Preliminary studies suggest that people with chronic migraine who use cannabis products are much more likely to suffer from “rebound headaches” than those who do not use the drug.
However, although the link has been revealed, it is still unknown. Cannabis The authors of the study told Live Science that they are directly causing rebound headaches. The study also did not identify the type of cannabis product used by the patient, so it is unclear whether one product correlates more with rebound headaches than other products.
Rebound headaches, also known as substance abuse headaches (MOH), occur when someone already has the following headache disorders: Chronic migraineAccording to them, they take headache medications so often that they develop new types of headaches or their existing headaches get worse over time. International classification of headache disorders (ICHD 3).
A formal diagnosis of a rebound headache means that you are regularly abusing one or more medications to treat the headache for more than 3 months. This usually means taking pain-relieving or anti-migraine medications a couple of days or more a week. According to Harvard Health.. In addition, the diagnosed person experiences a headache for more than 15 days each month. When the patient stops substance abuse, the rebound headache usually goes away.
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These headaches affect about 1% to 3% of the general population and nearly one-third of patients seeking treatment for headaches at specialized clinics such as the Stanford University Headache Center, and research author Dr. Niushen Zhang ( Clinical Assistant Professor) The director of the Headache Fellowship Program at Stanford University School of Medicine told Live Science in an email.
Currently, in their new study, Zhang and her colleagues found that people with chronic migraine headaches may experience rebound headaches when using cannabis compared to non-drug migraine patients6. I found it to look twice as expensive. Scientists will effectively present their unpublished work at the 73rd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in April.
“This study shows that there is some link between cannabis use and substance abuse headaches in people with chronic migraine headaches,” Zhang said.
However, research is still in its infancy, and it is unclear at this time whether patients are using cannabis to treat substance abuse headaches, or whether cannabis is contributing to development. [of] Substance abuse headache, or both. ” She said future research is needed to determine if cannabis contributes to the appearance of rebound headaches, and if so, what it means for people with chronic migraine headaches.
For now, “it’s too early to provide clinical recommendations based on current findings,” Zhang added.
She said Zhang and her colleagues began their research after noticing that many of their patients with both chronic migraine and MOH were also using cannabis products. Little research has been done on cannabis use and these headache disorders, so the team decided to investigate the association further.
“Our study is the first of its kind to assess the risk of substance abuse headache in patients with chronic migraine who use cannabis,” Zhang said.
The team obtained data from the Stanford Research Repository Cohort Discovery Tool to collect information about patients with chronic migraine who were treated between 2015 and 2019. These included 368 adults who had had chronic migraine headaches for at least a year. 150 people reported using cannabis products, and 218 did not use anything.
Next, the team considered which patients had other variables, such as how often they developed migraine headaches, how long they were using cannabis, when they were diagnosed with MOH, and other medications they took for headaches. We evaluated whether we were diagnosed with MOH.
They found that 212 patients had MOH, and those who reported cannabis use were much more likely to be diagnosed with the disorder. There was also an important link between cannabis use, Use opioids And rebound headaches, they found. “Some of the patients in the study who were using cannabis were also taking opioids or had a history of taking them,” Zhang said.
Again, future studies need to investigate whether these drugs increase the risk of rebound headaches, how they increase them, and what happens when people take them at the same time.
The· Cannabinoid There is evidence that cannabis products bind to receptors in the body that regulate pain perception and help cannabis products relieve certain types of chronic pain. Live Science previously reported.. That said, the new study reveals a potential link between drugs and rebound headaches, so more research is needed to see if cannabis can lead migraine patients to more severe headaches. Mr. Zhang said it would be.
Again, it’s too early to say for sure for now.
Originally published in Live Science.
