For the study, researchers looked at the records of 368 people who had chronic migraines for at least a year.
Washington: A recent study suggested that people using cannabis for migraine relief may develop rebound headaches, similar to the overuse headaches experienced by people who use too much migraine medication.
The preliminary study was published on March 1 and will be presented at the 73rd annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology to be held virtually April 17-22, 2021.
“Many people with chronic migraine already self-medicate with cannabis, and there is some evidence that cannabis can help treat other types of chronic pain,” said study author Niushen Zhang, MD , from Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California.
“However, we found that people who used cannabis were significantly more likely to also have headaches from overuse of medication or rebound headaches, compared to people who did not. Zhang added.
For the study, researchers looked at the records of 368 people who had chronic migraines for at least a year. Chronic migraine is defined as 15 or more headache days per month.
A total of 150 people used cannabis and 218 did not. Of the 368 people, 212 suffered from headaches due to overuse of medication and 156 did not. Researchers found that people who used cannabis were six times more likely to experience headaches from overuse of drugs than those who did not.