Migraine patients report mitigating their symptoms with cannabis and many also acknowledge using marijuana in lieu of other prescription medications, according to data published in the journal Neurology Clinical Practice.
Investigators affiliated with Yale University’s School of Medicine surveyed responses from 1,373 patients from a tertiary headache center. Just under one-third of respondents acknowledged being current consumers of cannabis. Among these consumers, most said that marijuana either improved migraine symptoms or limited their frequency. Many respondents (63%) also said that their use of cannabis allowed them to either reduce or eliminate their need for other prescription medications.
“This is the largest study to date to document cannabis product usage patterns and perceived benefits for migraine management in a clinical headache patient sample,” the study’s authors concluded. “A majority of patients surveyed reported using cannabis products for migraine management and cited perceived improvements in migraine characteristics, clinical features, and associated risk factors.”
