Medical marijuana halts chronic seizures in 6 year old

Medical marijuana all but halts Colorado 6-year-old’s chronic seizures | KDVR.com

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — For most of her life, 6-year-old Charlotte Figi has suffered from 20 to 60 seizures a day due to an incurable genetic disorder called Dravet Syndrome. After the use of medical marijuana, Charlotte has shown dramatic improvement 

A lengthy feature in an edition of this week’s Colorado Springs Gazette chronicles the youngster’s difficult journey 

Charlotte’s parents, Paige and Matt Figi, said the daily seizures made it impossible for Charlotte to have any kind of normal existence. The family had tried a number of remedies, like a special diet and dozens of prescribed medications, to combat the seizures. But each treatment exhibited negative side effects. 

While the diet appeared to ameliorate the seizures at first, the strict food restrictions prompted bone loss, plunging Charlotte into a preliminary stage of osteoporosis. She also suffered from respiratory, ear and bladder infections. The drugs put stress on her organs and some of the medications caused her to stop breathing. 

Paige and Matt said they had reached a stage of desperation. When the suggestion came to try a less conventional approach to their daughter’s disease, both were willing to overlook the controversial implications of a 6-year-old using medicinal marijuana. 

Because little research on medicinal marijuana usage for children existed at the time, finding doctors to treat Charlotte presented a challenge. But Paige persisted. Eventually, she found two doctors, Dr. Margaret Gedde and Dr. Alan Shackelford, to sign for a medicinal marijuana license and treat Charlotte.

Related:

• Medical Marijuana and Autism

Ketogenic Diet in a Pill

Pill May Replace Ketogenic Diet For Epilepsy

New drugs derived from components of a specific diet used by children with severe, drug-resistant epilepsy could offer a new treatment, according to research published today in the journal Neuropharmacology. 

Scientists from Royal Holloway, in collaboration with University College London, have identified specific fatty acids that have potent antiepileptic effects, which could help control seizures in children and adults. 

The discovery could lead to the replacement of the ketogenic diet, which is often prescribed for children with severe drug-resistant epilepsy. The high fat, low carbohydrate diet is thought to mimic aspects of starvation by forcing the body to burn fats rather than carbohydrates. Although often effective, the diet has attracted criticism, as side effects can be significant and potentially lead to constipation, hypoglycaemia, retarded growth and bone fractures. 

More @ http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/253063.php 

Which came first? The autism or the seizures?

Which came first, the autism or the seizures?  Many people with autism have seizures, but could seizures early in life lead to autism?  My daughter had her first seizure at 4 months and several very lengthy seizures at around 8 months.

PLoS ONE: The Interaction between Early Life Epilepsy and Autistic-Like Behavioral Consequences: A Role for the Mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) Pathway
Early life seizures can result in chronic epilepsy, cognitive deficits and behavioral changes such as autism, and conversely epilepsy is common in autistic children. We hypothesized that during early brain development, seizures could alter regulators of synaptic development and underlie the interaction between epilepsy and autism. 

Timing of Seizures: Frontal lobe (Noon to Midnight); Temporal lobe (Midnight and Noon)

Very interesting.  My daughter has seizures and they happen after noon and usually later in 99% of the time.  We are able to coordinate riskier activities like swimming in the morning.  We also tend to book air plan flights in the morn to avoid seizure on the plane, etc.  Does anyone else have experience with seizures that happen only at certain parts of the day?

Timing of Seizures | epilepsy.com
The investigators analyzed records from patients who had an ambulatory EEG from 24-72 hours. They maintained a log of symptoms and signaled the time when symptoms occurred by pushing the event detection button during their EEG. Eight Hundred Thirty-one (831) reports were analyzed and 44 patients had definite seizure events. A total of 129 seizures were recorded with various locations in the cortex. Frontal lobe seizures occurred more frequently between noon and midnight as compared to temporal lobe seizures which occurred much more frequently between midnight and noon. A separate analysis of the frontal lobe seizures revealed a cluster of seizures that tended to center around 6:33 a.m. Temporal lobe seizures had 24 seizures that seemed to cluster around 8:50 p.m.
More @ http://www.epilepsy.com/newsletter/may12/timing