I Hate Poisoning My Daughter

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I read that one third of autistic people have seizures after puberty. My daughter is one of them. Her medication stopped most of her seizures but the side effects are making her into a mess. She feels sick, she's dizzy, she trembles, she has bad cramps. It also might suddenly kill her liver. We asked the doctor for a nice anti-seizure medication. He said that they're all pretty bad.

NO! THEY'RE NOT!! Marijuana is supposed to help stop seizures and we all know that marijuana's side effects aren't destroying livers and causing miserable side effects. The reason I can't use marijuana with my daughter to stop seizures is because I would never know the dosage. Each plant is different.

I can't stand to see my daughter suffer and it makes me so mad that a stupid law and some greedy pharmaceutical companies are preventing research and manufacture of uniform marijuana doses.

Marinol is garbage. It won't help my daughter.

My 80 year old grandmother has been taking anti-seizure meds for years (Dilantin) and has been seizure-free, thankfully. The side effects are quite minimal for her (though it took some minor adjusting and a doctor who listened). Her liver is just fine.

I don't think there is a great body of research establishing the anti-seizure properties of marijuana to the point I would trust it over a well-established treatment. And by the way, have you read up on what long-term use of marijuana can lead to?

If the pharmaceutical companies were to blame for the lack of research and availability of this particular controlled substance, frankly, I can't see a reason. Yes they're greedy. That's exactly why they would want a piece of that reefer action.

As for the lack of side effects, people with AS are prone to anxiety. People prone to anxiety can experience acute anxiety and panic attacks from marijuana use. You want her all freaked out constantly? Yeah, that's better. Trading one evil for another.

Marijuana as helped a lot of people on the spectrum. You are making wrong assumptions here.

When I used to smoke it really helped me to relax.

No doubt some people find it relaxing, but some get the opposite problem and experience severe anxiety and paranoia. Everything I said was based in fact, not assumptions. Perhaps it has benefits of some kind, but at what price? Further, are the benefits consistent? People build tolerance to marijuana, therefore the effects would lessen over time and seizures would start popping back up. Also not good. So then you up-dose, need more and more to accomplish the same thing, and then you're addicted. It's like my father. He takes a benzodiazepine called Klonopin to ease the symptoms of his Restless Legs Syndrome (otherwise he doesn't sleep a wink) after all the typical neurological medications like Neurontin failed. He's now at such a high dosage that he's basically dead to the world after he takes it, within 30 minutes. Now they have some new meds out there for RLS, thankfully, but you get my point.

Like I said, if the pharm companies aren't all over this trying to make it happen, it makes me wonder...

Peace, love, and good happiness stuff?


Anyone can "manufacture" it for very little effort and expense. Can you say the same about virtually ANY other medication (or "drug" if you prefer)?


People prone to anxiety can experience acute anxiety and panic attacks from ANY medication use. What would doctors or drug companies tell you to do if you experience side effects? They'd probably tell you to stop taking it and try another alternative.

Marijuana has been recommended by Bernard Rimland as a help for some autistic people.

In addition, you don't know my daughter so don't assume that I can't tell the difference between side effects and her autistic behavior.

If god created Pot, it must be healthy for you.

The difference in this case is, they can't sell you medicine that's growing in your back yard. But if they can keep you from being able to grow it (by, say, refusing to research the medicinal applications which would bring attention) then you're on the market for all kinds of s**t. That "reefer action" becomes minuscule compared to the revenues from the patented drugs people take in lieu: for anxiety, pain, appetite... and it only shrinks further when you reflect that, if it were legal, no one single company would have control. Marijuana is a plant, it can be grown anywhere by anyone. You, or I, or anyone with a couple dozen square feet of space could grow enough to never buy it from anyone at all, whether a "dealer" or a corporation.

Legal marijuana won't make anyone rich. And that's why it will stay illegal.

