Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the issue of fibromyalgia. I would like to begin by acknowledging the seriousness of fibromyalgia and the personal challenges that people with this condition encounter in their daily lives. There are many symptoms of fibromyalgia. They tend to vary from person to person. The symptoms can come and go over a period of time. The main symptoms of fibromyalgia include pain, extreme sensitivity, stiffness, poor-quality sleep, cognitive problems, headaches, irritable bowel syndrome and depression-like symptoms.

I know from speaking to patients who suffer from illnesses, such as fibromyalgia and Lyme's disease, although I am not making a direct link between the two, they find it insulting when anti-depressants, psychology and psychiatry are mentioned, the implication being that it is all in their mind. People who experience the very real symptoms of these conditions deserve a little more than a prescription for anti-depressants.

I wish to read into the record an account of a friend of mine who suffers from fibromyalgia. It reads:

Fibromyalgia means that I cannot live the normal life of a 26 year old. I am in receipt of a disability allowance due to my condition worsening so much as to prevent me from completing my degree in college, maintaining a job and on bad days it prevents me from functioning daily tasks such as have a shower, brush and dry my hair, make meals and sometimes make a cup of tea as the tea cup falls from my grip due to nerve pain.

I have tested countless prescriptions such as opiates, anti-seizure medication, anti-depressants, benzodiazepines, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs etc. From a very young age my consultants recommended that I have steroid injections, epidurals, rehabilitation surgeries. I have had two surgeries in the space of six years for my pain, the first at the age of 16. These surgeries were both emergencies due to the severity of my pain.

I have also had two rounds of rehabilitation within four years. I am very aware of what these toxic medications are doing to my body which plays on my mind daily. Devastatingly, my options with pharmaceutical medications are rapidly running out as they are slowly becoming ineffective. My consultant has stated that I have only two options left with pharmaceutical drugs until my options run out. Hearing this is a huge shock, and even more so to a 26 year old who has her whole life ahead of her. It affects my mental health and causes severe anxiety and low moods for which I am also on medication since my diagnosis.

In regards to new treatments I am depending on medical cannabis to become available in Ireland for fibromyalgia sufferers due to my pharmaceutical drug options running out. I believe that if pain consultant specialists in Ireland were given necessary training and guidelines to treat and monitor, they would be capable to assess the effectiveness of medicinal cannabis treatment for chronic pain sufferers. The HBRA's reasons for not supporting the inclusion of chronic pain is that "chronic pain is common, and the potential use of cannabis-based medicines by a large number of patients, raises concerns about misuse and diversion into the wider community".

The very high prevalence of chronic pain in Ireland is all the more reason to make new treatments such as cannabinoids with proven efficiency and fewer side-effects available to patients as soon as possible. Also the concerns about misuse and diversion into the wider community, while understandable, are not unique to cannabinoids. They also apply to opiods which have been prescribed for pain for decades. It is a fact that cannabis has significantly less abuse potential than many opiates and significantly less risk of overdose.

My consultant wants to give me the opportunity to try medical cannabis treatment with THC, the pain reliever part of cannabis. CBD will not be enough for me. The Government needs to set up guidelines for me to treat and monitor his safety through blood tests etc. That way I will be using THC safely. The compassionate access programme is not one bit compassionate as it is very restrictive and costly for patients having to travel to get their prescription for THC in the Netherlands. I would not be able to afford it, let alone that my health would not allow me to travel so often. It would also add to my stress levels which will in turn cause more flair ups for me too.

It is time that we stopped commentating on this matter and make medicinal cannabis available. It is available in the UK, in Northern Ireland, the Netherlands and other countries. Why do we have to bring up the rear in terms of proper treatments?

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