Cannabis Oil Successfully Treats Infant With Epilepsy

Cannabis Oil Successfully Treats Infant With Epilepsy

Cannabis Oil Successfully Treats Infant With Epilepsy from CannabisNet on Vimeo.

Amylea Nunez is the world’s youngest patient who has successfully been treated with cannabis oil. She was born in December 2015 with a rare epileptic condition that caused her to suffer from debilitating, frequent seizures. During some occasions the seizures prevented her from waking up an entire day.

Amylea and her family are finally back in their hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico. They spent the last few months in Aurora, Colorado, where her parents begged doctors to prescribe cannabis oil after trying 8 different kinds of medications that didn’t work.

The doctors at the Children’s Hospital Colorado were initially hesitant to prescribe cannabis to such a young infant although they eventually did. They even released a statement saying that they don’t recommend or prescribe medical cannabis to young children. The physicians didn’t want to administer CBD oil on Amylea themselves. Her mother, Nicole Nunez, administered the oil herself twice a day. They used Charlotte’s Web, a variety of hemp oil that has already been effective in treating some children with epilepsy. After three months of consistent use, Amylea began showing improvements and was even able to lift her head up for the first time.

Amylea began treatment at 2 months old, and at 6 months old, is finally back home although they will still need to travel to Colorado for check ups. The family also acknowledges that much more needs to be done so that Amylea can begin functioning normally like other infants her age.

The Nunez family have applied for a medical marijuana card in their hometown in New Mexico. With their story, they hope that they can help other children who are suffering from seizures by effecting a change in state laws. They are encouraging others to try CBD oil for other childhood diseases.

How Effective Is CBD Oil For Children?

A 2015 study of 137 people who were suffering from severe epilepsy who took liquid medical marijuana and did not respond to other kinds of treatments showed a 54% improvement in certain kinds of seizures. The study, conducted by Dr. Orrin Devinsky from the NYU Langone Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, still needs to be replicated because it didn’t comply with strict standards regarding scientific research. But another study done in 2013 in Stanford University, surveying 19 epileptic children between 2 and 16 showed significant improvements from to medical marijuana treatment. 16 out of the 19 children reported reductions in their seizures.

One of the most famous cases of children using medical marijuana is that of Charlotte Figi. At 5 years old, she began taking an oil low in THC but high in CBD which greatly reduced the intensity and frequency of her seizures. Charlotte’s success story inspired CNN to create an original documentary called “Weed”, which is considered as medical evidence by advocates of medical marijuana in some parts of the country. The strain of CBD oil was also named “Charlotte’s Web”, which is the same oil that was used by Amylea Nunez.

Currently the research on safety or efficacy of medical marijuana on children is still limited.

Since marijuana is still a Schedule 1 drug, studies can be costly and difficult because of regulations despite efforts that are already underway for reclassification.

Cannabis Oil Successfully Treats Infant With Epilepsy