Cannabis and Women’s Health — Fact vs. Myth
While many people use cannabis to help relieve a variety of symptoms, some consume the plant to help relieve pain. As more research is done on marijuana and its alleged benefits, many doctors are even recommending it to their patients.
Sameena Rahman, MD, a board-certified OB-GYN at the Center for Gynecology and Cosmetics in Chicago, for example, told Verywell Health that cannabis has helped some of her patients manage mood or sleep problems during menopause. She even recommends cannabis to patients who don’t want to take first-line treatments like hormonal therapy.
Due to the negative side effects that can come as a result from taking certain pharmaceutical drugs, there is a growing interest in holistic approaches to managing menstrual health, menopause, fertility and hormone-related mood disorders.
One topic gaining traction? The potential role of cannabis in women’s wellness.
Can Cannabis Ease Symptoms of PMS, PMDD and Menopause?
A recent study published in the journal Menopause found that many people use cannabis to manage menopause symptoms, such as sleep disturbance, anxiety, hot flashes and low sex drive.
Those who used cannabis appeared to experience a clear benefit, according to Staci Gruber, PhD, a co-author of the study and director of the Marijuana Investigations for Neuroscientific Discovery (MIND) program at McLean Hospital.
Dr. Brooke Worster, a clinician researcher and partner with Ethos Cannabis, is also seeing increasing anecdotal and preliminary clinical support for the use of cannabis in managing PMS, PMDD and menopause symptoms.
“THC can modulate mood through dopamine release and CB1 receptor activation in areas of the brain like the amygdala, which plays a role in stress and emotional regulation (Bloomfield, 2016),” she explains. “This may help with irritability and anxiety.”
CBD, on the other hand, may enhance serotonin signaling and provide calming, antidepressant-like effects (Blessing et al., 2015), according to Dr. Worster.
“Together, they can support mood stability, sleep and pain relief. For menopausal women, cannabis may also offer relief from hot flashes, low libido and bone health concerns due to CBD’s potential to stimulate bone formation (Kogan et al., 2015),” she continues.
Cannabis Impacting Fertility
Research on cannabis and fertility, particularly for women, is still in its early stages, according to Dr. Worster. More clinical trials need to be done.
“Current findings suggest that chronic cannabis use may impact ovulation and menstrual regularity, possibly due to its effects on hormone signaling,” she says. “For example, studies have associated cannabis with ovulatory dysfunction and irregular cycles, especially in those using cannabis frequently (Ryan et al., 2021). However, much of this data comes from retrospective surveys, and results can be confounded by factors like stress, lifestyle and co-existing medical conditions.”
Even though the data isn’t definitive, it’s still enough to warrant caution for those actively trying to conceive.
There are, however, many myths about cannabis and fertility that are being spread.
“One common myth is that cannabis either greatly impairs or has no effect at all on fertility,” Dr. Worster mentions. “In reality, it’s not that binary. There’s emerging evidence that cannabis may influence reproductive hormone levels, but there’s no conclusive proof that it causes infertility across the board.”
Another misconception is that cannabis is a safer, more “natural” alternative to hormonal birth control, according to Dr. Worster. Again, no scientific backing supports this claim, and relying on cannabis for birth control is misguided and potentially risky.
“Clear, evidence-based communication is critical to debunking these myths,” she says.
Continuing Human-Based Studies in Women’s Cannabis Health
The reality is that more research needs to be done to truly understand the impact of cannabis on women’s health. And human studies are key to moving from anecdote to evidence.
“Right now, most of what we know about cannabis and women’s health comes from animal models or male-dominated studies,” says Dr. Worster. “We need trials that examine how different cannabinoids, doses and delivery methods affect women’s reproductive hormones, mental health and symptom management.”
And Dr. Worster believes we are standing at the beginning of a major shift.
“Over the next decade, I expect to see a wave of targeted cannabis research focused specifically on women’s health needs,” she says. “We’ll likely see the development of cannabinoid-based therapies for conditions like endometriosis, PMDD and menopause, as well as more integrative care models combining cannabis with conventional treatments.”
And perhaps, most importantly, we’ll see the sigma dissolve, replacing silence and speculation with clinical insight, compassionate care and data-driven solutions.
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