My son was diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome when he was just 5 years old. For 6-7 years we struggled with different pharmaceuticals that either kept him up for days or sleeping for days and did nothing for the tics he had. He suffers from motor and vocal tics. Most days he barely made it through school, holding his tics in so kids wouldn’t make fun of him, and when he came home he would feel comfortable enough to let his tics out and while I know he can’t help it and I never would say stop, my house sounded like a circus at the end of every day.
He suffers from many co morbid conditions, severe anxiety, OCD, social phobia. He is also a truly intelligent child, knowing how to program, fix computers and he has a memory that is only second to a written list.
At the end of 6th grade his Tourette’s got so bad he managed to curve his spine and gave himself a severe case of whiplash, enough to be taken out of school for five weeks! This was enough! He was almost 12. Something had to change, drugs didn’t do anything but make things worse.
Then comes cannabis. As his mom I have been a cannabis user since I was 15. My parents lived an alternative lifestyle and recommended it for menstrual cramps, severe PMS and for sleep. As an adult I use it to manage pain and it keeps my blood pressure down.
My husband and I struggled with the decision, it did not come lightly, but this is my child and he was hurting. After months of thought we decided to let him vaporize some cannabis and see what happened. He did not know what it was and wasn’t told it was cannabis at first.
Within 10 minutes I saw a calmness come across his face and body. He didn’t tic all night! We didn’t give it to him every day as he would say he still felt some affects the next day.
Eventually after medicating him for a few months I made a batch of cannabis oil. I gave him a weeks worth (1/3 grain of rice) and he went back to the vaporizing after.
His tics are now gone. My 13 year old has come to me this week and told me his Tourette’s is gone, ‘cured’ was the word he used. Now I realize that stress can trigger it again but after what I have read in science this is how I think it works: The endocannabaniod system is as important as our circulatory system. When it’s not working properly nerve endings don’t process the synapses properly, it’s either too fast or too slow.
We were explained Tourette’s to ultimately be a backup of processes the brain is calling for and when the flow of information is released that’s when Tics happen. Cannabis obviously kicks the endocannabaniod system into a normal state. When this happens information can be processed properly. If there was any damage the THC would correct the problem and the various CBD’s assist in regeneration. Now my son is 13 and he doesn’t even need to medicate daily to keep the anxiety at bay.
We also are a holistic organic family so I am sure that played a big part for the cannabis to work so effectively and so quickly.
Debbie W. (Mother’s name is changed to protect the family)