In the context of seizures, there are no straightforward answers in most cases. Seizures have multiple causes, and symptoms vary from one person to another. Regardless of whether the symptoms hit rarely, seizures may be scary and even painful. It can lead to anxiety as one is uncertain about when the next one will come.
In Santa Monica, seizures can be effectively alleviated through the expertise of Drs. Kurzman and Frankel. Call or visit the website of GreenBridge Medical to request a consultation today.
What Is a Seizure?
A seizure is a sudden, uncontrolled, and intense bubble of brain activity. It can last for something between 30 seconds to two minutes, and the extent of severity varies. If a seizure goes for five minutes, then it would be considered a medical emergency. During a seizure, one may experience loss of consciousness or confusion, emotional symptoms such as anxiety and fear, and uncontrolled muscle spasms in the legs and arms.
Epilepsy is the condition of experiencing recurring or multiple seizures. This condition mainly comes about a central nervous system dysfunction, even though people can still experience seizures for other reasons. These include stroke, head trauma, or serious illnesses.
What Are the Conventional Treatments for Seizures?
The conventional treatments for seizures are based on anticonvulsant medications, which are taken separately or combined to help avoid recurring seizures. Although they may be effective, you cannot recommend them to everyone as they might have several side effects. These include nausea, vomiting, liver damage, double vision, swelling of the legs or feet, headaches, suicidal actions or thoughts, loss of coordination, dizziness, or confusion.
If that medication fails, this should not be the end for you. There are other treatment options available, including surgery, dietary therapy, vagus nerve stimulation, deep brain stimulation, and responsive nerve stimulation.
How Does Medical Cannabis Work to Alleviate Seizure Symptoms?
First and foremost, medical cannabis will not treat epilepsy or any other proven cause of seizures. Instead, it seeks to enhance the patients’ quality of life through the combined effect of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabinol (CBD).
THC addresses recurring seizures and reduces the severity of the associated symptoms. However, it contains psychoactive properties, which means it’s not suitable for everyone. Instead, patients can use the variant, THC-A, which contains zero psychoactive properties but works equally effective in treating seizures.
On the other hand, CBD contains no psychoactive properties, but still even more efficient in seizure treatments. Patients should take the dosages daily to help manage the seizures better. Once you start using medical cannabis, the seizures will become more infrequent, and one can stop or reduce the intake of conventional seizure medications. If your seizures aren’t responding to cannabis therapies, multiple cannabinoids can be combined and effectively used.
In conclusion, whether you’d like to find out more about the available treatments or have tried using traditional medication to manage your seizure to no avail, get started by requesting a consultation at GreenBridge Medical today by calling the office or book online. The medical cannabis specialists will help you determine if you are the right candidate for dosed cannabis.
