Cannabis and fibromyalgia study

Through my trial and error, I did find that cannabis was beneficial to fibromyalgia but sort of off and on for migraines (depended on intensity and strain). Ever since it became legal here I have explored it for different types of pain. From CBD, to CBD/THC, to THC. Rubs, creams, capsules, joints, and homemade edibles.

Remember:

1. Only use it if it is legal
2. Only use if your doctor is aware
3. Never use if it is illegal… you have No Idea what they put in there
4. This is my Personal experience and yours may be different
5. Be aware if you have anxiety certain strains will make that worse

Studies about cannabis and any condition are few and far between here and certainly they do not study it in the US which is extremely limiting. But other places like this study done in Tel Aviv, Israeli by researchers from the Department of Rheumatology at Rabin Medical Center and Ben‐Gurion University, can and have looked into cannabis for fibromyalgia.

We do need more research, that no one can deny. The pain clinic I go to doesn’t recommend it because there isn’t enough research. There isn’t enough research because it was illegal up until recently. So we need research.

The study

The study included 367 fibromyalgia patients.

For effectiveness analysis, the primary outcome was treatment response, defined as at least
moderate or significant improvement in a patient′s condition at six months follow‐up without the
cessation of treatment or serious side effects. Patients lost to follow‐up were considered as failures
for the purposes of the effectiveness analysis. In addition, we assessed the following secondary
outcomes:
• Pain intensity—assessment by the numeric rating scale (NRS) with an 11‐point scale (0 = no
pain, 10 = worst pain imaginable).
• Quality of life—global assessment by the patient using the Likert scale with five options: very
good, good, neither good nor bad, bad, or very bad.
• Perception of the general effect of cannabis—global assessment by using the Likert scale with
seven options: significant improvement, moderate improvement, slight improvement, no change,
slight deterioration, moderate deterioration, or significant deterioration.

Results

• 81.1% of patients experienced treatment success
• 73.4% had improved sleep
• 80.8% had improved depression‐related symptoms
• 61.9% had improved “quality of life” components including appetite and sexual activity.

Conclusion

“Our data indicates that medical cannabis could be a promising therapeutic option for the treatment of fibromyalgia, especially for those who failed on standard pharmacological therapies,” the researchers wrote in the report. Green Entrepreneur

I know that for my massive ribcage pain when I tried cannabis earlier on. I had a bit much but the ribcage pain diminished so much it was like I knew where it was in the ribs but the intensity of the pain was so diminished it didn’t bother me much at all. And for sleep… well, that it really helped with. In fact, it is very hard to find a strain that will not konk me out right away or a few hours later after the buzz wears off… and I wasn’t using much at all. Still, konks me out. So for sleep, yes, it helped immensely. It also helped with appitite and nausea. My nausea is pretty constant and that makes appetite rather suffer. So yes, it helped with nausea and it made me hungry.

But it costs money. So it is something I use for high unmanaged pain occasionally but not for regular treatment as that would be far too costly.

See more on cannabis and related topics

My cannabis experience with chronic pain

Guest post: Migraines and CBD