CBD – Jesus is for the Wounded

One Day

Published on March 20, 2017March 21, 2017 by Jesus is for the WoundedLeave a comment

Friday my Doctor recommended some new supplements to further my care and seemed pleased at some progress revealed in retesting of my gut health. But neither product is available right now; instead I had to crash in bed that night and most of Saturday.

Yesterday I thought I would work on trimming a sterile plum tree in our backyard that is riddled with black knot disease. We are trying to save it for a few more years of it’s flowering glory in the Spring and rich wine-colored leaves in the Summer. It was not to be so today.

Tomorrow I hope that my trial of THC-free hemp oil will resume with receipt of a shipment in the mail. I didn’t realize when I started it recently, how much I would need nor the extra timing needed for shipments across our country. This could help resolve the seizure attacks as soon as this week . . . if I get the dosing right . . . and if the next shipment arrives shortly thereafter. But there was a fire in a warehouse between here and there, threatening my continuity of care. Maybe I will have enough? Maybe not? Lord knows that one day we will have figured this all out!

When today came I thought I might clean our bathrooms and floors then complete an infrared sauna treatment before heading outside. Instead I was sick. Only the sauna treatment happened.

Then later and just when it looked like the core of my treatment plan was coming together, another infection sent me and my beloved to the walk-in clinic of our local hospital. Geez oh man. Steve offered to take me out to dinner last night but I could not make it. I was hoping to take a walk with him and the pup in the sunny, 50-degree weather. Nope, not today.

I cried a lot before proceeding with what we did need to take care of me today. Life sure is funny. Perhaps some medical appointments this coming week will clarify what I should do next to get well in addition to responding to urgent changes that seem to come along every few days. And maybe someday, one day, we will make plans for something fun and they will really happen!

In the meantime, date nights will be at a clinic or pharmacy at Walgreens or driving to the nearest metropolis for a fancy NeuroQuant brain scan. At least in the case of the latter, we got to see a dear friend, Mary, for a quick lunch at Freshii’s in Chicago’s Loop. Now that’s making the most of a day, eh?

Straining to trust in my Lord this night. Choosing to trust in His Word and promise to carry me through it all no matter what may be one day for:

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²    a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³    a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴    a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵    a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶    a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷    a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸    a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹What do workers gain from their toil? ¹⁰I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. ¹¹He has made everything beautiful in its time.   Ecclesiastes 3

Full Moon Follies

Published on March 13, 2017March 13, 2017 by Jesus is for the WoundedLeave a comment

My beloved qualified as my “Night in Shining Armour” last night. If only it were for a victorious time instead of quite the opposite . . .

One would hope that significant interventions to quiet my inner storm would start working already. Or at least tame the tempest beast when challenges such as noxious exposures and the mysterious workings of a full moon come along. I have read a hundred or more testimonies of the latter: that for persons battling chronic disease, symptoms can worsen around the time of a full moon. Perhaps it coincides with the life cycle of various bacteria or parasites? Who really knows? What I do know is that the worst of everything came forth and both of us are pretty beat up today from the lack of sleep along with the emotional and physical trauma.

Continuous convulsive spikes of every dimension
Headache, joint and muscle pain, ringing in my ears, dysarthria, bradykinesia, left-sided parasthesia, hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli
Visual anomalies (spots of bright lights when my eyes were closed)
Cognitive slowing
Difficulty breathing and communicating
Incredible frustration and discouragement leading to hysterical crying and anguish
Neurological collapse requiring maximum assistance with feeding, toileting, and dressing
Eventually passing out in bed around 2:30 a.m., partially dressed with no recollection of falling asleep

The 100% THC-free CBD oil provided a temporary pause in seizure attacks as did a large dose of liposomal Biocidin. The entire episode finally ended shortly after taking my (3rd) nightly dose of Low Dose Naltrexone. I must add that the only positive part of this experience was when I could open my eyes and saw my hubby in his night clothes as he cared for me. I liked that!

Please pray for us. We are exhausted. The demands of life go on just the same. My MRI with NeuroQuant study our of State will be delayed due to severe weather expected tomorrow; I am hoping to reschedule the appointment for later in the week. Let’s hope that the NeuroQuant and the updating of multiple medical tests this month will be fruitful, Lord willing. My Jesus goes before us and sees us through it all. I trust in His timing, His plan for our lives. Thank you for praying.

And thank you Steve for your heroic love and care. May the Lord carry you today.

We wait on the Lord this day and always as we try to figure this out! This illness is killing us. JJ

Treatment Update and New Learning

Published on March 10, 2017March 11, 2017 by Jesus is for the WoundedLeave a comment

So they say that the brain is relatively “plastic” meaning that new associations can form within it over time, over the synapses between cells, even structures. This can make a critical difference in the long term outcome of traumatic brain injury, seizures, stroke, toxicity, and disease processes affecting our central nervous system. Thank goodness. I might just make it out of this neurological illness with something good?

