A Well-Balanced View of Cannibis

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.

CBD1sheet
Available at:

https://www.quicksilverscientific.com/solutions/purx-cbd-Cannabidiol

 

I am sure of it

 

Multitasking cartoon

Unlike the brain fog of this cartoon, I am going to get well.  I am sure of it!

The second week into the use of an atypical chelating agent (Zeolite by Zeo Health)  for very high mercury levels has brought more moments of mental clarity than I can ever remember in my entire life.  Oh sure there are ongoing seizure attack episodes yet they are generally 50% improved overall!!!!!!  I could not say this after any other treatment protocol attempted these past 3 years.  I could not say this even after the initial relief from high CBD hemp oil (the industrial hemp counterpart to cannabis oil).  I could not say this after antibiotics or Rife treatment with the Beam Ray.  I did not say this after (27) IV infusions of magnesium last Fall.  I could not say this after extensive and expensive mold remediation in 2013.  Even after aggressive treatment for candida over 2 years, I could not say this.  But I will say it again:

I AM GOING TO GET WELL!!!!!!

There is only one person to thank for this new direction:  the Lord, Jesus Christ.  At a time when multiple factors have come together at last, the path has cleared and hope is restored over here because of His mercy and grace.  A key factor in this process is humility.  More on that in a moment.  I also want to thank my chiropractor:  Dr. Lee Nagel at DeKalb Chiropractic Center in Waterloo, Indiana.  He had a hunch early on in my care that I was suffering from mercury poisoning.  After all, two hair analysis tests revealed mercury and other heavy metal toxicity in the year 2000 and again in 2011 but both times my respective Family Practice Physician (FPP) minimized the results.  Both times the Dr. thought I would be unable to tolerate a special type of detoxification protocol called chelation that would be required to remove heavy metals.  So off we went each time in another direction instead until my life of hell began with viral hepatitis October 11, 2011 and escalated into daily seizures beginning in March of 2012.

Dr. Nagle had high mercury levels discovered by his cardiologist.  His health improved after treatment thus placing mercury issues on his clinical radar.  Dr. Nagle, father of three, is one of the most adventurist and athletic people I have ever met (behind my beloved Stevers of course!).  His chiropractic practice rarely includes medical testing but he made an exception with me.  Thank you!  It took a month to get the testing protocol right then the results revealed the shocking reality of a probable root cause of illness for me:  very high mercury levels.  (Please refer to this excellent summary to learn more about this devastating substance.  Original citation available upon request.)  After a false starts with a quack-y Dr. who claimed to provide chelation, my current FPP is guiding me in the use of chelation and increasing other gentle methods of detoxification that have worked well for me.  By the way, my FPP has also recovered from mercury poisoning that almost took his life!

All of this is very humbling after 3 wretched years of illness and 23 years of chronic pain aka fibromyalgia.  While I do recognize that I have a new, long course of treatment ahead of me, I am exceedingly grateful to discover a root cause of much of my suffering.  Holy cow!  A successful outcome could help more than the seizures.  Yeah God!  Both Steve and I are really hopeful this time.  And it is with mental clarity at 4:30 in the morning that I write this to you!  So grateful for the 3-hour nap earlier tonight.  Yeah, the weird sleep schedule continues a bit!

And now about humility.  These entire three years have presented challenges requiring me to trust God for everything up to my next breath.  I submitted to the loving care of my gracious husband as he needed to carry me to the toilet a hundred times; help me to shower, feed or dress me when I could not about once per week; carry me to bed often so he would be near as he tried to catch some sleep before work,  rush me off the emergency room FIVE TIMES, and so much more.   Oh Gentle Reader, have you sensed that I am a recovering Type A personality?  A first born of my siblings in my family of origin?  That I started working when I was 16 years old with babysitting jobs before then?  That I am capable of taking care of myself thank you very much?  This is the longest and most extreme period of need that I have ever experienced.  I have had to let go of everything during these past three years.  At another time I will write about facing death when my breathing would freeze multiple times during seizure attack episodes.  And with all of this, I did not die of embarrassment or lack of oxygen.  My Heavenly Father and earthly husband have carried me through to this next season of recovery.  I AM HUMBLED!  Thank you seems too small.  I love you both!

