I was so excited to go to our very first big-time-legit medical cannabis conference because they were going to have a panel on Cannabis and Alzheimer’s Disease! Dave was not as excited as I was cuz it was really expensive. We put it on a credit card, dressed in our cannabis-best and headed out to this very expensive medical conference that we below-the-line-film-workers had no real business attending. But I just HAD TO go!

There were literally thousands of doctors, nurses, and researchers from all over the world gathered at one of California’s most prestigious universities to talk about how cannabis heals. Incredibly powerful and validating experience for me.

The meeting space for the Cannabis and Alzheimer’s panel was huge, and it was packed. People lined the walls and every seat was taken. It was clear that people are looking for answers to what might help dementia. The panel had no doctors in practice, no clinicians. There was a well known Alzheimer’s researcher, a plant researcher and a research doctor from Canada. And their message to the thousands in attendance was grim…”well, maybe there might be some help, but we need more studies before we try it...and big pharma won’t ever do it cuz you can’t make money on plants...” was the gist.

I was beside myself. I had to tell those people that cannabis helped my mom! So I got up to “ask a question” and so did a remarkable clinician, Dr.Jeff Hergenrather who at the time was the president of the Society of Cannabis Clinicians and was treating dozens of people living with dementia in Northern California with primarily 1:1 CBD:THC ratio cannabis oil with great success! We bonded immediately. They say people bond over shared trauma. It was unconscionable that the panel would keep this information from everyone in attendance. The progress of breaking the stigma that cannabis prohibition caused is like a cha-cha: two steps forward, one step back.

We sat down with Dr. Hergenrather to talk about his work with people living with dementia in Northern California. We discuss dosing for older folks, starting low and going slow and about our own endocannabinoid system. A couple of the things we discuss are referenced here for you, and check out the glossary at the end of these notes also.

Patent # 6630507B1 held by the United States Department of Health since 1998 specifically for neuroprotection. “...cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and HIV dementia…”

Care and Feeding of the Endocannabinoid System: A Systematic Review of Potential Clinical Interventions that Upregulate the Endocannabinoid System John M. McPartland

We hope you find EP3 with Dr. Jeff Hergenrather inspiring!

Please share, subscribe, rate and review to learn more about how cannabis helps dementia.

In Solidarity,

Chela

THANK YOU!

Dr. Jeff Hergenrather

Anchor.fm

Society of Cannabis Clinicians

Opening music “Wishful Thinking” by Dan Lebowitz

...and thank you Mom, my greatest teacher.

Desperate to understand more about my mom’s journey, I found Teepa Snow and her Positive Approach to Care. I devoured Teepa's free videos on YouTube, of course read her GEMS book and was eager for more. I signed up for her two-day, in real life Certified Training course and learned how to connect with my mom in a way I thought was no longer possible.

When Teepa came to California, I was thrilled that she was willing to sit down and talk about her vast experience with people living with dementia and what she’s seen with respect to how cannabis helps or hurts.

With her no nonsense style, Teepa likens vanilla extract to CBD - not all are created equal.  Teepa reminds us that we don’t have other options and asks us to consider “What’s the harm?...when pain is unremitting, and sleep won’t come...people try things…I have seen remarkable differences...”

We touch on a couple of the studies underway around the world, check em out if you like:

We hope you find EP2 with Teepa Snow interesting!

Please share, subscribe, rate and review to learn more about how cannabis helps dementia.

In Solidarity,

Chela & Dave

⁠www.CoachChela.com⁠

⁠www.cannabishelpsdementia.com⁠

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We were once carefree below-the-line film and TV workers: I did props and set dressing and Dave was an Assistant Director and occasional actor. Then we were thrust into family caregiving when my mom was suddenly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. We learned so much from my mother’s decade-long journey that I felt we had to share our best practices with other families in crisis. We provided care gap training and plant based education to others in relationship with dementia. My mom transitioned to Pure Positive Energy in 2019.

Cannabis Helps Dementia podcast was born out of my desire to shout from the rooftops how we and others have eased the suffering of loved ones living with dementia by using a medicinal herb where there is no other relief available. You’ll hear the science and stories of how cannabis helps ease the difficult behavioral symptoms caused by dementing illnesses.

One of the things we learned on this life-changing journey was that the United States Department of Health has held a patent since 1998 specifically for neuroprotection which inspired us to do more research.

