I don’t suffer migraines regularly, but when I do, I get a pain-free aura beforehand – like the calm before the storm – giving me the opportunity to combat the migraine before it takes hold. If neglected, after about 40-50 minutes the aura will disappear and then BAM! – full on migraine. My recent experience had me wondering if using cannabis for migraine would work.
In the past, as soon as I’d sense an aura, I’d take 2-3 extra-strength Tylenol right away (within 5 minutes). After 30 minutes or so the aura dissipates. I am pain-free though quite fatigued afterwards. As a person with minor, albeit ongoing liver problems, I strive to ingest as few pills as possible. Tylenol (acetaminophen) is known to be hard on the liver and Advil doesn’t agree with me. My options were limited.
Walking home the other day I had a migraine aura but was in no position to tend to it. By the time I got home, though I was still pain-free, the aura was 30 minutes old and quite pronounced. Knowing that cannabis was proving to be very effective as a (pre-)treatment for migraine, and with the understanding that a full-blown migraine would hit if it didn’t work for me, I set aside the Tylenol and took 4 vapes of dried cannabis. Then, I lay down and waited.
Within 20 minutes the aura disappeared. Added to the 30 minutes I’d had the aura before treatment, that’s 50 minutes from start-to-finish. Had the cannabis worked? Or was the storm back-building, getting ready to hit me with full force?
I am happy to report that the cannabis worked! I had no pain following the aura.
Low and behold, a few days later I had another aura. Again, I treated it with cannabis and again, the aura disappeared and I was pain free!
I used an Indica-dominant strain (Girl Scott Cookies from Canna Farms); THC 19.8% | CBD <.05%, with high levels of the terpenes Limonene and Caryophyllene.
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