It’s incredibly draining to live with mood swings that come and go in unpredictable circumstances. They can be very stressful for not only the individual experiencing the swings but also for those around them. Sometimes it’s hard to explain why one minute you’re feeling fine and the next totally irritable or even in tears. Many people have been experiencing these unpredictable mood swings for years and have found little relief from conventional treatment for mood related problems.
Until recently the topic of mood management using medical cannabis for mood swings has not received the same level of discussion within the health industry that other conditions receive. This is largely down to the UK regulatory position having changed a number of years ago in order for specialist doctors to be able to legally prescribe a number of cannabis-based medicines. This change in legislation has taken some time to permeate public consciousness.
What’s Actually Going On With Mood and the Endocannabinoid System
As well as regulating sleep, appetite, and stress response, the endocannabinoid system also influences mood. The way that cannabis-based treatments may help manage mood in people with certain conditions is due to the way in which the cannabinoids in them interact with the endocannabinoid system.
It’s not just a case of feeling good. Medical cannabis is very different from the type of cannabis that people might use for recreational purposes. People who use cannabis for medical purposes do so under the supervision of a doctor, and they use products that have been standardized. The dose of the active ingredients has been carefully considered and the whole thing is within a clinical setting, as it should be. It’s very different to the so-called ‘street’ purchase of cannabis that is often unknown in terms of content and effect.
As for the research regarding CBD and THC’s effects in relation to anxiety and mood, much of it is still quite nascent and therefore often treated with an abundance of caution. The scientists behind such work often fear being misleading and so describe only the facts of what they have found to date.
Those Eligible for Medical Cannabis
Medical cannabis is not available over the counter for the treatment of mood swings. They are a serious condition and as such would be considered by a specialist consultant in relation to the patient’s previous treatment, or failed treatment, for their symptoms.
Specialist cannabis based products are being considered for use in the treatment of a number of serious conditions which often involve a significant element of mood disruption. These include PTSD, anxiety disorders, chronic pain conditions and a number of serious neurological conditions. Often patients have already tried a number of different antidepressants and/or anxiolytics but have found that they do not provide sufficient relief from their symptoms, or they have found the side effects to be too difficult to tolerate.
The Realistic Picture: It’s Not a Magic Fix
It would be easy to tell tall tales of how cannabis can affect people with mood related problems but they all need to be taken with a pinch of salt. For some it can be life changing, for others only slightly better than the current treatments on the market, but for the majority it simply does not have any effect at all. In many of the mood related conditions already treated with medications (which often have a multitude of side effects), a whole host of other factors can affect how well a person is treated. As with all other treatments for mood related illnesses it is best monitored by a health care worker in the long term.
The misunderstanding in the public perception of the use of medicinal cannabis for mood related symptoms is that people often incorrectly believe that people will use this as a lone treatment for their illness and that they will immediately feel better after use. Often people using medicinal cannabis are also attending therapy, following a healthy lifestyle, and take other prescribed medicines as well as using medicinal cannabis.
A final thing to note about the costs of medical cannabis in the UK is that most medical cannabis prescriptions are not covered by NHS funds. For that reason, patients pay for them privately. In the case of single drugs like these, the monthly cost will vary from product to product, but can be many hundreds of pounds for some high-dose formulas. This can be a significant barrier to many people’s use of these medications.
It is still quite a new option and is now actually an option that has been made legal and can be prescribed by specialist clinicians and has therefore in itself become another potential treatment option that can be explored by those suffering with persistent mood changes that have not yet been eased by other more conventional treatments.
