Vertigo

Can medicinal weed help with symptoms of vertigo? Find out below.

What is Vertigo?

Vertigo is a sensation that everything around you is spinning in circles. It can make you feel dizzy and off-balance. Though vertigo isn’t qualified as a disease, it’s typically a symptom of other medical conditions.

What are the symptoms?

Vertigo can occur along with other symptoms, including:

• Nausea and vomiting
• Balance issues
• Tinnitus
• Headaches and Migraines
• Motion sickness
• Ear fullness
• Nystagmus

Are there different types?

There are two primary types of vertigo:

• Peripheral vertigo: Caused by inner ear issues
• Central vertigo: Caused by a brain infection, brain tumors, traumatic brain injury, or stroke.

Who does vertigo affect?

Vertigo can occur at any age but is more common in people over 65. Women are more likely to experience vertigo than men due to pregnancy. Approximately forty percent of Americans experience vertigo at least once during their lives.

Diagnosis & Treatments

Your doctor will provide a physical examination and ask about current and past symptoms. They may recommend tests to confirm your diagnosis.

The tests may include the following:

• Fukuda-Unterberger’s test
• Romberg’s test
• Head impulse test
• Vestibular tests

The doctor may also want to perform the following:

• CT (computed tomography) scans
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Vertigo treatment methods depend on various factors, including the root cause. Some vertigo treatments include:

• Medication: Treating the underlying cause of vertigo can help relieve symptoms. 
• Vestibular rehabilitation: Vertigo resulting from an inner ear problem; this physical therapy may help reduce your symptoms. 
• Canalith repositioning procedure (CRP): With BPPV, repositioning maneuvers help move calcium deposits into an inner ear chamber.
• Surgery: When vertigo is due to a brain tumor or neck injury, surgery may be required. 

Terpenes for headache relief

Although typically placed into Indica, Sativa, or Hybrid categories, we now understand that those classifications have little to do with a medical cannabis strain’s psychoactive properties. THC, CBD, and other minor cannabinoids play an essential role, but terpenes also work behind the scenes to help provide a particular strain’s effects.

So far, there has been limited research into terpenes and their relation to migraine headaches and the human endocannabinoid system because recreational cannabis is federally illegal. But one cannabis science study found that the terpenes, myrcene, and caryophyllene, have medicinal benefits that can ease migraine attacks and potentially reduce migraine frequency. Discussing medical cannabis use with a trusted healthcare provider could help if you’ve exhausted other prescription medication options.

Can medical marijuana help?

How medical marijuana can help with vertigo symptoms depends significantly on the symptoms that the patient is experiencing. Medicinal weed has been known to help with nausea, motion sickness, inflammation, dizziness, and anxiety. 

Medical marijuana has been shown to help patients with epilepsy relieve and control the symptoms accompanying this brain condition. Cannabidiol CBD is commonly used for various therapeutic benefits, from digestive aids to helping calm mental disorder symptoms. CBD’s benefits have been shown to have positive effects in regulating seizures. The FDA has approved CBD as a prescription-strength (Epidiolex) medication used for certain forms of epilepsy. 

The FDA approved a prescription-strength dose of CBD for severe epilepsy, Epidiolex oral solution, from G.W. Pharmaceuticals. Preclinical evidence proves that CBD oil can treat symptoms like dizziness and nausea and reduce seizures by activating the CB1 receptors. More research is currently being done on CBD oil for conditions like dravet syndrome, Lennox gastaut syndrome, and others. While there is no specific research about MMJ and vertigo, these results are promising. 

Research into cannabis as an effective treatment for motion sickness is in its early stages, and further research is needed. However, The Journal of Pain published a 2019 study claiming that the severity of headache disorders and migraines was reduced by around 50 percent when individuals participated in medicinal cannabis use.

Another medically reviewed study in Pharmacotherapy found that 40 percent of people who began medical use of cannabis as a migraine treatment experienced a significant decrease in the frequency of migraine attacks. Anecdotal evidence published in a study by Neurology reported that 42 percent of surveyed patients saw a decrease in their migraine headache frequency.

Vertigo can cause anxiety. Research has shown CBD to affect different forms of anxiety disorders positively. It has been shown to reduce stress. CBD benefits general anxiety disorder and other severe anxiety conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and social anxiety disorder.

Medical marijuana is commonly found to possess significant anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, which can help with chronic pain management and nausea reasonably quickly. Cannabinoid receptors within a cannabis Sativa plant bind to the brain and peripheral nerve cells and help regulate how you see and feel the pain to reduce symptoms like nausea, vomiting, and severe pain.

Many weed users have expressed that delta-9 THC products have helped improve sleep quality, treat body aches, improve appetite, decrease physical discomfort, etc. Delta 9 is commonly used for its potential medical benefits, reducing symptoms of anxiety and PTSD and helping people combat symptoms of glaucoma, seizures, and other chronic conditions.