Kansas Considers Cannabis

On February 24, proponents of Kansas House Bill 2184 testified before the Federal and State Affairs Committee to advocate for patient access and amendments to the bill. 

Our fearless leader, nurse April, was one of them. During the 3 minutes she was given to speak she shared two stories, the story of her grandmother who suffered due to opiates and the other, a story about a boy diagnosed with autism who has made great progress since he began a high CBD, low THC oil.

April strongly encouraged the committee to allow the sale of dried cannabis flower, home cultivation, to provide patient protections, and to add autism to the list of qualifying conditions.

To read her full testimony and Todd Scattini’s, a veteran and strong supporter of medical cannabis as an alternative to the often ineffective pharmaceuticals prescribed to veterans, visit the state legislature site here.

 Kansas HB 2184 Proponent Testimonies

To read the Kansas Reflector article where both April and Todd are quoted, please follow the link below. 

Read the KS Reflector Article here

Cannabis, Often Unaffordable

In the US, as around the globe, several political battles are in progress, as well as the raging pandemic that is close to its one-year mark, and economic crises.  Here on our home soil, marijuana decriminalization and legalization are hot topics, but across the pond, the waging war between parents of children with epilepsy and the National Health Service (NHS) continues to grow. 

In Telford, England, we learned about another child who has a rare form of epilepsy known as “Landau Kleffner syndrome.” It occurs in children usually between the ages of three and nine years and is characterized by loss of language skills and silent electrical seizures during sleep. It may be associated with convulsive seizures and additional difficulties with behavior, social interaction, motor skills and learning. While not usually life-threatening, it can significantly impact negatively on quality-of-life unless it responds well to treatment. It occurs in approximately one child in a million.

Unfortunately for Sienna Richardson, aged seven, and her family, the realities of LKS are heart-wrenching, made worse by the fact that cannabis medicine has shown great results in her symptoms, but like others in the UK, the cost and legalities associated with cannabis medicine make it difficult to depend on supply.  The Richardson family was able to secure a prescription for Bedrolite, a medical cannabis oil through a private physician and her mother dubbed it a “miracle.”  Minimal progress in the UK for cannabis as medicine includes a change in the law to allow the prescription of cannabis-based medications, but some families can’t secure it on the NHS, which is government-run healthcare used by nearly all UK residents.  Sienna’s treatment was estimated at £15,000 (roughly $20k in US) and while the family was able to raise just over half of that, they secured the prescription. 

Sienna’s mother, Lucy Richardson, said they saw improvements within weeks. “Since taking it she is able to understand and speak normally,” she said. “She is living a normal life, she is still in mainstream school, playing with friends, she is doing really, really well.” 

The medication costs about £1,400 per month, which the family will have to fund themselves in the new year. They are supporting a campaign by End our Pain and Epilepsy Action for access to cannabis-based medicines for children with severe and treatment-resistant epilepsy, but the inherent issue with this type of regulatory restraints becomes more widespread.  As a parent, how can you acquire medication that clearly helps your child when you can’t afford it and risk breaking the law to obtain it?

 

 

  

Have we told you about CBG?

Recently, April was interviewed by writer Joshua Eferighe for an article in Ozy magazine. He wanted to hear first-hand why April thought CBG is the next big thing. 

As a nurse who has spoken to hundreds of patients about the medical use of cannabis, she was happy to share her own experience and the experience of her patients.

April says, “CBG is a non-intoxicating cannabinoid that patients often immediately feel. It has a wide range of benefits and it is often the cannabinoid most patients add to their treatment plan when they haven’t seen the success they are looking for with CBD.”

To read the article published in Ozy, check out the link below. 

 

read the article here

Treating Anxiety & Depression with CBD

Unfortunately for some, the holiday season can be difficult. Loneliness, loss, a tight budget that keeps you from giving the gifts you want to… all contribute to anxiety and depression. 

Health Central recently reached out to our team for our opinion on using CBD to treat anxiety and depression. You can read the article below, but we wanted to share a few techniques to help manage anxiety and depression here as well. 

  • Get an adequate amount of good sleep- Restful sleep promotes healing, regulates blood sugar, and is even needed for weight loss. Weight gain is often a source of anxiety for many people during the holidays.

 

  • Avoid too much sugar- Sugar significantly contributes to inflammatory conditions, is very addictive, and wreaks havoc on all of our physiological systems, greatly affecting our mood.

 

  • Do something fun that gets your heart pumping- Of course, check with your physician first, but exercise is one of the best-known anti-depressants. Anandamide, also known as “the bliss molecule,” a cannabinoid our body produces, is responsible for the “runner’ high” that makes us feel oh-so-good after an effective workout.

 

And lastly, if you are becoming too overwhelmed with anxiety or depression, please contact your health-care provider. We are also happy to provide you with local mental health resources anytime. Please call 888-810-WELL (9355).

