Medical Cannabis Helps ALS Patient Outlive her Own Doctors
source: http://www.examiner.com/article/medical-cannabis-helps-als-patient-outlive-her-own-doctors
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http://www.examiner.com/article/medical-cannabis-helps-als-patient-ou...
Cathy Jordan first noticed something was wrong in summer of 1985 when she couldn’t pick things up. Her muscles weren’t responding. In 1986, she was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is characterized by the death of motor neurons leading to loss of limb control, breathing, swallowing, speech and widespread cellular dysfunction. Most cases of ALS are sporadic; it is not a viral or autoimmune disease.“Most people start using a feeding tube because they are afraid of choking to death”, says Cathy.
In 1986, she was given 3 - 5 years to live according to her neurologist. Nearly 3 decades later, she is still alive and living with ALS.
“All my docs are retiring or dead. I’ve outlived 5 support groups and 4 neurologists,” said Cathy. This actually posed a problem for Cathy who lost her social security benefits because she lived passed her expiration date. The state of Florida said her ID and regular documentation wasn’t good enough to prove she was alive and to continue to receive benefits. She had to ask her neurologist to fill out paperwork to prove she was still alive.
http://www.examiner.com/article/medical-cannabis-helps-als-patient-outlive-her-o...
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