“Cannabis has been used for centuries for both symptomatic and prophylactic treatment of different types of headaches including migraine…
Suppression of CSD (cortical spreading depression) by activation of CB1 receptors suggests the potential therapeutic effects of cannabinoids in migraine with aura as well as other CSD-related disorders.”
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“Cannabis was extensively used as a medicine throughout the developed world in the nineteenth century but went into decline early in the twentieth century ahead of its emergence as the most widely used illicit recreational drug later that century. Recent advances in cannabinoid pharmacology alongside the discovery of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) have re-ignited interest in cannabis-based medicines.
The ECS has emerged as an important physiological system and plausible target for new medicines. Its receptors and endogenous ligands play a vital modulatory role in diverse functions including immune response, food intake, cognition, emotion, perception, behavioural reinforcement, motor co-ordination, body temperature, wake/sleep cycle, bone formation and resorption, and various aspects of hormonal control. In disease it may act as part of the physiological response or as a component of the underlying pathology.
In the forefront of clinical research are the cannabinoids delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol, and their contrasting pharmacology will be briefly outlined. The therapeutic potential and possible risks of drugs that inhibit the ECS will also be considered. This paper will then go on to review clinical research exploring the potential of cannabinoid medicines in the following indications: symptomatic relief in multiple sclerosis, chronic neuropathic pain, intractable nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite and weight in the context of cancer or AIDS, psychosis, epilepsy, addiction, and metabolic disorders.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24006213
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dta.1529/abstract
“Does marijuana have medicinal value for migraine headaches and other maladies?
“There is no question that cannabis is beneficial medicinally,” Bearman says. With migraines, “some people say it makes the pain go completely away or can prevent migraines from coming on. Others say it lessens the pain and allows them to focus on other things to get their work done.”
What cannabis does to alleviate migraines is complicated and not completely understood. “But it works on serotonin and dopamine receptors, and has anti-inflammatory activity,” says Russo, who is just finishing a paper for the Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics.
“Basically, it is a multi-modality agent that works on various aspects of migraine in a way that’s really unique. And it’s not just the THC — tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive chemical — that does it. It appears now that it’s the result of the interaction of a combination of other cannabinoids and also the essential oils in the plant.”
Unlike most headache medications, cannabis is unique in that it works as both a preventive agent and an analgesic. “At any point in the migraine, they could use cannabis by smoking, vaporizer, etc., and about 80% of these people get significant or total relief,” he says. “And, if someone has a chronic migraine, daily use in whatever form will often lead to a complete remission.””
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/health/doctor/lhdoc227.htm
“Pharmacological preparations of cannabinoid compounds have a variety of therapeutic uses in medicine, including different pain syndromes, but have not been previously reported as beneficial for cluster headache.We present a patient with cluster headache who was refractory to multiple acute and preventive medications but successfully aborted his attacks with recreational marijuana use; subsequent use of dronabinol provided equally effective pain relief. The beneficial effect may be related to the high concentration of cannabinoid receptors in the hypothalamus, which has been implicated as a site of dysfunction in neuroimaging studies of patients with cluster headache.
The plant Cannabis sativa has a long history of medical use in the treatment of pain and spasms, the promotion of sleep, and the suppression of nausea and vomiting. However, in the early 1970s cannabis was classified in the Narcotic Acts in countries all over the world as having no therapeutic benefit; therefore, it cannot be prescribed by physicians or dispensed by pharmacists. In the light of this contradictory situation, an increasing number of patients practice a self-prescription with cannabis products for relieving a variety of symptoms.
The majority of patients used natural cannabis products such as marihuana, hashish, and an alcoholic tincture; in just 5 cases dronabinol (Marinol) was taken by prescription…
…this survey demonstrates a successful use of cannabis products for the treatment of a multitude of various illnesses and symptoms. This use was usually accompanied only by slight and in general acceptable side effects…”
“Endocannabinoid system seems to be involved in the modulation of NTG-induced hyperalgesia, and probably, in the pathophysiological mechanisms of migraine…
The study confirms that a dysfunction of the endocannabinoid system may contribute to the development of migraine attacks and that a pharmacological modulation of CB receptors can be useful for the treatment of migraine pain…
By combining our data with the findings available from the literature, we can hypothesize that a dysfunction of the endocannabinoid system may contribute to the development of migraine attacks and that a specific pharmacological modulation of CB1 and CB2 receptors may be useful for the treatment of migraine pain, without deleterious effects, as well as of specific associated symptoms (nausea, in primis).”
Full text: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3072518/
“Hallucinogens and most cannabinoids are classified under schedule 1 of the Federal Controlled Substances Act 1970, along with heroin and ecstacy. Hence they cannot be prescribed by physicians, and by implication, have no accepted medical use with a high abuse potential. Despite their legal status, hallucinogens and cannabinoids are used by patients for relief of headache, helped by the growing number of American states that have legalized medical marijuana.
