Henna's Journey...: I wonder if cannabis would help Henna...thoughts?

A MIRACLE!

Henna was 2 years old when she was admitted to the hospital with a traumatic brain injury. She had been thrown against a concrete wall by her biological father for crying too long. She had two depressed skull fractures, old blood on the brain from previous abuse, a lacerated liver, collapsed lung, suspected sexual abuse, and shaken baby syndrome. Henna coded while on the way to the hospital via helicopter and was brought back to life only to go into surgery to relieve pressure on her brain. She was not expected to live through the night. Henna was in a coma for one month hanging on to life. Then the miracle happened! Henna woke up and was able to move all her limbs and speak, shocking all of the medical professionals. We took Henna into our home and shortly after her arrival she started having seizures.

Henna's journey continues as we try to control her seizures. She received the Vagus Nerve Stimulator (VNS) on Feb. 4, 2011 at Children's Hospital in Washington, DC. The VNS will send an electrical impulse to Henna's brain every 3 minutes for 30 seconds to interrupt her seizures. Over two months we have increased the electrical current and we have seen no change in her seizure activity. It looks as though Henna is in the third of children who receive a VNS that sees no relief from the VNS. We are very disappointed! We have started her on a new medication in addition to her current medications. Maybe it will help.

On August 6th, 2012, Henna had a full corpus callosotomy. This surgery is for people who have generalized seizures with no focal point. The corpus callosum is a band of nerve fibers located deep in the brain that connects the two halves (hemispheres) of the brain. It helps the hemispheres share information, but it also contributes to the spread of seizure impulses from one side of the brain to the other. A corpus callosotomy is an operation that severs (cuts) the corpus callosum, interrupting the spread of seizures from hemisphere to hemisphere. Seizures generally do not completely stop after this procedure (they continue on the side of the brain in which they originate). However, the seizures usually become less severe, as they cannot spread to the opposite side of the brain.

Henna received a white Labradoodle, Leo, from 4 Paws for Ability in Oct. 2010. We sent 4 Paws 2 shirts a week to help train her dog. One shirt was when Henna had a seizure and they used it for her dog to smell the chemical change during her seizure. The other shirt was when Henna had NOT had a seizure. This helped her dog differentiate between the two scents. It's a fascinating process. We trained for 10 day in Ohio with Leo and a trainer before bringing Leo home.

Leo had been going to school with Henna but started to bark and growl at different people when they came into her classroom. We worked with Leo's barking and growling when people would knock on the door and for a while he seemed better. He is very protective at home also. He then barked and growled at some boys who came into Henna's classroom and had to be removed from school. The trainer at 4 Paws said that some dogs bond so closely with their child that they become protective. Leo took on Henna's classroom as another home and felt he had to protect her. Sadly, because of his aggressive behavior, Leo can no longer be a service dog. The trainer said Leo would behave lthat way with any child he bonded to. Just his nature. We will keep Leo as a pet. Leo LOVES being just a pet. He still alerts to Henna's seizures and lives to get his hot dog reward!

Henna now has Snoball, a beautiful Golden Retriever. Snoball was born June 3, 2011. She is so sweet and a bundle of energy! Sno is doing an excellent job alerting to Henna's seizures BEFORE she has them! She is alerting up to one hour before Henna has a seizure. Sno goes to school with Henna and proudly wears her school ID badge. Snoball will be a great seizure alert dog and will serve Henna well.

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Thursday, May 23, 2013

I wonder if cannabis would help Henna...thoughts?

Use of cannabis to successfully treat seizures dates back to ancient times, long before capsules filled with man-made chemicals stole the spotlight and criminalized marijuana’s use. This scenario would be logical if cannabis failed to treat seizures, and if pharmaceuticals were more successful at doing so –but logic and reality cease to line up all too often in the world we live in. The truth is, finding a prescription that truly controls out of control seizure activity is, for many people, not plausible. More disturbing is that present day seizure medicines come equipped not only with a laundry list full of negative side effects, but with intense withdrawal symptoms as well –including increased seizure activity, the very thing they are prescribed to “stop.”

So why deny suffering individuals the right to use medicine that will possibly offer more relief than prescription drugs? Especially when it is a natural substance? Well, because of the mind altering effects of marijuana, claims the pharmaceutical companies. If that is truly the reason behind it all, then they better go ahead and pull their own seizure medicines off the shelf; because their expressed concern would be more believable if the prescription pills used to treat seizures did not alter the mind as well.

There are two general groups of seizures: Epileptic seizures (consisting of numerous sub-types), which cause an abnormal burst of electrical impulses to go to the brain; and then there are pseudo seizures, which are seizures caused by too much stress on the brain. Pseudo seizures are sometimes associated with a neurological disease that is putting the patient’s brain in distress. Of the many compounds found in cannabis, CBD, is one whose effects directly benefit individuals suffering from epileptic seizure activity. CBD is a relaxant, a natural anticonvulsant if you will. CBD also directly helps control pseudo seizures since it naturally relaxes the brain, thereby solving the root problem: taking excess pressure off the brain.

Digging deeper, one can see how CBD and other healing components of marijuana are a major threat to big pharma, as they have the potential to wipe them out if given the chance –which is one of the most popular, presumed reasons why marijuana is still illegal. Along with the other equally heavy reason: the people in society who still believe the western medical world is one that cares for their well-being more than dollar signs.

References:

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/14/news/la-sn -cannabis-cbdv-epilepsy-20120914