Bring it On

Happy New Year, stalwart Readers!

It's as good a day as any to post a couple photos of Sophie, the source, the inspiration, for so much of my years, my art, my life.

I hesitate -- as always -- to jinx it, for isn't it the height of egotism to imagine that we have any hand beyond the obvious in the course of events even as we emphatically insist that we do?

Sophie is well. She hasn't had any seizures to speak of since we got back from the hospital. She's incredibly alert and responsive, although she still can't walk well and has lost a lot of her motor (both fine and gross) planning abilities. There's no miracle here, I don't imagine, or even conspiracies of the gods. There is the reduction of Onfi that I began again the day after we got back from the hospital, and a resolve on my part that is quite literally pulled up out of the deepest and darkest recesses of my being where fear masks mystery. There is the addition of CBDA that Dr. Bonni suggested* when I appealed to her to help, again. And again she helped and I leapt into the unknown and it seems that Sophie is responding to the cannabinoid.

What is CBDA? Cannabidiolic acid is a chemical compound found in the resin glands, or trichomes, of raw cannabis plants. "Raw" means unheated and untreated. It is fresh flower and leaves taken directly from the plant. It's the precursor to CBD. Sophie takes it in tincture form, a tiny, tiny amount, along with the CBD and ACDC that is part of her daily cannabis medicine regime.

This is what Dr. Bonni told me:

There are only a few studies of CBDA and of course none in humans (seriously, this has got to change), but it appears to be a "key" for the 5-HT1A receptor, one of our serotonin receptors. Studies show potent anti-inflammatory effects by blocking COX-2 enzyme that produces inflammatory compounds and anti-nausea/vomiting effects through 5-HT1A receptor. CBDA also blocked a certain breast cancer cell from migrating by blocking chemical signals sent by the cancer cells. Interestingly, the 5-HT1A receptor when stimulated can affect the vagus nerve. Maybe it is working for seizures as a natural vagal stimulator? Based on what we know 5-HT1A receptors do, CBDA as an activator of this receptor, should be anti-anxiety, anti-depressant, reduce fatigue, decrease appetite, decrease blood pressure and more -- maybe we all need to juice this plant with our kale!

I don't know about ya'll, but I'm going to consume less in 2018 and create more. I hope to be more patient with darkness, to not despair and be more grateful for light, not take it for granted because both are ephemeral.

Bring on 2018, Readers!

Happy New Year!












* If you haven't yet, order Dr. Bonni Goldstein's book Cannabis Revealed. It's an excellent resource for all things related to cannabis medicine. Disclosure: I get a small percentage of the proceeds as I helped Dr. Bonni with the stories of her patients.

The Broken Record of THC, Baby

I think ya'll are in need of a Sophalofa update,  no? Let's all knock on wood three times, on the ceiling like you mean it. We've gotten through another minuscule wean of the benzo, and Sophie is sitting up, eating and drinking and walking and humming and not-sleeping and not-seizing like a champ. The THC is helping her.

The benzo, legally prescribed and given to her over much of her twenty-two years on the planet, damaging her brain and causing Benzo Withdrawal Syndrome does not work. It harms her.

The THC and CBD are helping her.

Let me type that again: The THC is helping her. 

Did you hear that Jim Sessions, Tom Price and all the rest of you goons on the cabinet and in the legislature of the Disunited States of Amerikkka, Inc.? Canada is moving right along with federal policy. You can read about that here. If the country didn't discriminate against those with disabilities immigrating there, I'd be putting on my tiny mother mind™ thinking hat right over that pink pussy one that I'd need anyway given Canada's chilly climate.

Anyhoo.

THC, baby. CBD. Whole plant cannabis medicine.

Sigh.

Did you read this?

A pharma company that spent $500,000 trying to keep pot illegal just got DEA approval for synthetic marijuana

Don't peel yourself off the floor or anything. You've heard it all right here for years. I've walked by Insys' tables at epilepsy conventions and "brain" summits, walked by their smiling reps and picked up and perused their glossy brochures. I have probably benefitted from their underwriting of epilepsy projects. In the words of Ron Woodroof in Dallas Buyers Club (watch the whole thing, please, because his final line is what I'm saying):



















This has been a Public Service Announcement.

If you want to learn more about cannabis medicine, I highly recommend you purchase Dr. Bonni Goldstein's book Cannabis Revealed. I helped her to tell the stories of many people who are seeing amazing results for various diseases and conditions, and you can read about them as well as learn about the history of the plant, how it works, what the latest research tells us, how to dose and other invaluable information. Because of my contributions, I do make a small amount for every copy sold, so this is also my disclosure, but even if I didn't, I'd tout the book as it's the best one out there about a subject that we still, evidently, can't convince the Powers That Be to get their heads out of their fannies, look past the cold, hard cash and start helping people like Sophie with it. Send a copy to Sessions et al, if you're so inclined, to help their view. It's dark and stinks up there.

Cannabis Revealed

Dispatch from the School of Revolution: CBD Edification

This won't be a post about Oliver and our efforts homeschooling. Things are going very, very well on that end, and I've nothing earth-shattering to report other than Oliver likes school!

I did read the following information, though, about a presentation given by Dr. Bonnie Goldstein who is following Sophie as we journey down the medical marijuana path. I do not know the person who wrote this out, but from what I can tell in an initial read, it does a great job summarizing some of the science behind cannabis. Dr. Goldstein is wonderful -- the kind of doctor who you can call or text at any time of day or night with questions -- the kind that you DON'T abuse with said questions and answers because you trust that she will get back to you immediately (ahem -- O Neurologists I Have Known).

Here's the link to read the summary of her talk/presentation that she makes around the country.

Email me if you have any other questions.

As we speak, Sophie has been having stellar weeks with little to no seizure activity, a revolution indeed.


Oh, and you might want to watch Sonjay Gupta's Weed, Part 2 which is airing on CNN tomorrow night (March 11th).