The General
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Los Angeles - By the time Andrew Rios was 2 years old, he had already been given nine different medications to quell the non-stop seizures that had racked his little body since he was just 5 months old. One of them, Felbamate, caused severe bruising, as well as insomnia, which makes epileptic seizures worse. Depakote put him in a coma for four days. Phenobarbital made him very aggressive, which led to a prescription for an antipsychotic medication. The final drug, Banzel, seemed to increase the number of seizures, from two a day to six a day.
Andrew's mother, Genesis Rios, said the neurologists at his hospital told her that if Banzel didn’t improve things, there were no more pharmaceutical options for her son. Instead, she would need to consider either a brain surgery that could blind him in one eye or vagus nerve stimulation surgery, which involves inserting a pacemaker-like rod into his chest. Rios and her husband felt they were at the end of the road for Andrew. At 24 months old, when he should have been walking and talking, Andrew spent his days in his mother's arms, crying and seizing. The combined brain damage from the seizures and side effects from the medication caused him to seriously lag behind his twin brother, who was developing normally.
But when Rios brought up the possibility of trying medical marijuana, which some doctors report has therapeutic effects with children like Andrew, she said both of his neurologists balked. "The moment I said cannabis, it was like, 'No, no, no, no. We don't do cannabis here,' almost as if I were crazy," recalled Rios, who lives in Los Angeles with her family. "I thought, well, the medications you already gave him are crazy. You've already drugged him up more than [cannabis] would ever drug him up." Rios wanted to give Andrew a strain of marijuana that is high in cannabidiol (CBD), a compound believed to calm the excess brain activity that causes seizures, and low in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive compound thought to cause a pot user’s "high." She had heard about it from a cousin, who had watched a Discovery Channel program about another child who was taking a CBD strain of cannabis oil to calm his debilitating seizures.
In September 2013, when Andrew's neurologists suggested that surgery could be the next step, Rios knew she had to try the cannabis option. She said she also had to find new neurologists who would respect her decision to use marijuana. Rios sought a second opinion from Andrew's pediatrician. "I asked the pediatrician what he thought: brain surgery or a non-psychoactive cannabis oil?" Rios recalled. "He said, 'I'd try the oil.'" Rios did her research and two months later found Dr. Bonni Goldstein, medical director for the California clinic chain CannaCenters. Goldstein is a former emergency pediatric doctor who had switched exclusively to cannabis care in 2008. She also serves as medical director for Ghost Group, which operates several major marijuana-related websites.
Under Goldstein’s watch, Andrew started taking the oil, squirted under his tongue by his mother, on Nov. 15, 2013. By then, he was 26 months old and had been seizing daily for almost two years. After his first dose, he didn't have a seizure for the next two days. The myoclonic jerking in his arms, which was by then a daily nuisance, stopped completely and never came back. Under Goldstein's oversight, Rios slowly increased her son’s cannabis dosage to three times a day, hoping to extend the time between seizures. Four months later, Andrew can now go up to two weeks without a seizure, when before he was having up to six seizures a day. His seizures have subsided enough that he’s been able to resume working with speech and motor skills therapists.
When asked about potential side effects from the cannabis, Rios ticked off a list: Andrew is smiling, laughing and playing with his four siblings, and his brain seems to be recuperating. Shortly after starting the treatments, he began speaking again. "Every week, it's something new: eye contact, noticing family members in pictures. He's starting to talk like he should," said Rios. "If you're asking for negative side effects, I haven't seen any. ... Thank God there’s something like cannabis.”
News Moderator - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Huffingtonpost.com
Author: Anna Almendrala
Contact: Contact us
Website: This Family Had To Fire Their Doctor To Get Medical Marijuana For Their Son
Andrew's mother, Genesis Rios, said the neurologists at his hospital told her that if Banzel didn’t improve things, there were no more pharmaceutical options for her son. Instead, she would need to consider either a brain surgery that could blind him in one eye or vagus nerve stimulation surgery, which involves inserting a pacemaker-like rod into his chest. Rios and her husband felt they were at the end of the road for Andrew. At 24 months old, when he should have been walking and talking, Andrew spent his days in his mother's arms, crying and seizing. The combined brain damage from the seizures and side effects from the medication caused him to seriously lag behind his twin brother, who was developing normally.
But when Rios brought up the possibility of trying medical marijuana, which some doctors report has therapeutic effects with children like Andrew, she said both of his neurologists balked. "The moment I said cannabis, it was like, 'No, no, no, no. We don't do cannabis here,' almost as if I were crazy," recalled Rios, who lives in Los Angeles with her family. "I thought, well, the medications you already gave him are crazy. You've already drugged him up more than [cannabis] would ever drug him up." Rios wanted to give Andrew a strain of marijuana that is high in cannabidiol (CBD), a compound believed to calm the excess brain activity that causes seizures, and low in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive compound thought to cause a pot user’s "high." She had heard about it from a cousin, who had watched a Discovery Channel program about another child who was taking a CBD strain of cannabis oil to calm his debilitating seizures.
In September 2013, when Andrew's neurologists suggested that surgery could be the next step, Rios knew she had to try the cannabis option. She said she also had to find new neurologists who would respect her decision to use marijuana. Rios sought a second opinion from Andrew's pediatrician. "I asked the pediatrician what he thought: brain surgery or a non-psychoactive cannabis oil?" Rios recalled. "He said, 'I'd try the oil.'" Rios did her research and two months later found Dr. Bonni Goldstein, medical director for the California clinic chain CannaCenters. Goldstein is a former emergency pediatric doctor who had switched exclusively to cannabis care in 2008. She also serves as medical director for Ghost Group, which operates several major marijuana-related websites.
Under Goldstein’s watch, Andrew started taking the oil, squirted under his tongue by his mother, on Nov. 15, 2013. By then, he was 26 months old and had been seizing daily for almost two years. After his first dose, he didn't have a seizure for the next two days. The myoclonic jerking in his arms, which was by then a daily nuisance, stopped completely and never came back. Under Goldstein's oversight, Rios slowly increased her son’s cannabis dosage to three times a day, hoping to extend the time between seizures. Four months later, Andrew can now go up to two weeks without a seizure, when before he was having up to six seizures a day. His seizures have subsided enough that he’s been able to resume working with speech and motor skills therapists.
When asked about potential side effects from the cannabis, Rios ticked off a list: Andrew is smiling, laughing and playing with his four siblings, and his brain seems to be recuperating. Shortly after starting the treatments, he began speaking again. "Every week, it's something new: eye contact, noticing family members in pictures. He's starting to talk like he should," said Rios. "If you're asking for negative side effects, I haven't seen any. ... Thank God there’s something like cannabis.”
News Moderator - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Huffingtonpost.com
Author: Anna Almendrala
Contact: Contact us
Website: This Family Had To Fire Their Doctor To Get Medical Marijuana For Their Son
