Medical Cannabis for Parkinsons Disease - What We Know

Parkinsons disease is not only tremor. It is also muscle stiffness, pain, sleep problems, anxiety and low mood - symptoms that can be as wearing as the movement ones. Patients and their families ask whether medical cannabis can help here. The answer is cautious and honest.

Cannabis does not treat Parkinsons disease, but in some people it may ease certain burdensome symptoms - with an important safety caveat.

Most is said about its effect on non-motor symptoms: better sleep, less pain and tension, and reduced anxiety. Some patients also report subjectively less stiffness and calmer functioning in the evening.

If sleep is your main problem, see also our article medical cannabis for insomnia.

Tremor itself is harder - studies on the effect of cannabis on the motor symptoms of Parkinsons give inconsistent results. Some people do better, others see no change. That is why we do not promise cannabis will calm tremor - it is an individual matter.

In older people THC can increase dizziness, balance problems and temporarily affect cognition. In Parkinsons disease, where the risk of falls is already raised, that is a real danger.

That is why therapy is run especially carefully: from low doses, often CBD-dominant, under a doctor's supervision. We describe how the dose is set in our article on dosing.

Medical cannabis in Parkinsons is symptomatic support alongside neurological treatment, not instead of it. The doctor managing the cannabis takes other medicines and the patient's general condition into account. If you are considering this path, come to the consultation with your neurology records - more on qualification itself in our article how to get a prescription.