Many people responded recently to my post from 2018 on Cannabis for Burning Mouth Syndrome. They all had the same question I had back then, and that I still have today! Could it possibly help with the chronic pain of BMS the way it seems to help other chronic pain?

I wondered if there was anything new on the subject in four years and the answer was, as usual, not a lot. One small study was done on seventeen patients, and you can read it here. It is also posted on the Burning Mouth Support Website under “Research and Studies.”

As you can see when you read the abstract, they are guardedly positive about the effects of cannabis on BMS pain but acknowledge that the study is too small and that placebo controls were lacking.

“In this pilot evaluation, the C. Sativa oil provided was effective and well tolerated in patients with primary BMS. Further bigger and properly defined randomized controlled trials, with different therapeutic approaches or placebo control, are needed, however.”

I was intrigued, as were many of you. Some readers are even investigating ways to get cannabis whether it is legal or not where they live. I had the very same temptation and considered a “cannabis vacay” to give it a try, but it just isn’t that simple. This article outlined some of the pros and cons of treating chronic pain with medical marijuana and gives a good explanation of why we don’t know more about it. “Does Medical Marijuana Work for Pain – Fact vs Fiction.”

When I started researching what therapeutic doses and protocols would be recommended for chronic pain, it became clear to me that to do it safely and with the best possible outcome, just dropping into New Mexico for some adulterated brownies was probably not going to be the answer.

With even more research, I found an article that seemed to give more direction on the various ways that cannabis is used to treat chronic pain. I could not find anything that called out BMS specifically, but these guidelines might at least give me an idea of options to use if I decided to pursue it.

From the Journal of Cannabis Research. Note that there are three separate treatment plans that were agreed on, but again, I would always check with my Neurologist before undertaking any of them. I have an appointment with him at the end of the month and will discuss both the study and the consensus recommendations with him with my case in mind. Medical Marijuana is hard to come by in Texas so that further complicates any kind of long-term treatment, but I will let you know so stay tuned…

Let all of us know here in the comments if you have any experience with this and whether it worked or works for you!

Take care out there.