Cannabis use in myotonic dystrophy patients in Germany and USA: a pilot survey

Journal of Neurology
pp 1–3 | Cite as
Cannabis use in myotonic dystrophy patients in Germany and USA: a pilot survey

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• Federica MontagneseMolly WhiteAnke KleinKristina StahlStephan WenningerBenedikt Schoser

Letter to the Editors
First Online: 15 December 2018
Dear Sirs,
Myotonic dystrophies (DMs) represent the most common form of muscular dystrophies in adulthood. Both forms are characterized by a heterogeneous combination of muscular and multi-systemic symptoms, including weakness, myalgia, myotonia, early cataract, cognitive impairment and diabetes [1]. There is no causal therapy for these conditions and even the symptomatic treatment of some of the most disabling muscular symptoms, myalgia and myotonia, with several analgesics and anti-myotonic drugs is often unsatisfactory [2, 3, 4].
Studies on the use of both medical and non-medical cannabis/cannabinoids have shown some efficacy on chronic pain and spasticity [5]. However, the indication “chronic pain” is wide and pathophysiologically not well defined including different forms of pain (e.g. neuropathic pain, cancer-associated pain, headache, fibromyalgia, etc) which respond differently to cannabis use.
The pathophysiology of myalgia in DMs is still unclear and the potential therapeutic…
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Notes
Acknowledgements
We like to thank all members of the Myotonic Dystrophies Foundation MDF, San Francisco, USA, and Diagnosegruppe Myotone Dystrophien, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Muskelkranke, Freiburg Germany for all the enthusiasm and ongoing support for our project, and Nexien Biopharma, Inc. for their support of cannabinoid-based, FDA compliant, solutions to help alleviate the symptoms of DM.
Funding
There was no funding for this survey.
Compliance with ethical standards
Conflicts of interest
FM, MW, AK, KS, SW have no conflicts of interest. BS is a scientific advisor of Nexien BioPharma, Inc.
Ethical standard
This study followed the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki. As this survey was a patient organization (MW, AK) driven survey, done anonymously and blinded, no formal IRB approval was submitted.
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© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018
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Cite this article as:
Montagnese, F., White, M., Klein, A. et al. J Neurol (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-018-9159-2

• Received 20 October 2018
  Revised 08 December 2018
  Accepted 12 December 2018
  First Online 15 December 2018
  DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-018-9159-2
  Publisher Name Springer Berlin Heidelberg
  Print ISSN 0340-5354
  Online ISSN 1432-1459

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