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Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain syndrome of unknown etiology.The disease is chacterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, and multiple tender points in the neck, spine, shoulders, and hips. An estimated 3 to 6 million Americans are afflicted by fibromyalgia, which is often poorly controlled by standard pain medications.
Fibromyalgia patients frequently self-report using cannabis therapeutically to treat symptoms of the disease, [1-2]and physicians - where legal to do so- often recommend the use of cannabis to treat muscculoskeletal disorders.[3-4] To date however, only one clinical trial is available in the ceintific literature assessing the use odf cannabinoids to treat the disease.
Writing in the July issue of the journal Current Medical Reasearchand Opinion, investigators at Germany's University of Heidelberg evaluated the analgesic effects of oral THC in nine patients with fibromyalgiaover a 3-month period.
Subjects in trila were admininstered daily doses of 2.5 to 15 mg of THC, but recieved no other pain medication during the trial. Among those participants who completed the trial , all reported a significant reductiuon in daily recorded pain and electronically induced pain.
Previous clinical and preclinical terials have shown that both natuarally occuring and endogenous cannabinoids hold analgesic qualities,[6-7] particualrly on the treatment of cancer pain[8] and neuropathic pain, [9] both of which are poorly treated by conventional opioids.
As a result , some experts have suggested that cannabinoid agonistswould be applicable for the treatment of chronic pain conditions unresponsive to opiod analgesic such as fibromyalgia, and they teorize that the disesase may be associated with an underlying clinical deficiency of the endocannabinoid system.[10]
Fibromyalgia is a clinical condition characterized by generalized aches and pains, malaise, anxiety and depression, lack of restorative sleep, and multiple digestive complaints including gas, bloating, abdominal pain and constipation.
The exact cause is unknown but evidence suggests that it involves a pain perception mal-function in the central nervous system. About four million Americans are affected.
In its worst form fibromyalgia is a debilitating disorder. Some patients are so pain sensitive that even the clothes on their back or the stream of water from a shower can be unbearable.
Other than pain medications, often in very high doses, and certain anti-seizure medications, both of which offer only limited benefit, there is no effective treatment. Cannabis has been shown to be an excellent therapeutic tool for fibromyalgia by alleviating several of its most troubling symptoms including pain, gastrointestinal disturbances, insomnia, and depression.
Patients report that cannabis use has had a dramatic effect on their illness and greatly helps them regain their ability to function on a day-to-day basis. A trial of cannabis certainly should be considered especially in light of the limited response to all other known treatment options. |
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