He looked like hell when I got him off of the bus last Thursday. Calvin's cheeks were purplish and blotchy, and he was trembling. Earlier, the school nurse had called saying he had strangely mottled thighs, something I've sometimes noticed on days before seizures. Once inside the house, I looked over the daily summary sheet that was sent home with him. It indicated that he'd also been whiny and shivering, though the nurse hadn't taken his temperature. I wish I had known. When I changed his diaper I noted his mottled skin, which was as purplish and as conspicuous as I'd ever seen, the marbled pattern spreading across his torso as well as his thighs. Though he had goosebumps on his legs, he felt warm, so I took his temperature. The thermometer read 102.2 degrees.
Poor Calvin continued to tremble, so I gathered him in my arms and carried him upstairs, where I gave him a tylenol, peeled off a few layers of his clothing and put him to bed. Thankfully, his fever broke later that night.
Unremarkably, all weekend long he spent resting, in and out of bed, in and out of our arms. Quite remarkably, he didn't have any seizures. Typically, viruses lower Calvin's seizure threshold, particularly at the start of an illness, often before symptoms appear.
Remarkable, too, is that since reducing Calvin's Palmetto Harmony CBD oil three weeks ago after a terrible, months-long spate of seizures, Calvin has had only two grand mals and one complex partial seizure. It appears that the CBD reduction—from 145 mgs to 60 mgs—did what many parents have attested to: it seems to have helped reduce his seizures, particularly his complex partial ones, to levels as low as just about any time in the past four years—just eight total seizures in a months' time, four of each. Though it is still a very small time-window to look through, I'd say, so far so good with the CBD strategy.
And though I've been toying with the idea of reducing Calvin's high dose of Keppra to see if his behavior and complex partial seizures improve, or further reducing his CBD oil to see if all of Calvin's seizures decrease when taking a lower dose, I am going to, instead, keep things status quo. I came to this conclusion after considering that, in a few weeks, I am going to have to replace Calvin's homemade THCA oil with one made from an entirely new strain of cannabis, thus introducing a new variable; I try to limit variables to one at a time.
For now, so far so good. Nevertheless, please cross your fingers and knock on wood.
Poor Calvin continued to tremble, so I gathered him in my arms and carried him upstairs, where I gave him a tylenol, peeled off a few layers of his clothing and put him to bed. Thankfully, his fever broke later that night.
Unremarkably, all weekend long he spent resting, in and out of bed, in and out of our arms. Quite remarkably, he didn't have any seizures. Typically, viruses lower Calvin's seizure threshold, particularly at the start of an illness, often before symptoms appear.
Remarkable, too, is that since reducing Calvin's Palmetto Harmony CBD oil three weeks ago after a terrible, months-long spate of seizures, Calvin has had only two grand mals and one complex partial seizure. It appears that the CBD reduction—from 145 mgs to 60 mgs—did what many parents have attested to: it seems to have helped reduce his seizures, particularly his complex partial ones, to levels as low as just about any time in the past four years—just eight total seizures in a months' time, four of each. Though it is still a very small time-window to look through, I'd say, so far so good with the CBD strategy.
And though I've been toying with the idea of reducing Calvin's high dose of Keppra to see if his behavior and complex partial seizures improve, or further reducing his CBD oil to see if all of Calvin's seizures decrease when taking a lower dose, I am going to, instead, keep things status quo. I came to this conclusion after considering that, in a few weeks, I am going to have to replace Calvin's homemade THCA oil with one made from an entirely new strain of cannabis, thus introducing a new variable; I try to limit variables to one at a time.
For now, so far so good. Nevertheless, please cross your fingers and knock on wood.
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| Photo by Michael Kolster |
It seems we're both experimenting and fiddling around again with CBD. We need to talk. I need your brains and gut.
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