When she was just two years old, Charlotte Figi began to be frequently shaken by epileptic seizures. She suffered from Dravet syndromea rare, intractable and severe form of epilepsy. The Figi family tried everything to relieve Charlotte-acupuncture and a dozen medications-but nothing seemed to work. Worse still, some of the drugs made it impossible for her to breathe, and almost killed her.
It was in 2011, when Charlotte was just 5 years old, that her condition reached its most critical level with a multiplication of seizures. Her father, Matt Figi, continued to search the internet for possible solutions and one day came across a video of a child being treated with medical cannabis containing high levels of CBD and correlatively low levels of THC.. Although Matt was far from being a fan of cannabis and CBD, which he knew nothing about, he began to think about prescribing it to his daughter. Unwilling to accept the idea at first, Charlotte Figi's parents were forced to seize this last chance to try and save their daughter.
Scientists have identified two main active ingredients in this plant: THC, the psychoactive substance, and CBDwhich could modulate chemical and electrical activity to help reduce the excessive brain activity that causes epileptic seizures. Based on these hypotheses, scientists set out to cultivate plants rich in CBD and low in THC.
Charlotte Figi's parents were among the first to buy CBD flowers. After extracting the medicinal CBD from the flowers, Charlotte Figi was given CBD and finally had her first seizure-free day.
Thanks to CBD, she could eat by herself again, talk, go for walks, ride her bike, simply live.
A special variety made for Charlotte now bears her name: Charlotte's Web (Charlotte's Web). In 2014, over 41 children were using Charlotte's Web CBD in Colorado, and all report a significant reduction in the number of epileptic seizures.
CBD is still being studied to discover its full medical potential, and there are still many hopes for it. Let's hope it can help some people!
Sources: CNN, Charlotte's Web™