Mm For Children

[momwantswhatsbest]

My son is going to be 12 in less than 1 month. He has ADHD and Asberger syndrome (a high functioning autism). He also has anxiety issues and depression. He has been taking adult doses of different medications such as adderall and prozac. I know the addiction concerns and the long term damage these psychotropic medications can cause. Frankly it scares the poo out of me. I've been learning more about cannabis oil and the positive things it does for children like my son. I am hoping to learn more about the laws in regards to minors and mm. Can anyone offer and advice or information.

[t-pain]

sure. although marijuana has been known to help anxiety, adhd and depression, none of those are currently qualifying conditions for a medical marijuana recommendation here in michigan.

 

i dont know what type of aspergers your child has, but if its something like severe shyness and inability to talk to others, marijuana might help.

 

i am not a doctor, nor a lawyer, so none of this should be taken as medical or legal advice.

 

there are less than 100 minor (under 18) patients registered to use medical marijuana in the state of michigan right now as far as i can tell. to have a child registered, you need to have two different doctors sign recommendation forms. the forms are on laras website http://michigan.gov/mmp

 

if the adhd, anxiety, aspergers or depression (or the treatments/prescriptions for those conditions) have caused any nausea, chronic pain, muscle spasms, wasting (inability to eat), or the other conditions listed on the michigan.gov site, then your child may qualify. although i think many doctors will be hesitant to sign off on this treatment. marijuana is still super illegal everywhere so it has a large stigma attached to it.

 

 

there are always other things you can try.

[t-pain]

unfortunately, medications like prozac and other mood stabilizers and anti-depressants / anti-psychotics can cause some suicidal thoughts. so you have to watch out for those side effects.

 

i've heard from various sources that foods laden with sugar can cause mood swings in children. i also know this from my childhood eating lots of sugary snacks and then getting a "sugar rush".

 

so what you can try is to change your childs diet. remove all of the processed foods, high in salts and sugars, and only allow him to eat fresh fruits and vegetables. risks involved? only food allergies. possibly a large fight as many people are addicted to their ice creams and hot pockets.

 

but hey, its a relatively easy thing to try vs a bunch of prescriptions with bad side effects, or trying to find two doctors to sign a kid up for medical marijuana. you're willing to move mountains to help your child, right? ditch the meat, potato chips , ice cream, soda pop, cheese, milk, bread, cereals. just for one month. i'm not saying it can fix everything. but maybe it will help with one condition. or maybe it will only help his health? not many people die from eating an apple or a carrot

 

finally, try not to worry too much about the future. kids are tough. i was in school when they started drowning kids in ritalin. almost half of my class was on it. did they need to be on ritalin? no. i saw a pattern of taking a child who wont sit still in a boring school class and giving him a diagnosis of adhd and a prescription of ritalin. hah kid, now we'll make you sit still and pay attention! maybe its just possible that the kids were bored and wanted to go play or maybe they learned more effectively with their hands and not by sitting and memorizing facts.

 

if your kid is having trouble in school , consider pulling him out for homeschool. try it maybe for one year only, i'm not saying make drastic changes permanently. just try it out, see if it helps or hurts.

[momwantswhatsbest]

Thank you for all of your advice. I currently try my best to keep processed food to a minimum. I make a lot of home made things including bread to avoid unnecessary things in his diet. Also he is allergic to milk and eggs so those are already cut out.

My concerns with long term conditions has a lot to do with the medical history of his dads family and the way they have reacted through the years with the same medications. I really have tried so many things for him and keep hitting brick walls with one negative side effect or another.

I have considered home schooling but being a single mom hinders a lot in that option. I will definitely do more research before making a final decision on this. Thank you again.

[Habenero]

I like T's advice. Start out with lifestyle changes.

 

I also agree with T that too many kids are on Ritalin.  When I was in school I didn't know of a single kid on Ritalin. Seems like they drug up kids way too much these days.

 

I could see mm maybe helping some of his conditions but with multiple problems like that you run the risk of helping some and making others worse. Only reason I say that is because I have heard of people who have depression and marijuana makes them much worse.  But it's one of those trial and error things. If you try it out then closely monitor him  for changes.  You'd probably be best off looking for a high CBD strain if you go down that road.

[momwantswhatsbest]

Thank you and I agree completely. I will be monitoring him close for his depression issues. I really do think that his depression was caused from some of the medication he was previously on. What is CBD? I quit smoking before everything became so technical. Most of this is new to me.

[trichcycler]

Cannabidiol — CBD— is a cannabis compound that has significant medical benefits, but does not make people feel “stoned” and can actually counteract the psychoactivity of THC. The fact that CBD-rich cannabis doesn’t get one high makes it an appealing treatment option for patients seeking anti-inflammatory, anti-pain, anti-anxiety, anti-psychotic, and/or anti-spasm effects without troubling lethargy or dysphoria.

 

Scientific and clinical studies underscore CBD’s potential as a treatment for a wide range of conditions, including arthritis, diabetes, alcoholism, MS, chronic pain, schizophrenia, PTSD, antibiotic-resistant infections, epilepsy, and other neurological disorders. CBD has demonstrated neuroprotective and neurogenic effects, and its anti-cancer properties are currently being investigated at several academic research centers in the United States and elsewhere.

 

http://projectcbd.org//about/introducing-cbd

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabidiol

 

Are you his registered caregiver currently ?

Will you consider maintaining your own garden for him ?

[momwantswhatsbest]

This is very helpful to know. I really didn't want him walking around being high. He hates the medicine because it gives him the feeling of being high. I planned on becoming a caregiver if we do go this route. I figured it was the easiest way to control what hes getting. I have a couple of friends that are caregivers and have been talking a lot to them about everything

[trichcycler]

be sure to read the law concerning registering minors. There some considerations to ponder.

http://www.michigan.gov/lara/0,4601,7-154-35299_63294_63303_51869_52138---,00.html

There are better alternatives for delivery than smoking perhaps. Small capsules with a fine sift

of active ingredients would be an example. CBD's can come from other food sources also, an important

consideration when looking into diet changes.

 

good day

[slipstar059]

Whatever decisions you make, please don't end up like Angella Brown she gave an outstanding interview on the view today, it's just too early to find yet. When it shows up I'll post it.

 

Just recently, a woman from Cadillac used cannabis to treat her children's Add and she was charged with, child endangerment.

 

I agree with Grassmatch, a healthy diet is the best place to start.

 

Homeschooling isn't necessarily the solution either, if you aren't able to manage, them full time.

 

Personally, homeschooling and Add worked to my advantage, because I was able to take in more information. When I felt my mind wandering, I would switch to another subject, and jump around between different lesson plans.

 

A good friend of mine was also homeschooled, and was left with an eigth grade education, because his mom didn't give him structure.

 

There isn't a cure-all, for life, your child needs to figure out how to make his/her brain work to their advantage. Unfortunately today, it's just easier to put them on medication. If you can help him/her understand there's nothing wrong with them you'll be helping them more than any Medicine, you might be looking into.