Consumed daily, cannabis causes an acute disorder and a new syndrome that remains a mystery to the medical community. Above all, “cannabinoid hyperemia syndrome”, or CHS, is becoming more and more frequent.
Strong nausea, severe vomiting and epigastric or periumbilical abdominal pain, such are the symptoms of the “cannabinoid hyperemia syndrome” in which American researchers are interested.
The effects of cannabis are paradoxical: its medical use aims to fight nausea and vomiting in cancer patients, but, consumed daily, it causes an acute disorder that remains a mystery to the medical community.One of the problems lies in the fact that people ignore totally that this syndrome can occur following daily consumption of cannabis.
It is an acute and recurring syndrome which seems to be more and more frequent. The results of their study are published in the journal Basic and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology.
The marijuana paradox
It was in 2004 that this acute syndrome was named for the first time, in the medical journal Gut, an official journal of the British Society of Gastroenterology. People who have it try to get over these symptoms by taking hot showers or baths.
In their study, the researchers observed 155 people who presented to the emergency room in New York City and were diagnosed with CHS. The overall study results suggest that a third of people who report heavy marijuana use suffer from symptoms of CHS. This state is, moreover, more frequent in 18-29 year olds.
By extrapolating to the number of daily marijuana users, researchers estimate that 2 million American adults could be affected by the syndrome: in 2014 in the United States, the number of people who suffered from symptoms of CHS would be estimated between 2,130,000 and 3,380,000.
What treatment?
In practice, the researchers then asked the patients to evaluate eleven methods allowing to relieve this acute nausea / vomiting, using the Likert scale (in 10 points: from “not at all useful” to “the most helpful. ”These methods included: hot showers, cold showers, fresh air, antiemetic drugs, smoking marijuana, refraining from smoking, raising the room temperature, eating, drinking water, smoking cigarettes and sleeping .
Fifty-one people reported that hot showers provided effective relief, or 32.9%. The only really 100% effective method is to quit smoking marijuana. There was no difference according to sex, age …
A second study is planned
The researchers still point out the many limitations inherent in the study: we cannot be 100% sure that people questioned during a medical questionnaire are completely honest about their cannabis use.
In addition, we sometimes ignore their drug and toxicological history, and therefore the possible drugs to which the symptoms or possible interactions with alcohol and other toxicants could be attributed.
Researchers are now working on a second study aimed at identifying drugs that may be responsible, because for the moment only stopping or reducing the consumption of cannabis manages to make the symptoms disappear.
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