Study: cannabis reduces fibromyalgia-related pain

An Israeli study from Journal of Clinical Medicine recently demonstrated that medical cannabis could be a safe and effective alternative for the treatment of fibromyalgia symptoms. Conducted by the Research Department of Tikun Olam, Israel's leading medical cannabis company, the aim of the study was to examine the characteristics, safety and efficacy of medical cannabis treatment for this condition.

Characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, poor sleep quality and cognitive difficulties, fibromyalgia has no specific cause and no known cure. It mainly affects women between the ages of 40 and 60.

Among study participants, 73.4% reported better sleep since the start of experimentation, 80.8% reported an improvement in depression-related symptoms, and 61.9% reported an improvement in quality of life, particularly in terms of appetite and sexual activity. In all, 81.1% of participants considered the treatment a success.

The researchers also found a significant improvement in pain intensity and fibromyalgia-related symptoms in patients after six months of treatment.

81% of patients reported no or few side effects. Study director Lihi Bar-Lev Schleider is delighted that «the implications of these results for fibromyalgia patients are that they can now benefit from an additional treatment option». There is currently no known medication to treat fibromyalgia itself, but this study could make cannabis products available to more patients to reduce their pain.

This study is not the first of its kind: numerous other studies have demonstrated the efficacy of cannabis treatments to relieve the pain associated with fibromyalgia. Visit Journal of Clinical Rheumatology had notably produced a other study in this direction in 2018, but on only 26 fibromyalgia patients compared with 367 for the new research, confirming the phenomena observed.