New associations can form in the brain via various mechanisms: learning a new skill, subject of study, or behavior (such as breaking a habit and replacing it with another). Utilizing memory can draw together old and new centers of the brain where information is stored. Sensory stimulation from the five senses and movement also have an impact as each stimulates different centers in brain stem and cerebral cortex. Movement increases blood flow to virtually all of the tissues of the body including the brain. I understand that all of these activities but new learning in particular, can help slow down the onset of age-related dementia. Never stop learning folks . . .

My own ability to learn new skills appears to be improving. I have volunteered to help a friend finish her website and continue to be the Assistant Editor of the quarterly Canoe News magazine of the United States Canoe Association. Both require learning how to use software programs I had only heard of in the past; never used them in my occupational therapy career. Cool beans. Thank you Lord for these projects and my ability to tackle them! When faced with a problem to solve, my attitude of late has been more of, “I’ll figure it out,” than anything else. I like it!

And in general, the seizure attack episodes that I have suffered daily for 5 years are trending downward again. Thank you Lord again! My Doctors have transitioned my care from anti-bacterial (Lyme) to anti-viral medications and supplements. We are re-testing several areas this month as well. The biggest help overall appears to be the addition of 100% THC-free hemp oil. This is a special kind of CBD oil made from industrial hemp NOT medical marijuana. All of the cannabinoids except CBD are removed; not even the legal limit of .3% THC remains that is present in other CBD oil products. (I wrote more about this here.) It’s the only independently lab tested product of its kind that I could find in the United States. Note that the CBD oil I am taking is LEGAL in all 50 States! I know. I have been researching this issue for 4 years and have tried other CBD products available in my State.

My activity level has gone up some with pain coming down enough such that I can: work on the 2 projects noted above, walk the dog 3 times per week, and leave the house for one non-medical activity per week. So far, that is. Looks like I might have had 2 outings in the past 6 days of this past week already! I have started to be able to do my physical therapy exercises. Thank you Jesus! And when I got sidelined last night with noxious symptoms in the middle of the night, at least I had strategies to get me through a rough headache and morning today. I’ve got tools to use now that actually help my symptoms. This is a big deal to me.

Lord willing, Monday will bring an important imaging test in a large city about 3 1/2 hours from home by car. My beloved hubby is taking me. The test is a special MRI scan called an “MRI with NeuroQuant processing.” The NeuroQuant software takes volumetric measurements of various brain structures and compares them to a normal brain. Experts have identified parameters of significance in both the Lyme and Mold illness that provide diagnostic information and help in determining the severity of these respective illnesses. This test is also used in traumatic brain injury, stroke, Parkinson’s, and Multiple Sclerosis care and more. I am pursuing it due to headaches virtually every day in addition to the remaining convulsive episodes. Several EEG and sleep studies have shown no negative findings. My regular brain MRI a couple of years ago was normal. Maybe the NeuroQuant will help rule out other causative factors?

So did ya learn anything new today Gentle Reader? I sure did. I learned that there still is a someone-or-two who cares about me and what I have to say. Thank you for that dear one.

You rock! JJ

It’s Legal: CBD Oil is Here to Stay

Published on October 2, 2016October 3, 2016 by Jesus is for the Wounded1 Comment

A couple of years ago, I ordered my first bottle of CBD oil from Bluebird Botanicals. My hope is that it would take away the seizure attacks that I experienced on a daily basis as part of a serious and complex illness. The preliminary research showed that CBD oil made from industrial hemp would be legal for me to purchase in Indiana, was effective for intractable seizure disorders affecting children, and would bear few if any side effects.

I tried it. I slowly increased my dose over the next 3 weeks to the level indicated in the testimonies and research that I had found online. Then things went terribly wrong. I started to have frightful nightmares. They increased in vividness and horror then were joined by waking night terrors. These are the kind that don’t stop when you wake up! I was scared to continue. I backed down my dose, took a break, re-started and nothing seemed to bring relief. The benefits of halting or preventing seizure attacks did not outweigh these horrible side effects. Eventually I abandoned CBD oil altogether.

While medical marijuana has Cannabidiol (CBD) as an ingredient, you don’t need to live in a State where medical marijuana is legal to obtain CBD oil by itself. Medical marijuana also contains THC which is a schedule 1 controlled substance in the United States. CBD oil from industrial hemp only contains .3% THC. This allows sale of pure CBD oil in all 50 States. For me the .3% was still too much. I would later understand that I don’t even have a genetic disposition in my opiate receptors to explain my hypersensitivity to THC. Heck, I smoked pot occasionally as a young adult without any ill effects. There would simply be no explanation for my intolerance of legal CBD oil from industrial hemp.