Briefly, there were two other tasks I believe needed to be completed during this time:  1) learning to depend completely upon my husband for material needs and 2) realizing that the little activities I got to do here and there would become new skills, new relationships, and new activities that would become my future.  Both were tasks that probably would not have come without grounding in Jesus Christ or needing to cope with the crises of severe illness.  I probably would not have seen so clearly and (hopefully) fully submitted to the incredible character strengths of my beloved had I not become so broken.  Steve is my spiritual leader and head of household and I am grateful.  Long before we met I know what it took when my life fell apart in 2003 to soften me into the kind of woman that my beloved would choose to love.  I now see more clearly what kind of man the Lord has provided for me to love in return.  I AM EXCEEDINGLY BLESSED!

So join me, if you will, for an amazing adventure of recovery from serious illness.  IT IS HAPPENING!  So much fun awaits!  Thank you for riding along with me.  May we both praise the Lord for the good that is here now.

Hope is a good thing, eh?  I am sure of it.  JJ

Psalm 62:5-8 (NIV)

Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
    my hope comes from him.
Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
    he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God;
    he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Trust in him at all times, you people;
    pour out your hearts to him,
    for God is our refuge.

 

High CBD Hemp Oil and Me

So we had a great go of it, HCBDHO and me.

This past winter I gave it a try for about 3 months after discovering some research linking reduced seizures to consumption of a particular type of cannabis oil.  When I found out that there is an industrial hemp oil with only trace amounts of THC and that it would be legal for me to purchase it in my State, I purchased a bottle online.  I worked with the manufacturer and a couple of Facebook groups on dosing.  My initial results were very encouraging!

Within 2 weeks I required increased drops of HCBDHO to receive the same benefit.  This fit the profile of many other users of the product.  Some required nearly 1/2 bottle to stop their seizures even if a child was taking it.  There are lots of details here so I refer the Gentle Reader to previous posts by searching CBD oil on this site.  In general as time wore on, the benefits diminished no matter what the dosing.  Also in time I started having  bad dreams then bizarre nightmares.  The nightmares frightened me.  I could  not figure out why they were happening!  Then I read that some folks are sensitive to even trace amounts of THC:  the compound in cannabis oil that creates a high when taken in products that have a higher percentage of this cannabinoid.  Well I wasn’t having a good time at all!

Eventually I stopped taking HCBDHO altogether.  Now that I am sensitized to it, I do not intend to take it again.  The risk of altered thought processes in my precious sleep (that I desperately need to recover from these wretched daily seizure attack episodes) overrides the small improvements that remained after 3 months.  The benefits did not outweigh the risks.  I am majorly bummed that it did not work for me.  Nothing has worked for me.  No combination of things have worked for me.  I cannot tolerate treatment that works for others without ramping up to violent convulsions.  Detoxing is impossible without noxious, severe side effects.  Talk about being boxed into a dark corner without a flashlight.  Will hope ever shine through again?

Sure it will.  Lately I’m experimenting with magnesium threonate and may try a particular brand of Tahitian Noni Juice.   The latter helped Kurt and Lee Ann Billings, the authors of Mold:  The War Within, who did not do the typical protocols of cholestyramine, activated charcoal or benonite clay to get well.  Yup, all of those three caused me noxious, severe side effects as well.  Sish.  I am very glad that there are new things to try despite the dead ends of my medical team at the moment.  Thank you Lord that you are always my hope with or without Tahitian Noni:  my forever guiding light Who uses the hardships for Your glory . . .

So for those of you considering using high CBD hemp oil (from industrial hemp) or other cannabis products (from hemp classified as medical marijuana), I encourage you to learn all you can at informational sites such as the following Scientific Review of the research literature:    You are also invited to “Like” my facebook page which contains all of the pertinent research that I did when making my decision to try HCBDHO.  The articles include the legality of industrial hemp products and the difference between them and medical marijuana.  Here’s a link to get you started:  Seizure Free Zone on Facebook

May the Lord bless you on your journey too, JJ

Benefits of Hemp Pic

Time for a change

From Family Practice Physician to Lyme Literate Medical Doctor, from Chiropractor to Obgyn, our medical doctor tries to do it all.  I have benefitted from his expertise yet I am still not well.  And when I saw the redness and exhaustion in his eyes during my appointment this evening I realized that he is not well either!

Everyone who sees this gifted physician knows his crazy schedule, his dedication to help everyone in his care, and his history of nearly dying a couple of years ago with his own debilitating illness.  We used to hear how his office conversion to the government mandated computer system was responsible for incredible stress and delays in appointment times.  For example, it was not unusual to call the office in the morning about an appointment scheduled for 10:00 a.m. and not be called in for my appointment until 4:00 p.m. or later.  Forget the ones scheduled after 3:30 p.m. as they were usually rescheduled.  For awhile about one-third of my appointments were re-scheduled, delaying receiving test results or reviewing the status of a particular medical condition for months.  Frustrating indeed.

