Its the one medicine we have seen work Oregon parents use medical marijuana to help severely autistic son Alex Echols has Tuberous Sclerosis, a rare genetic disorder that led to autism and seizures from a young age. Medical marijuana is the only treatment that eased his violent behavior, his parents said. Most parents wouldnt dream of giving their child marijuana. But an Oregon couple says its the only thing thats been able to help their 11-year-old autistic son. Young Alex Echols suffers from Tuberous Sclerosis, a rare genetic disorder that causes unregulated growth of tissue in the organs. Growths in Alexs brain have led to seizures and autism, his neurologist told Oregons KPTV. Alex cannot communicate using words and that leads to behavior that is very frustrating for him and for those caring for him, Dr. Colin Roberts, a pediatric neurologist at Doernbecher Childrens Hospital in Portland, told the station. Alexs seizures began when he was barely two months old. His situation escalated at age 3 when he began experiencing episodes of severe rage that caused him to hurt himself. By age 5, his violent behavior included head-butting, hitting and scratching himself to the point of bruising and bleeding. No medication seemed to help. When he was 8, Alexs overwhelmed parents made the heartbreaking decision to send their son to a group home. Alex had every family of behavior medication known to the psychiatrist, and we tried private behavior therapy, his mother Karen wrote on a Facebook page set up to share their experience. We tried some swimming for a while, we had a special sensory room set up in the garage, and we did some stuff at home and at school with communication techniques to try and help him tell us what he needed before he got into a rage fit ... we tried a lot of stuff before we considered the group home. For the back story and to learn more, please visit alexneedshelp/ Description Alex was born in 2001 and diagnosed with Tuberous Sclerosis (tsalliance.org/) when he was six weeks old. He has a history of seizures, autism, and self-injurious behaviors. After his fifth birthday, his self-injury went from moderate to extreme, and by 2009 he would regularly beat himself bloody In early 2010, we tried medical marijuana for him. It was more effective than any other medication (and we tried MANY others: zolaft, risperdal, ativan, valium, naltrexone, and more), and showed great promise - see his before and after videos (alexneedshelp/video). But we didnt know how to consistently get him to take it. We didnt know how to measure out a dose. We didnt even how to get a steady supply. Ultimately, we failed (alexneedshelp/marijuana-a-child-with-autism-and-failure-a-true-story). Alex now lives away from home in a state-contracted facility. While they can give Alex any medication a doctor prescribes, they wont give him marijuana. Since he left our care, hes been on Haldol, Ativan, Valium, and at least one medication that could kill him (Amitriptyline) if the dose was just a bit too high.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 13:48:09 +0000
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