Overnight he went from being a young, fit and healthy dad to suffering constant motor and\u00a0 vocal tics and <\/span>coprolalia<\/span>, as a result of his Tourette’s syndrome<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Tourette\u2019s syndrome is a neurological condition affecting over 300,000 adults and children in the UK.<\/span><\/p>\n The condition causes patients to suffer involuntary and uncontrollable sounds and movements, known as tics. In many cases, these are not harmful to the person\u2019s overall health, but severe Tourette\u2019s can still have a huge impact on their quality of life.<\/span><\/p>\n Common treatment options include behavioural therapies such as Habit Reversal Therapy (HRT) and Comprehensive Behavioural Intervention Therapy (CBIT), as well as a range of psychiatric drugs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Although none of these have been developed specifically for Tourette\u2019s and the focus is on reducing or controlling the tics through behavioural, rather than medicinal, intervention.<\/span><\/p>\n Jim Finch developed Tourette’s after a serious car accident<\/p><\/div>\n Jim was prescribed dozens of pharmaceuticals to manage his symptoms, none of which were able to control his tics and instead plagued him with more side effects. His hair fell out, he developed stomach issues and asthma and was too drowsy to play with his son.<\/span><\/p>\n Then someone sent him a YouTube video of a Tourette\u2019s patient whose tics were controlled by consuming cannabis and he began his own research.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI typed in Tourette’s and cannabis on YouTube and I saw somebody who had constant tics and fits like me, who used cannabis and it stopped them,\u201d says Jim.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAt that point I started looking into the research that has been done in Germany and Canada<\/span>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n A number of papers have been published with encouraging results around the treatment of Tourette\u2019s with medical cannabis.<\/span><\/p>\n One study from 2017 reported that 18 out of the 19 participants were \u201cmuch improved\u201d, and their tics scores decreased by 60 percent, while a six-week<\/span> randomised control trial <\/span><\/a>from 2003 concluded that THC is \u201ceffective and safe\u201d in the treatment of tics<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Jim, now 32, joined Drug Science\u2019s Project Twenty21 in January, after a period of self-medicating and finding that cannabis was helpful for his symptoms.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI’ve gone to three different doctors now who have all managed to prescribe me,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSince I’ve had a prescription for cannabis it’s changed my life, it doesn’t stop my tics completely but they are not all-consuming anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve gone from strength to strength not having to worry about breaking the law to medicate. It\u2019s a bizarre situation that patients have found themselves in, when there\u2019s probably no doctor in the country that would see the effects of me taking cannabis and think I shouldn\u2019t have access to it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Tourette\u2019s is one of the seven conditions covered by Project Twenty21<\/a>, which range from pain<\/a> and MS to anxiety, PTSD and epilepsy<\/a>, although the project hopes to expand to <\/span>include more conditions in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n There are currently only a small number of patients with the condition enrolled in the study – out of\u00a0 almost 1,000 patients, the vast majority of which <\/span>are diagnosed with chronic pain or anxiety-related conditions – <\/span>but Drug Science is keen to encourage other Tourette\u2019s patients to come forward and see if medical cannabis could work for them.<\/span><\/p>\n Jim is currently on a combination of four different products, after several months of working closely with his doctors to find the right dosage and strains.<\/span><\/p>\n He was the first patient with Tourette’s that his current consultant Dr Tahzid Ahsan had treated since he joined Project Twenty21 in November last year.<\/span><\/p>\n Dr Tahzid Ahsan is a prescriber on Project Twenty21<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know a lot about the condition, but Mr Finch had done a lot of research and I was very much led by him,\u201d says Dr Ahsan, a <\/span>consultant psychiatrist in the NHS, who has now prescribed cannabis medicines privately to hundreds of patients with mental health conditions, ranging from anxiety, depression and insomnia to complex PTSD.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI started with the same as I would prescribe to patients with anxiety or depression and went from there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMr Finch was the one who worked out what he needed and we gradually tailored it to his needs.<\/span><\/p>\n Dr Ahsan has now worked with a number of other patients with a diagnosis of Tourette\u2019s after seeing how cannabis medicines were transformative for Jim.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI was a little bit reluctant to prescribe indica throughout the day, but seeing the difference it makes to Mr Finch has given me the confidence to do that with other patients,\u201d he adds.<\/span><\/p>\n Jim finds that heavy indica strains are more effective at managing his symptoms.<\/span><\/p>\n He experiences some mild side-effects, such as drowsiness and having to take a short nap in the afternoon and finds he gets hungry more often, but says: \u201cIt\u2019s nothing in comparison to having tics all day or the side-effects I experienced from pharmaceuticals.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n To help raise awareness of medical cannabis, Jim has been sharing his journey on YouTube and social media, where his videos<\/a> – which show the instantaneous effects of cannabis on his tics – have been known to go viral.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI was suffering before Project Twenty21,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s uncomfortable watching the earlier videos of me, because that\u2019s my life if I don\u2019t medicate.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy son has witnessed me have so many fits and seizures and he’s only three, he shouldn’t have seen that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Jim is using his platform to educate people and help other patients access medical cannabis.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI know the power cannabis medicines can have and I feel compelled to make sure others are aware that it is an option,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe’re in an age now where information can be shared, and the truth needs to be out there.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe more people’s lives it changes, the better the evidence will be and the more stigma will get broken down, the better the conversation and the further the industry grows.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Since joining Project Twenty21 Dr Ahsan has also experienced a shift in perspective, and says seeing the transformation in patients like Jim has been an \u201ceye-opener\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI went into this very naive,\u201d he admits.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>\u201cFor the last 20 years I\u2019ve been taught that THC is bad, there has been a stigma attached to cannabis, but working with patients like Mr Finch I\u2019m moving in the other direction.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Dr Ahsan continues: \u201cIn traditional Western medicine everyone with a mental illness has a label, and as doctors, we prescribe pills which may or may not make them better.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMedical cannabis doesn\u2019t assume there is anything wrong with you, it doesn\u2019t try to correct anything, it actually enhances you and helps you to cope with everyday life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He adds: \u201cThe feedback I’m getting from patients is incredible, people say it has transformed their lives.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat mentality has been a breath of fresh air, it’s actually helped me to grow as a doctor.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Find out more about Project Twenty21\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabishealthnews.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/5735e96d-8c22-4a86-ac4f-5e924fe30f77-1-291x300.jpg\")
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