Medical Marijuana For Migraine

After seeing the History channel documentary about medical uses of marijuana, and hearing people say it works for headaches, I looked up research to find out whether it works for migraine.

What I found surprised me: marijuana is documented, by physicians, as THE BEST abortive AND preventative treatment for migraine, and especially for the particular type I have, which is related to menstruation cycles.

The first thing that has ever worked for me, that didn't cause drowsiness, was intravenous DHE (ergotamine) that I received in Canada. It immediately aborted my migraine, which didn't return to finish its regular 3 day course, and I wasn't drowsy. It was far superior to any narcotic, triptan, trigger point injection, oxygen, muscle relaxant, anti-epileptic, or other remedy I've tried. What the medical research says, though, is that while ergotamine is good in ER, and for abortion, it is not as effective as small amounts of marijuana for prevention. Even episodic use (a couple of times a month) is documented to reduce the severity of migraine if not prevent return altogether.

This is the medical support I read, which prompted me to ask around to find out if there is a doctor in this area who prescribes for medical marijuana. There is and I have decided to experiment for my disability's sake (chronic protracted migraine) and the sake of science and helping others. In California, migraine is on the list of conditions marijuana is known to be effective for. In other states, one may apply for permission for migraine, which is not automatically on the list, but fits the definition for "any chronic or recurring condition". My plan is to ask for enough for maybe 1/2 of a joint per month, to be divided into 1/4 size doses--it seems smoking is more beneficial than extracts of Marinol, but I'd be willing to experiment with either, especially since I've found out it IS bad for your lungs (though the benefits greatly outweigh risk for migraine). It has fewer side effects than all the other traditional or prescribed "remedies" which I've never found to be effective anyway, and it's far cheaper than DHE or Migranol.

What is shocking to me, is that the federal government hasn't lifted their ban on marijuana. With all the incoming evidence it DOES work for certain things, I hope our government will reconsider their position soon. Even though states endorse medical marijuana, the federal government is still free to prosecute people for medical use.

I hope more physicians and scientists conduct further research and studies on the effectiveness of marijuana for migraine. This disability has taken much of my life away for over 10 years--preventing me from going out on the weekends, seeing friends, completing college projects, missing college, court hearings, and work, and feeling absolutely at the mercy of the migraine. Mine were/are extraordinarily painful and severe. They were never "somatic", and now that DHE worked so well, I know my migraines are classic and responded to a classic treatment.

I found out I can take part of one research project, once I have a medical license, where you record your results.

Here's a link to the research I read, http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/hh.pdf
and below I've pasted the information I read first which led me to click on the links and read for myself:

