Terri Hendrix – Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation

Terri Hendrix – Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation

I’ve been on Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation’s 3:1 CD Pure formula now for almost six months! I’m happy to report that my health is on the upswing!

One of the main reasons why I needed to make the transition off my anti-epileptic medication was due to my body being in a constant state of neutropenia — a condition where white blood cells are too low. This is a rare side effect from taking Lamotrigine (brand name Lamictal). My white blood cell count became so low I had to see an oncologist to rule out cancer. I was getting sick all the time, too. I simply had no immune system to fight off anything. I also wanted to see if I could tackle an essential vocal tremor that cropped up about a year ago. I’m able to tame it with diaphragm work, but I wanted to rule out Lamictal being the culprit for that condition, too. So once the pandemic hit, I knew I honestly had no choice but to transition off my medication and try a new approach.

It took six months to wean off my medication and it has taken another six to be fully on the CBD oil tincture. I had tried CBD oil before, but without much success so I was somewhat skeptical about what my results would be. Titrating off a MAJOR medication — during a pandemic — was incredibly difficult. My brain was not in a good place. It threw me into a full-blown state of depression. You see, Lamictal is primarily used to treat bipolar disorder. It just so happens to really help focal epilepsy, so folks like me get that drug even if we’re not bipolar. And well, you can certainly see how this might create its own slew of side effects. It was brutal. And honestly, transitioning over to CBD was hard, too. I was scared. I could not afford for anything else to go wrong. I have focal epilepsy that spreads into full blown tonic clonic seizures that can occur in clusters. It’s extremely dangerous. Another really scary aspect of the transition was a total loss of concentration and the ability to really cry. To feel. I was here, but I was not here. And of course it was 2020, and that made it all worse because I couldn’t even perform.

Some of you might be like, “What? Performing with this madness?” Yes! Performing music for people is my purpose, epilepsy be damned. I know my body. Epilepsy has been riding in the seat alongside me my entire career. I know how to get on stage and do my job. A job that I love. If anything, living with this condition has enabled me to really help people, folks I would have never met had I not been on a public stage. And losing that platform to connect with people did more than just impact my finances as an independent artist. It flat-out punched me in my soul.
But, here’s the silver lining I found in the midst of that. I don’t want to say “bright side,” because I’m mindful that there is no such thing when we’re talking about the big picture of a pandemic that has taken well over 500,000 lives in our country alone. But I must be honest in
saying that having a year to sort out my own health and medication concerns while I was unable to play live shows was, in its own way, a godsend. Because I definitely needed that forced “time out.”

It was mid-October when I began to titrate onto my CBD tincture. At first, I was really tired. I’m talking sleeping for twelve hours at a time type of tired. That lasted about a month. But then, slowly ever slowly, I began to feel better. And I’m still beginning to feel better. Concentration is returning. The depression is lifting. I can cry again. I can feel again.

The brain seems to be wanting to heal. And I can tell the CBD is working really well on me. So much, in fact, that I am able to wear contacts more than glasses these days. You see, my special glasses have a filter that blocks light for me. This way flashing lights at night or pop ups on my computer don’t aggravate my condition, and I can look directly at flickering candles and ceiling fans aren’t an issue, either. My glasses with their “purple haze” may look a little strange, but they really do protect me. But that said … it’s nice to not have to wear them all the time. And that’s what I call progress.

I take things one day at a time, and I still have a long way to go. But this is where I’m at and I wanted to share my experience with you. I also want to add that not all CBD is the same. I’m not on “over the counter” CBD. I’m on a medical-grade product that’s specifically designed to treat patients with qualifying conditions under the Texas Compassionate Use Act. Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation is the only legal medical marijuana cannabis producer headquartered in the state of Texas. If it wasn’t legal and if it wasn’t the real deal, I would have never dared to even try this. But it is, and I did, and I feel better. I feel hopeful. I feel inspired. I feel.

Onward!