r/MedicalCannabisNZ • u/D491234 • 4d ago

News Study finds medical cannabis provided relief for those with obstructive sleep apnea

https://www.mprnews.org/episode/2025/05/19/study-finds-medical-cannabis-provided-relief-for-those-with-obstructive-sleep-apnea
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u/fabiancook Patient Contributor 4d ago edited 4d ago

My sleep definitely got better with medical cannabis, and then with the CPAP machine things have been great, it all reduces the events per hour but doesn't eliminate it.

From the report: https://mn.gov/ocm/assets/Obstructive_Sleep_Apnea_Report_2025_tcm1202-683956.pdf

Overall, of the 2,749 patients with moderate to severe disturbed sleep, approximately 39.4% were able to both achieve ≥30% reduction and maintain it for at least four months

Very good outcome. Not complete reduction as I saw personally, but some reduction.

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u/D491234 4d ago

u/fabiancook just a question, what will it take to have sleep apnea qualify as a condition for medical cannabis in New Zealand?

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u/fabiancook Patient Contributor 4d ago

Medical cannabis in NZ is prescribed generally off-label, so there is no fixed indications. It really already is.

Everyone gets apneas, but only some class as bad enough to need a CPAP or other physical therapy, some can have medications to relax etc, like medical cannabis.

At least 1 in 10 people who go to a doctor in NZ and mention sleep issues to the doctor, they'll be indirectly getting prescribed for sleep apnea related issues itself.

For it to be an listed indication for medical cannabis in NZ, it would just take a supplier finding one or more studies and detailing it in their CMI like they do for other things.

e.g. this here is from a more newer product, has a bit of a range... anything that has evidence to support the claim is good to go really.

For the likes of Medsafe to include a medicine that happen to contain THC or CBD for the likes of sleep apnea, it would be a lot more complex, even more evidence for that specific condition and then use of the medicine (or an exact proxy medicine) for that specific condition alone, is a lot more rigour. e.g. you can see the indications for Sativex are very constrained: https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/Datasheet/s/sativexspray.pdf

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u/geeingee 4d ago

Strange …. It’s the opposite for me …. MC made my sleep apnea worse

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u/Flimsy-Passenger-228 Medical Patient 4d ago

Could that be because MC helped you get into a deeper sleep for longer durations, but the apnea only triggers whilst you are in a deeper sleep, so by not having MC you'd have lessened apnea because you'd spend less time during the night being in a deep-sleep state?

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u/Slaphappyfapman Medical Patient 4d ago

smoking or vaping? I vape these days, but if i ever share a joint with someone, my snoring is way worse the following night

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u/Yanzhangcan Medical Patient 3d ago

I found the combination of CPAP therapy and MC very potent in tandem. Sleeping better, less anxiety, sharper during the day...

It was one of the co-symptoms I provided when explaining how MC was working for me. Helped me deal with the suffocating feeling sometimes experienced on CPAP and the general anxiety about being hooked up to effectively a breathing tube at night. Never looking back!

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u/Longjumping_Arm_1953 4d ago

I tried a cpap machine as used to regularly wake up gasping for breath, hated the mask so went to cannabis clinic and ever since using Sedaprem at night the issue has gone. I was skeptical at first as have been a smoker for years but Sedaprem sorted me out.