Meet Bryson. He was born in Talihina, Oklahoma on July 22, 2010 and lives in Idabel, Oklahoma.
Bryson has Tourettes Syndrome and he’s been taking CBD and using Medical Marijuana to treat his neurological disorder that he has experienced since he was 7 years old. Bryson is nearly 13 years old now, he’s a black belt in Taekwondo and was recently promoted to gray belt/ black stripe in Jiu Jitsu. Bryson is also a two time Golden Gloves winner and he trains in Mount Pleasant, Texas at 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu. He uses a dose of 25 MG of CBD or Nature’s Key 25:1 gummies before training and before tournaments. He’s completed in submission, Hunter Pro AGF, Naga and Newbreed. Bryson’s father, Kyle, says that “when people meet him and watch him compete, they always ask what’s his secret and honestly it’s his disability and his medicine that’s making him excel”.
Bryson says that he still has some tics if he forgets to take his medication, but it isn’t noticeable anymore like it used to be he says. He didn’t know what Tourette’s Syndrome was until his dad had him diagnosed. Kyle let his son know what to say or how to react if it was ever brought up in conversation. He didn’t want Bryson to have to take pills and go the pharmaceutical route, so he p started giving him CBD that he’s been taking everyday for as long as he can remember. In the beginning, he used 25mg tinctures, but didn’t like the taste. Now he enjoys a 25:1 by Nature’s Key gummy and some CBD gummy rings.
Kyle grew up with Tourette’s Syndrome, but didn’t fully understand it until he started to notice Bryson having uncontrollable neck movements when he was 2 or 3 years old. He says that Bryson was blinking a lot and making weird noises and always looked very uncomfortable and as a father, just felt helpless watching him. Kyle was afraid people were going to make fun of him or be mean to him, so he googled everything to see what was going on with him and what he could find and it was Tourette’s Syndrome that matched his symptoms. Kyle remembers having similar tics growing up and he didn’t want him to go through what he did, so Kyle got himself diagnosed and was prescribed SSRI medication. He says the only reason he went through with having himself diagnosed, was to try the medication for it at first to see if it was a working option. Soon after that, he didn’t like the zombie feeling effect it had on him and knew his son Bryson couldn’t handle it either and that’s what led us to exploring CBD.
I asked them how they have navigated dealing with other peoples questions. Kyle mentioned they didn’t tell anybody he was taking CBD because it wasn’t legal in Oklahoma yet, when he first started giving him micro doses, but it was working. He then noticed his tics drastically decreasing. When Bryson was 7, Kyle started to search more about Tourette’s Syndrome and found that cognitive behavioral therapy helped manage tics and that Medical Marijuana was a method to help. With that knowledge, Kyle signed him up for Taekwondo since that was the only thing their town offered at the time and he excelled at. Shortly after that it started to go uphill and his dad started to take him to tournaments and he was winning at almost every one of them! People would ask at the tournaments how is he so focused and what is his secret? Kyle’s answer would be, “ I don’t know”, but in the back of his mind he was thinking it has to be the CBD or the Tourettes or a combination.
Kyle went on to say that when Bryson was about 8 or 9 it finally became legal in Oklahoma. When that happened, he took him to the Tulsa higher clinic to get his MMJ card. That’s when he finally felt comfortable enough to share with others that he’d been using CBD this whole time.
The process of getting Bryson’s medication was difficult before it became legal. It was a very stressful time for them both, but thankfully today they have the privilege and it’s not difficult to get what they need. Kyle expresses that the only foreseeable hurdle, if any, is that he’s a Choctaw tribal member and that Marijuana isn’t federally legal. Bryson’s Favorite medication at the moment is a 25:1 gummy from Nature’s Key he takes twice a day. Once when he wakes up and the other before he trains for Jiu Jitsu and Boxing.
For anyone who is not familiar with Tourettes, they shared an important fact that people should know. People with Tourettes Syndrome can NOT help the tics they have and that they are involuntary when they do happen. As a parent, Kyle’s best advice would be to just let your kid tic and provide love and a safe place for them to do it so they don’t feel they have to suppress it in front of you. You’re making it worse by telling or asking your kid to stop. There’s a tip of the iceberg picture that I have seen on Google that helped me understand what all comes with it.
Always research what you don’t understand from credible sources and start slow and micro dose until you understand your tolerance. Speaking from experience, Kyle would also mention to keep CBD water with you in case you don’t like the feeling if you’re trying THC. It’s always a good way to balance yourself out and help you come down quickly. Definitely try CBD first, it will not get your kid high. That’s the biggest misconception about CBD that we run into when letting them know what Bryson takes before he competes.
Tourettes doesn’t seem to have a huge factor on Bryson’s day to day anymore and everyone that knows him knows he has it. Bryson wants to be an ambassador for Tourettes Association one day in the near future. Kyle feels like if he didn’t go through it first with himself, he would be lost. They are very fortunate in that aspect, especially when the combination of his MMA training and Medication is working.
In the meantime for the Summer, Bryson will be training at 10th Planet in Mount Pleasant to get himself ready for a superfight event they will be hosting in September 2023.
