By George Mathias via SWNS
A mom vapes up to £350 (over $450) a month of prescribed cannabis vape to help ease 30 years of crippling migraines.
Toria Lyttle, 43, had no idea that her debilitating headaches – which she had suffered from since age nine – were caused by a benign tumor.
But the diagnosis three years ago didn’t bring an end to her crippling headaches which left her only able to sleep for two hours a night.
Her GP encouraged her to try cannabis – and now she gets a monthly prescription of 30g of THC-containing cannabis ranging from £240 to £350 per month from an online clinic.
Toria now vapes in two to four doses each day, depending on the severity of her symptoms.
She usually uses the vape at home in the morning and at night but if she has a flare-up or a migraine attack then may increase it to two further daily doses.
The mom-of-one says she can finally sleep through the night and her pain has been reduced.
“It allows me to do my regular daily activity – but it hasn’t taken the pain away entirely.”
While CBD-only products are legal and readily available in the UK – products containing THC are illegal unless prescribed via the NHS or private clinics.
Very few people are prescribed medical cannabis on the NHS in the UK – so she had to go private but now has a monthly prescription.
Toria, an office manager, from Newtownards, County Down, Northern Ireland, said: “I’ve lived with these awful migraines my whole life, but no one could ever tell me why I suffered with them.
“It was only three years ago when I received a brain tumour diagnosis, that the doctors could shed some light on it.
“Before this, I couldn’t sleep through the worst of my migraines, which meant I couldn’t perform at work or in my role as a mother.
“Medicinal cannabis has allowed me to live again.
“It has lightened my world because I don’t feel terrified about the next migraine anymore and it’s much fairer for the people around me, too, because my temper is so much better.”
Doctors believe Toria experiences migraines when the tumor becomes inflamed.
As well as chronic migraines, Toria has chronic pain due to fibromyalgia – a long-term condition that causes pain all over the body, IBS, and severe insomnia.
Toria said: “I’m really not a negative person, but the pain and lack of sleep because of my migraines just really affected my mood.
“If I was lucky, I was surviving on two hours of sleep a night, and that does things to a person’s temper and general mood.”
Over the years, Toria has been prescribed so many different painkillers she says she has developed a “phobia” of prescription drugs.
“I was afraid to take anything in case it made me sick,” she said.
“They were prescribing me everyday painkillers, and they’d make me feel absolutely terrible.
“They either didn’t do anything to help with my migraines or would make me feel ill.”
Having tried almost everything to relieve her symptoms to no avail in September 2023 Toria went to speak to her GP about trying medical cannabis.
Toria said: “I was shaking and crying, I was petrified of going into the room that day.
“But the doctor was fabulous, she said if you think it could help you, try it, because nothing else is working.”
Toria then had an initial consultation with the private medical cannabis clinic, Alternaleaf.
After speaking with their specialist doctors, she was prescribed 30g of medicinal cannabis a month, which she inhaled through a dry herb vaporizer.
Toria says the treatment has enabled her to live again and has significantly improved her migraines, which means she can sleep and she will stop taking antidepressants.
According to the Migraine Trust, approximately 10 million people in the UK experience migraines, and it is estimated that the NHS spends £150 million per year on treating them.
Around 43 million days are lost each year from education and work due to migraines, costing the UK economy an estimated £9.2 billion.
Dr. Gerard Sinovich, lead pain consultant at Alternaleaf said: “Unlike traditional painkillers and medication that is typically prescribed for migraines, which can have some severe side effects, medical cannabis targets the underlying causes of migraines rather than just masking the pain.”
Medical cannabis has been legal in the UK since 2018, though very few patients have been prescribed it on the NHS.
Toria said: “I’m so thankful for this treatment – it is the only thing that has enabled me to live again.”
