MS and Cannabis

MS and Cannabis

Multiple Sclerosis, or MS, is a neurological disorder that influences the mind and the spinal cord. It emerges when an individual’s immune system begins to target and assault the body’s nerves rather than external diseases. This easily brings symptoms, including fatigue, vision problems, muscle spasms, loss of coordination, and cognition.

Around 2.5 million individuals globally get affected by MS, and it affects each individual differently, causing severe conditions in some people and mild conditions in others. Most of the time, patients can treat and ease symptoms by utilizing steroids, physiotherapy courses, antidepressants, and muscle relaxants.

Nonetheless, the infrequent use of steroids can prompt osteoporosis, weight increase, and diabetes. The traditional antidepressants and muscle relaxant drugs for multiple sclerosis usually come with their side effects such as nausea, weakness, diarrhea, and dizziness.

Medical cannabis is considered to be an alternate solution for MS patients. Cannabis can treat the muscle stiffness and spasms related to MS without causing the side effects that come with prescription pills. However, several scientific claims support it including;

Clinical trials on Cannabis and MS

Sativex is a drug offered by the British organization GW Pharmaceuticals. It is amongst the top cannabis-infused medications for MS patients. The remedy is an oromucosal spray with a 1:1 proportion of THC and CBD, and other lesser-known cannabis compounds. 

Currently, this drug has gotten federal approval and marketing permits in more than 25 nations – including the United Kingdom, Norway, Brazil, Australia, and more – for patients with MS-related muscle stiffness, spasms, and other related conditions.

Due to Sativex’s development, GW Pharmaceuticals has supported various clinical preliminaries analyzing its effects on MS symptoms, explicitly focusing on enhancements in spasticity (muscle stiffness/spasms), neuropathic pain and bladder control.

The investigation into Sativex’s impact on neuropathic pain showed that average patients were self-regulating around 22-32 mg/day of THC and 20-30 mg/day of CBD to deal with their agony. These dosages resulted in positive outcomes in the placebo-controlled preliminaries, where it was utilized as an additional treatment.

An excess of ten distinct examinations and clinical preliminaries have so far examined Sativex’s impact on MS-related spasticity. The earliest was a 2005 investigation of more than 360 patients with different neurological conditions (counting MS). The results of this study found that the Sativex spray “fundamentally decreased neuropathic pain, spasticity, muscle spasms, and insomnia.”

Further scientific evidence on Cannabis and MS

A 2017 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine contained about 100 unique conclusions on the wellbeing effects of cannabis and cannabis-infused items.

The report, which consisted of the results of more than 10,000 scientific examinations covering different areas ranging from cancer treatment to psychological health to remedial impacts, found that there was insufficient proof to properly judge whether cannabis can successfully combat most of the medical conditions that it has been touted to help.

Based on all the different areas covered, just three demonstrated any solid proof that appropriately bolstered medical cannabis treatment: diminishing chemotherapy symptoms, treating chronic pain, and treating MS spasticity.