People with chronic migraines who use marijuana products are much more likely to suffer from “rebound headaches” than those who do not use drugs, suggests a preliminary study.
However, although a link has been discovered, it is still unclear whether cannabis directly triggers repercussion headaches, the study’s authors told Live Science. The study also did not specify which types of cannabis products patients used, so it is not known whether certain products show a greater correlation with rebound headaches than others.
A rebound headache, also known as medication overuse headache (MOH), occurs when a person who already has a headache disorder, such as chronic migraine, or develops a new type of headache or the existing headaches worsen significantly over time because they are taking headache medications very often, according to the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD 3).
A formal diagnosis of rebound headache means that a person has regularly used one or more medications in excess to treat their headaches for more than three months. This usually means taking pain relieving or anti-migraine medications more than two or three days a week, according to Harvard Health. In addition, a diagnosed person will have headaches 15 or more days a month. Rebound headaches usually go away if patients stop overusing medications.
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These headaches affect about 1% to 3% of people in the general population and almost a third of patients who seek treatment for headaches in specialized clinics, such as the Stanford Headache Center, study author Dr. Niushen Zhang, professor clinical assistant and director of the Stanford University School of Medicine Headache Scholarship Program, told Live Science by email.
Now, in their new study, Zhang and colleagues have found that people with chronic migraines appear six times more likely to have rebound headaches if they use cannabis, compared to migraine patients who do not use the drug. The scientists will present the groundbreaking research at the American Academy of Neurology’s 73rd Annual Meeting, to be held virtually in April.
“This study shows that there is some kind of association between cannabis use and headache from overuse of medications in people with chronic migraine,” said Zhang.
However, the research is still in its early days, and “it is unclear at this point whether patients are using cannabis to treat headaches from overuse of drugs or whether cannabis is contributing to development [of] headache from overuse of drugs, or both, “said Zhang. Future studies will be needed to determine whether cannabis contributes to rebound headaches and, if so, what that means for those with chronic migraines. , she said.
For now, “it is too early to provide clinical recommendations based on current findings,” added Zhang.
Zhang and her colleagues launched their study after realizing that several of their patients with chronic migraines and MOH also used marijuana products, she said. As there is very little research on cannabis use and these headache disorders, the team decided to explore the association further.
“Our study is the first of its kind to assess the risk of headache from overuse of medications in patients with chronic migraine who use cannabis,” said Zhang.
The team extracted data from the Stanford Research Repository Cohort Discovery Tool, collecting information on patients with chronic migraine treated between 2015 and 2019. They included 368 adults who had experienced chronic migraine for at least one year; 150 reported using cannabis products and 218 did not use any.
Then, the team evaluated which patients had been diagnosed with MS, taking into account other variables, such as the frequency with which they had migraines, how long they used cannabis, when they were diagnosed with MS and what other drugs they took for headaches.
They found that 212 patients had MOH, and that patients who reported cannabis use were much more likely to be diagnosed with the disorder. There was also a significant link between cannabis use, opioid use and rebound headaches, they found out. “Some of the patients in the study who were using cannabis were also taking, or had a history of, opioid use,” said Zhang.
Again, future studies will need to investigate whether and how these drugs increase the risk of rebound headaches, as well as what happens when people take them simultaneously.
THE cannabinoids in cannabis products they bind to receptors in the body that regulate pain perception, and there is evidence that cannabis products can help relieve certain types of chronic pain, Live Science previously reported. That said, since this new study reveals a potential link between drugs and rebound headaches, more research will be needed to see if cannabis causes worse headaches in migraine patients, said Zhang.
Again, for now, it is too early to say for sure.
Originally published on Live Science.