PA: Woman Looks To Cannabis Hemp Oil To Help With Adult Daughter's Seizures

Katelyn Baker

Well-Known Member
Patterson Twp. - Debbie Intrieri believes she's found a natural remedy to help with her adult daughter's seizures: cannabis hemp oil.

Angela "Angel" Intrieri, who was diagnosed with a rare epileptic condition last year called Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, said she feels calmer and sleeps better since she began taking the oil. She's had nocturnal seizures and a developmental delay for most of her life after a weeks-long hospitalization as an infant.

With the hopes that Angel will someday be able to be weaned off multiple powerful anticonvulsant medications she has taken for years, Intrieri had her daughter begin to take the oil twice a day about four months ago, a day before her 35th birthday.

"It took her father and I months and months and months of research to come to the decision to do this. We had just had enough," said Intrieri, of Patterson Township.

Last year, she obtained and combed through Angel's vast medical files. The dog-eared and highlighted papers sit in a large box in her home.

The anti-seizure medications she takes have an array of side effects from long-term use, ranging from memory loss to leukemia. The cannabidiol hemp oil, also known as CBD hemp oil, comparatively, has milder potential side effects, such as diarrhea and sleepiness.

Intrieri said her daughter sometimes had spells of memory loss. When she was younger, she remembered all of her teachers and her peers years later. However, recently, Angel has had a difficult time doing some things she's done for years, like using the CD player in her car. Sometimes she'd have outbursts, too.

Intrieri points to the recent results of an electroencephalogram as proof of the oil's effectiveness. Also known as an EEG, an electroencephalogram is a test that monitors electrical activity in the brain.

In November 2015, the EEG report noted "several episodes captured of possible tonic seizures." She was on four anticonvulsant medications -- and no hemp oil -- during this test period. During a subsequent appointment last month, her session went "without clinical seizures noted," according to the report. She was taking two prescribed anti-seizure medications in addition to the oil.

However, Angel's longtime neurologist, Dr. James Valeriano of Allegheny General Hospital, said it's still too soon to determine if it's the oil alone that aided in her improvement.

"There's some suggestion it may have benefited her, but she really hasn't been on it that long, so I think it's a little bit early to say it made a difference," he said.

He sees several patients with cognitive delays and seizures each day, and roughly a half dozen other patients of his have taken cannabis oil products in attempts to help treat their conditions, Valeriano said.

"The consensus among the families has been that there's been at least some degree of improvement, although it's relatively small, probably, so far, in most of them," he said.

There haven't been negative side effects with any of his patients, either, which is an important distinction, Valeriano said, because adding a new treatment to a cocktail of anti-seizure medications can be tricky.

Angel lives at a group home in Chippewa Township and works at McGuire Memorial Employment Option Center in Moon Township four days a week doing housekeeping work. She enjoys making crafts and collecting warm, fuzzy socks to wear every holiday, and her music taste runs the gamut, from Toby Keith to Pink Floyd.

She often welcomes guests with a hug and a smile.

The cannabinoid-rich hemp extract does not have the psychoactive aspects of marijuana, and its production is federally legal through the Agricultural Act of 2014, said Janel Ralph, founder and CEO of the South Carolina-based Palmetto Harmony, which produces the oil Angel takes.

Ralph said consumers have used the oil to treat a variety of conditions: anxiety, panic attacks, high blood pressure, pain, inflammation, autism.

"We knew it helped with epilepsy, but we didn't know what else it would help with," Ralph said.

She initially did research on the product she now produces to help with her own daughter's epilepsy. Her daughter's name, Harmony, is the company's namesake.

In essence, the oil Angel is taking is separate from medical marijuana that was legalized in Pennsylvania last year. While it's legal, Intrieri still needed to obtain a prescription from a doctor to have it administered at Angel's group home.

And the oil, unlike her other medications, is not covered by health insurance. A 90-day supply costs about $200, Intrieri said.

She is hopeful that the CBD hemp oil has helped her daughter and plans to continue giving it to her while slowly weaning her off other drugs. One of the drugs she still takes, Topamax, takes several months to be weaned from. The other drug, Onfi, takes several years, she said.

She does get frustrated sometimes that her daughter will have to live this way throughout her life.

"I'll never see her walk down the aisle. I'll never hold her baby in my arms. She's my only girl. I have two boys," Intrieri said. "Those are things that will never happen, but on the other hand, there are things that we will always enjoy because she will be childlike forever. So Halloween and Christmas are a lot of fun."

LucySchaly.jpg


News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Woman Looks To Cannabis Hemp Oil To Help With Adult Daughter's Seizures
Author: Kate Malongowski
Contact: 724-775-3200
Photo Credit: Lucy Schaly
Website: The Times
 
Back
Top Bottom