We had a very eventful 4th of July holiday. At the risk of sounding cliche, it was, at first, a day just like any other day. Holidays are usually very low-key in my household because my husband usually has to work as was the case this day too.
I took our daughter to the neighborhood pool where we spent two hours of the afternoon there and then we went home to wash up and cook dinner.
Just after dinner we sat down to watch Houston’s Freedom Over Texas event on TV. My daughter asked for a dessert so I went into the kitchen to prepare it. A few minutes later my daughter made a weird noise. With my back to her, I asked her what it was. No response. I let a few seconds go by and she made another weird noise. I, again, asked her what was going on. No response. I finally said to her, “Hey you need to answer me, what’s going on?” I turned around, and started walking to the couch and that’s when I realized she was having a seizure.
I called for my brother to help me but something was “off” about this seizure and I told my brother to call 911. EMS was at my house in less than 2 minutes (no exaggeration). My daughter was in and out of consciousness and was now complaining of a bad headache and vomiting. We thought it was best to take her to the hospital as she, at the very least, could use fluids after all the vomiting she went through.
Annnnnd here’s the backstory:
When my daughter was born, literally during the birthing process, there was some sort of accident and she was left with a Subarachnoid Hemorrhage (SAH). This caused my newborn to have Grand Mal (now called tonic-clonic) seizures. My daughter, on her second day of life, had already had a Spinal Tap, X-ray, MRI, CAT Scan, EEG, and so many more tests.
The doctors had no idea the extent of the damage her brain sustained and it was going to be one of those “wait and see” things for development.
We were also told that she will be subject to seizures the rest of her life.
We monitored for years with her neurologist and there were no seizures, so we were released from their care.
We thought we dodged a bullet.
There was one time when she was in kinder that she had a small seizure but after a battery of tests and monitoring they determined that it was an isolated incident and that the seizures weren’t back.
Over the last few months, I have noticed my daughter in what I thought might be a postictal state – but as quickly as I noticed it she would come out of it and brush me off. I thought it was misplaced worry.
The event on the 4th of July made me realize our seizure-free honeymoon is over.
This seizure was bad, not tonic-clonic bad, but her postictal state lasted nearly 3 hours, we are told the average is 30-60 minutes. They told us she would be exhausted and she’s been resting since we got home from the hospital right at midnight on the 4th/5th.
The freedoms she once enjoyed, like having her bedroom upstairs, bathing by herself, playing on her phone or tablet, swimming and so much more were taken away from her just like that (she understands it is for her own safety). She’s a bit bored since she can’t really engage with electronics and so I am trying to find “fun” things for a 13-year old to do.
We have since spoken with her PCP and she has an appointment on Monday. We are also looking for a new pediatric neurologist to discuss testing, treatment, and any options we may have.
I have had so many people reach out to me regarding her and lots of people have brought up CBD as a possible cause of the seizure. She does take an all organic, hemp-derived extract, CBD Isolate that comes with a Certificate of Analysis (COA), she gets 250MG one time a day before bed. She had not had any the day of the seizure. We did tell the emergency room physician that she takes CBD daily and that she had not had any, the doctor said that their was no correlation with her seizure and her use of CBD and we needn’t discontinue her daily dose.
We give her CBD because of the brain damage she had sustained from her SAH. CBD can be neuro-regenerative and she has made amazing strides with her developmental delays since starting CBD.
In no way do I think that the CBD takes contributed to the seizure, in fact, CBD is actually used to control seizures and that, in a lot of ways, is the main reason for CBD’s initial rise in popularity. Her seizures at birth and resulting brain damage from the SAH are the reasons I began my investigation into cannabis for medicinal use.
SHE IS THE REASON I BELIEVE IN THIS.
Thank you for reading, Trina
UnSocially Acceptable 