Growing Number Of Studies Back Up Efficacy Of Weed For Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition notorious for being so difficult to treat.
Patients with fibromyalgia struggle with pain throughout the body, particularly affecting the musculoskeletal system. It’s also characterized by other symptoms including sleep and memory issues, fatigue, and mood swings.
Fibromyalgia, being chronic in nature, takes an extremely long time to manage. There is no cure for this disease, but patients are often prescribed a cocktail of medications and are recommended to undergo serious lifestyle changes and therapy sessions to help.
Aside from numerous painkillers, anti-seizure drugs, and antidepressants, fibromyalgia patients greatly benefit from physical therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, exercise, and various stress management techniques. While it can be months, or even years, for patients to experience relief, scientists haven’t stopped working to discover better treatment modalities for this condition.
And thankfully, cannabis has shown to be one of them.
Legal marijuana is now giving fibromyalgia patients hope to regain control and quality of their life again. There is a growing number of studies supporting the benefits of weed for fibromyalgia. In one of the latest studies out of London, researchers analyzed the efficacy of cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs) which were either oil extracts or flower, on 148 fibromyalgia patients from the UK Medical Cannabis Registry. As is the standard for patients in the United Kingdom who are enrolled in the UK Medical Cannabis Registry, these patients have been unresponsive to traditional medications.
Yet, after being treated with cannabis, the patients reported improvements at various intervals, namely 1, 3, and 6 months after. “Improvements in the generalized anxiety disorder-7 questionnaire, single-item sleep quality scale, fibromyalgia symptom severity score and EQ-5D-5L Index values were observed at each follow up period compared to baseline,” said the researchers. They added that the participants reported significant reductions in their dependence of prescription opioids during the time of the study. However, they did experience dry mouth, headache, and some fatigue.
“Positive associations between initiation of CBMP therapy and decreased fibromyalgia severity were observed at all time points…” concluded the authors. “These findings are complemented by wider literature,” they wrote.
Meanwhile, another recent study from Colombia analyzed how various cannabis preparations impacted the symptoms of patients with fibromyalgia syndrome, also known as FMS. To achieve this, an international team of researchers pored through data taken from 14 clinical studies as well as 5 review papers. According to their findings, cannabis products were effective in reducing pain and other symptoms, while keeping side effects to a minimum.
They concluded that cannabis products “can improve musculoskeletal, somatic, and psychiatric symptoms in patients with FMS, mainly pain, fatigue, and depression; also, these products could be considered as safe,” they wrote.
Another study from 2022 found that cannabis was effective, especially in helping women who were suffering from treatment-resistant fibromyalgia. For this study, researchers utilized the World Health Organization Quality of Life Bref questionnaire to gauge the quality of life of 30 female fibromyalgia patients, whose ages ranged from 18 to 70 years.
Given they were all treatment-resistant cases, they already exhausted all conventional pharmacological fibromyalgia treatment. The questionnaire focused on four aspects: psychological health, social relationships, environment, and physical health. The women were asked to fill up the questionnaire before medicating with cannabis, then again a month after. They were asked to choose their preferred way to medicate: whether they ingest, smoke, or vaporize, it was up to them.
During follow-up sessions, the researchers found that the treatment contributed to an improvement in general quality of life, activities of daily living, general health, psychological health, physical health, pain and discomfort. Th patients also reported seeing positive changes that affected aspects of fatigue, pain, self-esteem, memory, and positive feelings as a whole.
Conclusion
It’s no surprise there’s a growing interest in using cannabis for fibromyalgia. Cannabis works so well for this condition because of the way it interacts with the endocannabinoid system. After all, the human endocannabinoid system is responsible for regulating pain as well as so many other important functions in the body.
Since pain is a hallmark symptom of fibromyalgia, patients who medicate with marijuana find tremendous relief. Even better, many cannabis medications such as edibles provide long-lasting pain relief without the addictive and harmful effects of opioids and other conventional medications. In addition, the pain caused by fibromyalgia can make it difficult to sleep and rest well. Cannabis also has a multitude of other benefits for fibromyalgia patients, including its ability to fight inflammation, regulate moods, and improve sleep.
There’s a great variety of weed products in the market that can help alleviate pain and reduce symptoms. From edibles to oils and tinctures, there’s a medication out there for everyone. Edibles are preferred for pain patients in general, because it provides longer-lasting relief from many different types of pain. However, capsules and tinctures allow patients to enjoy more control over dosing. When it comes to choosing whether to take CBD or THC, many patients find relief when consuming a product with a combination of both cannabinoids. Excessively high THC may not be suitable for older patients or those that need to focus, so getting one with a good balance of both or is CBD dominant may be ideal.
Speak to your doctor if you’d like to include cannabis therapies to target fibromyalgia symptoms. Healthcare providers with experience in marijuana medication can also provide valuable advice.
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