Research on fibromyalgia and cannabis

If you had to guess, how many people in the United States do you think live with fibromyalgia? According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), approximately four million American adults (2% of the country’s population) struggle with this chronic disease. But what about research on fibromyalgia and cannabis? Overall, there is some evidence of short-term pain reduction in people with fibromyalgia treated with cannabinoid therapeutics. Although current evidence is limited, medical cannabis appears to be a safe treatment alternative.

Fibromyalgia consists of widespread, severe, and often overwhelming musculoskeletal pain. Regardless of the traditional treatment methods for fibromyalgia that currently exist, cannabis is gaining traction and is becoming more widely used as an alternative medicine to combat the pain and other unpleasant symptoms associated with this condition.

Fibromyalgia: A Day in the Life

Fibromyalgia is one of the most common chronic pain syndromes and consists of severe musculoskeletal pain and other accompanying symptoms. Unfortunately, fibromyalgia causes more than just pain. This chronic condition can cause sleep problems or difficulty sleeping, fatigue and lethargy, and even emotional or psychological stress. But it doesn’t stop there. Other common fibromyalgia symptoms include headaches and migraines, depression and anxiety, memory and concentration problems, and general body stiffness.

However, fibromyalgia goes one step further by often affecting an individual’s quality of life and overall well-being. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for fibromyalgia patients, and that is the availability and use of cannabinoids, especially after the remarkable discovery of The pain-relieving properties of cannabis.

Although Medicines and over-the-counter (OTC) pain relievers are typically used to treat fibromyalgia. Due to new medical findings, cannabinoids such as CBD and THC are now being considered more than ever.

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The evolving relationship between fibromyalgia and cannabis

So far it has been made clear that cannabinoids can act as such Analgesics, and current research supports cannabinoids as painkillers for fibromyalgia. For example a year 2020 randomized controlled trial was conducted to understand how THC-rich whole plant cannabis oil can help fibromyalgia patients manage their symptoms and improve their quality of life.

RELATED: Study: Medical marijuana improves quality of life for fibromyalgia patients

It was completed that phytocannabinoids can serve as an affordable yet well-tolerated therapy to relieve fibromyalgia symptoms and improve quality of life. For those who don’t know, cannabis flowers contain more than 100 phytocannabinoidsand two of the most well-known and sought-after are called THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol).

The study researchers went further and suggested that this cannabinoid therapy method could become an herbal/holistic choice for the treatment of fibromyalgia in the Brazilian public health system.

The importance of the endocannabinoid system

Regardless of the latest findings, longer and larger studies should be conducted to learn more about phytocannabinoids and fibromyalgia. Another area that should be further investigated and analyzed is the body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS) and endocannabinoid system deregulations and deficits.

RELATED: Acute and Chronic Pain Affects Millions – How Can Cannabis Help?

Researchers from the same controlled study in 2020 specified Here’s what about the ECS and conditions like fibromyalgia: “Some studies suggest that pathological conditions in pain modulation, such as fibromyalgia, migraine, and irritable bowel syndrome, among others, may be at least partially related to deregulation of the ECS endocannabinoid system.”