Migraines, Autism, and Pot: The Adventure Begins

Welp, we did! We started our journey into pot for our teenager. Well, by pot I mean CBD oil (which I am not even sure what that stands for) and by teenager I mean our 14 year old son who has autism, is deaf, has cognitive delays, and suffers from migraines. So. Much. Fun. Elijah, said 14 year old, is non-verbal so it makes all this journey that much more challenging.

Recently, Michigan has been having a mid-spring crisis and decided to snow. Before that we had a nice thunderstorm. I used to like all this fun weather changes, kept me on my toes. But, the changes throws Elijah's migraines into hyperdrive, so now I hate them. So, with all this rain and then  snow, it is no surprise that Elijah got a migraine tonight. His face is flushed and hot, his hands icy cold. He has to sign to me every 2 minutes or more that his nose hurts, his eye hurts. His nose streams with snot and he is constantly crying. This lasts for hours, like 8-14 hours or until we get him to fall asleep. The asleep part takes melatonin, more melatonin, and usually ends with mama laying down with him for the night.

He takes magnesium for a preventative, which has helped immensely. We have also tried meds to help during a migraine or at the onset of one. The meds include everything from Imitrex to Relpax, including the $900.00 monthly Zomig. Nothing helped or even touched these migraines, with the exception of hemp oil. Hemp oil gave Elijah about 15 minutes of relief, but then the migraine pain came back with a vengeance.

With all that, we met with a new PMR doc to ask about migraine pain. He immediately put Lij in PT and OT (both of which he gets at school too). The doc felt that Elijah would really benefit from strengthening his core muscles and that could effect the migraines. It also is imperative for his sign language skills! He has such low muscle tone, that he can't sign many signs. While seeing him, I asked about CBD oil for a migraine treatment. He said it could help, but I would have to get a neurologist to sign off on it too. So yet another appointment was made.

The neurologist took a little more convincing. My argument was that we tried all the pharmaceutical stuff, now we need to think outside of the box. What she said next made me nervous. Basically, she would sign off on it and have the PMR doc sign off on it, then send me the paperwork to apply for a Medical Marijuana (MM) card. But, here's the problem. It is a completely unregulated market. So, there are standards, but each distillery, errr weed center, errrr pot place, errr place to get MM is different. They all get their MM from different growers. Every place can medicate you with whatever formula they see fit. So the neurologist said that even if we go in for CBD oil and mention that Elijah has autism, they might put some THC in his weed concoction to help with the autism too. Now, is this true? I have no clue. I know that she was leary of putting him on it, unsure of the positive effects that could happen.

Two weeks ago, we got the paperwork! Two doctors had to sign off on it. We had to submit copies of our drivers license and Lijah's birth certificate. And, last but not least, 85 bucks. We sent it off after payday! I think the plan is to head down to Ann Arbor on a wonderful friend's suggestion. She uses MM for chronic pain and migraines too.

The neurologist did give me another mom's phone number to contact. Her son uses MM for autism and said she would be open to talking to me. There is sooooooo much for me to learn about! There's no book to help me out either...yet.

Thanks for reading up on our journey. I'll keep you posted. Pray with me that Elijah finds relief tonight with this migraine.