While headaches are still manageable and very common, migraines can be a real hassle to go through. They’re much more severe, more painful, and they even more difficult to keep under control. While there are treatments for migraines, most of them have powerful side effects and to some people, that’s too much. Moreover, these treatments don’t work all the time.
Thus, what happens when you want your peace and quiet back, to not live in pains and fear of the next migraine attack? A recent study, conducted in 2019, shows that cannabis has reduced the pain of headaches and migraines by over half in the participants.
After inhaling the cannabis and giving it time to work, about 47.3% of the participants reported a diminished severity in their headaches, while 49.6% reported the same with their migraines. What’s most important is that none of the participants reported experiencing the so-called “overuse headache”, one of the downfalls of conventional treatments.
This means that no matter how often they consumed cannabis to treat their headaches and migraines, they didn’t feel any rebound. There were no adverse effects, which is something no conventional treatment can pride with.
Best consumption method to treat headaches and migraines
While the scientific literature is far from exhaustive when it comes to the effects of cannabis on headaches and migraines, there are a couple of studies studying this phenomenon. One particular study at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus researched the effects of cannabis on migraines over a period of 4 years. In most cases, the participants reported that the frequency and intensity of their migraines had reduced.
Moreover, the study also looked at the best consumption methods of cannabis so as to produce the most desirable outcomes. They found out that inhalation led to increasingly beneficial effects. While eating or smoking cannabis did produce effects, they were insufficient or too weak to lead to a definitive recommendation. Inhalation, on the other hand, produced strong and consistent effects throughout the 4-year study.
This study cemented the foundation of future studies and showed us how cannabis can clearly be used for therapeutic purposes. Moreover, it’s also a step forward in decriminalizing cannabis, at least for self-medication in cases like migraines and severe headaches.
How does cannabis affect your body?
The THC and CBD cannabinoids in cannabis interact with neurotransmitters and receptors in your brain via the endocannabinoid system. It’s just like THC can act as a substituent for anandamide, the receptor that that regulates your mood. Similarly, cannabinoids can act on multiple levels, including pain regulation and inflammation reduction. Headaches and migraines are just another type of pain, a biological reaction of your body which the cannabinoids can alter accordingly.
If you were to buy weed online, you could buy Sativa as well as Indica strains. Both of them combined provide the best effects against migraines and headaches. In particular, CBD is thought of as the therapeutic and medicinal component in cannabis. THC, on the other hand, leads to psychoactive effects, the state of high that so many people crave for. While that might help you relax a bit, CBD will most likely ease your pains and reduce the severity of your migraines.
Another study entitled “Short and long-term effects of cannabis on headaches and migraines” sought to discover if there were any gender differences on migraine reduction when cannabis was inhaled. Moreover, they also wanted to know whether concentrates or flowers were more beneficial, and whether doses had any contribution to these effects. Last but not least, they also looked at tolerance risks.
Here’s what they found out:
- 50% of all participants reported reduced migraine and headache severity
- Men had better headache ratings than women
- Cannabis concentrates were associated with larger reductions in headaches than flowers
- They detected evidence of tolerance build-up related to the effects of cannabis on headaches and migraines
- They did not detect any medication overuse headache
The biggest take from this study is that inhaled cannabis concentrates will reduce the severity of headaches and migraines in 50% of the cases (at least), while also presenting no long-term risks. In other words, it will not make your headaches or migraines get worse with overuse. That’s not something we can currently say about any conventional treatment.
As to whether you want to buy weed online to self-medicate or not, that is for you to decide!
