Tuesday, 15 December 2009
-
Marijuana as a Treatment for Autism?
From: Dr. Chun Wong
The debate has been going on for years now: Should we or should we not legalize the use of Medical Cannabis (or marijuana)? Everyone has their own opinion on whether or not the legalization should occur. Some argue that legalizing the drug will only make it more easily obtained for recreational use. On the flip side, others say that the benefits outweigh the risks. How many benefits are there to this sometimes considered “miracle herb”? Are there even more diseases and conditions that can be treated by marijuana that haven’t been proven yet?It has been documented that administering cannabis has been beneficial in eliminating nausea and vomiting, inducing appetite in AIDS and Chemotherapy patients, reducing eye pressure in those with Glaucoma, as well as in general pain reliving. Some individual studies have also shown medical cannabis to be beneficial in Multiple Sclerosis and depression cases. The legality of this treatment varies by country. The issue often shows up in state elections throughout the United States. One could spend the entire day weighing the pros and cons of legalizing marijuana. What it boils down to is who and how does administering marijuana help.
I discussed AIDS, Glaucoma, Cancer and Chronic Pain patients, but how about children? Or more specifically, Autistic children.
There was a letter published (via) from a mother in Florida who shared the story of her very large, autistic child who went from loving and caring son to angry and aggressive. She says in her letter that she often had to lock herself in the bathroom or else her son would attack her. They tried many different medications but nothing seemed to help. A friend of the family suggested something that the mother had never thought of; a brownie laced with marijuana. She weighed her options and decided to give it a try. As a result of giving her son marijuana, his symptoms subsided and the gentle, loving son that once was, was back again. The boy is now being given 1 marijuana brownie as well as several doses of Marinol, which contains the active ingredient in marijuana everyday. The boy’s mother says “He shows no signs of being under the influence of a drug…This has clearly saved my child’s life and my family’s life.”
Typically when such aggressive and assaultive behavior arises, medication is sought to calm the person down. Medications such as Risperdal are administered, but do have high levels of toxic effects including but not limited to rapid heart beat, muscle spasms, and severe anxiety. Granted, marijuana has its own associated side effects, but are seemingly not as severe as those of Risperdal and like medications.
Depending on where you live in the world, this may or may not be a possible route for you to explore. Because of the widely range of illegality, it’s not suggested that you try to obtain marijuana on your own and attempt to treat your child’s (or even your own) condition. It’s absolutely worth speaking to a doctor about - though since the studies and research are not nearly complete, chances are, he/she will not prescribe it. Yet.
RecommendRelated Posts
Post a Comment
- Back to autisable's Autisable Site!
- Note: your comment will appear in autisable's local time zone: GMT -05:00 (Eastern Standard - US, Canada)
About the Author
-
- From: newautismcure
- Name: newautismcure
- About Me: My name is Dr Chun Wong and I have been a practicing physician since 2000 and am a Naturopath, Chiropractic Internist and a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine. I practice natural healthcare in Illinois and specialize in chronic pain and pediatric conditions, including autism. My training, research and the fact that I used to be a nutritionist, mean that I am extremely familiar with the biomedical approach to Autism. I do not visit this site very often and so I cannot answer your questions, however, if you go to my original website (see below) you could email me for any concerns/questions. Autisable.com do not pay me and I do not pay them for any endorsement as we have a mutual agreement to share my information with the readers. Of course, in my website I am selling services and products so that I can keep running the site to disseminate more useful information. If you do not like what I do, please do not vist my site. You could reach me at NewAutismCure.com
Stats: This Week All Time Posts: 0 53 Views: 0 34007 Comments: 0 244 View all posts by newautismcure
Comments (8)
I know that marijuana root tea makes a wonderful preventative for children with asthma (doesn't get them high!) I know this because I was sitting with my friend in Casualty while her little boy was nebulized (again) and the policewoman sitting next to us told her and also got us the root for nearly a year.
I don't know about this one. My two classic children ARE hyper as long I they aren't high too, hmmm. BTW, please watch my video, I need views of to win a car: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGrDlNfPTdA
I worked at a camp for kids (and adults) with disabilities- varying from Aspergers, to further on the autism spectrum, as well as Down Syndrome, Visual Impairments, or physical disabillities as well. Reading this, I just can't help remembering the lifeguard- a teacher at my district's alternative school- talking about a certain child that behaved better when his "mom got him stoned."
Infuriating.
Hello
Its good to know about experience of that mother for her son.I completely agree with your last paragraph that it all depend on you.People should concern their doctor before they treat and it is not legal in all country.Thank you..
@Stanelle@xanga - Hahaha it's so funny that you said that, I have Aspergers Syndrome and I used to (I quit about a year ago) smoke marijuana and "going into orbit" is a good way of describing it.
So Marijuana as a treatment for Aspergers? No. That is absolutely ridiculous. And for Autism in general, no. Come on, lol.
To all those blowing off the benefits for people on the spectrum, I say Speak for yourself. I have Asperger's as well as the related issues of ADD, dyscalculia, and depression. I was VERY anti-marijuana for a long time (until fairly recently actually), but once I began smoking I noticed a distinct difference in how I understood the world. Whereas before school generally made no sense to me because the concepts seemed very abstract, when I smoked and studied I suddenly felt that I could understand - really understand - what was being said, and it connected for me. As a direct result of smoking regularly before assignments that semester, I received a 4.0 average (!!!). I am NOT a 4.0 student - 2.4 has been as good as it got for me before. After that semester I googled "autism and marijuana" and eventually found other, similar experiences. (So no "placebo effect" is relevant here because I didn't even think that the two may be related until after the end of the semester, I just started smoking for schoolwork because I figured out the work made more sense to me and was easier). Even now when doing math homework (again, I have dyscalculia), I will realize after a length of time that I have correctly completed a number of problems that I had been struggling with and doing over and over again before I smoked. I realize it is because I concentrate on one aspect of the problem very hard and can't connect it to the rest of the question, so I end up getting stuck on a loop (so to speak), which is not an issue when I'm high. Smoking has helped me in so many other ways (depression, anxiety), and on other smaller ways that always surprise me when I realize them. I would never put it down as an autism "cure" but it's like having a window cracked and being able to experience the rest of the world for a little bit.
It's easy to write something off because it's "illegal", but if that's the only reason marijuana is being written off, then I'm very troubled on behalf of society. Everyone knows government is imperfect and to base important issues like marijuana prohibition on the circular argument of "it's bad because it's illegal" is asinine.
As with any drug, it all depends on the severity of the disorder, and the specific case. I work with preschoolers, half of whom fall on the autism spectrum. Some of the children are very mellow and what one might call "spacey." More of the children are aggressive and hostile. I understand that there are many different reasons as to why the child could be aggressive, but it seems that a lack of communication comes down to the base of most of the children.
I really think more research should be done on the effects of marijuana and people with autism spectrum disorder. I would love to suggest to the parents of the autistic children to just try and see if it works, but being from a small town, it isn't possible. If parents are willing to put their children on serious pills, or extremely restrictive diets to find help, why not try something new. Marijuana is a natural medicine, and is less harmful than many other prescription drugs on the market. People should be a little more open minded about giving it a chance. Why not try something new,?