Families turn to CBD after FDA approves use for epileptic children

On June 25, 2018, the FDA further validated the use of CBD as a legitimate alternative to pharmaceutical drugs by approving use of products for severe forms of epilepsy.

Families turn to CBD after FDA approves use for epileptic children

As more and more people search for medical alternatives, CBD continues to become less taboo and more well-respected. Case in point – on June 25, 2018, the FDA approved CBD as a treatment for several rare and severe forms of epilepsy.

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Epidiolex (cannabidiol) [CBD] oral solution for the treatment of seizures associated with two rare and severe forms of epilepsy, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, and Dravet syndrome, in patients two years of age and older. This is the first FDA-approved drug that contains a purified drug substance derived from marijuana. It is also the first FDA approval of a drug for the treatment of patients with Dravet syndrome." - via FDA.gov

The approval of CBD to treat severe forms of seizures is looked at as just one of many to follow. The health benefits of CBD are well documented throughout our website but with every major ruling made in favor of cannabis-based treatments, a new audience is introduced to CBD products.

“This approval serves as a reminder that advancing sound development programs that properly evaluate active ingredients contained in marijuana can lead to important medical therapies. The FDA is committed to this kind of careful scientific research and drug development,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D.

Since the approval of CBD, many families dealing with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome have come forward to share their stories. The Figi family have one of the most heartfelt stories we've come across on the internet and we felt compelled to share it.

About 18 months ago, in the winter of 2011, Paige and Matt Figi signed a "do not resuscitate" order telling medical personnel to forgo life-saving measures for their daughter and let fate take its course.

They'd done all they could to control the seemingly endless, violent seizures that hit Charlotte 20, 40, 60 times a day. They put her on an extreme diet. They tried at least a dozen medications, many with harmful side effects. Despite some promising starts, nothing worked. And the rescue medications they were giving her to stop the seizures, in fact, stopped her breathing. CPR brought her back to life more than once.

After years of watching a cruel, incurable genetic disorder called Dravet Syndrome rob their daughter of her basic bodily functions and send her into convulsions that caused head injuries and broken teeth, they had reached the end.

"We really thought, this is a horrible existence; she's not going to live much longer," Paige says. "This is not a life for her. This is torture. She is suffering all day. I'm not OK with this. She wasn't even human anymore. She'd lie in my arms drooling, seizing, screaming and crying."

Then, in an act of desperation, or inspiration - or maybe both - Matt called Paige from overseas, where he was working, and suggested a radical approach to Charlotte's treatment.

"We need to try cannabis for Charlotte," he told Paige. "We live in a compassionate state."

Fifteen months later, the little girl with the DNR order is standing in the kitchen of their Black Forest home with her mother getting her Pull-Ups changed, cuddling in the arms of a visitor, playing with toys and strategically pushing the buttons on her "talker," an electronic device that communicates when Charlotte can't.

Her seizures have dropped from 1,200 a month to three, and the ones she has are shorter in duration and less severe. She's off all the other medications with their troubling side effects. And, as one of the youngest medical marijuana patients in Colorado, her dramatic turnaround is starting to draw national attention, with a CNN report on the horizon.

"Charlotte, when I first saw her more than a year ago, she was listless, really lying in her mother's arms. She did not speak, she could not walk," says Dr. Alan Shackelford of Denver, one of the two doctors who recommended medical marijuana for her. "And when I compare that child to the little girl who bounded into my office when I last saw her and laughed and danced, it was a different human being who was there." - via The Gazette (Colorado Springs, CO)

Our goal here at Blunt Farms is to make CBD options more accessible for those in need, much like the Fibi family, and to offer an alternative to prescription medications.

If you or someone you know have been wondering how CBD may benefit you, take a look at the "What is CBD" section of the website.