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Title: Wrecked And Retching: Obscure Vomiting Illness Linked To Long-Term Pot Use
Source:
KOED News
URL Source: https://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/ ... s-linked-to-long-term-pot-use/
Published: Nov 21, 2017
Author: Pauline Bartolone
Post Date: 2017-11-22 07:45:11 by Gatlin
Keywords: None
Views: 6607
Comments: 78
For 17 years, Chalfonte LeNee Queen suffered periodic episodes of violent retching and abdominal pain that would knock her off her feet for days, sometimes leaving her writhing on the floor in pain. “I’ve screamed out for death,” said Queen, 48, who lives in San Diego. “I’ve cried out for my mom who’s been dead for 20 years, mentally not realizing she can’t come to me.” Queen lost a modeling job after being mistaken for an alcoholic. She racked up tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills, and her nausea interrupted her sex life. Toward the end of her illness, Queen, who stands 5-foot-9, weighed in at a frail 109 pounds. Throughout the nearly two decades of pain, vomiting and mental fog, she visited the hospital about three times a year, but doctors never got to the bottom of what was ailing her. By 2016, she thought she was dying, that she “must have some sort of cancer or something they can’t detect,” Queen said. But she didn’t have cancer. She had an obscure syndrome called cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, a condition only recently acknowledged by the medical community. It affects a small population — namely, a subset of marijuana users who smoke multiple times a day for months, years or even decades. There’s no hard data on the prevalence of the illness. But in California and Colorado, which have loosened marijuana laws in recent years, emergency physicians say they’re seeing it more often. One study in Colorado suggests there may be a link. Dr. Aimee Moulin, an emergency room physician at UC-Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, said she has seen a rise in the number of cases since California voters legalized recreational marijuana last November. She expects to see another increase after commercial sales are permitted starting in January. Doctors say it’s difficult to treat the condition. There is no cure other than to quit using marijuana, and many patients are skeptical that cannabis is making them sick, so they keep using it and their vomiting episodes continue. Doctors can do little to relieve the symptoms, since traditional anti-nausea medications often don’t work and there are no pills to prevent the onset of an episode. Patients may need intravenous hydration and hospital stays until the symptoms subside. “That’s really frustrating as an emergency physician,” said Moulin. “I really like to make people feel better.” Diagnosing the syndrome can also be frustrating — and expensive. There is no blood test to link the stomach ailment with marijuana use, so physicians often order pricey CT scans and lab tests to rule out other medical problems. Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome was first documented in Australia in 2004. Physicians have historically misdiagnosed it as the more generic cyclic vomiting syndrome, which has no identifiable cause or, as in Queen’s case, acute intermittent porphyria (AIP). “Five years ago, this wasn’t something that [doctors] had on their radar,” said Dr. Kennon Heard, an emergency physician at the University of Colorado in Aurora, who co-authored the Colorado study showing a possible tie between the liberalization of marijuana and a surge of the vomiting illness. “We’re at least making the diagnosis more now.” One surefire sign of the illness is when patients find relief in hot showers and baths. Queen said she would vomit repeatedly unless she was in a hot shower — so she’d stay in there for hours. Toxicologists say the heat may distract the brain from pain receptors in the abdomen but, like the syndrome itself, that phenomenon is not well understood. The exact cause of the condition is still a mystery. Toxicologists say the chemical compounds in marijuana may throw off the normal function of the body’s cannabinoid receptors, which help regulate the nervous system. Some people may be genetically predisposed to the syndrome, or marijuana’s potency or chemical makeup may have changed over time, said Dr. Craig Smollin, medical director of the San Francisco division of the California Poison Control System, who also works as an emergency physician at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. The vomiting link to cannabis is counterintuitive to many, because of its widely known reputation as an anti-nausea remedy for cancer patients. “A lot of times, people just don’t believe you,” said Dr. John Coburn, an emergency physician at Kaiser Permanente in south Sacramento. Even after being told that quitting may help, some patients will visit the hospital multiple times before they stop smoking marijuana, Coburn said. “I can’t really tell you why. I mean, why do people ride motorcycles without helmets on?” Cameron Nicole Beard, 19, of East Moline, Ill., said she struggled to believe her doctors about the link between pot and severe vomiting. “Who wants to be told you can’t smoke marijuana, when you think marijuana can help?” said Beard, while recovering from a marijuana-related vomiting episode at a University of Iowa hospital in Iowa City, Iowa, last month. She said she had lost 20 pounds in 10 days. Although there’s still no magic cure for a patient’s marijuana-related hyperemesis, Moulin and other doctors say they’re getting better at treating the symptoms, using old anti-psychotic medications and cream for muscle aches. Dr. Heard said the cases in Colorado seem to have leveled off. But without hard data, and because the overall numbers are small, it’s hard to say for sure. Heard said he doesn’t believe cases of the pot syndrome increased after recreational use was legalized in 2012, because chronic users probably already had medical marijuana cards. Chalfonte LeNee Queen is still struggling to completely quit marijuana, but her symptoms are down to a dull stomachache. She now smokes a couple of times a day, compared with her near-constant use in the past. She said it’s the only thing that works for her depression and anxiety. Queen is back to a healthy weight and hasn’t been to the hospital in a year. She said she wouldn’t want to discourage anybody from smoking weed; she just wants people to know heavy use can bring them some serious misery. “Now, if I get sick, as sad as I’ll be and as upset and disappointed with myself as I would be, at least it’s a freaking choice,” she said. Poster Comment: Suffering from cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome? Suggested treatment? Medical marijuana….ya think?