Yet when there was an acute issue, the Doc was right on it.  When something new popped up I was sent to the hospital in another section of the medical park for labs or scans, held in the waiting room for results, and sometimes seen back in the office much later that night.  To be seen well into the evening was not an unusual occurrence.  My record was an appointment that started at 2:30 a.m.!  He had one more patient after me and had just received notice that one of his pregnant patients was going into labor.  He must have never gone home that night or morning!  Dedication had become insanity.  We talked about it during that visit.  He agreed.  I understand that some scheduling and office procedure changes were put in place for this new year.  As near as I can tell, the staff and Doc are ending their nights before midnight now.  Virtually the same story, different day.

I recently blogged about some important abnormal test results being misplaced for six months.  That has happened another time as well.  Tonight there was only enough time to go over about half of a detailed genetic cholesterol study.  He handed it to me and said, “here, you take this.”  Whaaat?  He thought the “high CBD hemp oil” that I reported was reducing the seizure attacks 40% was vitamins C, B, and D.  Er, no!  After correcting the computer’s voice recognition software two dozen times, I believe he understood what I was saying:  sitting there with my ventilation mask on to avoid seizure attacks from some mysterious exposure in the office.

Mysterious was the exposure until I asked one of the nurses about it.  I had asked before and a different nurse declined comment.  And yet tonight in her own fatigue, a long-time employee openly shared how their office has routine leaks in the ceiling throughout the summer.  The staff has complained about the musty smell and requested testing for mold spores.  Evidently the tests came back “negative.”  The nurses still battle sickness at work.  A friend of mine who is a patient there can detect the musty smell but I cannot.  I just get tic attacks sitting in the treatment room for 2 hours waiting for the Doc!  My worst episode lasted 2 1/2 hours NON-STOP began after midnight dominated by convulsions most of the time!  My husband came to pick me up around 4:00 a.m.!  I’m sure that exhaustion and stress were a factor being in the office so late that night but hey, I was sitting in a water damaged building to be seen by my doctor for mold illness!  Whaaaat?  Soon after that I started wearing a mask every visit!

I have learned so much from my brilliant Doctor.  He is a Christian man who really cares about his patients.  He has provided better care for me for six years here in this smaller Indiana town than I ever received in the large metropolitan area of Chicago.  When my health got significantly worse 2 1/2 years ago I hung in there with him, hopeful that we would find answers.  I was also unsuccessful finding another MD or clinic to address the intractable seizures, pain, etc.  Gratefully, the Lord has now led me to another clinic in Michigan with two physicians specializing in methylation issues and biotoxin (mold) illness, respectively.  After three phone consultations, extensive paperwork, and additional lab testing completed, my husband and I are preparing for my first in-person visit on March 24th.  We will stop at a lab near the clinic for additional blood work to better match Dr. Richie Shoemaker’s protocols for “Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome.”  My current MD and I have worked closely on Dr. Shoemaker’s protocol yet neither of us are officially trained; this led to using the wrong laboratories, incomplete test results when the samples were not processed correctly, and improper sequencing of the treatment plan.  Two very expensive medications from an out-of-state compounding pharmacy either did not work or made me much worse.  We tried!  The biotoxin illness Doc at the new clinic works closely with Dr. Shoemaker and is a Christian too.  I am encouraged.  Lyme disease is not the focus at the moment and that’s o.k.

So it’s time for a change.  I still have appointments on the books with my primary care physician as someone will need to monitor ongoing health issues not covered by the new clinic.  He has asked for copies of all of the testing and reports so I am happy to oblige.  With the Lord’s help I will continue tweaking the dose of high CBD hemp oil in hopes of reducing even further the seizure attacks and noxious symptoms that follow.  The Lord is guiding me step-by-step, including through the spiritual leadership of my beloved Steve.  I am so glad I heeded hubby’s advice and did not start seeing every expert who sounded good on the internet!  When moments are better for me, we celebrate and don’t think about the bad times.  We both see examples of how the Lord has used this season in our lives for His glory.  We are closer than ever, more in love than ever before and for that I am grateful.  I am closer to Christ than ever before as well knowing that He heard my truly desperate cries for help the night before I first started the CBD oil.  I was ready to die and it was not to be.  I was spared from further anguish and suffering, turning a corner to better things at last.

