More than half the states in the U.S. have made medical marijuana legal. But among the approved conditions and common knowledge that cannabis helps menopause symptoms, don’t expect to find any state listing menopause as an approved condition.

But maybe they should. Many women have discovered that cannabis helps menopause symptoms, especially in managing pain, mood swings and the inability to sleep.

Cannabis Helps Menopause Symptoms

While the research is scarce in this area, some women have said that cannabis can prove beneficial when dealing with the changes women experience when they go through menopause.

Those changes include:

• Mood changes
• Hot flashes
• Trouble sleeping
• Aches, pains and discomfort

Why Alternatives Are Needed

Menopause marks the end of menstrual cycles for women. It’s brought on by less production within their bodies of the hormones needed to increase fertility. In many cases, doctors will prescribe hormone replacement therapy.

However, a study at the beginning of the century from the Women’s Health Initiative found that hormone replacement therapy could increase women’s chances for heart disease, breast cancer, strokes and blood clots. Since that study, many women have refused to do hormone replacement therapy, according to National Public Radio.

A more recent study found that the therapy is not as dangerous for younger women, but still carries risks.

Dr. JoAnn Manson, a professor with the Harvard School of Medicine and a lead investigator on the study, told NPR that “the pendulum has swung so widely, from “hormone therapy is good for all women” to “it’s bad for all women” to now somewhere in between.

“This really does seem to be the appropriate place for the pendulum to come to rest.”

What Can Cannabis Do?

Whoopi Goldberg, through her company Whoopi & Maya, already offers marijuana-infused products that help women deal with the discomfort and pain that sometimes can accompany menstruation.

When it comes to menopause, marijuana-infused products could have the same impact on some of the symptoms. While research is scarce in this area, cannabis certainly can help if women experience pain or trouble sleeping.

It can also help lower your body temperature, resulting in less severe hot flashes. It even could potentially help with mood swings by taking “the edge” off your day.

Given the federal law that makes marijuana illegal, it’s hard to produce scientific proof on marijuana and ways cannabis helps menopause symptoms because research in the U.S. is limited. However, for many women, the risks of trying medical marijuana could be less than those of hormone replacement therapy. That alone will lead many to ask their doctors about the potential of marijuana in managing menopause symptoms.