Warning to pot smokers as cases of strange syndrome double
The number of people going to the emergency room for a marijuana-related illness has doubled since 2017, according to new research.
The condition, called cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS), sends affected individuals to the hospital with a seemingly endless cycle of vomiting, nausea and abdominal pain that can last for a week and become life-threatening due to extreme dehydration, seizures and kidney failure.
At home, people can often find relief only in a warm shower or bath, but in the hospital, anti-nausea medications and IV fluids can help treat nausea, vomiting, and dehydration.
In June, a case study told the story of an anonymous 22-year-old Canadian woman who, after eight years of regular cannabis use, died from heart problems that her doctors attributed to CHS.
She had been to the doctor six times in the months before she died, with nausea and vomiting that lasted a week. At the time of her death, she was severely dehydrated and low in the nutrients that regulated the rhythm of her heart.
Dr. Maria Isabel Angulo, from the University of Illinois, published the reportsaying that CHS now affects an estimated 2.75 million Americans annually, and that the syndrome has increased most in men between the ages of 16 and 34.
She said two factors are contributing to this increase: Marijuana has become more potent and more widely available as legalization of the drug spreads across the US.
Approximately five percent of Americans who smoke marijuana are diagnosed with CHS each year
Over the past few decades, marijuana has become more potent as more THC, the active ingredient in the drug, is added to the plant as new generations are bred.
According to Yale School of MedicineIn 1995, the average THC content in cannabis was about four percent.
By 2017, the amount had more than quadrupled, making the average THC content in cannabis around 17 percent.
Today, the amount of THC in the product has increased by an average of 18 to 35 percent, according to National Geographic.
Dr. Deepak Cyril D’Souza, a psychiatrist at Yale University School of Medicine, said National Geographic: ‘The cannabis available now is much more potent than what was available thirty years ago.’
It does not appear that CHS is caused by marijuana laced with other substances. Instead, the most important factor seems to be how often people consume THC and how much THC they consume.
Dr.’s review Angulo is composed previous research from the University of Calgary Department of Medicine, who used surveys of CHS patients and hospital data from Alberta to estimate the number of people visiting emergency rooms with the condition in North America.
It’s hard to say for sure how many people use marijuana, but the National Center on Drug Abuse estimates the number at around 55 million – which would make this condition affect around five percent of cannabis users.
People most at risk for the condition are those who have taken the drug every day for a year. It is also more common in people who started taking the drug before age 16.
Scientists have yet to figure out what causes someone to develop such an extreme reaction to marijuana.
Their leading theory, according to the Cleveland Clinicis that using the drug often causes changes in a part of your body called the endocannabinoid system.
This is a network of chemicals and proteins in the brain and gut that control your pain response, brain development, appetite, stress response and gastrointestinal movements.
THC is one of many chemicals that can attach to this system and cause changes. Over time, the constant stimulation of the network can cause it to become unbalanced, causing your body to engage in extreme, cyclical vomiting.
Doctors diagnose someone with CHS if they have had three or more episodes of cyclical vomiting, smoke marijuana more than four days a week, and whose symptoms disappear after six months of quitting smoking.
At home, it can be difficult for patients to overcome this disease because suddenly stopping marijuana can lead to withdrawal symptoms, worsening the condition.
In the hospital, doctors treat the disease by giving a patient anti-nausea medications and intravenous fluids to rehydrate them and restore the balance of crucial nutrients.
In some cases, patients also need antipsychotic medications because their excessive marijuana use has driven them into psychosis. These may include hallucinations, extreme paranoia and delusions.
After recovering in the hospital, doctors may send patients home with antidepressants and advise them to stop using marijuana altogether, Dr. Angulo said.
