21 Aug

Does the Endocannabinoid System hold the Secret to Ending Migraine Headaches?

The endocannabinoid system, which is the body’s system of natural cannabinoids, receptors that metabolize cannabinoids of any source, and enzymes that control that interaction, is one of the few body-wide systems that has direct interaction with both neurological and physiological disorders. A quick review of the Cornerstone blog yields a wealth of evidence of the endocannabinoid system influencing everything from general pain, to sleep, to neurological malfunction, to immune system regulation, psychological health, and much more. In February 2016, specifically, we wrote about the possibility of cannabinoids/cannabis being used to treat migraine headaches: Soothing Migraine Headaches with Cannabis Anecdotally, this study confirmed that medical cannabis patients experience relief from migraines in a large sample (121 people). However, at the time, little was understood about the potential cause of relief, as well as the ramifications of cannabinoid signaling on other body functions and systems. In July, the International Cannabis Research Symposium Journal published more information shedding light on additional research surrounding cannabinoids and migraines, as well as on the potential interaction with kynurenine, a receptor antagonist (blocker) related to glutamate, one of the main neurotransmitters in the central nervous system, which includes the brain. To review, migraine headaches affect roughly 16% of the population at different stages of life! This has yielded an estimated 18.4 billion euro cost to European healthcare a year, not to mention extreme decrease in quality of life for patients suffering from migraines. While researchers are still trying to pin down what exactly causes migraines, we can…

03 Feb

Soothing Migraine Headaches with Cannabis

Nearly everyone who’s used medical cannabis can relate to its ability to soothe headaches. From easing stress and tight forehead muscles to reducing body pain, cannabis naturally lends itself to being a headache cure. Yet, surprisingly, no clinical tests are being performed at this time to treat migraine patients with medical cannabis. In other words, while some doctors are already prescribing cannabis for recurring headaches, no large clinical studies on actual humans are being conducted. As readers may guess, this may have something to do with the difficulty of getting approval for human studies involving cannabis. In any case, the situation is now remarkably unusual; medical cannabis dispensaries sometimes have more access to medical information than physicians. Specifically, as a general physician, you may have the opportunity to prescribe cannabis to a number of patients, with only a handful of those seeking treatment for headaches. On top of that, after the prescription for medical cannabis, you can’t track what cannabis was used, how potent it was, where it came from, etc. A large part of the treatment data is inherently unknown by the physician, and getting patients to carefully record and report that data is difficult, further reducing the number of people who could realistically be involved in a study. In fact, busy, time-strapped patients may not even return after successfully treating their problems. Contrast this situation with that of a dispensary. At a medical cannabis dispensary, providers can keep a file on each patient, using purchases to record average…