Gynecological conditions can be very painful. Just ask most women. There has been growing awareness on how cannabis may be the answer to treating several gynecological conditions including pain.
According to a study in the Journal of Women’s Health, many women would consider using the drug to treat these conditions. Women who self-medicate with cannabis do so to relieve chronic pelvic pain, menstrual cramps, and pain associated with gynecological cancer or medical procedures such as abortion.
Journal of Women’s Health is published monthly and is led by Editor-in-Chief Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women’s Health, Richmond, VA. The Journal covers the latest advances and clinical applications of new diagnostic procedures and therapeutic protocols for the prevention and management of women’s healthcare issues.
“A larger proportion of women who reported ever using cannabis were willing to use cannabis to treat conditions commonly seen in gynecological practices compared tonever-users (91.6% vs. 64.6%),” stated co-author Leo Han, MD, MPH, from Oregon Health & Science University.
“Coinciding with the increased perception of cannabis safety is the increased national recognition of the dangers of opioid pain medications,” says the authors of the study.
“In this study, a large proportion of those women who had never used cannabis were willing to try it to treat gynecological pain. Fewer, but still a substantial percentage, would use it for procedural pain or other gynecological conditions,” says Journal of Women’s Health Editor-in-Chief Susan G. Kornstein, MD. She is also the Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women’s Health, Richmond, VA.
