To many, this is just a kid on a bike. Simple, right?

I can remember a boy who used to be terrified to leave the house, who couldn’t go to the bathroom by himself, had fits of rage and had so many seizures every day that he couldn’t finish a sentence. I can remember the day he decided to get on a swing. It was just one week after we started to use CBD. It was like meeting our kid for the first time. Just playing a game or drawing a straight line at 7 yrs old was impossible. It devastates parents and families as well…deeply.

The start of this young man’s life has been very difficult to put it lightly. Although he still deals with some of these things on a much smaller level, he now gets to feel like a normal kid.

I was just standing at the end of the street today, waiting for him to ride back when it hit me. I was overcome with gratitude for so many reasons. But mostly I just wanted to share what I now am certain of. CBD and many medical cannabis-based medicines change lives. It’s hard to impress upon you just how much I mean.

Devin used to drool and wear a helmet because he was on so many drugs that didn’t work. It made him so much worse.

Look at him! It’s not a miracle. It’s ignorance and stigma lifted off of our medical world. It’s beautiful.

I am undiagnosed. I have been fighting epilepsy, apparently, my whole life. I believe I have Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, which makes my story… interesting. I have had identified, undiagnosed “episodes” for 21 years. The impact these episodes have had on my life is only now beginning to be understood, even be myself.

Just over a month ago I was housebound, having been on disability from my job for just over a year. Being a chemical engineer at a DoE nuclear processing facility, I was subject to random drug testing, for which a positive result would likely result in termination and difficulty finding future employment. I had never been released from a job for any reason. Now, I was living in a housebound state, barely able to hold a coherent conversation, an emotional wreck, hopeless, confused and prepared to accept that I would die soon. My breathing would become labored, body systems were losing their ability to regulate, I could not walk, my voiding was nearly uncontrollable, I could no longer read even with glasses, and had no energy to play with my dogs or assist in keeping the house up.

I finally had reached a point where the quality of my life was such that I had to change something or I would consider the alternative to living a life so seemingly empty and void, a burden to those around you, never quite being the person I knew I was, or even a person my family could tolerate. My wife is my love and heart. She convinced me to try cannabis one day. I did and it is turning my life upside down, this time in a very good way.

The changes I have experienced are phenomenal. Often, the changes are frightening, often exciting, and other times bewildering. I believe I am regaining access to neural networks that have been inaccessible for years, or decades. I have access to memories and all associated personality, feelings and emotions, that are tied to those memories. My processing capacity seems higher. My vision is not just normal, but 20/15 at worst. My memory is fantastic and my ability to function at a high level emotionally and intellectually is beyond what I have ever thought I could experience. My agility and coordination are better than I can ever recall. I am losing weight, having weighed 234 pounds a year ago and less than 200 pounds today. I am a different person than I was. I can love and feel like I never knew possible. I do not know what the future holds, but God has this. THC has given me myself, a person buried under decades of seizures.

-Richard

I tried several brands of oils and now I buy Elixinol only because of consistent quality. I had issues from one bottle to the next from competitors and Elixinol has been consistent and excellent for my usage.

I first bought the oil to combat stress, as drugs have failed me or worsened my condition. Anxiety feels physically painful at the extreme; I now lead a much calmer, peaceful existence with absolutely no mood impairment or cover up. Elixinol works nearly instantly when administrated under my tongue.

Here’s a list of results thus far:

• At 63, I wear stronger glasses each year. I have been using Elixinol maybe 3 months, now on 3600 strength. When I spoke with a doctor on the phone, he asked about eyesight which is driving me nuts. He suggested I get last year’s glasses. I am now using a prescription from April 2014.
• I have some rosacea on my very fair skin, topical application has reduced size and redness, continuing use. I also have shingles on lower back, and the pain is gone, the length of breakout is reduced by about half and the blistering was gone within hours!
• As to anxiety? I have woken up nightly and in the A.M. for about 5 years with painful heart pounding, gasping for breath in terror seemingly for little reason. I been able to discontinue a prescription medication- 1 down, 2 now gradually decreasing strength. Depression has lifted. I wake up fine, and am returning to a noticeably happier person; my entire family has noticed.
• Just yesterday I ate too much sugar (danged holidays), last night the acid was burning (pretty agonizing feeling) my throat, and I have no problems with that in my normal diet. About 1/2 dropper-full of 3600 and it was gone. I’m a tad tired from sugar poisoning but no lasting gastrointestinal effects. Although I’m fairly careful, I once did take prescription drugs for this- genetically this acid reflux caused gastro/esophageal cancer in my father and grandfather. I am fortunate that my diet has helped as long as I follow it – but it was Elixinol that settled it last night, nothing else has EVER done it- prescription or over the counter.

Our son, Eli, was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 5. He is currently 15 years old. He has had fine motor and developmental delays since he was born. He never had complete seizure control. When he approached adolescence, his seizures increased dramatically to at least one per week. We had difficulty controlling his seizures and his behavior became more and more erratic with the increased anti- seizure medications and frequent seizures. After more testing, we found out last year that he has a genetic disorder, which was helpful to explain many of the symptoms he has had, but upsetting because we knew the seizures would not be outgrown.

We had been following the Charlotte Figi story, and once we were aware that the hemp oil was available to ship, we decided to try it for our son. He started taking the hemp oil supplement last July, and he has been seizure free ever since! We are so thankful! He still takes an anti- seizure medication and has a VNS, but he has now been seizure free for 10 months (longest since initially diagnosed)! He has been taking the Everyday supplement.

I started having episodes, as they were called back then (now known as seizures), back when I was in elementary school. I’m now 40 years old and still have epilepsy. It’s a constant fight and stalker in my life, but CBD oil has given me some hope. It works far better than any of my seizure medications ever have.

At my age I have completely depleted all my options, so I am reliant on CBD oil to keep the seizures at bay and give me hope for the rest of my future, so I can be around and be functional to care for my family and be here for all the family moments and moments with grandchildren. I wouldn’t go a single day without my CBD oil. It truly does help. No side effects, that’s good too!

-Stacey