Read the Health Central article here

“I’m just calm”

Brandon Sparks, of USMC, finds calm with cannabis.

Brandon Sparks, 19, saw more at his young age than many men will see in a lifetime on a dark night in 1996.  Sparks would recall 20 years later the horror of the night when two US Marine Corps helicopters collided in mid-air claiming the lives of 14 marines.

A member of the Quick Reaction force, Sparks was called to the scene with fellow teammates to recover the bodies of the fallen and in a North Carolina swamp, that’s not an easy task in any type of weather or light conditions.  That moment in time would change his life forever, as he recalls his exposure to the sheer carnage of retrieving bodies that had literally been hacked to pieces by the tail rotor of one of the aircraft.  Sparks said of that night, “I just kinda started falling apart.”  He would leave the USMC within a year and squashed his memories of that fateful night into the corners of his mind for the next 20 years, when he was finally diagnosed with PTSD – post traumatic stress disorder.  

In 2018, Sparks would apply for and receive his medical marijuana card in an effort to lower the use of five different kinds of medication to treat his insomnia, bipolar disorder, as well as anxiety, depression, and insomnia.  Smoking cannabis flower has led him to a place where he says he has been able to reduce his medications and only take pharmaceuticals for bipolar and anxiety.  

Today, Sparks says “I wake up in the morning, I have a cup of coffee and I smoke a bowl or smoke a vape and within 20 minutes I’m just calm, I’m not over processing things in my brain.  I’m not hypervigilant, I don’t have a ton of thoughts.”  A true believer in the power of the plant medicine offered by cannabis, Sparks is now a 42-year-old father to three girls in Buffalo, New York. 

With every journal purchase we donate 20% to TAPS, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. An organization dedicated to helping veterans and their families. To order, use the link below.  



Order our Treatment Journal

Sexual Health

Recently while teaching “Cannabis 101” to a group of women primarily between 30 and 70 years-old the subject of sexual health came up. It was the topic everyone had the most questions about as approximately half of women suffer sexual dysfunction in some way at some point in their lives. Decreased desire, inability to orgasm, painful sex are very common. I didn’t have time to share my story with the group, but I wanted to share it here.

I am in a healthy relationship with someone I am very sexually attracted to and sex never disappoints. However, we have two kids at home and two dogs that sleep in our bed. Our lives are very busy and we are often exhausted by the time our children have gone to sleep.

Our joke is that we “need to preheat the oven,” now this can mean a variety of different things, but most often, preheating the oven is just turning down our worries and stressors. Sometimes when the house is quiet for the first time in the evening it is the first time I can think. Think about that email, my to-do list for the next day, what we need from the grocery store, and when I am doing this the oven is ice cold. My desire to get something accomplished strongly outweighs my desire for sex.

When I received my medical cannabis card it was for migraines,  nothing directly related to sexual dysfunction, I quickly noticed that a small dose of THC and CBD in the evening helped me relax and get my mind off that damn to-do list. It’s like I could instantly feel my shoulders relax for the first time all day. I wanted to experience something enjoyable, not just reply to emails or get caught up on the day’s news. I can’t say that cannabis has drastically improved my sexual health, but it has improved my ability to relax and has increased my desire.

Cannabis has been shown to improve the sexual function of both men and women and I review the research in the article below. Love, touch, and sex are important parts of who we are as humans and are clearly important to the group of women mentioned above. There aren’t a lot of options to help improve sexual function, but cannabis is one that is showing a lot of promise. 

Read the Article on page 60

“Thank God I Found You!”

Our blog this week is a bit different, instead of sharing another patient success we wanted to share an all too common patient frustration.

Meet Sue, Sue is in her 60’s and has suffered with fibromyalgia for the last ten years. She reports her condition has not ever really improved with the medications she has been prescribed, only that she didn’t like the side effects of the anti-depressants and opiates. She said she would rather deal with the pain than the anxiety and drowsiness she felt were caused by the medications. The physicians didn’t have any more to give her so she turned to an online fibromyalgia support group. In this group, she learned about dietary changes that were helping others and she learned about medical cannabis. Living in a legal state she decided to get her card and give it a try.

On her first trip to the dispensary she purchased a vape pen, popular among the support group, and pre-rolls that the budtender said were a good deal. The budtender told her about the strain that was in the pre-roll and it sounded like a great fit for her pain.

Excited to give it a go she decided first to try the pre-roll. Not ever smoking anything in her life, she took one inhalation and was done after that. “The taste was awful” is what she reported to us. Next, she tried the vape pen, and unsure of how to use it, she took a long inhalation and held it in. A few seconds later she had a coughing fit so bad it made her vomit.

