Amongst the many benefits of Cannabidiol, or CBD oil, could potentially be a supportive treatment for epilepsy and its related symptoms?

What is CBD

Firstly, a bit of background information on CBD oil.

The CBD oil we use comes solely from the hemp plant, meaning it contains no THC. THC, or Tetrahydrocannabinol, is the active compound in standard Cannabis strains and the primary catalyst for achieving the psychoactive effects from smoking or ingesting it.

As we use Hemp-derived Cannabidiol, you can rest assured that all of our products are 100% safe, legal and non-psychoactive.

CBD has a host of scientifically supported evidence showing how it can help.

What is Epilepsy

Epilepsy a surprisingly common illness, affecting the brain and nervous system of around 600,000 people in the UK.

That’s about 1 in 100 people. So, when people talk about epilepsy, what they are generally referring to is the seizures that occur as a result of an epileptic attack.

Epilepsy is in fact a collection of brain disorders, each with a variety of differing underlying causes, but the main categories of epilepsies include genetic inheritance, brain injury, infection based and unknown structural change.

All of the above cause a patient to undergo a similar set of symptoms during epileptic attacks, such as seizures, stiffness, involuntary spasms, loss of awareness and loss of consciousness.

How CBD can help

As has been discussed before, CBD aids the brain with a host of different neurological and endocrinological functions, as it interacts primarily with the CB1 and CB2 receptors in our brain, something that the body does naturally, but on a much smaller scale.

As epilepsy occurs predominantly in the brain, it is no wonder that as research has grown into the efficacy of CBD, Epilepsy has been a hot topic of study.

A research paper published in 2019 confirmed this link, citing that 20mg of CBD taken twice a day, reduced seizure frequency by an average of 12.4 per month to 5.9, with several patients in the study having their seizures stop altogether.

Further research also suggests that, as is the case with other treatments, CBD is able help enhance the effects of other anti-epileptic medications already in established use, due to its compound effects.

There is emerging evidence that relates to the level of dopamine present in the structures of the brain at any given time and the likelihood of an epileptic symptom occurring.

CBD has recently been shown to inhibit the GPR6 receptor in the brain – a receptor responsible for regulating dopamine levels.

The increase in dopamine levels correlate to more stable communication between neurons and subsequently, a lower likelihood of epileptic seizures

A Word of Caution: Not all CBD is the same

It should be important to note, that adjacent to the above research, another study released in 2020 showed evidence that sub-standard quality CBD products, i.e impure products contaminated with other compounds such as those containing THC actually increased the potential for seizures by 70%, potentially due to the psychoactive properties of Tetrahydrocannabinol.

This is largely due to evidence showing that THC can trigger, rather than reduce epileptic seizures. This is the main reason we stress the importance of thorough research and choosing a reputable CBD supplier like ourselves.

Our products are manufactured and tested under the strictest guidelines and laboratory conditions to ensure we have the highest quality, consistently pure Cannabidiol.

Every mg of our products is certified to be well below the legal requirement of <1-3% THC, meaning you can rest assured you are both safe and within legal guidelines.

For more information on a host of CBD related products, conditions and benefits, visit our Articles section, or to explore our range of products available right away, visit our Online Shop

SOURCES:

https://www.healthline.com/health/cbd-oil-for-seizures#effectiveness

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30955420/

https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/can-cannabidiol-cbd-treat-epilepsy/87496/