Cannabinoids in particular have a long history of use in the abortive and prophylactic treatment of migraine before prohibition and are still used by patients as a migraine abortive in particular.
Most practitioners are unaware of the prominence cannabis or “marijuana” once held in medical practice.
Hallucinogens are being increasingly used by cluster headache patients outside of physician recommendation mainly to abort a cluster period and maintain quiescence for which there is considerable anecdotal success.
The legal status of cannabinoids and hallucinogens has for a long time severely inhibited medical research, and there are still no blinded studies on headache subjects, from which we could assess true efficacy.”
“Marijuana (Cannabis sativa L.) is one of the first plants cultivated by man. Shrouded in controversy, the intriguing history of cannabis as a medication dates back thousands of years before the era of Christianity.
Scientists believe the hemp plant originated in Asia. In 2737 B.C., Emperor Shen Neng of China prescribed tea brewed from marijuana leaves as a remedy for muscle injuries, rheumatism, gout, malaria, and memory loss. During the Bronze Age in 1400 B.C., cannabis was used throughout the eastern Mediterranean to ease the pain of childbirth and menstrual maladies.
More than 800 years before the birth of Christ, hemp was extensively cultivated in India for both its fiber and healing medicinal properties. William Brooke O’Shaughnessy, an Irish physician famous for his investigative research in pharmacology, is credited with introducing the therapeutic, healing properties of cannabis to Western medicine. During the 1830’s Dr. O’Shaughnessy, working for the British in India, conducted extensive experiments on lab animals. Encouraged by his results, Dr. O’Shaughnessy commenced patient treatment with marijuana for pain and muscle spasms. Further experiments indicated that marijuana was beneficial in the treatment of stomach cramps, migraine headaches, insomnia and nausea. Marijuana was also proven to be an effective anticonvulsant.
From the 1840s to the 1890s, hashish and marijuana extracts were among the most widely prescribed medications in the United States The 1850 United States Census records 8,327 marijuana plantations, each larger than 2000 acres. Recreational use of marijuana was not evident until early in the 20th century. Marijuana cigarettes became popular, introduced by migrants workers that brought marijuana with them from Mexico. With the onset of Prohibition, recreational use of marijuana skyrocketed. During the early 1930s, hash bars could be found all across the United States.
Although protested by the American Medical Association, the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act banned the cultivation and use of cannabis by federal law. Under the law, cultivation, distribution and consumption of cannabis products for medicinal, practical or recreational was criminalized and harsh penalties were implemented.”
More: http://guardianlv.com/2013/06/marijuana-first-plants-cultivated-by-man-for-medication/
“The term ‘endocannabinoid’ – originally coined in the mid-1990s after the discovery of membrane receptors for the psychoactive principle in Cannabis, Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol and their endogenous ligands – now indicates a whole signalling system that comprises cannabinoid receptors, endogenous ligands and enzymes for ligand biosynthesis and inactivation. This system seems to be involved in an ever-increasing number of pathological conditions. With novel products already being aimed at the pharmaceutical market little more than a decade since the discovery of cannabinoid receptors, the endocannabinoid system seems to hold even more promise for the future development of therapeutic drugs. We explore the conditions under which the potential of targeting the endocannabinoid system might be realized in the years to come.” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15340387
“Three puffs a day of cannabis, better known as marijuana, helps people with chronic nerve pain due to injury or surgery feel less pain and sleep better, a Canadian team has found.
”It’s been known anecdotally,” says researcher Mark Ware, MD, assistant professor of anesthesia and family medicine at McGill University in Montreal. “About 10% to 15% of patients attending a chronic pain clinic use cannabis as part of their pain [control] strategy,” he tells WebMD.
But Ware’s study is more scientific — a clinical trial in which his team compared placebo with three different doses of cannabis. The research is published in CMAJ, the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
The new study ”adds to the trickle of evidence that cannabis may help some of the patients who are struggling [with pain] at present,” Henry McQuay, DM, an emeritus fellow at Balliol College, Oxford University, England, writes in a commentary accompanying the study…” More: http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/news/20100830/marijuana-relieves-chronic-pain-research-show
“Cannabis sativa is one of the oldest herbal remedies known to man. Over the past four thousand years, it has been used for the treatment of numerous diseases but due to its psychoactive properties, its current medicinal usage is highly restricted. In this review, we seek to highlight advances made over the last forty years in the understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the effects of cannabis on the human body and how these can potentially be utilized in clinical practice. During this time, the primary active ingredients in cannabis have been isolated, specific cannabinoid receptors have been discovered and at least five endogenous cannabinoid neurotransmitters (endocannabinoids) have been identified. Together, these form the framework of a complex endocannabinoid signalling system that has widespread distribution in the body and plays a role in regulating numerous physiological processes within the body. Cannabinoid ligands are therefore thought to display considerable therapeutic potential and the drive to develop compounds that can be targeted to specific neuronal systems at low enough doses so as to eliminate cognitive side effects remains the ‘holy grail’ of endocannabinoid research.”