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Can Marijuana Treat Epileptic Seizures?
Question: My daughter is 34 and has had the VNS stimulator placed March of 2016. She has 6-8 nocturnal seizures a month. It is not working but the doctor is suggesting decreasing her medicine. I'm uncomfortable with that and am wondering is medical marijuana may be a better route.
Brief Answer:
There is insufficient evidence to recommend marijuana for seizure treatment
Detailed Answer:
Hi and thanks so much for this query.
I am so sorry to hear about these seizures that your daughter is experiencing. I would have expected the doctor to increase the dosage and not reduce it. I will suggest you expressly ask why s/he wants to reduce this rather. And if s/he insists on reducing, kindly ask him/her what other options is he considering to address these persistent seizures.
As concerns marijuana, there is no evidence that supports using it as of date. It has not been shown to be any helpful and I strongly recommend against using this as there would be no added gains.
I hope this helps and provides guidance on how to deal with this. Keep me posted on this.
Regards
There is insufficient evidence to recommend marijuana for seizure treatment
Detailed Answer:
Hi and thanks so much for this query.
I am so sorry to hear about these seizures that your daughter is experiencing. I would have expected the doctor to increase the dosage and not reduce it. I will suggest you expressly ask why s/he wants to reduce this rather. And if s/he insists on reducing, kindly ask him/her what other options is he considering to address these persistent seizures.
As concerns marijuana, there is no evidence that supports using it as of date. It has not been shown to be any helpful and I strongly recommend against using this as there would be no added gains.
I hope this helps and provides guidance on how to deal with this. Keep me posted on this.
Regards
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Arnab Banerjee
Answered by
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