5 New Facts About Cannabis and Fibromyalgia In 2018

5 New Facts About Cannabis And Fibromyalgia

5 New Discoveries about Fibromyalgia and Cannabis from CannabisNet on Vimeo.

Fibromyalgia is one of the most excruciatingly painful conditions. To be diagnosed with fibromyalgia is a life sentence – severe pain and fatigue accompanied by insomnia, headaches, and joint pains is reality.

Science still doesn’t have an answer as to what exactly causes fibromyalgia, but the general consensus agrees that it’s a combination of several factors: infection, genetics, and physical or emotional trauma. People with existing rheumatic conditions including those that affect the joints, bones, and muscles have a higher risk for developing fibromyalgia.

There is no cure to completely eradicate fibromyalgia, but it’s one of the conditions that cannabis has been shown to be beneficial. So much so, that many patients report cannabis works even better than standard pharmaceutical medications.

Here’s what we know so far about cannabis and fibromyalgia:

Patients report cannabis is more successful in treating fibromyalgia symptoms than pharmaceutical medicines. In an online survey by the National Pain Foundation, 30% of 1,300 patients reported that they have used cannabis. Out of the participants, 62% said that cannabis is “very effective” in treating symptoms, while only 5% said that it didn’t help at all. In contrast, only 8-10% of respondents said that pharmaceutical drugs commonly prescribed for fibromyalgia such as Lyrica, Cymbalta, and Savella said that they are “very effective”.
There are dozens of cannabis strains to choose from for treating fibromyalgia symptoms. Patients no longer have to contend with pharmaceutical medications that either don’t work or leave them with even more side effects to bear, on top of the symptoms of fibromyalgia. Depending on the symptom that affects you the most, you can choose indica strains to help you sleep, sativa strains to energize and uplift you, and hybrid strains that have a variety of other therapeutic effects. You can ask a budtender to help you choose a strain that is well-known for treating the specific ailments you need help with.
There are many ways to use cannabis for fibromyalgia. If the more popular methods of consuming cannabis such as smoking, vaping, edibles, and tinctures aren’t your thing, there’s good news: scientists have now developed other innovative ways of administering medical cannabis specifically for the treatment of fibromyalgia. These include a transdermal patch and cannabis gum. The patch was developed by a company called Cannabis Science, and it allows cannabinoids to be delivered straight into the bloodstream for higher bioavailability. The patches also come in 10mg or 20mg doses, and the effects set in after around 20 minutes. On the other hand, the gum was developed by AMIX Biotech. The gum provides almost immediate relief since it allows cannabinoids to be absorbed through the soft tissues found in your mouth.
Cannabis can treat muscle spasms. A great deal of fibromyalgia patients have to suffer from muscle tightness, spasms, and inflammation; conditions which the cannabis plant has been proven to treat. In fact, the therapeutic benefits of cannabis for muscle conditions are widely documented. In a 2011 study, animal models that have been injected with a form of multiple sclerosis with the intention to cause muscle tightness and contractions showed significant improvement after receiving cannabidiol (CBD) injections, the non-psychoactive compound in cannabis.
Cannabis is an excellent natural remedy for pain. There are hundreds of studies documenting the efficacy of cannabis in treating pain caused by all kinds of ailments, and fibromyalgia pain is one of them. Patients living with fibromyalgia have to live with debilitating pain, the kind of pain that makes it difficult to get a semblance of a normal life. Thankfully, cannabis can help. One of the more recent studies was conducted in Canada; researchers looked at 215 adult patients suffering from chronic pain not related to cancer. The study took place over the course of a year, and they gave patients the choice of medicating differently such as concentrates, flowers, or edibles (all containing 12.5% THC). Another group of 216 patients didn’t use cannabis and instead resorted to conventional pain medicines. At the end of the study, the cannabis group reported an increased quality of life and a reduction in pain, as well as a reduction in fatigue, anxiety, and depression. It clearly showed that cannabis was not only helpful in treating the physical pain but also psychological conditions.