According
to a study, self-reported headache severity was reduced by 47.3% and migraine
severity was reduced by 49.6% with cannabis that was inhaled. This is the first
study to make use of a large amount of data from migraine and headache patients
making use of cannabis in real time.[1] Prior
research has used data from the recollection of patients’ past cannabis use.
There has been one clinical trial which indicated that cannabis was superior to
ibuprofen for alleviating headache, but a synthetic cannabinoid drug called
nabilone was used. Although a substantial number of people report using
cannabis for migraine and headache, surprisingly little research has addressed
the topic.
Archived data from the Strainprint app was analysed, an app
which allows the tracking of symptoms before and after patients have used
medical cannabis. Over 1,300 patients submitted information who had made use of
the app more than 12,200 times for tracking headache changes from before to
after using cannabis, as well as another 653 patients who had made use of the
app more than 7,400 times for tracking changes of the severity of migraine.
The researchers made use of an ecologically valid approach by
looking at actual patients medicating in their own environments making use of
whole plant cannabis. Because of the large amount of data, the researchers
could more accurately and appropriately generalize to the greater population of
patients making use of cannabis for managing these conditions.
No evidence was seen of cannabis causing “overuse headache,” a
side effect of conventional treatments that can make headaches worse over time.
Patients did however use larger doses of cannabis over time, which indicates
they could be developing a tolerance to the cannabis.
A small but significant gender difference was found with men
reporting 90.0% more sessions that involved headache reduction compared to
89.1% reported by women. It was also noted that making use of cannabis
concentrates, such as cannabis oil, resulted in a larger reduction in the
severity rating of headaches than making use of cannabis flower.
No significant difference in the reduction of pain was found
between strains of cannabis that were lower or higher in cannabidiol (CBD)
levels and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) levels, the two most commonly researched
cannabis chemical constituents, also known as cannabinoids. Because cannabis
consists of more than 100 cannabinoids, the result suggests that different
cannabinoids or other constituents like terpenes could be playing a central
role in the relief of migraine and headache.
The limitations of the Strainprint study were that it relied on
a self-selected group of individuals who may have already anticipated that
cannabis will alleviate symptoms, and it wasn’t possible to implement a placebo
control group.
Acknowledgement: https://www.shape-able.com/
Image via: ShapeAble
