Abstract

ASTRAIN-AGUADO, MÁ; GARCIA-RECIO, E; DE SANTIAGO-MORAGA, J  and  SANCHEZ-NICOLAS, M. Is medical cannabis useful for the treatment of fibromyalgia?. Rev. Soc. Esp. Dolor [online]. 2022, vol.29, suppl.1, pp.27-31.  Epub Nov 28, 2022. ISSN 1134-8046.  https://dx.doi.org/10.20986/resed.2022.4029/2022.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic disease of unknown etiology that severely conditions the quality of life of people who suffer from it. It is characterized by general musculoskeletal pain, excessive fatigue for the physical activity performed, poor sleep hygiene or emotional disturbances. It is a very prevalent pathology and can affect up to 2-3 % of the population, mostly middle-aged women. Diagnosis is clinical, based on physical examination and usually it is usually carried out late. According to the literature, there is a delay of approximately two years from diagnosis to the initiation of appropriate treatment. During this time, the consumption of resources derived by unnecessary testing or loss of working hours derivate from the fibromyalgia makes it a major health problem.

Conditioned by that unknown etiology, the available treatment for fibromyalgia is not curative. There are several treatments that have shown a beneficial effect on the evolution of the disease, such as patient education or psychotherapy, physical exercise and pharmacological treatment. Despite their variety, none of these treatments achieves a permanent and lasting improvement. This will lead to a constant search by these patients for alternative treatments that bring them new results.

Currently, medical cannabis is one of those possible new treatments that has a certain illusion or hope as an alternative to these patients. We will proceed to analyze the current situation of fibromyalgia disease, as well as a systematic review of the evidence existing to date between fibromyalgia and cannabinoids.

Keywords : Fibromyalgia; diagnosis; treatment; cannabinoids.

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