April is National Autism Awareness Month and we are here to talk about Autism and Cannabis! We asked several mothers across the state of Oklahoma to share their children’s journey with Autism and Cannabis. We made this a three-part series to truly highlight the stories we are sharing.

Understanding Autism

As stated by Chip and Cynthia Paul of Truemedx, “Autism is a very complicated and complex set of disorders that stem from needed genetic expression being turned off, needed genetic expressions being improperly encoded, or unneeded genetic expressions improperly turned on. By virtue of these improper genetic expressions, the autistic individual’s body, from metabolism to the highest functions, has to adapt to survive.”¹ A more in-depth look shows that “severely autistic folks cannot ‘inflame’ or ‘deflame’, which means they cannot run a basic immune system.  They have deficiencies in their endocannabinoid system with the two main molecules needed to run the endocannabinoid system.  These deficiencies cause a “lack of control” in the master regulatory system.”²

Lincoln’s Story

Speaking with Kimberlee Green, a Cannabis Advocate Wellness Coach, she wondered where to start in telling her son Lincoln’s story. As of this article, they are 3 years into Lincoln’s Cannabis journey. After his first dose, he was sitting on her lap saying I love you mom and kissing all over her face because she was crying tears of joy. Tears of joy that were caused by what amazed them—Lincoln is nonverbal. Quickly he started singing along to his favorite songs and television shows—seemingly less anxious about using his voice. Lincoln is becoming more and more verbal because he is able to focus during school and therapy. He has the willingness to try new foods and has been getting better rest at night—both of which are helping him truly thrive. Kimberlee stated that it was like they are starting to see his personality shine through, but it isn’t just his parents. His teachers, therapist, and medical team are all so excited for the progress he has been making!

Lincoln is only using Cannabis and 1 prescription medication that aides him in resting at night. However, the prescription med is amplified with Cannabis, so they have never had to increase his dose. Kimberlee and her husband grow specific strains of Cannabis for Lincoln, which she then cooks into his favorite treats.

An important thing Kimberlee wants everyone to know about having a child with Autism is that it’s a super power! Her son’s brain works in such a magical way; he learns differently than others and it is incredible to watch.

An Anonymous Story

We also had the opportunity to speak with a mother who wished to remain anonymous, but wanted to share her son’s story. While he is an adult now at 28 years old, most of his story took place before Cannabis became legal for medicinal use in Oklahoma in 2018.

In 2002, at 8 years old, her child was diagnosed with Autism, which back then it was Asperger’s. He had always struggled with touch sensory, noise sensory, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive behaviors. As a freshman or sophomore in high school, he began using Cannabis which wasn’t legal at the time. The mother we spoke with said she was strongly against it and was worried about her son’s Cannabis use. Until she saw the changes Cannabis began making in her son’s life. What Cannabis has done has taken the edge off, to where he can function more normally; he can tolerate everything more normally. Cannabis helped take the edge off of his anger as well and it helps make him more comfortable.

He now lives on his own and has been using Cannabis for about 13 years. He has had to figure out what works best for him—which the funny thing is, the other day he tried an edible, it didn’t work out so well for him. So, he went back to his bong, or he might be using a pipe now, and used what he knew would work for him. Cannabis is the only medicine he uses now, as he has tried different prescription medications in the past but those medicines would put him in a stupor. The Cannabis works better for him because he is in charge of his own dosing and he knows what works for him. The effect is just different, it’s hard to explain, but with prescriptions (like Klonopin) putting him into a stupor since the doctors couldn’t get the correct dose figured out, Cannabis actually let him live!

An important thing this mother wants everyone to know about having a child with Autism is that having an autistic child feel comfortable in their own skin is an entirely different ballgame than having a neurotypical child feel comfortable in their own skin. Her child has had to learn how to feel comfortable in the world of neurotypical people, he’s the one who had to learn how to adjust and be comfortable. He doesn’t pick up on social cues nor innuendos, not eye contact or body movement; that just doesn’t come natural to him. So, for neurotypicals who don’t know him, they might think he’s weird, but this is just how he was made. He thinks outside of the box all the time and it really opened up their families’ way of thinking—they aren’t as closed minded as they once were. It has changed their family for the better.

References

Keep up with Kimberlee Green as a Cannabis Advocate Wellness Coach!

Chip and Cynthia Paul at TruemedX are here to help you and your family! Connect with them by:

Email: cynthia@gnupharma.com

Phone number: (918) 949-6699

Address: 7726 N Owasso Expy Owasso OK 74055

The mother behind The Autism Café shared this post to give everyone in the USA access to free autism resources. This is a list of free autism resources, available in all 50 states!

Getting Started

The TrueMedX Focus Tincture is based on the GnuPharma model of human function. With the Focus Tincture, our strategy is to intervene directly with cannabinoid resources. These resources supplement the deficiencies in the Endocannabinoid System present in Autistic and ADHD folks. The Focus Tincture is a CBD based product and is built to have minimal taste. Most severely Autistic folks had aversions to things with strong taste and this formulation seems to work best in cases where the is difficulty taking medications. The results we are seeing are improvements in negative behaviors, improvements in positive behaviors and cognitive skills. For non-autistic folks who want to experience the product, this product should create some energy and focus.

To order the FOCUS Tincture click here!

Coupon Code: hawkeye

This code is going to give you 10% off for the month of April!