Bendy Bodies, Real-World Results: Medicinal Cannabis Treatment in hEDS/HSD

Authors

Lucy Stafford

Published

November 19, 2025

From joint instability to unrelenting fatigue, nausea, widespread pain, brain fog and insomnia, living with a condition that affects every part of the body – the connective tissue – can be profoundly debilitating. Yet because these symptoms are often invisible, diagnosis is often delayed and support is limited. It’s no wonder so many patients turn to medicinal cannabis in search of relief from hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) and hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD).

Experiencing life-changing effects from medicinal cannabis first-hand made it clear to me that we urgently needed more data and insight into this treatment. That’s why I’m grateful to have collaborated with Drug Science to publish this analysis of health outcomes for hEDS/HSD patients using cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs). But despite this progress, there is a long way to go before equitable access to effective treatment becomes a reality.

Our analysis showed that patients with hEDS/ HSD had extremely poor health when enrolling in the study. They required multiple pharmaceutical medications and reported intense chronic pain, sleep disruption, and severely reduced quality of life. After three months of medicinal cannabis treatment, however, patients reported significant improvements in sleep quality, depressive symptoms, and pain intensity. Remarkably, we also observed a trend towards reduced opioid requirements. Given that people with hEDS/HSD are at higher risk of the negative health outcomes associated with long-term opioid use, research into safer alternatives for pain management is desperately needed. Importantly, CBMPs were well-tolerated in our sample, with predominantely mild adverse events reported by 5% of participants.

But how could medicinal cannabis benefit a condition with such wide-ranging symptoms? Clinicians and researchers suggest this may relate to the endocannabinoid system - a network of receptors found throughout the body and brain. These receptors help regulate processes such as pain, mood, immunity and inflammation. Dysregulation of these processes is common in chronic pain conditions, making the endocannabinoid system a compelling target for future research.

A key aspect of accessing medicinal cannabis is the personalisation of treatment under clinical supervision. CBMPs come in different formulations including oils and vaporised flower with varying levels of cannabinoids such as THC and CBD. As shown in our study, patients are typically prescribed 1 to 2 products and slowly increase the dosage based on their response. Access to a range of regulated, quality-controlled products through pharmacies is essential, both for reducing harms associated with illicit alternatives and for supporting safe, effective treatment.

Yet seven years on since medicinal cannabis was made legal in the United Kingdom, treatment remains only accessible via private healthcare clinics. For many patients, these clinics are a lifeline, but only if they can afford the ongoing treatment costs. Recent reports suggest that individuals may pay several hundred pounds per month for treatment. In the context of a cost-of-living crisis, and given that many people with hEDS/HSD have limited work capacity or rely on disability benefits, this places treatment inevitably out-of-reach for many.

As a disabled student, paying approximately £300 per month for prescriptions would be impossible without family support. I am grateful that medicinal cannabis has given me the capacity to contribute to urgently needed research, but what we need is systemic change. We need greater clinical education on safe prescribing within the NHS, destigmatisation of these medicines across society, and legislative reform that reflects modern evidence rather than outdated stigma. Most importantly, we need public research funding to address the huge evidence gap left by nearly a century of prohibition.

Our recent publication validates what patients have been saying for years: medicinal cannabis can make life with hEDS/HSD more bearable and more manageable. It is not a cure, nor a magic bullet, but it may offer meaningful relief from some of the most disabling symptoms. The role of cannabinoids in supporting people with complex, chronic conditions deserve far more attention and investment than it currently receives.

To access the full publication from the Drug Science Policy and Law journal, please see below:

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