The hunt for CBDA

I used to believe that this country is a medicinal cannabis paradise. We've got an abundance of doctors willing to apply on your behalf for a license (and that's a pre-requisite). Provided your ailment is one of the many that the government's health officials recognize as treatable with cannabis your license will arrive within a month. We've got nine suppliers to choose from.

But this week disillusionment struck. After a concerted search for CBDA, we have concluded that it is definitely not sold in this country. Every one of the suppliers I contacted told me that either they'd never heard of it or had but didn't sell it.

What is it?

Cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) is a chemical compound found in the resin glands (trichomes) of raw cannabis plants. In this case, raw means unheated and uncured. Basically, raw cannabis is fresh flower and leaves trimmed directly from the plant. CBDA is the acidic precursor to the more widely known molecule cannabidiol (CBD).] Source: https://www.cibdol.com/blog/368-cbd-science-the-difference-between-cbd-and-cbda

It is readily available on line but a rep of our supplier has warned me that importing it is illegal. She noted that our government-issued user license only permits us to receive the specified products sold by our chosen local supplier.

In any case, it appears that none of the online producers ship to this country. We're still awaiting a response from the ones we've approached.

We're very disappointed by this state of affairs. After consulting our cannabis guru, Elizabeth (https://elizabethaquino.blogspot.com/) and reading further about the product on line, it seems that CBDA is now our best option.

CBD seemed to help C. back in 2015 when we started her on it. The number of daily seizures dropped and she even enjoyed isolated seizure-free days. But that's a faded memory. Her "normal" now is a daily minimum of around 4-5 seizures along with long strings of them on average four times a week.

Elizabeth also advised tweaking the dosage of CBD and THC. We reached the maximum dose of 25 drops of CBD as recommended by our neurologist about 18 months ago. We've remained at that level ever since. But last week I began lowering it. We're currently at 23 drops. I also raised the THC to 4 drops. We give those doses 3x/day.

It's a shame that there is nobody here, neither neurologist nor cannabis supplier, who can guide us more effectively. I'm tired of all this groping in the dark.

Despite her constant seizure assaults, C. managed once again to perform nicely in the pool. Here is a video from her last hydro session a few days ago:

That pot of gold

C. gets hydrotherapy

I was thrilled with C.'s hydro session this week where she surpassed last week's performance. Here she is floating unaided (over on the right).

Her walking has also been advancing. Still nothing like what it was pre-liver saga but better than it has been since her liver recovered.

She's actually sturdily on her feet cooperating slightly while I move her legs. We do this for 45 minutes every night. It's so strenuous that Ive apparently injured my left hand in some way. For the last week, I've been waking up after about five hours of sleep with numbness and pain in my left fingers.

I unearthed a hand brace which I bought many years ago. (That's no mean feat in my chaotic household.) The exercises I was doing back then with C. triggered similar symptoms in the same hand.

Me walking C. today

I've now been wearing it during the walking and while I sleep for a couple of days with amazing results.

UPDATE: I wrote all that a few days ago but things aren't looking so rosy now. We get periods of intense and repeated seizures for which I give either Advil or 20 drops of Cannabis THC, or both. We're also treated periodically to those tiny eye seizures that lock her trembling eyeballs into the left side. The latter aren't as visually alarming as the whoppers but they're still very disconcerting. Needless to say, she doesn't function at her peak while in their grip which can be for over an hour.

We're at the same 25 drops of Cannabis CBD, three times a day, 3 drops of Cannabis THC three times a day, 1,500 mg. of Keppra twice a day and 100 mg of Vimpat twice a day. Still haven't learned if and how we can buy that CBDA. So, for now, I am at a loss as to what changes to make.

That pot of gold - seizure control - seems more elusive than ever.