Endometriosis sufferers finding relief in medical cannabis

Soaring numbers of women with endometriosis are turning to medical cannabis to ease the pain of the debilitating condition.

Queensland women are suffering from endometriosis at a higher rate than the national average and soaring numbers are turning to medical cannabis to ease the pain of the debilitating condition.

Cannabis treatment clinics are reporting a thirtyfold increase in demand for medical cannabis prescriptions in the last 12 months.

In just three months Cann I Help, a network that partners with GPs and specialists to provide chronic pain sufferers a medicinal plant-based alternative to traditional pharmaceuticals, has quadrupled the number of endometriosis patients treated for pain management.

“The results we’ve been having are quite encouraging. A lot of our patients have gone through multiple treatments already, they’ve tried pain killers, hormonal treatments, and a lot have even tried surgery which simply hasn’t worked,” Cann I Help head of medical Laurence Kemp said. “We know that more studies into plant-based treatment for endometriosis are urgently needed but we have certainly seen some good results with the treatments we’ve given. We know the CBD part of cannabis helps relieve inflammation and obviously endometriosis is predominantly an inflammatory condition caused by the individual tissue being in the wrong places.”

Cannabis interacts with the nervous system to alter the way pain signals are transmitted.

“Certainly cannabis, THC specifically, can be helpful in reducing the attention we pay to pain and the emotional response as well. Essentially, it helps people live a much more normal life,” Dr Kemp said.

Claire Riddell, 23, said treating her pain with cannabis was a turning point in caring for her body. Ms Riddell, who has stage four endometriosis, said she was prescribed with CBD oil and THC oil after seeing a nurse with Cann I Help.

“It helps my pain and it has little to no side effects.” she said.

Ms Riddell said before the treatment she was unable to eat food without being sick.

“It has allowed me to eat without crippling pain, because of that it’s also helped me be generally upbeat,” she said.

Professor Gita Mishra has been tracking the impact of endometriosis on women in Australia. The director of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health at the University of Queensland found higher rates of endometriosis in Queensland women.

“We found that 17 per cent (or around one in six) women in Queensland have been diagnosed with endometriosis by the time they are in their mid-forties (aged 40-44), compared to 11 per cent with the rest of Australia,” Prof Mishra said.

The condition is estimated to cost the Australian economy $6bn a year.