UK researchers have agreed with the findings of various other studies — medical cannabis may be useful in treating and managing fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia is a common condition characterised by widespread chronic pain that can have a huge impact on the quality of life. It can be accompanied by fatigue, sleep problems, and cognitive issues (aka “fibro fog”). While its exact cause is unknown, fibromyalgia is thought to involve a hypersensitive pain system.
There is no cure and conventional treatments focus on managing symptoms through a combination of medications, physical and psychological therapies, and lifestyle adjustments. Some of the medications used include antidepressants, anti-seizure drugs and pain relievers; which can introduce issues of their own.
Increasingly, fibromyalgia patients have been turning to medical cannabis for relief, but the jury is still out in the scientific community as to how effective it is. The new study aimed to assess the change in patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and incidence of adverse events (AEs) in patients treated with cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs) for fibromyalgia.
Four hundred ninety-seven patients were included in the study, which found improvement in all PROMs from baseline to all follow-up periods (1, 3, 6, 12, and 18 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.
The researchers concluded:
“This study found that CBMPs were associated with short to medium-term improvements in pain, anxiety, sleep, and general quality-of-life in patients with fibromyalgia. More randomised controlled trials are warranted to consolidate the literature, but this large analysis provides real-world data to inform their rollout.”
The study has been published in the journal Clinical Rheumatology.
The study was part of a case series analysing clinical outcomes of medicinal cannabis therapy for fibromyalgia based on data from the UK Medical Cannabis Registry. The Registry is a large database established in 2019 by Curaleaf Clinic. It collects data on patients prescribed cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs) in the UK to study their safety, efficacy, and impact on quality of life.
The results from this latest study concur with a number of others on medical cannabis and fibromyalgia that we’ve mentioned over the years.