An article published in 1998 in the journal Pain, Volume 76 (pages
3-8) by Ethan Russo MD “Cannabis for Migraine Treatment: The Once and
Future Prescription” (available at
http://www.ardpark.org/research/migraine.htm , web site of the
Arkansas Alliance for Medical Marijuana), argues for the need for
controlled clinical trials to assess the efficacy of cannabis in the
treatment of migraine. Here follows a summary:
Russo reviews the medical use of marijuana from ancient times. In the
second half of the nineteenth century, it was considered to be a
valuable therapy for headache.
Russo writes: “Proponents included Weir Mitchell in 1874, E.J. Waring
in 1874, Hobart Hare in 1887, Sir William Gowers in 1888, J.R.
Reynolds in 1890, J.B. Mattison in 1891, et al., (Walton, 1938;
Mikuriya, 1969). Cannabis was included in the mainstream pharmacopeias
in Britain and America for this indication. As late as 1915, Sir
William Osler, the acknowledged father of modern medicine, stated of
migraine treatment (Osler, 1915), "Cannabis indica is probably the
most satisfactory remedy. Seguin recommended a prolonged course." This
statement supports its use for both acute and prophylactic treatment
of migraine.”
Marijuana became illegal in the USA in 1937, although the American
Medical Association, according to Russo, declared its opposition to
this. In 1938, Robert Walton published a review on the therapeutic
use of marijuana for migraine, and cited 12 major authorities who
considered it to be useful, as opposed to one who did not. “In 1941,
Cannabis preparations were dropped from the United States Pharmacopeia
(U.S.P.), but the following year, the editor of the Journal of the
American Medical Association still advocated oral preparations of
Cannabis in treatment of menstrual (catamenial) migraine (Fishbein,
1942). This practitioner seemed to prefer Cannabis to ergotamine
tartrate, which remains in the migraine armamentarium, some fifty-five
years later.”
In 1974, an article appeared which “examined five case studies of
patients who volitionally experimented with the substance to treat
painful conditions. Three had chronic headaches, and found relief by
smoking Cannabis that was comparable, or superior to ergotamine
tartrate and aspirin.” Russo cites an article entitled "Marijuana
and Migraine" (El-Mallakh, 1987: published in Headache Volume 27(8):
pp 442-443 ),which “presented three cases in which abrupt cessation of
frequent, prolonged, daily marijuana smoking were followed by migraine
attacks. One patient noted subsequent remission of headaches with
episodic marijuana use, while conventional drugs successfully treated
the others. The author hypothesized that THC's peripheral
vasoconstrictive actions in rats, or its action to minimize serotonin
release from the platelets of human migraineurs (Volfe et al., 1985),
might explain its actions.” [You can find the summary of the Volfe
article at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=2997048&dopt=Abstract
The article was published in the International Journal of Clinical
Pharmacological Research, Volum 5: pp. 243-246 “Cannabinoids block
release of serotonin from platelets induced by plasma from migraine
patients.” by Volfe Z, Dvilansky A, Nathan I.]
Russo then goes on to describe some of the brain chemistry which might
account for cannabis having an effect on migraine, and then comments
“The understanding that Cannabis and THC effect their actions through
natural cerebral biochemical processes has intensified the public
debate on medical benefits of marijuana. In 1993, a book entitled
Marihuana: The Forbidden Medicine (Grinspoon and Bakalar, 1993)
examined a variety of claims for ailments treated by marijuana, and
included an entire section on migraine. One clinical vignette
discussed at length the medical odyssey of a migraineur through
failures with standard pharmaceuticals, and ultimate preference for
small doses of smoked marijuana for symptom control.” He says: “The
author believes that the issue of medical marijuana, and its possible
role in migraine treatment deserves proper scientific examination,
both biochemically and clinically.”

In 1973, Tod H. Mikuriya, M.D edited a book which reproduces papers on
the medical use of marijuana published in the period 1839-1972. You
can see the list of papers, plus the introduction to the book at
http://www.pdxnorml.org/Dr_Mikuriya.html
These include: Reynolds, J. Russell: Therapeutical uses and toxic
effects of cannabis indica, Lancet, 1:637-38, 22 Mar. 1890. “Reynolds,
in 1890, 33 summed up thirty years of his clinical experience using
cannabis, finding it useful as a nocturnal sedative in senile
insomnia, and valuable in treating dysmenorrhea, neuralgias including
tic douloureux and tabetic symptoms, migraine headache and certain
epileptoid or choreoid muscle spasms.”
Osler, W., and McCrae, T.: Principles and Practice of Medicine, 8th
Edition, D. Appleton and Co., New York, 1916, p. 1089. “Concerning
migraine headache, Osler stated in his text: Cannabis indica is
probably the most satisfactory remedy.”

Since much of the above is anecdotal evidence describing individual
cases, Ethan Russo made an application to the FDA to conduct a study
of the use of marijuana in migraine patients. After several
unsuccessful attempts, the FDA in October 1999 approved a proposal to
study “the effects of smoked cannabis (marijuana) as compared to oral
dronabinol (Marinol) and injected sumatriptan. The study will enroll
40 patients with severe migraine” However, in February 2000, the PHS
refused to supply Russo with marijuana for this study, citing flaws in
the study. A copy of the PHS letter is available at
http://www.maps.org/mmj/russo1199/02010001.html and the whole story
of Russo’s efforts to get the study underway is summarised here:
http://www.maps.org/mmj/mjrusso.html

I have not been able to find any further information on whether this
study has now commenced. However, I did find an in-depth review by
Russo, “Hemp for headaches”, published in 2001 in Journal of Cannabis
Therapeutics, Vol. 1. In it he argues onc more for the need for
clinical trials and says: “This author’s personal experience in
communicating with several hundred migraineurs who have employed
cannabis is that 80% havenoted improvement, often with complete
symptomatic relief. That this has occurred without any quality control
of the herb whatsoever is most compelling.”
The full text of the review (72 pages) is available at
http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/hh.pdf

Search strategy: 1. marijuana. migraine 2. “Ethan Russo” The
searches were carried out on Google and on the Medline database of
medical journal literature at
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi