WEBINAR: Women’s health and cannabis medicines | 01 Women in pain

Cannabis Health hosted the first in four-part series of expert webinars, exploring the role of medical cannabis in women’s health. 

In this episode we were joined by a panel of clinical experts and patients with lived-experience, to explore women’s pain and gynaecological symptoms, the struggles they have faced in their journey to get a diagnosis and how cannabis medicines have helped them find relief.

—

“I was told as a 24-year-old woman, to ‘have a family and then a hysterectomy’ or ‘we can just induce the menopause and put you on hormone replacement therapy’.

“I was 30-years-old when I had surgery and since I was 14 I had been told it was just my period.” – Abby Hughes, PLEA

“It takes years of women going to the GP for them to be listened to and for [doctors] to accept there is something wrong, they then need to be referred to a secondary care setting and it can take years for this to happen. By this time [the patient] will have been suffering for years which will affect them mentally as well as physically.” – Dr Sally Ghazalah, Integro Medical Clinics 

“A huge part of who I am is the fact that I’m a woman and I have a uterus. When something goes wrong you feel shameful about it, you’re made to feel as though it’s your fault. In terms of how cannabis has helped, I no longer have to use over-the-counter painkillers, I’m sleeping much better… I feel like myself again.” – Jessica* The Endomonologues 

“It’s usually when somebody is leaving the room with vulvodynia or vaginismus that they’ll say, ‘oh, by the way, it hurts every time I have sex’ and as sexual health clinicians, we know that that is our moment to talk to that patient and be clear in acknowledging that we believe them.”– Sarah Higgins CNS, CPASS

—

Meet the panelists

Abby Hughes – Abby is an endometriosis patient who uses medical cannabis to help with gynaecological pain as well as her ADHD & autism. She is chair and outreach director of PLEA (Patient-Led Engagement for Access), as well as patient access consultant for Drug Science’s Project Twenty21, and co-founder of PlantEd Collective.

Jessica – Jessica is a reproductive health advocate and author of blog and Instagram page The Endo Monologues, a satirical diary about her experience of living with endometriosis, adenomyosis, vaginismus and vulvodynia from the point of view of her uterus (called Patricia).

Dr Sally Ghazaleh – is a pain management Consultant at the Whittington Hospital, and the National Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery, London. She also prescribes cannabis-based medicines and is the women’s pain expert at Integro Medical Clinics.

Sarah Higgins CNS – Sarah is a clinical nurse specialist, with over 10 years’ experience working in the NHS. She is the women’s health lead at non-profit organisation Cannabis Patient Advocacy and Support Services (CPASS) Nurse’s Arm.

This webinar was hosted in association with Intrego Medical Clinics and Cannabis Patient Advocacy and Support Services (CPASS).

Our next episode will focus on cannabis and motherhood, follow @CannabisHNews on Twitter and @cannabishealthmag on Instagram for more details to be announced soon.