#3: The Endocannabinoid System

HERE’S THE THING: A MOTHER’S STORY
By: Heather Jackson
CEO, The Realm of Caring
Here’s the thing about
pharmaceuticals. Many of them often
operate via the same mechanism
of action. They are frequently just
repackaged with a shiny bow, high
price tag, and a new name which
is difficult to pronounce. There’s a
problem with targeting the same
mechanism; especially when it comes
to my son who has a catastrophic
epilepsy diagnosis, or for anyone
dealing with a chronic health
condition taking pharmaceuticals
that are not helping. If the particular
mechanism of action doesn’t work to
stop your symptoms or the disease,
then the next four drugs that operate
on the same mechanism probably
won’t work either. This was our
personal experience. My son
Zaki went through seventeen
pharmaceuticals, most with similar,
often identical ways they worked
in the body. None of them actually
stopped his seizures and all came
with a laundry list of side effects like
lethargy, blindness and even death, to
name a few.
As a parent whose sole purpose is to
protect their child, I could not just
give up. Nor was it a good choice to
recycle back through drugs which
didn’t work. I knew I needed to
keep researching.
I began to consider cannabis in
late 2011 after my son’s EEG
(electroencephalogram) showed
seizure activity every 10 seconds,
and he was receiving hospice
palliative services.
Here’s the thing about educating
yourself. It is empowering. I began
to research how cannabis works in
the body. Cannabidiol (CBD) is
one of many cannabinoids found in
cannabis and hemp. When discussing
CBD research, I have heard doctors
say it is “messy” to study. Well, I can
understand their opinion because it
does almost fifty different things in
our body. 50! That doesn’t even take
into consideration the other almost
400 natural chemical components of
the plant. Doctors are accustomed to
an isolated chemical that goes
in and does one thing they may or
may not be able to measure. What
may be viewed as “messy” to them,
made me rub my hands together
with excitement! I was finally going
to have the option to try something
new for my son whose brain could
not take a rest from the electrical
shocks coming like clockwork.
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