If you are suffering this day, this night:  do not give up!  There’s a blogger praying for you Gentle Reader.  More importantly the God Who created the universe knows your name, sees you, knows your pain, and gave his life so that one day your heartache would end.  Please draw near to Him and He will draw near to you.  He will never leave you or forsake you.  Everything will be worked together for good someday if you but call upon the Lord and let Him into your heart.  These statements are based upon His Word and promises that are true today and always.  The Great Physician will see you through, always my dear one.  Take care,  JJ

Recovery is a jagged line

Today my words came back to me.  My beloved Steve was comforting with his encouragement that there can be many setbacks even when on the road to recovery.  Ah yes.  The old, “recovery is a jagged line” speech.  I have let those words fly many times when working with my patients as an occupational therapist.  There was the cardiac patient who was frustrated with having to restrict his activity level to basically mope-ing around the house for his first week home from the hospital.  I also recall a lady practically quarantined in a back bedroom of her home with a great view of the surrounding woodlands.  She had a portable refrigerator, phone, laptop, accessible bathroom, hospital bed, wheelchair, walker and many conveniences to help her recover from a knee replacement surgery.  I had to encourage her to push up her jagged line a bit lest she become too comfortable in her hospital room at home!

occupational_therapy_no_limitsOne of the many reasons I enjoyed working in home health care was the ability to use the person’s real-life situations, supplies, and responsibilities as part of his or her occupational therapy.  The role of an O.T. is to evaluate the daily activities of an individual and the skills needed to complete those activities.  When there is a breakdown due to an illness, surgery, mental health problem, developmental delay, disability, or disease process, the O.T. works with the patient and his or her resources to restore function.  I was always amazed at how “resourceful” some patients could be!  I think the farmers were the best.  I’ll never forget the industrious wife of a patient suffering after several failed back surgeries.  The lady of the house had built from scrap wood a rolling cart with a seat on top and rope attached to move it along the floors in her home.  What was she moving?  Well her husband of course!  He was eligible for a wheelchair rental but evidently the subject never came up.  I don’t think they even wanted one when it became available.  The downside:  the gentleman would not likely become independent in household mobility and related activities when sitting on a cart that had to be pulled by others.  Recovery is sometimes a flat line too:  no true recovery at all.

As for me, the recovery is moving forward.  I am 12 days into using high CBD hemp oil to attempt to control daily seizure-like tic episodes.  Today I had a setback for about 2 hours but at least the episode was low grade without a severe neck headache or pain.  And when night time rolled around to my bewitching hours of 9-11:00 p.m. there were pre-tic symptoms and nothing else.  This is the second night in a row with relief!  Every night prior to this and for the past 8 months I have had 2-4 hours of intermittent seizures.  Virtually every day or night for the past 2-1/2 years I have had intermittent waking seizures.   Praise the Lord, the pattern is changing!  At either set intervals or when noxious symptoms start I take a full or partial dose of high CBD hemp oil and get relief.  Nothing has ever done this before!

It’s not like I haven’t prayed, submitted, waited, or tried more diets/supplements/drugs/manual therapies/technologies/chiropractors/testing/remediation than, as they used to say, “Carter has got pills!”  I am actually still preparing to see methylation and biotoxin illness specialists in Michigan later this month.  It is likely that the cause of illness is related more to exposure to biotoxins than Lyme disease.  All that may be clearer sometime down the road.  At this time my husband and I are rejoicing for the relief from our hellish nights.  He just might start getting a full night of sleep before too long!  That is if we don’t stay up for other reasons . . . ;J

If you are curious about high CBD hemp oil then I offer this informational website:  www.mycbdresearch.com  and join the discussion on Facebook at:  www.facebook.com/CBDhempandseizures  There’s hope here for many with seizures and other neurological, intractable health conditions.  For all of us there is one ultimate source of hope that will sustain us whether recovery is a straight, jagged, or invisible line:  a relationship with the Lord, Jesus Christ.  To find Him we only need to get on our knees and open our hearts to His enduring love, His love letters to each of us in the Bible.  I would have never made it this far without my Jesus.  I am humbled and grateful for many aspects of these past 2 1/2 years:  I’m working on accepting the wretched parts.

Meeting you, Gentle Reader, along the way is a sweet gift.  Thank you for being a part of my recovery too.  JJ