Cannabidiol (CBD), a compound derived from the hemp plant, is now becoming greatly popular in the healthcare industry for the large number of health benefits it carries. It is used for the treatment of chronic pain, heart diseases, sleeping disorders, skin diseases, mental illnesses, etc. Another prominent benefit of CBD is its effectiveness in treating epilepsy. CBD is found to be useful for controlling some rare conditions associated with epilepsy. Hence, people are now using CBD for epilepsy and to control their symptoms.
CBD For Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a condition caused by the erratic activity of the brain cells. It can result in seizures, temporary confusion, loss of awareness and consciousness, etc. Doctors usually prescribe antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) for controlling the symptoms associated with this disease. However, these medications can have a large number of side effects including drowsiness, nausea, irritability, clumsiness, and rashes. Hence, people have been looking for a natural solution to deal with this disease.
CBD being a natural compound found to be useful for controlling epilepsy without creating many side effects. Therefore, drugs that are derived from CBD are now being used for treating epilepsy. Epidiolex is an important medication that is being utilized as a prescription medicine for treating the symptoms associated with epilepsy. In fact, it is the only prescription medicine derived from CBD that is approved by the FDA. Therefore, you can get this medicine with the prescription of a doctor for treating epilepsy.
CBD For Seizures
Epileptic seizures are a result of abnormal electrical activity inside the brain that can spread and create uncontrolled physical movements along with alterations of consciousness. Anti-seizure drugs usually work by controlling the excitatory nerve activity in the brain which can be useful for preventing seizures.
Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome are two rare conditions associated with epilepsy. These conditions are difficult to control with the normal anti-seizure drugs, and they might need a combination of more than one drug for reducing the severity.
But now Epidiolex is used for the treatment of these conditions along with other anti-seizure drugs. It is found that this medication is useful for effectively controlling these two conditions.
Side Effects
It is found that Epidiolex is found to create different side effects too. Some of them include fever, diarrhea, vomiting, drowsiness, fatigue, decreased appetite, sleeping difficulties, etc. These side effects are found to be prominent for the first two weeks of using Epidiolex and they might diminish after two weeks. Also, Epidiolex will be taken with other medications, hence, all side effects may not have been caused by it.