Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that causes adverse activity in your brain. The most well known and common symptom of epilepsy are seizures, but it can also lead to unusual sensations, confusion, loss of consciousness, and more.
There are different types of epilepsy that a person can develop, and collectively they affect people of all ages, genders, and ethnicities. Some can be relatively mild, but others can be very severe. There is no known cure for epilepsy, only treatments that help manage the condition to reduce the symptoms. Most are aimed at reducing the frequency and intensity of seizure activity.
However, available treatments do not work for everyone. Every person usually goes through tests to find out what treatment works the best for them.
What Is CBD?
One relatively new option that may be useful as a treatment is cannabidiol (CBD), a chemical compound found in the hemp plant. It is part of a family of chemicals found in cannabis called cannabinoids, which includes CBD as well as THC. They all have similar effects and benefits for people’s health, but the important part of CBD is that it does not make you high on its own.
CBD has massively grown in popularity as a health supplement since 2018, when hemp was fully legalized. You can get all kinds of different products using CBD from dispensaries and online retailers like Joy Organics. CBD products are usually meant to help your skin, hair, mental health, and sleep.
However, the supplement industry is poorly regulated, and it is common to see claims for any supplement far outstripping the reality in terms of what conditions it can help with and how much of an impact it has.
Clinical Evidence of CBD as a Treatment for Epilepsy
There have been several clinical trials that have used CBD to measure its effect on epilepsy. Most were on children and teenagers who had drug-resistant epilepsy, who were either given a dose of CBD or a placebo. The research is still incomplete, as it is still not fully understood how CBD works in general, let alone how it affects epileptics. Here is what is known:
The median frequency of seizures were seen to decrease from 12.4 to 5.9 in test subjects who were given CBD, while those in the placebo group saw only a very slight decrease. However, people who were given CBD also saw an increase in side effects such as diarrhoea, vomiting, headache, fatigue, and more. This is because the dose of CBD given to reduce the seizures was quite high compared to the usual amount used as a supplement.
Overall, the research has found generally encouraging results that CBD can help as a treatment for some people who have epilepsy. In fact, one of the only FDA approved medications to use CBD is Epidiolex, which is given to children with rare and severe cases of epilepsy that have been resistant to all other treatment options.
The answer (which is still not 100% confirmed) appears to be that CBD can help as a treatment. However, it is strongly recommended that you speak with a doctor first to talk about it before just trying it on your own. CBD can have some side effects, though minor, but can also have a negative reaction when combined with other medications you may be taking for epilepsy. Make sure your doctor helps you safely test the effectiveness of CBD on your condition.