Boy, 17, died from health condition linked to marijuana that causes severe vomiting

More research needs to be done about CHS and its causes and treatment. It is hypothesized that pesticides used on cannabis plants may play a role in CHS as well, but that has not been well researched at this time. The association did not comment on public health concerns related to high-THC products sold legally in Washington state, which are at the heart of regulation efforts. A 2023 study found that one-quarter of people who go to emergency rooms for cannabis-induced psychosis develop schizophrenia within three years.

• ‚Patients who suffer from this condition have recurrent bouts of vomiting and abdominal pain.
• But those advocates are fighting a multibillion-dollar cannabis industry resistant to any form of regulation and a public largely convinced marijuana is harmless.
• Propranolol is a nonspecific, lipophilic beta-1/beta-2-blocker that has been used to treat CVS, particularly in pediatric patients 119.

Marijuana Cessation

This effect causes delayed gastric emptying and continues to inhibit transit through the small intestine. The effects are similar to gastroparesis and, thus, CHS may be caused by a functional gastroparesis. The GI effects of cannabinoids are mediated mainly via the CB1 receptor, which can inhibit gastric acid secretion, lower esophageal sphincter relaxation, and alter intestinal motility, cause visceral pain, and produce inflammation 27, 48. Activating CB1 receptors reduces gastric motility, resulting in delayed gastric emptying in murine 49, 50 and human studies 51, chs syndrome 52. The delay in gastric emptying seems as if it would be promote emesis 53, yet this delay often occurs with the antiemetic benefits of THC, possibly because those antiemetic effects override the effects of delayed intestinal motility 13.

Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS)

Cannabinoids are often utilized for their antiemetic properties, so CHS can be a puzzling condition, and the diagnosis of CHS may be disputed by patients. Unlike other cyclic vomiting https://ecosoberhouse.com/ syndromes, CHS can be relieved by hot showers or topical capsaicin. Abstinence from cannabinoids causes CHS to resolve, sometimes in a matter of days or hours. Marijuana users as well as many clinicians are not aware of CHS, and patients may undergo unnecessary tests, scans, and other procedures to get an accurate diagnosis.

Chronic cannabis use raises the risk of major depression, bipolar disorder and psychosis by up to FOUR TIMES

• The patient reported that he got the rash from prolonged exposure to hot water in showers that he took to relieve the symptoms of his CHS 143.
• Haldol, an antipsychotic drug that is used to decrease excitement in the brain, can have a positive effect, as can capsaicin lotion, which is derived from chili peppers and can mimic the hot shower effect.
• This could be another contributing factor in the pathophysiology of CHS (Fig. 1).
• This leads to an important question, especially in light of our gradual societal paradigm shift toward liberalizing marijuana.
• I would call every day to see whether the results were in, but for months, I heard nothing.

As hard as it can be for a lot of people to believe cannabis can be dangerous, and in some cases fatal, it is equally hard for daily cannabis users to quit. Kelly Kerby, a mental health counselor and substance use disorder professional, has worked at Seattle Children’s for two stints — first from 2009 to 2015, and more recently in her current role since September 2020. He was repeatedly admitted to various psychiatric hospitals and sentenced to jail multiple times.

• „Cannabis does have some effect on nausea and so we know it has an effect on those receptors in the brain,“ said Dr. Atul Kapur, an Ottawa-based emergency room doctor and co-chair of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians‘ (CAEP) public affairs committee.
• Brian, who loved sports and the movie “Twilight,” was close to his family and called himself his mother’s “snuggle bunny.” He was beloved uncle BubBub to his toddler nephew, Zayden.
• While the prevalence of cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (or CHS) has not been fully assessed, rates have been increasing as more people become daily or near daily cannabis users, and as awareness of the condition increases amongst medical professionals.
• More recent studies also suggest that the risk of psychosis is not connected to genetic predispositions, a claim often made by cannabis industry lobbyists.
• Without knowing this background, providers often misdiagnose CHS as other conditions, like cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS).

Patients with CVS may be prescribed a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) to help manage their GI symptoms, but the use of a PPI can result in a false-positive for cannabinoid on a urine test. The PPI pantoprazole provides this information on its labeling, but it is not widely appreciated among clinicians since there are no known published case studies of this in the literature 76. In a case study of a 13-year-old girl who was treated with pantoprazole for CVS, a urine test was positive for cannabinoids but a subsequent gas chromatography-mass spectrometry test returned negative 76.

„Cannabis does have some effect on nausea and so we know it has an effect on those receptors in the brain,“ said Dr. Atul Kapur, an Ottawa-based emergency room doctor and co-chair of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians‘ (CAEP) public affairs committee. One theory on the cause of CHS relates to cannabinoid receptors in the brain, which could potentially become overloaded due to heavy cannabis use causing them to malfunction. Anti-nausea medicines do not seem to have much effect, but one of the telltale signs of CHS is that frequent hot showers can bring relief. Small bowel enteroscopy then showed extrinsic duodenal compression in the third portion (Figure 3). Given the findings of an aortomesenteric angle of 18.1°, aortomesenteric distance of 5.0 mm, and visualized extrinsic compression via enteroscopy, our patient met the diagnostic criteria for SMA syndrome.

What causes cannabis hyperemesis syndrome?

This finding is non-specific but can be seen with SMA syndrome in the appropriate clinical setting. SMA syndrome initially was not included in the differential diagnosis. Recurrent emesis due to SMA syndrome, however, differs in that it results from compression of the duodenum. The diagnostic parameters include an aortomesenteric angle in the range of 6° to 22° and an aortomesenteric distance of 2 to 8 mm 3. The overlap in symptoms between CHS and SMA syndrome, especially in a patient previously diagnosed with CHS, can lead to diagnostic delays, which necessitates greater awareness and education for both health care professionals and patients.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. „Yes, it’s rare that death does occur, but it happened and one person losing their life to this is too many,“ she said. Of the more estimated 5.3 million Canadians who used cannabis this year, six per cent of those surveyed used it daily, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada. Another theory is a common pesticide Drug rehabilitation called neem oil, which could potentially be used in the growing of cannabis.