A recent question on the MS News Today Facebook page generated some buzz about getting a buzz on to treat your multiple sclerosis (MS). The question was, “What helps you the most to manage your daily life with MS?” Many people with MS said the thing that helped them most was using cannabis.
A survey in 2020 reported that nearly half of people with MS in the U.S. said they used marijuana to ease pain or to help them sleep. But when I’ve tried edible marijuana products, such as gummies, while I felt high, I’m not sure they helped my pain very much. I also tried CBD oil, rubbing it on my legs and adding drops under my tongue, but it didn’t have much effect. A few folks on the Facebook page also said they received little or no benefit from any form of marijuana.
Is cannabis as good as people believe it is?
I mention all of this because a recent review of research comparing cannabis with a placebo casts some doubt on its effectiveness. The review, published in November in JAMA Network Open, looked at 20 studies of 1,459 people with illnesses that included MS. All were given either a cannabinoid (THC or CBD) or a placebo to reduce their pain. Surprisingly, there was no statistically significant difference reported between the cannabid and the placebo.
“Factors such as patients’ expectations of relief are likely to play a role in the analgesic effects associated with cannabis-based treatments,” lead author Karin Jensen said in an email to CNN. Another pain researcher agrees: “I think we set up patients to expect a certain kind of outcome,” experimental psychologist Harriet de Wit, who studies the placebo effect at the University of Chicago, told CNN.
Is it a placebo effect?
Similar to the 2020 report, a study last year noted that more than half of Canadians with MS used marijuana to help manage their symptoms. According to the study, which was published in Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders, more than 80% of those people said marijuana was effective for managing spasticity, pain, sleep problems, bad moods, and stress. More than 50% reported that it can help with anxiety, fatigue, and headaches. Can such a large number of people all be feeling a placebo effect?
My wife buys cannabis gummies online for her chronic pain. Although I have concerns about the quality of marijuana products that can be bought online or at a store like Bed, Bath & Beyond — yes, they sell CBD along with bath towels — she says it helps her.
Would it matter if her relief were simply a placebo effect because she believes the gummies relieve her pain? I think not.
(A version of this post first appeared on the MS News Today website.)
(Featured image by Elsa Olofsson from Pixabay)
