Fibromyalgia

SAFETY AND EFFICACY OF MEDICAL CANNABIS IN FIBROMYALGIA

Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2019

Iftach Sagy MD PhD^1,2, Lihi Bar-Lev Schleider MA^2,3, Mahmoud Abu-Shakra MD⁴ and Victor Novack MD PhD²

¹Department of Rheumatology, Rabin Medical Center, Petach Tikva Israel; ²Cannabis Clinical Research Institute, Soroka University Medical Center and Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be’er-Sheva, Israel; ³Research Department, Tikun Olam LTD; ⁴Department of Rheumatology, Soroka University Medical Center and Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be’er-Sheva, Israel

Chronic pain may be treated by medical cannabis. Yet, there is scarce evidence to support the role of medical cannabis in the treatment of fibromyalgia. 367 fibromyalgia patients participated in a prospective observational study with 6 months follow-up period. The aim of the study, conducted in collaboration with the Department of Rheumatology at Rabin Medical Center, was to investigate the characteristics, safety and effectiveness of medical cannabis therapy for fibromyalgia.

STUDY POPULATION: 367 fibromyalgia patients (301 females, mean age 52.9).

STUDY PRODUCT: Most patients consumed Alaska, Erez and Avidakel.

RESULTS:

• Only 28 patients (7.6%) discontinued treatment during six months of treatment.
• Overall improvement – 81.1% of patients reported a moderate (at least) improvement in their condition with no serious side effects.
• Decrease in pain intensity – the overall pain intensity decreased from a median of 9.0 before starting treatment to 5.0 after six months.
• Decreased depression – 80.8% of patients reported improvement in depression‐related symptoms.
• Improvement in sleep – 73.4% of patients reported improved sleep; 13.2% reported their sleep problems were fully relieved.
• Improving quality of life – 61.9% of patients reported their quality of life to be “good or very good,” after half a year of active treatment, whereas only 2.7% of patients rated their quality of life at this level prior to beginning treatment.
• Decrease in drug use – 22.2% of patients stopped or reduced their dosage of opioids; 20.3% reduced their dosage of benzodiazepines.
• The most common side effects were mild and included dizziness (7.9%), dry mouth (6.7%) and gastrointestinal symptoms (5.4%).
• Medical cannabis appears to be a safe and effective alternative for the treatment of fibromyalgia symptoms.

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