Fibromyalgia symptoms improve with cannabinoid medicine

This study focused on changes in health-related quality of life and prevalence of adverse effects in fibromyalgia patients receiving cannabinoid medicines, or cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs). It was published online ahead of print in the journal Brain and Behavior in May 2023.

306 patients from the U.K. Medical Cannabis Registry diagnosed with fibromyalgia (widespread musculoskeletal pain) completed assessments at 1, 3, 6 & 12 months after initiation of cannabinoid medicine.

Since fibromyalgia usually affects women more often than men, it is understandable that 70% of the participants were women and about 30% were men. The average age was just under 45. 290 patients reported on their product type and dosages:

• Oral/sublingual oil was prescribed to 118 (40.69%) patients
• Dry plant, or flower to be vaporized was prescribed to 35 (12.07%)
• Combination of oil and flower was prescribed to 137 (47.24%)
• The median dose of THC was 100 mg/day with a fairly wide range of reported doses (20 mg/day to 195 mg/day).
• The median dose of CBD was 20 mg/day with a reported maximum of 35 mg/day.

They used the following assessment standards to determine changes in conditions and effectiveness:

• Fibromyalgia Symptom Severity criterion
• Single-Item Sleep Quality Scale (SQS)
• Patients’ Global Impression of Change scale (PGIC)
• General Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7)
• The Visual Analogue Scale-Pain (VAS-Pain)
• EQ-5D-5L (a self-reported questionnaire that evaluates health-related quality of life)

The authors' results and general conclusions:

Statistically significant improvements can be observed in validated fibromyalgia-specific, pain, sleep, anxiety, and health-related quality of life metrics.

Those who reported prior cannabis use appeared to have a greater response.

CBMPs were generally well-tolerated

The full text article is here at the Wiley Online Library.