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Flash forward 3 years. I became acquainted with a company who manufactured pharmaceutical grade liposomal products. When they introduced a CBD oil product made from industrial hemp, I decided to try it again. I still suffered from daily convulsive episodes although the number of hours lost per day to them had decreased after beginning IV antibiotics for chronic Lyme disease. Seizures, tics of organic origin, non-epileptic seizures (or whatever you want to call them) were a definite neurological complication of latent Lyme disease. The episodes were less per day but not gone. I ordered a bottle.

I did not get past a single dose of the new product before suffering another waking night terror incident. Dang! The only difference this time was that the superior liposomal nanoparticle size delivered the CBD more quickly to my brain than the Bluebird Botanicals product — and for me that was not good. I returned the bottle to the healthcare professional from whom I had ordered it. And then I waited. There would be no other compelling rescue remedies to reduce my suffering when the nightly episodes came. No doctor would order medication for me to even try; I have been to the Emergency Room 10 times over these past 4 1/2 years because of wretched convulsions! Even over-the-counter Benedryl would leave me unable to function very well the next day if it did stop them (and render me too sleepy to care about anything the next day). A few herbal antibacterial supplements offered temporary relief on occasion and the reason for that will be another blog post about Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO). Neurotransmitters and hormones that can give rise to seizures are manufactured in the gut dontcha know . . .

I learned that one of the better manufacturers of CBD oil was preparing to introduce a THC-free CBD oil so I contacted the owner. I leveraged everything and asked to try a beta version of their new product. Within 2 weeks the bottle arrived in the mail. It took around 15 drops to get a significant response: their THC-free CBD oil definitely helped reduce the intensity and duration of the nightly seizure attacks. Yeah God! This benefit happened even when herxing (or reacting) to a new antibiotic used in the treatment of SIBO. Some relief came at last! I am optimistic for the benefits that I might receive when the first round of antibiotics for the treatment of SIBO are completed in 5 more days. Perhaps healing my gut will help everything as well. In the meantime I have contacted the owner again to see if I might obtain additional product; my hope is to transition from using it as a rescue remedy to having enough for regular dosing that can help prevent the episodes altogether. I may need to switch brands to get this accomplished. We’ll see.

CBD oil is legal for purchase in all 50 States of the USA. If you are frustrated with noxious symptoms especially tics, seizures, pain, depression, or anxiety, there may be hope in the use of CBD oil from industrial hemp. Please do significant research on the track record of the manufacturer, look for independent lab testing of purity/potentency/concentration of active ingredients and absence of unnecessary fillers before making your purchase, especially if online. Very likely you will not find a superior product at your local health food store as hemp seeds and hemp oil contain too low a concentration of CBD to make much difference for a serious health condition. Here is one brand that is available only from healthcare practitioners nation-wide: Colorado Hemp Oil. And this website has some good general information although note that it used to be funded by a manufacturer of industrial hemp products: Project CBD. I am not sure of its current status.

This is my story and I’m sticking to it! I am not an expert by any means just a gal trying to find some relief in an ethical, legal, and medically sound manner. Feel free to share pertinent information below. Please don’t try to sell me anything!

Take care, JJ

A Well-Balanced View of Cannibis

Published on January 30, 2016January 30, 2016 by Jesus is for the WoundedLeave a comment

Since “high CBD hemp oil” was the most widely read topic in my Hope Beyond blog, I’ve decided to post these helpful resources!

Here is a well-balanced article that includes the definitions of 1) legal high CBD hemp oil (HCBDHO) or cannabis sativa from industrial hemp that I tried over a year ago and 2) medical marijuana. The two are different. Versions that are legal in all 50 states have a 3% or less concentration of THC: the substance that creates the “high” in addition to other medical benefits. Medical marijuana may only be sold in the United States where it is legal and is of a strain called cannabis indica.

http://www.sophiahi.com/cannabis-crucial-in-lyme-medical-marijuana-and-overcoming-chronic-illness-by-dr-tristin-wallace/

By the way, I did trial the use of HCBDHO for about a month then discontinued it. While I initially received a reduction in seizure attack episodes, I had to keep increasing the dose to receive these benefits. As my dose increased to the therapeutic level cited in clinical research, the benefits stopped. Then I started to have waking and sleeping night terrors! I suspected that the trace amount of THC in the product (from Bluebird Botanicals), was too much for me. Sadly, my trial ended. The owners of Bluebird Botanicals assured me that their product was tested for purity and absence of mold mycotoxins. They were most gracious with their time in guiding me in the best use of their product.

Flash forward almost 2 years and I have become familiar with the exemplary work and products of another company, Quicksilver Scientific. Should I desire to try HCBDHO again, here is the source that I would recommend. The delivery system of liposomal nanoparticles facilitates the absorption of CBD directly into the bloodstream within a minute making it comparable to a medical intravenous infusion! Quicksilver Scientific requires that you buy Liposomal CBD through a healthcare practitioner; the site has a Practitioner Locator on the home page. Please contact me for more information locating a practitioner if needed.