OregonBecky, I'm sorry that your daughter is going through such a rough time. That must be so hard on you. I think that I'd go get a second opinion on your daughter's meds. Those side effects just don't sound right. There has to be something better. I don't know what the dosage would be for marijuana either, but I'm sure there is a way to measure it. They do it for cancer patients, and such.
I happen to be one of those people that cannot tolerate weed. My body rejects it almost every time I've used it. It didn't take me too long to figure out that it wasn't for me. I've also seen it work miracles for some people.

I don't wish to appear mean, but anecdotes aren't evidence. There's a near total lack of peer-reviewed studies on this issue. I reiterate, anecdotes are useless.

Hi Serenity

Thanks for your sympathetic comments. An aspy friend who's taken different prescription drugs all his life commented that it would be horrible for him to be like my daughter who isn't very good with language. He said that he had so many bad side effects from meds and had to change them often. He said that if he couldn't tell his mom how he was feeling when he just wanted to hide under the covers, she'd just think that the meds made him drowsy.

He commented that it's too bad that marijuana and alcohol aren't good solutions because, at least, everyone knows their side effects. Now I feel sad for all commicationally impaired people who have to take drugs that are known for unpleasant side effects.

The neurologist said that not a lot is known about why and how seizure meds work. We're trying to find a neutoendocrinologist, very rare doctor, who studies the effects of hormones on seizures.

Sounds like you need a new doctor. Just becaus a medicine is bad for one person doesn't mean it isn't wonderful for another person. Also, if you say are on the generic version of a drug try the brand name version.

I could handle tegretol just fine, felt perfectly normal. However, my mom insisted on buying the generic version, even when the neurologist told her not to. On the generic version I had to struggle to stay awake during the school day, on weekends I only woke up long enough to take my medicine. Not to mention menstrual cramps so bad I literally had to double over. I finally got around this when my grandfather took me to the neurologist and I went in by myself. i told the doctor about all my problems PLUS the fact that my mom was refusing to get the brand name, even though the doctor was writing "brand name" on the prescription. Now, I question the pharmacy having supplied the generic version, but back then I didn't know any better. The doctor changed my medicine and I was finally able to live. I can't remember what he changed it to though as i wasn't on it for very long when I asked to be taken off of all medicine (I had been seizure free long enough to be allowed to do so)

I was lucky in that the hospital I was taken to when I was having seizures assigned me a nationally recognized neurologist who I was told it was hard to get into see (before he's your doctor). He was also head of the local Epilepsy Foundation. I still compare every doctor I see to how he was in a professional and friendly stand point and none come close to measuring up. I recomend you write to your epilepsy foundation, explain your daughters problems with the meds, and ask if they can provide you with a list of recommended neurologists to help

Triangular_Trees, your story gives me more of a picture, more to think about. I never have an opportunity to talk about seizures and meds to others who have the epilepsy. Thank you very much!! !

Um yeah...and? I didn't dispute any of that. I just made mention of this because it sounded as if weed was supposed to be the magic side-effect-free cure-all. My point was that it isn't.

One person? Wow. I have to re-think everything I ever learned in college and as a chemical dependency counselor now.

I didn't at any point assume you can't tell the difference between side effects and autistic behavior. What the hell are you talking about? Maybe you should re-read the post and smoke less weed. It sucks that she has troubling side effects from the medications she is taking, and I hope there is something that her doctor(s) can do to alleviate that and address the seizures while also keeping side effects to a minimum. Most medications come with side effects. The goal is minimizing overall symptoms (i.e. eliminating seizures, in this case). She probably needs a better doctor, a different dosage, a brand change or any number of other possible combinations of the above and/or things not mentioned or considered. It should be handled professionally. So instead of whining about how you can't bake "special brownies" for your kid, maybe you ought to be a parent and get out there and find a better doctor, ask questions about better treatments and so forth. Sounds to me like you want a bunch of coddling-type responses from people who agree with your point of view on giving your kid illegal drugs to treat her autism in a manner that is not FDA approved. And you're pissed because you didn't get that from me.

Good luck with that.