Asha

Patient name: Asha

Age: 7

Condition/illness: Dandy Walker
Malformation of the brain, which has lead to seizures, nausea, vomiting and lack
of appetite. Asha has had a G-tube since she was three months old due to the
inability to eat. She has been able to physically eat for four-and-a-half
years, but it is a learning process and we weren’t seeing any progress until we
started using cannabis. Asha also has severe scoliosis
and kyphosis leading to the placement of two expandable rods in her
back.

Using medical
cannabis since: October 2013

Why did you start
giving your daughter medical cannabis? 

Nick (Father): Asha’s seizures
were becoming more frequent and severe. Her neurologist wanted to put her on
daily pharmaceutical medications to try to control them. The known side effects
of these medications were far more scary and detrimental to her health and development
than any known side effects of cannabis. Also, the known side effects of
cannabis help with other ailments and conditions that Asha faces. She has been
on a feeding tube almost her whole life, originally due to a small floppy
throat (laryngomalacia) and the placement of a Tracheotomy tube. She has had
the Trach out for over four years now, but we have struggled getting her
interested in eating. She now finds enjoyment in eating and consistently eats
by mouth. In October of 2012, Asha had two VEPTR (expandable titanium) rods
placed in her back in order to help with her battle with scoliosis and
kyphosis. It was after this initial surgery that we discovered Asha’s
intolerance to conventional pharmaceutical (opiod) pain medicine. She has to
have an expansion surgery every six months until she is done growing. We now
use canna-meds in place of pharmaceutical narcotics to help with her recovery
after each surgery. Lastly, but very importantly, Asha has struggled with
vomiting her whole life. For most of this time it has been nothing short of a
daily struggle. Since she has been on canna-meds (for over six months) she has
vomited about a handful of times. We are able to run her tube feeds much faster
now. Due to the lack of vomiting and the increase in appetite we have been
successful at cutting out 25 percent of her tube feedings since she has become a
cannabis patient.

Did you try other
methods or treatments before cannabis?

We forewent trying daily pharmaceuticals for her seizures and went
straight to the safer, obvious alternative of cannabis. It was a no-brainer for
us to try a medicine with no known toxicity and a list of side effects that may
prove to be positive for Asha, as opposed to the contrary. Even our most
trusted pediatric physician, who cannot prescribe or recommend cannabis,
assured us of its safety and of the known dangers of the alternative
pharmaceutical medicines.

What’s the most
important issue or problem facing medical cannabis patients?

It is difficult to find the guidance and knowledge for using cannabis,
particularly with a pediatric patient. High CBD strains are difficult to locate
at this point in time, as well. Luckily we have seemed to fall into the right
medicine and the right program, which has been working out very well for us. So
just to reiterate, “guidance,” is the most difficult problem for many cannabis
patients.  

What do you say
to folks who are skeptical about cannabis as a medicine?

Our family runs a small retail business selling local crafts and
arts that many times are cannabis related. We meet skeptics every day that
often choose to voice their skepticism and outright disapproval of
cannabis use as a medicine or otherwise. We,
particularly Asha’s mother, are very quick to point out what cannabis
has done for Asha. We also can retell other cannabis success stories
shared by other families. By the time we share some of our knowledge of
cannabis as a medicine, these skeptics are left without anything to say to
oppose us. I truly believe that most of them walk away with at least a slightly
changed opinion and a more open mind.