When we started to get serious about this research, we learned about Dr. Ethan Russo, who is a world renowned neurologist, psychopharmacology researcher, former Senior Medical Advisor to GW Pharmaceuticals (GW created Epidiolex and Sativex, cannabis based medications for epilepsy and MS symptoms) and he is a member of the Society of Cannabis Clinicians.

Dr. Russo is a badass rockstar of medical cannabis research and among many other things, he wrote a review article in Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, “Cannabis Therapeutics and the Future of Neurology” that really got my attention. Dr. Russo gives the reader an introduction to cannabis medicine, then shows us the studies that have already been done that show how cannabis helps multiple neurological issues including epilepsy, brain tumors, traumatic brain injury, Parkinson’s Disease and of course, Alzheimer’s.

We hope you like EP1 with Dr. Russo.

Please share, subscribe, rate and review to learn more about how cannabis helps dementia.

THANK YOU!  Dr. Ethan Russo , Society of Cannabis Clinicians , “The Scientist” Documentary

Opening music “Wishful Thinking” by Dan Lebowitz; montage music “Cartoon Bank Heist” by Doug Maxwell Media Right Productions

...and thank you Mom, my greatest teacher.

More reading: Project CBD , “World Health Organization Recommends Reclassifying Marijuana Under International Treaties” Forbes 2/1/2019 article

Original Music by Doug Goodwin (1929-2023) “Try Something That’s New”

...and thank you Mom , my greatest teacher.

In Solidarity,

Chela & Dave

⁠⁠⁠cannabishelpsdementia.com⁠⁠⁠

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Family caregivers turned advocates, Chela and Dave Coennen created Cannabis Helps Dementia podcast to share the overwhelming science and anecdotal stories of doctors, nurses, research scientists, administrators, family and professional caregivers and people living with dementia about how cannabis helps ease the difficult behavioral symptoms of a disease that currently has no effective treatment and no cure on the horizon. With no end in sight, why not try plant medicines? #CannabisHelpsDementia

Coming up on Cannabis Helps Dementia Podcast:

Episode 1 Dr. Ethan Russo Expert Neurologist and Psychopharmacology Researcher + Our Story

We were once carefree below-the-line film and TV workers: I did props and set dressing and Dave was an Assistant Director and occasional actor. Then we were thrust into family caregiving when my mom was suddenly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. We learned so much from my mother’s decade-long journey that I felt we had to share our best practices with other families in crisis. We created AlzNotes.com to provide care gap training and plant based education to others in relationship with dementia. My mom transitioned to Pure Positive Energy in 2019.

We learned about Dr. Ethan Russo, who is a world renowned neurologist, psychopharmacology researcher, former Senior Medical Advisor to GW Pharmaceuticals (GW created Epidiolex and Sativex, cannabis based medications for epilepsy and MS symptoms) and he is a member of the Society of Cannabis Clinicians. Dr. Russo is a badass rockstar of medical cannabis research

Episode 2 features world renowned dementia care trainer, Teepa Snow.

Teepa Snow is an occupational therapist with forty years of clinical practice. She  founded a revolutionary approach to support and engage people experiencing changes in brain function and their care partners. I’ve taken a few of Teepa’s trainings and they helped me connect with my mom when I thought it was no longer possible. It was really life changing stuff.

Teepa shares her experience with how cannabis medicine helps people-living-with-dementia.

Episode Three features Dr. Jeffrey Hergenrather. 

We met Dr. Hergenrather at the same conference where we met Dr. Russo. We bonded over a panel on cannabis and Alzheimer’s.

Dr. Hergenrather has used plant medicine throughout his career and works with Assisted Living facilities in Northern California who are using full-spectrum cannabis oil for people living with dementia. Great information from a clinician practicing this medicine for a long time. In 1999, Dr. Hergenrather also co-founded, with Dr. Tod Mikuriya, the Society of Cannabis Clinicians.

Do you want to tell your story of how Cannabis Helps Dementia? Drop us a note or connect with us on the socials. Check out the Society of Cannabis Clinicians website to find real medical professionals familiar with cannabis medicine in your area - cuz, you remember, we’re not doctors...just family caregivers turned advocates.

And, don’t forget! Download, Subscribe, Follow & Rate, Review and Share what you learned. #CannabisHelpsDementia.