UK researchers have agreed with the findings of various other studies — medical cannabis may be useful in treating and managing fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia, a condition that is common and can affect the quality of your life in a negative way, causes widespread chronic pain. The condition can also be associated with fatigue, cognitive problems (called “fibro fog”), or sleep issues. Although its cause is not known, it’s believed that fibromyalgia involves a pain system hypersensitive.
There is no cure and conventional treatments focus on managing symptoms through a combination of medications, physical and psychological therapies, and lifestyle adjustments. Antidepressants are used, as well as antiseizure medications and pain relief. These can cause their own problems.
Patients with fibromyalgia are increasingly turning to cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs) for relief. However, the verdict is not yet in on its effectiveness. This new study was designed to evaluate the changes in adverse event rates (AEs), as well as patient-reported outcomes measures (PROMs), in patients who were treated with CBMPs for fibromyalgia.
The study included 497 patients. It found that all PROMs improved from the baseline period to each of the follow-up intervals (1, 3, 6 and 12 months). Higher CBD doses (> 25.00 mg/day) and previous cannabis use were associated with increased odds of improvement. While 45.67% of patients reported adverse events, most were mild-to-moderate – the most common AE was fatigue.
Researchers concluded that:
The study concluded that CBMPs can improve pain, anxiety, quality of sleep and overall health in people with fibromyalgia. The literature needs to be consolidated with more randomised trials, but the large analysis provided real-world evidence to guide their implementation.
Study has been published Clinical Rheumatology is a journal that publishes articles on rheumatology.
It was part of a series of case studies analysing the outcomes of medicinal marijuana therapy for fibromyalgia using data collected from the UK Medical Cannabis Registry. Curaleaf Clinic created a database called The Registry in 2019. It gathers data from patients in the UK who have been prescribed cannabis-based medical products (CBMPs). This is to investigate their safety, effectiveness, and effect on quality of living.
These results are in line with other studies we’ve done over the past few years on medical marijuana and fibromyalgia.