After spending $100 on her physician certification, her state fees, and what she felt like was a wasted $60 on her first trip to the dispensary she reluctantly decided to go back to see if she could find something else. She shared her financial concerns with the dispensary staff and wanting to help her get the most for her money, they recommended RSO. That evening she followed the directions on the label and two days later she was finally able to get out of bed. Not the effect she was looking for.

I think we can all agree that Sue did not have a good first experience with cannabis. Thankfully, she came to us and we were able to provide her with the individualized education she needed. She is now using an oil twice a day that helps with the pain and doesn’t cause any fatigue or drowsiness.

“Thank God I found you!” are words we frequently hear, but not frequently enough. Sue’s story is just one of many we’ve heard and we’re hoping with the education we provide for patients and dispensaries we can prevent patients from experiencing what Sue did.

To learn more about medical cannabis, please schedule a free 15-minute consultation here. 

Schedule Your Free Consultation

No longer a “Bag of Bones”

Cheyann Shaw was a vibrant and adventurous fitness social media influencer.  That changed at 23 when she was diagnosed with stage 4 serous ovarian cancer.  Her chemotherapy regimen began in August of 2016 and thus began a series of nightmares – multiple rounds of chemo, surgeries, a temporary ileostomy bag, and an allergy to dairy. Her weight plummeted from 130 to 97 lbs, from muscle to a skeletal bag of bones. 

 

Her family and friends watched her deterioration until her parents finally broached the topic of giving medical cannabis a chance. She was initially opposed to the idea, having always led the life of an athlete and considering her body a temple.  Oddly enough her father, a previously anti-cannabis man, had seen a friend battling with back cancer have positive results by treating his own condition with medical cannabis.  Cheyann began with 1 gram each of Rick Simpson oil and CBD, distributed in pill form.  She found that the aggressive chemo she was subjected to next – seven rounds in all – was far more tolerable.  She began to see that her appetite was back and was starting to crave food again, even eating dinner and desert like a “normal” person.

 

The most difficult of the chemo side effects she had experienced previously was feeling both exhausted and wide awake simultaneously.  To combat the side effects of chemo, doctors had begun injecting her with a steroid to “help” but those would keep her awake, sometimes up to 72 hours at a time.  Both her physical and mental health were suffering and again, she started looking into how medical cannabis might help with the mental exhaustion.  She found that THC was a godsend for insomnia and began to sleep and wake up refreshed.  Not only that, but the anxiety was dissipating with the use of THC.

 

Today, Cheyann says that she’s a firm believer that medical cannabis helped her win the fight with her cancer.  She says, “Many people are closed-minded when it comes to THC and at one point, I was one of those people.  But if you keep an open mind and do just a little research, you’ll be surprised at what you might find.”    

Often times I hear patients tell me they have treated their lower abdominal issues with cannabis suppositories, either vaginally or rectally. I’ve been told they work for menstrual cramps and to treat the symptoms of Crohn’s. Click below to check out the research on cannabis suppositories and if they really work.

Do Cannabis Suppositories work?

Ovarian Cancer and Cannabis

Michelle Kendall, at 47 and a sufferer of terminal ovarian cancer isn’t a life-long user of cannabis.  In fact, she didn’t partake throughout either high school or college.  In an interview with the Cannigma she said, “I’m from the era of (former US First Lady and anti-drug advocate) Nancy Reagan and I was very scared of this stuff. I thought this was crazy but when you’re up against the wall you know you’ll try anything.” 

Four years ago, Kendall was diagnosed and in the time since, has gone through eighteen rounds of chemotherapy and two major surgeries but admits she’s out of treatment options.  She recently went through a 5-week round of cannabis therapy under the guidance of a physician and included 80mg of THC which she said “worked as well as any round of chemo I’ve had.”  

 

Like other patients who have been through the wringer in every sense of the word with traditional medicine, Kendall won’t commit to any additional chemotherapy and said that she truly believes the cannabis has shrunk her tumor size as well.  She’s taken on the responsibility of tracking her treatment and tumor growth at home and monitors how her blood test results correlate to her THC treatment plan.  Today, she includes gummies during the day and a tincture dosage at night for bedtime.  

In interviews with media outlets, she’s cautious and always states that cannabis “is not a magic bullet,” and when asked if she would recommend other cancer patients try cannabis as a treatment, she replied “it’s not a magic cure all. There is nothing in the pharmacopoeia that is going to save me,” Kendall said, adding that cannabis “may not be curative but I know that’s allowed me to live longer.”

 

Kendall makes a great point and we support her stance – it’s NOT a cure all and it’s not for everyone.  But in situations like Michelle’s, when the plant can make this kind of difference in the life of someone out of options, it’s a great reminder that reform and legalization has made strides to make it possible.  

(Photo courtesy of cannigma.com)

 

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