If you suffer with migraines you’ll do almost anything to relieve the agony when one strikes.
For many people, that includes taking cannabis in an attempt to take the edge off the pain.
The latest evidence that cannabis may help migraines comes from Healint’s Migraine Buddy app—a global app that allows users to record data about migraine duration, frequency and intensity, together with what medications are useful and any potential triggers such as disruptions to sleep, dietary factors and weather.
Based on information gathered from 9,885 users of the app in the U.S. and Canada, 82 per cent of respondents who used medicinal marijuana found it useful to reduce the intensity of migraine pain levels. Healint's statistics showed that 30 percent of U.S. migraineurs had turned to cannabis for relief.
“Nearly 40 million Americans, including 28 million women, suffer from disabling migraine attacks,” a Healint press release noted. “As medical cannabis continues to be legalized in most [U.S.] states, migraineurs are finding that cannabis can decrease the intensity of migraine attacks.”
“Research about the benefits of cannabis use among migraine patients is slowly emerging, but more must be done to properly inform individuals about the use and dosage of medical marijuana to treat migraines,” Healint CEO and co-founder Francois Cadiou added.
The Migraine Buddy app data adds further to the evidence of a link between cannabis and reduced migraine severity. A study published last year that found inhaling cannabis helped to slash the severity of headaches and migraines by about 50 per cent. In this study, men reported larger reductions in headache after cannabis use than did women.
In another study surveyed patients who took cannabis reported the average number of monthly migraines dropped by about 42 per cent. Additionally, the study found 88.3 per cent of the 279 patients taking part reported an improvement in their headache symptoms.
Sources: LA Weekly, The London Free Press
