More Women Using Marijuana Products to Help With Menopause

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 22, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Sleeplessness. Night sweats. Anxiety. Irritability. Aches and pains.

Would smoking a little pot help women deal with these common symptoms of menopause?

A good number of middle-aged women apparently think so, because they've been turning to marijuana to help handle the change of life, a new study reports.

"Midlife women within the menopause transition period of their life are using cannabis, and they're using it for symptoms that tend to overlap with menopause," said lead researcher Katherine Babyn, a graduate student at the University of Alberta in Canada.

There's just one drawback -- little to no research has proven that pot can effectively treat menopause-related symptoms, said Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director of the North American Menopause Society (NAMS).

"This hasn't been studied formally in women going through menopause, and so we don't know what the potential benefits or risks are," Faubion said. "That's the danger here, is we're using a drug that has not been studied."