{"id":320944,"date":"2023-08-03T04:47:06","date_gmt":"2023-08-03T04:47:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=320944"},"modified":"2023-08-03T05:59:25","modified_gmt":"2023-08-03T05:59:25","slug":"seizure-free-radical-treatment-changed-joeys-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=320944","title":{"rendered":"'Seizure free': Radical treatment changed Joey's life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Newcastle Knights<\/a> great Andrew Johns<\/a> has called for a discussion around more sportspeople using medicinal cannabis to help treat problems around concussion and serious injuries.<\/p>\n

Johns has been vocal on his use of the natural remedy after taking it up "four of five years ago".<\/p>\n

The eighth rugby league Immortal suffered seizures and had ongoing affects from injuries after his career but since being recommended CBD oil by a doctor, has noticed a significant change in his mind and body. \ufeff<\/p>\n

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"For me, I've been quite vocal on it \ufeffbecause it's deadset changed my life, I went on it four of five years ago because of the seizures I developed, which may have contributed from the concussions," he said on Wide World of Sports' Immortal Behaviour<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"Since I've been taking \ufeffit, I'm seizure free, but I'm still taking a traditional medication for that but I'm as clear as I've ever been.<\/p>\n

"Physically for my body, I don't take anti-inflammatories anymore and I don't take pain killers which, with my personality, I shouldn't have pain killers in the house.<\/p>\n

"For me it's been a game changer, I surf sometimes three, four hours a day – I wake up and there's no inflammation, it takes away all the inflammation."<\/p>\n

Johns isn't the only former or current athlete to have taken up the remedy with basketballer Lauren Jackson<\/a> previously crediting \ufeffmedicinal cannabis for her return from retirement. Jackson was given a WADA exemption to play in the 2022 Women's Basketball World Cup.<\/p>\n

\"Lauren<\/p>\n

Adelaide Crows midfielder Paul Seedsman has also made public his use of medicinal cannabis to treat concussions. Both Seedsman and Johns were recommended the drug by Dr James Stewart.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"If you look at Lauren Jackson, it turned her body around; Paul Seedsman, who's had ongoing concussions, still plays now, he's gone on the CBD and I understand he's having really good results on it," Johns said. \ufeff<\/p>\n

"The doctor who prescribed it to me, Dr James Stewart, he went to the government, to a senate inquiry talking about it recently, and he actually spoke about the results I've had."<\/p>\n

Stream the NRL premiership 2023 live and free on<\/strong><\/em> <\/em>9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dr Stewart is also on the medical advisory board of an Australian sports science company called Levin Health which specialises in a range of medicinal cannabis products.<\/p>\n

The organisation's sports advisory board also consists of Johns, Jackson, jockey Damien Oliver and AFL coaches Alastair Clarkson and Damien Hardwick, who are "doing all these huge studies on CBD with concussions".<\/p>\n

Johns said he'd welcome discussions with the NRL over implementing medicinal cannabis into the recovery process for athletes.<\/p>\n

"For sure, \ufeffI think Lauren Jackson, if you read her story, when she went on it, I think she got a dispensation from WADA, she continued to take it, but if you have a look at the results she had, it's phenomenal," he said.<\/p>\n

"So who knows moving forward (with) the way we treat brain traumas from sport but also brain traumas from car accidents or whatever, CBD and what it does (to help).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"There's some players from my era who had really bad struggles \ufeffwith addiction problems with pain killers, it was a big problem, not only in the NRL, but in the NFL, it was frightening.<\/p>\n

"The opioid problem in the game and in and around sport has been a drama for a while so if you can take a natural product, a plant, instead of taking these highly addictive opioids, for me it's a no brainer."<\/p>\n

Johns said he had his own poor experiences from using pain killers and anti-inflammatories.<\/p>\n

"I got ulcers from them, \ufeffI lived on them, I lived on them for 20 years, playing and then post-career, especially with my neck when I'm surfing, so I was taking them every day and I haven't had one in four years," he explained.<\/p>\n

"Mentally I'm so clear, my wellbeing, because I'm sleeping better, I'm training, I can run now, I hadn't run for 10 years because of my knee and back."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Newcastle Knights great Andrew Johns has called for a discussion around more sportspeople using medicinal cannabis to help treat problems around concussion and serious injuries. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":320946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320944"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=320944"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":320951,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320944\/revisions\/320951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/320946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=320944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=320944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=320944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}