Our 3 year old boy is in the final process of officially being diagnosed, and we are probably like many other families , in that we are always online desperately looking for help/ advice that may help our boy, we have come across articles on cannabis oil ( albeit mainly on American sites ) has any one got any views on this? Is it legal here ,does it help, has anyone any experience of it ?
People who are calling CBD a drug are uneducated and need to read up on what it actually is. I bet half of the people criticising people of poor parenting are not dealing with a severely autistic child who is non verbal and melting down more times than you can remember. I work full time and and a single parent and I don’t have the time to sit with my boy every minute of the day to help him i get as much professional help as I can for him and I apply myself every day trying to make his life easier. So if someone turns round and criticises my efforts DON’T YOU DARE! Pattym I thought it was a good question but it sounds like asking on here is clearly going to bring a lot of narrow minded responses. We should all be supporting eachother guys not undermining eachother.
People who are calling CBD a drug are uneducated
From the Oxford dictionary (or any other):
Drug (noun): 1a) A medicine or other substance which has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body.
I sympathise with the situation that you find yourself in, but the quote above and your sweeping accusation of "narrow-mindedness" can be read as personal attacks just the same as those of people that you (quite rightly) would criticise for jumping down the throats of struggling parents. Only one response that I can see is an outright moral condemnation, most others are simply expressing a personal opinion about CBD, adding to the sources of information to be considered, or advising a cautious approach (perfectly reasonable, whatever the treatment might be.) It is a controversial subject and there's a lot of misinformation about it on both sides, so disagreement is to be expected.
You should bear in mind also that many comments are from autistic adults (what your boy is going to grow up to be). Our use of language can, at times, seem emotionally distant or extremely blunt without us intending to be hurtful; do be careful that you are not reading attacks between the lines where none were intended. People are not being "narrow-minded" just because they don't agree with a particular opinion or would prefer better scientific evidence before making up their minds, and your experience as a struggling parent makes you no more an expert on pharmacology, or even autism, than anyone else here (you could be an expert for other reasons which we don't yet know, of course!)
For the record, my own opinion is that there is more than enough anecdotal evidence that the CBD component of cannabis can be beneficial that it should be researched much more than it is, and that it is very unfortunate that the "war on drugs" has prevented this for so many years. The ethics of using children as "guinea pigs" for medical trials unavoidably complicate things further. The main reason to be cautious, in my opinion, is that autism is extremely variable in how it shows itself, and may have more than one different cause, so good effects for one autistic person (even me) don't necessarily mean that others won't experience bad effects, or none at all. I have no moral objection to anyone trying it where other techniques have failed, but I feel that this should be done extremely carefully, preferably under observation of a sympathetic doctor who has a good understanding of autism (though, sadly, finding such a doctor is rather unlikely.)
Others will no doubt disagree with me, and that's fine, but it is an informed opinion, not because I am "uneducated" (I've never taken prescription drugs either without first doing some research into them, and have had to correct my GP on more than one occasion.)
Parents have to make difficult choices about their child's safety every day; what to feed them, which roads to let them cross alone, stranger danger etc.; I do think that people often over-react when parents mention the possibility of medication or "alternative therapies" to help with their child's autistic behaviours. But equally, when others of us say "hang on a minute, are you sure about this?", parents should ask whether we are really aiming to criticise their parenting, or are simply trying to show some compassion for their child, even if it is misplaced or badly put across. It is only natural that many autistic adults find it easier to identify with the autistic child (as we once were) than with the child's parents.
We should all be supporting eachother guys not undermining eachother.
I couldn't agree more, but "support" is not the same thing as unconditional agreement; we should be able to resolve our differences without accusations of wilful ignorance or stupidity. There is ample evidence on this site that autistic adults are able, and more than willing, to help parents with some of the difficulties that arise from their child's autism. Long may that continue.
People who are calling CBD a drug are uneducated
From the Oxford dictionary (or any other):
Drug (noun): 1a) A medicine or other substance which has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body.
I sympathise with the situation that you find yourself in, but the quote above and your sweeping accusation of "narrow-mindedness" can be read as personal attacks just the same as those of people that you (quite rightly) would criticise for jumping down the throats of struggling parents. Only one response that I can see is an outright moral condemnation, most others are simply expressing a personal opinion about CBD, adding to the sources of information to be considered, or advising a cautious approach (perfectly reasonable, whatever the treatment might be.) It is a controversial subject and there's a lot of misinformation about it on both sides, so disagreement is to be expected.
You should bear in mind also that many comments are from autistic adults (what your boy is going to grow up to be). Our use of language can, at times, seem emotionally distant or extremely blunt without us intending to be hurtful; do be careful that you are not reading attacks between the lines where none were intended. People are not being "narrow-minded" just because they don't agree with a particular opinion or would prefer better scientific evidence before making up their minds, and your experience as a struggling parent makes you no more an expert on pharmacology, or even autism, than anyone else here (you could be an expert for other reasons which we don't yet know, of course!)
For the record, my own opinion is that there is more than enough anecdotal evidence that the CBD component of cannabis can be beneficial that it should be researched much more than it is, and that it is very unfortunate that the "war on drugs" has prevented this for so many years. The ethics of using children as "guinea pigs" for medical trials unavoidably complicate things further. The main reason to be cautious, in my opinion, is that autism is extremely variable in how it shows itself, and may have more than one different cause, so good effects for one autistic person (even me) don't necessarily mean that others won't experience bad effects, or none at all. I have no moral objection to anyone trying it where other techniques have failed, but I feel that this should be done extremely carefully, preferably under observation of a sympathetic doctor who has a good understanding of autism (though, sadly, finding such a doctor is rather unlikely.)
Others will no doubt disagree with me, and that's fine, but it is an informed opinion, not because I am "uneducated" (I've never taken prescription drugs either without first doing some research into them, and have had to correct my GP on more than one occasion.)
Parents have to make difficult choices about their child's safety every day; what to feed them, which roads to let them cross alone, stranger danger etc.; I do think that people often over-react when parents mention the possibility of medication or "alternative therapies" to help with their child's autistic behaviours. But equally, when others of us say "hang on a minute, are you sure about this?", parents should ask whether we are really aiming to criticise their parenting, or are simply trying to show some compassion for their child, even if it is misplaced or badly put across. It is only natural that many autistic adults find it easier to identify with the autistic child (as we once were) than with the child's parents.
We should all be supporting eachother guys not undermining eachother.
I couldn't agree more, but "support" is not the same thing as unconditional agreement; we should be able to resolve our differences without accusations of wilful ignorance or stupidity. There is ample evidence on this site that autistic adults are able, and more than willing, to help parents with some of the difficulties that arise from their child's autism. Long may that continue.
