Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that affects about 50 million people worldwide, according to data collected by the World Health Organization (WHO). Of these, at least 70% of them could live without seizures thanks to proper diagnosis and treatment.
However, there is a high percentage of patients with epilepsy who do not respond to conventional treatments, or who produce worse effects than the seizures themselves. For this reason, and after several years of research, the treatment of epilepsy with CBD or Cannabidiol is gaining popularity.
What are symptoms of epilepsy?
People with epilepsy have brief episodes of involuntary movements or seizures, and these can be partial or general. These seizures are often accompanied by the following symptoms:
- Loss of consciousness or consciousness
- Fear or anxiety
- Temporary confusion
- Loss of sphincter control
- Intense muscle contractions
If any of these symptoms occur and action is not taken immediately, the heart and brain could suffer irreparable damage.
What are the causes of epilepsy?
In most cases the cause of epilepsy is not identifiable. However, according to some specialists, the disease can be attributed to different causes:
- Hereditary influence is currently trying to identify the gene that causes seizures.
- Brain injury from brain tumors, Alzheimer's, alcoholism, or drugs.
- Infectious diseases such as meningitis, encephalitis, or HIV.
- Prenatal or perinatal injury to the brain at birth such as trauma or asphyxia during childbirth.
Side effects of antiepileptic treatments
As we have advanced previously, some patients have become resistant to antiepileptic drugs, or their side effects are even worse than the seizures produced by the disease.
Not all patients are treated with the same medication, since there are different types of epilepsy. Sometimes, the use of more than one drug is necessary to treat epileptic seizures. Among the most frequent we find: oxcarbamazepine, valproic acid, diazepam, among others.
Among the main side effects of an antiepileptic treatment we find:
- Drowsiness
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Changes in mood
- Concentration difficulty
- Hair loss
- Confusion
- Suicidal thoughts
- Difficult to focus
Faced with these adverse effects or resistance to them, families seek other treatments that can help alleviate the symptoms of this disease.
Can CBD Treat Epilepsy?
The use of cannabis for the treatment of epilepsy is not new. During the history of medicine it has been used for centuries.
Cannabidiol, one of the components of cannabis, is currently used to treat different diseases, including epilepsy. Since the 70s and 80s, some studies and research have appeared that support its benefits.
Patients who have used CBD to treat epilepsy have noticed how the number of seizures is reduced by half, and how they improve emotionally, cognitively and motor.
