Our journey as a family exploring the healing power of cannabis for our son Richie has been a long learning experience. While the learning curve was an arduous one, I’m happy to report that we’ve found the right cannabis medication that works well for Richie. The most interesting part of my experience was how much I had to learn. Thankfully, I had Dr. David Berger of Wholistic Releaf for guidance, other parents for support, their shared experiences, and online resources for further research.
Medical Cannabis is not dangerous
For prescribed drugs that are approved by the FDA, there are side effects, some are dangerous or life threatening, some are mild, and some may cause minor or great discomfort. If any drug is taken for long periods of time, there will be concern for correct dosing.
When it comes to medical cannabis, there is one fundamental and important fact that no one can deny (medical professionals, drug enforcement agency representatives, and concerned citizens): it is certainly an alternative medicine with very low risk.
When it comes to medical cannabis, there is one fundamental and important fact that no one can deny (medical professionals, drug enforcement agency representatives, and concerned citizens): it is certainly an alternative medicine with very low risk.
Now, I’m not suggesting that negative side effects will not occur. It is very possible to experience discomfort due to feeling too sleepy, disoriented, anxiety, paranoia, dizzy, unmotivated (couch-lock), uncomfortable with dry eyes, dry mouth, headaches, or other side effects. If you have these reactions, the kind of good news is you can stop taking the medicine immediately (without having to wean yourself off like some other drugs) and it may take several hours before these effects wear off. The bad news is if you are treating a loved one with these strains, (like my son Richie who has autism), this could trigger more challenging behavior. Medical cannabis provides different results and experiences for everyone.
It’s important to become educated on the endocannaboid system and strains. Leafly provides a plethora of information on the endocannabinoid system as well as a comprehensive list of hundreds of cannabis strains, reported use for effectiveness and side effects, and where they are available across the country.
Treatment takes Patience and Time
I had to keep reminding myself there is no single prescribed strain for treating autism or any specific condition in need of treatment. It's good to learn about what is working for others with similar symptoms, but always keep in mind that what works for one person will not necessarily work for another. We were given specific instructions by Dr. Berger to start by administering low doses of CBD and increasing slowly as needed until we saw improvement in any of Richie’s symptoms.
For Richie, we were looking to relieve his anxiety and eliminate his fits of violent aggression towards others (this included pinching, hitting, kicking, biting, etc.). We also wanted to stop his self-injurious behaviors (self-slapping, head banging, etc.) and destruction of property (punching holes in the walls, breaking glass, etc.).
Finding the Solution that Works for Richie
After many months of trial and error, we discovered that high doses of CBD without THC proved to bring Richie great relief. As we gradually increased his dose of CBD, within six weeks we noted that Richie’s aggression towards others, self-slapping, and other undesirable behaviors started to decrease daily and his overall mood improved as well.
Although, our family was and still is using multiple modes of treatment, we are convinced that not only is the high dose of CBD helping to improve Richie’s mood and overall quality of life, Richie’s neurologist and Dr. Berger believe it’s also helping to keep the other prescribed drugs at a low dose.
How is Richie doing Today?
Today, our recorded data shows all of Richie's challenging behavior at an all time low. Richie is doing fantastic at controlling his behavior. Richie is talking more, learning more, spelling, teaching us about his interests, and doing pretty much everything with us - it is truly exciting times.
Planning for the Future
For now, we continue to keep Richie on CBD medical treatment, maintain our Positive Behavior Support Plan, continue with his current medications, and most importantly, we will always presume competence in Richie and his ability to learn new things.
Our plan is to work with Richie's doctors and discuss how we can slowly begin to decrease his other prescription medications until he can come off them completely. We will do this when we have documented reports that show Richie’s aggressive and self-injurious behaviors are at “zero” for at least two months. We will continue to discuss, review and plan on an appropriate exit plan for the traditional medications with Richie's doctors and behavior team.
For now we love seeing him relieved from anxiety and pain. We love seeing him happy and smiling. We love watching him enjoy his life! Our overall family life is happier than we've ever been with the help of medical cannabis.
We wish you luck on your journey to finding relief with medical cannabis!
For more information about Dr. Berger and his Tampa Bay practice, please visit Wholistic Releaf.
Related Posts
Read our previous segment Part V: Visiting a Medical Cannabis Dispensary:
Things to know before you go!
Things to know before you go!
Although we received services as part of our collaboration with Wholistic Releaf for raising awareness on treating autism with medical cannabis, all opinions expressed are my own.
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