Last updated 16 August 2026 · Originally published 17 July 2019
Endometriosis affects roughly one in ten women of reproductive age, takes an average of several years to diagnose, and can cause pain severe enough to disrupt work, sleep and relationships. It’s also a condition where a lot of people have been told their pain is normal when it isn’t.
So it matters that this question gets a straight answer rather than a hopeful one.
What people with endometriosis actually report
This is the most consistent finding in the evidence — though it all comes from observational studies, which can’t establish that cannabis caused the improvement.
A scoping systematic review identified nine completed observational studies involving 1,787 people with endometriosis. Among those using cannabis, pain was the most common reason — reported by between 57% and 96%, depending on the study — followed by sleep and gastrointestinal symptoms.[1]
In one survey of 912 German-speaking women, those using cannabis rated it the most effective self-management strategy they had tried, at 7.6 out of 10, ahead of heat, rest, exercise and everything else asked about.[2]
The medication figures are the most striking part. In an Australian and New Zealand survey, users reported reductions of more than half in non-opioid painkillers (63%), opioids (66%) and antineuropathic drugs (62%).[3] Those are self-reported and not checked against prescription records — but they’re consistent across studies.
An analysis of more than 16,000 logged sessions found that inhaled cannabis was rated better for pain, while oral forms did better for mood and gut symptoms.[4] The pattern is interesting, though it comes from users’ own ratings rather than a controlled comparison.
What the first trial found
The first randomised controlled trial has now reported, and for pain the result was negative.
Researchers enrolled 102 women with recurrent pain after surgery for endometriosis. Half received a CBD-enriched oil, half a placebo, alongside their existing hormonal treatment. The dose rose gradually to 150 mg a day.[5]
Pain improved in both groups — around 40% achieved at least a 50% reduction — but CBD was no better than placebo. The trial was stopped at a planned interim analysis because there was no meaningful difference in its main outcomes, and mild adverse effects were more common in the CBD group.
That’s important, and it doesn’t answer the whole question. Most women in the surveys were using products containing THC; this trial tested a CBD-rich oil. Other trials are under way, including a high-CBD full-spectrum study in the US and the 100-person ENDOCAN-1 trial in the UK.
Why researchers keep looking
The biology is more interesting here than in most CBD topics.
CB1 receptors have been found on the nerves supplying endometriotic growths, and activating them reduced pain sensitivity in an animal model.[6] There’s also evidence the endocannabinoid system may itself be disrupted in endometriosis.
The animal work goes further than pain, too. A 2022 study found daily oral CBD reduced the size of endometriotic lesions in rats, alongside reductions in inflammatory markers and oxidative stress.[7] If that translated to people it would be a different order of claim — affecting the disease rather than only the symptoms. It’s rats, and it hasn’t been shown in humans.
CBD or cannabis?
Worth separating, because the survey data mostly isn’t about CBD.
Where products were specified, most women were using cannabis containing THC. So if you take a CBD-only product and don’t get what the surveys describe, that may be why.
There’s a plausible reason THC would matter here. Endometriosis pain is partly neuropathic, and that’s where cannabis medicines have their best evidence generally — our guide to CBD for pain goes through it. A UK registry case series following endometriosis patients prescribed cannabis-based medicines reported improvements in pain and quality of life, though without a control group.[9]
Where that leaves you depends on what’s legally available. If THC-containing medical cannabis is an option, it’s closer to what most survey participants were using. If CBD is all you can legally access, keep expectations modest.
It isn’t a substitute for treatment
Endometriosis is a disease, not a symptom. It can form adhesions and is associated with fertility problems, though its course differs considerably between people.
Established treatments include hormonal therapy and surgery; which is appropriate depends on your symptoms and fertility goals. No human evidence shows that CBD slows the disease, shrinks lesions or protects fertility.
So this belongs alongside proper care. If you’re managing severe period pain with a supplement and haven’t been assessed by a gynaecologist, that assessment is the more useful thing — particularly given how long diagnosis typically takes. The surveys reflect this too: the women reporting benefit are largely using cannabis as well as medical treatment.
If you want to try it
Tell your gynaecologist. Not for permission — so your care is based on what you’re actually doing.
Check interactions if you’re on hormonal treatment or other medication.
Expect side effects. CBD can cause gastrointestinal symptoms and interact with medicines. THC can impair memory and coordination, worsen anxiety and lead to dependence — don’t drive after taking it. Cannabis isn’t recommended during pregnancy or breastfeeding, and anyone trying to conceive should discuss it with their doctor.
Don’t reduce prescribed painkillers or other medicines without medical advice.
Judge it on the things that matter to you — whether you can sleep through the night, function more easily, and make a bad day less bad. Those are what the surveys are picking up.
Where this leaves it
People with endometriosis consistently report that cannabis helps their pain, sleep and quality of life, and many say it lets them reduce other medicines. Those reports deserve attention — but they mostly involve THC-containing cannabis, and they can’t prove cannabis caused the improvement.
CBD now has one direct controlled trial behind it, and it didn’t outperform placebo for pain. Other trials are under way, testing different formulations, so this isn’t the final word.
For now: cannabis may help some people manage symptoms, but nothing has been shown to treat the underlying disease. It belongs alongside proper endometriosis care, not instead of it.
None of this is medical advice. Severe period pain is worth taking to a doctor, and if you’ve been dismissed before, it’s worth going back.
For more, see our guides to CBD for pain and what the research actually shows, or browse Women’s Health.
References
- McLaren K, Erridge S, Sodergren M. A scoping systematic review of cannabis use in endometriosis. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 2026;66(1):e70081. doi:10.1111/ajo.70081
- Jasinski V, Voltolini Velho R, Sehouli J, Mechsner S. Cannabis use in endometriosis: the patients have their say — an online survey for German-speaking countries. Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics. 2024;310(5):2673–2680. doi:10.1007/s00404-024-07652-6
- Sinclair J, Toufaili Y, Gock S, et al. Cannabis use for endometriosis: clinical and legal challenges in Australia and New Zealand. Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research. 2022;7(4):464–472.
- Sinclair J, Collett L, Abbott J, Pate D, Sarris J, Armour M. Effects of cannabis ingestion on endometriosis-associated pelvic pain and related symptoms. PLoS One. 2021;16(10):e0258940.
- Anelli GB, Ratochinski R, Oliveira IGC, et al. Cannabidiol-enriched extract oil for postoperative management of chronic pelvic pain secondary to endometriosis: a randomized clinical trial — DREAMLAND study. Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research. 2026. doi:10.1177/25785125251413989
- Dmitrieva N, Nagabukuro H, Resuehr D, et al. Endocannabinoid involvement in endometriosis. Pain. 2010;151(3):703–710.
- Genovese T, Cordaro M, Siracusa R, et al. Molecular and biochemical mechanism of cannabidiol in the management of the inflammatory and oxidative processes associated with endometriosis. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2022;23(10):5556.
- Mistry M, Simpson P, Morris E, et al. Cannabidiol for the management of endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain. Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology. 2022;29(2):169–176.
- Getter S, et al. A longitudinal assessment of endometriosis patients prescribed cannabis-based medicinal products: a case series from the UK Medical Cannabis Registry. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 2026. doi:10.1111/ajo.70078
About this article
Substantially rewritten in August 2026. This update adds the patient surveys published since and the first randomised controlled trial, published in January 2026, and makes clear that CBD is not a substitute for treating the underlying condition. With earlier reporting by Lisa Rennie.
