Almost everyone has been so overwhelmed with work and stress that they feel like their brain has short-circuited; their brain starts going a mile a minute, preventing them from speaking, thinking, or functioning clearly. But did you know that some people have actual short-circuits in their brains? The medical term for this disorder is epilepsy, more commonly known as a seizure disorder.
Our neurons, or brain cells, essentially form a collection of circuit boards that activate in specific patterns to indicate different activities or emotions. For instance, a pang of hunger will trigger one set of brain cells, while reading this article will activate another circuit. Sometimes, however, our brain cells can accidentally fire multiple circuits at the same time, which can overwork the brain and cause a seizure. During this time, a person loses control over their body, and can experience a wide range of temporary effects, including muscle spasms, changes in behaviors, and sudden body stiffness. A person is diagnosed with epilepsy when they have two or more unprovoked seizures. Repeated seizures can lead to the development of other neurological disorders and sometimes cause death.
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Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological disease, and it affects 3 million adults and 470,000 children in the US, and 50 million people worldwide. To make matters worse, current medications and treatments aren’t always effective, highlighting the importance of a novel, efficient drug.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved a group of drugs for epilepsy in hopes that they would be effective for treatment-resistant epilepsy cases. One of these drugs is cannabidiol (CBD), or a compound extracted from certain species of Cannabis, or marijuana. CBD is not a psychotropic compound, and it has been shown to protect neurons and reduce instances of depression. In addition, CBD prevents convulsions, indicating that it could play a role in seizure prevention.
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CBDs became the first marijuana-derived drug to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2018, but only for seizures caused by certain neurological disorders. In July 2020, the use of CBD as a treatment was expanded to treat a wider range of epilepsies. CBD successfully lowered the seizure frequency in patients with these disorders, highlighting its potential as a novel and more effective treatment for epilepsy.
Although CBD seems to successfully reduce the frequency of seizures in patients, there are some drawbacks to the treatment. During clinical trials, many patients, especially those given higher doses of CBD, experienced some side effects, including drowsiness, diarrhea, and changes in liver function. In addition, federally, marijuana remains illegal and is classified as a drug with a high potential for abuse. Further experiments need to be done to test the long-term effects of CBD treatment on both the brain and behavior before it can be safely distributed to patients with epilepsy.
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