We’ve all been missing a trick. Move over crappy hot water bottles and shitty pain relief pills that do bugger all, there’s another way to treat your monthly cycle of pain and despair – getting high. And stateside, they’re way ahead of the game.
As different states in the US continue to legalise weed, some doctors are prescribing cannabis as a remedy for chronic PMS. And that makes a whole lotta sense. In California, the first US state to legalise the drug in 1994, ‘green’ doctors give it to patients who hold a ‘medical marijuana card’, which you can qualify for if you suffer from premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).
It’s a well known fact that weed helps with pain relief, but there are, apparently, other things it can help with too. Mood swings, for instance. THC (one of the active ingredients in cannabis) can help decrease anxiety, while marijuana as a whole helps with the other shitty stuff your body does to you – the cramps, the headaches, even depression.
The medicinal benefits of weed are still relatively understudied (presumably because it’s illegal in most countries) but a 2010 study published by the Canadian Medical Association Journal showed that patients with chronic pain smoked weed and not only did it relieve pain, it also improved sleep and – this is the bit we’re really interested in – improved their mood.
Bye bye angry irrational mood swings and restless cramp-plagued sleep.
And if that hasn’t persuaded you, a little history lesson. Back in the 11th century, women used to cope with swollen breasts by rubbing weed on their boobs (sounds like every stoner teenage boy’s dream).
And Queen Victoria supposedly used to enjoy the benefits of a little dooby every month when she had the curse. Well, maybe not a dooby, it was probably more like herbal tea, but either way… she couldn’t exactly hide out in her palatial chambers when she got PMS – she had a whole empire to be bossin’.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.