Researchers searched for data that showed how cannabis affected pain levels in patients and how it helped patients deal with other symptoms associated with fibromyalgia. They found that cannabis significantly reduced their pain levels and improved their peripheral symptoms.
Fibromyalgia is a syndrome characterised by chronic pain often felt in the legs and arms, persistent fatigue, brain fog, depression, and many other symptoms. Patients living with fibromyalgia often report a poor quality of life, and up to 40% of patients in the UK are not able to work because of it.
Current treatment options are limited to antidepressants, talking therapy, and physical exercise and often produce poor outcomes. There is no cure for fibromyalgia.
The study found that cannabis resulted in pain levels decreasing by a standardised mean difference of 1.41, which is considered to be very large by clinical researchers. Researchers found that pain decreased in patients in both the short term and the long term.
“Both short-term and longer-term follow-ups showed statistically significant pain score reduction,” the study authors wrote.
Peripheral symptoms experienced by fibromyalgia patients also responded well to cannabis treatment. Sleep, depression, and quality of life scores all improved significantly, and there were small improvements in anxiety levels.
The positive results in the studies were driven by the consumption of products high in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The analysis of oral THC-dominant products showed statistically significant pain reduction, whilst sublingual products did not show statistically significant differences. The results from only one study analysed by the team investigating cannabidiol (CBD) for its effectiveness in treating pain showed it to also be a useful medicine for decreasing pain levels in fibromyalgia patients.
Previous studies support the findings of the current meta-analysis and have found cannabis effective for pain reduction, sleep improvement, cognitive function and mood.
Due to the relatively small data-set analysed, and their own assessment of the evidence being that it was of low quality, researchers recommended that further studies should be conducted to improve the level of available evidence on cannabis being used as a medicine to treat fibromyalgia. Despite this, they concluded that it may be an effective and safe treatment option.
“Cannabinoids may provide analgesic benefits for patients with fibromyalgia,” the study concluded. “Cannabinoid use was also associated with improvements in sleep, anxiety, depression and quality of life. However, the findings should be interpreted with caution due to the quality of the evidence, heterogeneity, and small amount of available data from randomized controlled trials.”
