use artisanal CBD had higher levels of health satisfaction. Additionally, artisanal CBD users seem to have anxiety levels that are lower below the therapeutic threshold and have a more regular sleep pattern.
According to an extract from the research, “people who used an artisanal CBD product had a better quality of life, lower mental symptom ratings, and improved sleep based on both cross-sectional and longitudinal comparisons.” In addition, “Artisanal CBD users reported substantially improved epilepsy drug tolerance, a decreased likelihood of prescription pharmaceutical usage and conventional anticonvulsant use, and lower healthcare consumption compared to Controls,” according to the research.
In contrast, almost one-fifth of survey participants reported negative side effects after taking the non-psychoactive cannabinoid: 11% felt sleepy, and 4% said their epileptic symptoms worsened. Furthermore, 4% thought the price of CBD was “high” or “prohibitive,” while 3% were worried about its legality or possible medication interactions.
CBD Dosing Had No Significant Effect on the Results
High dosages of CBD have been related to improved quality of life and a lower risk of an outpatient visit in the previous month. The greatest experience(s) were described by research participants after ingesting a median CBD dosage of 1.4 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. “This is considerably below the dosage typically associated with pharmaceutical products (e.g., the current recommended maintenance dose for pharmaceutical CBD is 10 mg/kg/day),” the scientists write.
Despite the fact that the results show promise for epilepsy patients who have exhausted other treatment choices, the authors cautioned that the research was restricted. Rather of having researchers conduct a controlled study, each study participant supplied self-reported data. “Because of these constraints, we are unable to directly verify epilepsy features and do not have control over variables such as CBD dosage or delivery frequency,” the researchers said.
Furthermore, participant input was limited to information from Realm of Caring’s patient registry, which “may not apply to the wider community of epilepsy sufferers.” Because of the sample’s makeup, there’s a chance of referral bias and associated rises in clinical benefit expectations.”
In conclusion, the research highlights the need of “real-world evidence for the potential usefulness of artisanal CBD products in a varied and heterogeneous group of epileptic patients.” Despite the lack of a placebo control group, the consistent observation of clinically meaningful differences between groups at baseline and with Controls who began using artisanal CBD products over time suggests that use of these products can improve health and quality of life for epilepsy patients.”
We’re excited to see how cannabis research progresses in this area. If you’d want to learn more about the medicinal applications of CBD and THC, you may reach out to a Veriheal cannabis coach or a medical marijuana doctor.
Related Tags
This article broadly covered the following related topics:
- impact of epilepsy on quality of life
- epilepsy treatment
- google scholar
- pubmed
- life with epilepsy
