Taking cannabis-based medicine may significantly reduce the number of seizures by half in children and adults with a severe form of epilepsy called\u00a0Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS), according to a recent study. Researchers said Lennox-Gastaut syndrome starts in childhood, and that patients with LGS experience multiple kinds of seizures: drop seizures and tonic-clonic seizures.<\/p>\n
During a drop seizure, the patients\u2019 muscle tone changes, which then causes them to\u00a0collapse. On the other hand,\u00a0tonic-clonic seizures involve loss of consciousness and full-body convulsions. According to researchers, these types of seizures are difficult to manage and usually do not respond well to drug treatments. In addition, patients with LGS usually suffer from impaired intellectual development. Furthermore, researchers noted that drop seizures often lead to injuries and emergency department visits.<\/p>\n
To assess the efficacy of\u00a0cannabidiol, researchers examined\u00a0225 patients with LGS who experience 85 drop seizures a month on average. The participants were then given either 20 mg\/kg daily cannabidiol,\u00a010 mg\/kg daily cannabidiol, or placebo as an add-on therapy to current drug treatment. The study revealed that patients in the high-dosage group\u00a0had a 42 percent reduction in drop seizure frequency at 14 weeks. Of these patients, 40 percent reported reducing their seizures by half or more.<\/p>\n
The study also\u00a0showed that\u00a0patients in the low-dosage group attained a 37 percent overall decrease in drop seizure frequency.\u00a0Of these patients, 36 percent reported reducing their seizures by half or more. In contrast, patients in the placebo group\u00a0only had a\u00a017 percent overall reduction in drop seizures.\u00a0Researchers also found that\u00a0only 15 percent\u00a0of the controls reported reducing their seizures by half or more<\/p>\n
\u201cOur results suggest that cannabidiol may be effective for those with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome in treating drop seizures. This is important because this kind of epilepsy is incredibly difficult to treat. While there were more side effects for those taking cannabidiol, they were mostly well-tolerated. I believe that it may become an important new treatment option for these patients,\u201d said study author Dr. Anup Patel\u00a0in ScienceDaily.com<\/em>.<\/p>\n The findings were slated for presentation at the\u00a0American Academy of Neurology<\/em>\u2018s 69th Annual Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Taking cannabis-based medicine may significantly reduce the number of seizures by half in children and adults with a severe form of epilepsy called\u00a0Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS), according to a recent study. Researchers said Lennox-Gastaut syndrome starts in childhood, and that patients with LGS experience multiple kinds of seizures: drop seizures and tonic-clonic seizures. During a drop […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n