We was Forced to Medicate and We Chose Cannabis

So one day at Shays six month with the development pediatrician she had a massive meltdown. It was huge, she completely freaked out and destroyed the Doctors office. It was so bad she even picked up a huge stack of patient files off her desk and threw them everywhere. At that time we had stuck to not medicating . She was only three.

See the thing is Shays emotions are very heightened from her sensory processing disorder. So she feels them in extreme. When excited she is very excited. When she is happy she is very happy. When she gets upset she gets very upset.

I refer to Shays meltdowns as freaking out. Sometimes they are mild. Often times they are extreme. In these fits she throws anything she can get her hands on. She will tip over furniture. She will bite herself on the arm. She will bite other people for trying to comfort her. Most recently she will try to escape (elope) out a door. She runs around and destroys the area she is in.

If I can see the meltdown coming I can usually distract her before it happens or becomes extreme.

So some situations are a guaranteed meltdown waiting to happen. Basically any type of waiting room area. And a doctors office. She hates them. A regular doctors room is pretty bland so she really can't destroy much. So it's a lot of self injurious behavior. Throwing herself down getting under the exam table hiding.

So on this particular day the doctor made me feel like putting Shay on medicine was in her best interest and the medicine was amazing that she would be a whole new kid . That it was something she needed it would help with sleeping issues so she would be able to navigate and handle her extreme emotions better. It really made me feel like if I didn't medicate her I wasn't making the right choices for her.

So we picked up the medicine from the pharmacy . We gave the medicine a trial run and it was awful. She went from crying 40% of the time to 90%. If she wasn't crying she just kind of set and stared off into space like a zombie or was sleeping. We have struggled with sleep in the past but I felt like the medicine was so sedating . So we decided a no for it. So the next step the doctor prescribed a second medicine and this time I went and met with her pediatrician to get insight on it before even picking it up from the pharmacy. So the pediatrician didn't know much about it and it wasn't something she prescribed. So I asked her why and I quote she said " because it's an antipsychotic". The development doctor wanted my 3 year old to take an antipsychotic. Immediately my thoughts started whirling how much research has been done on giving very young children such medicines. How would this effect brain development in the long term. Mind you both of these medications had a huge amount of side effects and you had to wean off of because of dependence. So I told the pediatrician we wanted a medicine we could use on a as needed basis when she had meltdowns. Her response was there wasn't a medicine with that design.

I was floored.

Shay being able to play and have a happy memorable childhood is very important to us.

So I completely went with my gut and decided to give cannabis a try. We had done charlottes web in the past you can read our experience with it here.

I have only used strain specific with her and kept track of it's profile make up which is terpenes and cannabinoids these are what stimulates it effect. I also did a lot of research on this . The first we used was a white widow (sativa) and it worked amazing for her but over a year we went up in the dose amount so another aspect we wanted was to be able to keep dosing small . It took us a bit to find another good fit for her and it is caramel crème (indica)

and we absolutely love it. The best thing about going with cannabis treatment is you don't have to give it everyday. You can absolutely give it on a as needed for meltdowns. It takes about 20 -30 minutes to kick in . Or you can give on a regular regiment what ever makes you comfortable.

Suggestions for starting a cannabis treatment plan

- Do your research on terpenes and cannabinoids

- start with small doses and build up

- use strain specific products

If you need to reach out to me on this feel free to . I will do my best to help you.