by Tab Moura
Imagine being in a large facility, you know that it contains a wealth of knowledge, riches, and untold technological advancements… but you don’t have electricity in all of the rooms. So, you know what’s there, you just cannot analyze it. This is my experience with Epilepsy. My seizures affect my ability to smoothly access various parts of my brain.
It’s difficult to talk about this with people who have known me the longest because there was no single moment where we noticed my seizures begin. But what we do know is that my personality, speech, and memory are affected when my seizures are close together. My EEG indicated that I have partial seizures in my right frontal and right temporal lobes, as well as secondary generalized seizures, where there’s a kind of ripple effect through my entire brain.
The brain is such a delicate organ, and as much as I have researched it, and have met with a handful of neurologists, I can confidently say that our day-to-day choices directly affect our brains more than we realize.
The brain and its cerebral spinal fluid are encased in three protective layers, made up of connective tissue. Unique to the brain, it has a beautiful system for nutrient delivery and toxin removal… You may know of this as the blood-brain barrier (BBB).
The word “barrier” makes it sound tougher than it really is… the truth is, more things get past that barrier than we like to admit. Fat-soluble vitamins pass easily into the brain, but so do many medications, caffeine, sugars, several chemicals, and virtually anything that can be nanotized.
Cannabis is fat-soluble, it passes easily into the brain and is received by the endocannabinoid system as God created it to. So not only does it pass through like so many other things, it has a welcoming committee that’s happy to see it. Cannabis is a vital food nutrient, and unlike other fat-soluble ingredients that can cross the BBB, there isn’t a toxic dose of cannabis.
I’ve had a handful of people ask me, “are you not worried about the long-term effects of cannabis on development, or aging?” My honest answer? ”I’m pretty excited about them actually.”
I lost the second and third languages that I worked for years to learn; they slipped away from me. I lost childhood memories. I lost my mental health. I lost my ability to create art and write poetry… and you wanna know what is helping me retrieve those parts of my brain again? Cannabis.
If you want my advice, I recommend being a lot more concerned with the ingredients that cross the BBB, but aren’t beneficial… don’t take my word for it, do the research. You won’t regret it.