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#39. To: Deckard (#36)
Au contrair, mon ami. As the lap dog for the marijuana regime, you are again barking up the wrong tree entirely. It is not I who prays at the altar of cannabis and worships weed…it is you. Just read about how our fellow reefers worship in the church of cannabis. You may now shout out….AMEN, reefer brothers and sisters.
Pure unsupported speculation. Just 3 more of your hilariously ridiculous pieces of promotional marijuana propaganda. I have seen data that show somewhere between four and nine percent of regular marijuana users are likely to develop dependency problems, and I have learned it’s true that a good number of marijuana users later avail themselves of professional help. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reported that 957,000 people age 12 and over sought treatment for marijuana in 2012 Why do you continue to promote the use of this vile putrid shit….WHY?
So, you now finally admit that marijuana is actually addictive and your supporting argument for the use of this addictive marijuana substance is that it is LESS addictive than coffee. I am going to ask you a logical reasoning question that will tax your ability to analyze and critically evaluate your arguments to support the use of addictive marijuana. The question is: Why does anyone want to use something that is addictive and harmful to their health….then stupidly support their fallacy and try to justify it by simply saying that it is less addictive than something else? Addiction is a big problem when something that can be temporarily pleasurable but the continuation of which becomes compulsive and interferes with ordinary responsibility and concerns, such as work, relationships and health . Those who develop an addiction may not even be aware of that their behavior is out of control and causing problems for themselves and others. I ask you again: Why does anyone want to use anything that is addictive and harmful to their health? Experts have long debated whether addiction is a disease or a true mental illness. I go with the latter….how about you?
We don’t know a great deal about the health effects of using marijuana through “actual science” Actual science has proved that marijuana is NOT a "gateway drug", your long-winded whining to the contrary. Which was the original argument you attempted to make. As far as research - Big Pharma, as well as ignorant apologists and cheerleaders like you along with your enforcers in fed.gov have effectively put the kibosh on that. Pure unsupported speculation. You're naive beyond comprehension. Oh wait - I forgot. fed.gov is god to you, they would never deliberately drug unsuspecting American citizens and soldiers, right? You poor, deluded, ignorant little sheep. Do some fricking research and wake the hell up! So, you now finally admit that marijuana is actually addictive LESS so than coffee. You want to criminalize caffeine next ass-clown? Actual science, not ill informed opinion has proven otherwise. History is the best proof of all when looking at drug addiction from an evolutionary perspective so that we may understand its underlying significance and evaluate its nature. In such an investigation, it is important hat we gain the basic understanding as to the historical implications of ancient psychotropic substance use in altering mammalian brains. Doing this will greatly assist in assessing the complex causes and detrimental effects of drug addiction in our modern-day context. To do this, we can better move towards a clearer understanding to reach a more effective treatment and early prevention….that is to say, treat the root of the issue rather than the symptoms. So, it is the duty of scientists to fully explore the historical evolutionary basis and early origins of marijuana and drug addictions before they can uncover the underlying causes of the global addiction problem….rather than solely focus on the physiological signs as they are now doing. You of course do agree with this….right? We must examine the distribution of natural drugs and the addiction to them in a historical ancestral environment. Drug use and addiction have long been a part of society since early times. Researchers have provided evidence and shown reason that the evolution of mammalian brains and psychotropic plants can be related to each other….definitely connected by ancient drug use. Proving throughout history that the abuse of drugs inevitably have caused long-term complications. Drug addiction is extremely detrimental for all individuals….not only because of the many varied health problems it causes, but also since it abolishes the negative emotions which in turn shuts off basic defense mechanisms against potential threats. You should really concern yourself more with preventing addiction to marijuana and other drugs rather than with your continued unbridled advocacy for the unrestricted use of addictive marijuana and other drugs….don’t you think so?
Ask yourself that while you are drinking a beer. When are you staring your jihad against coffee, nicotine or alcohol? After all, they are ALL more addictive than reefer. You just can't stop making a fool out of yourself, can you hypocrite? Diet Coke is more addictive than pot. I told you before to stop lying asshole. So, you now finally admit that marijuana is actually addictive LESS so than coffee. You want to criminalize caffeine next ass-clown? The enactment of restrictive caffeine laws can in no way be associated with the increased rates of problematic cannabis use. No consideration should ever be given until such time as there are perhaps consistent and numerous papers reporting an uptick in youth caffeine use or abuse. Why are your arguments so illogical and ridiculous?
Is this all you can counter with? “Sad!”
Ask yourself that while you are drinking a beer. That is impossible for me to do since I do not consume alcoholic beverages. Now, you answer the question: Why does anyone want to use anything that is addictive and harmful to their health?
… coffee, nicotine or alcohol? After all, they are ALL more addictive than reefer. Just because something is less addictive that something else…that makes it okay to become addicted to it? Wow! That is some kind of fallacy rationalization you are using as a defense mechanism for your controversial behavior to justify your feelings and try seemingly to explain in an illogical manner something you must avoid providing a true explanation to.
Sure, you never have. Why does anyone want to use anything that is addictive and harmful to their health? Their choice - you're not the arbiter of what choices individual FREE citizens make, as much as you delusionally believe you are. Research shows that about one in six people who start using marijuana in their teens, and 25 to 50 percent of those who use it every day, become addicted. Long- term marijuana users trying to quit report withdrawal symptoms including irritability, sleeplessness, decreased appetite, anxiety, and drug craving, all of which can make it difficult to abstain. That is a stupid irrational question. A more logical question is: Why don’t you start a help program for those addicted to marijuana instead of continually promoting the use of marijuana so that even more people will become addicted to it?
Once again for the learning impaired - the addictive effects of cannabis are negligible - less so than even caffeine. When are you starting your crusade against coffee and Diet Coke? You don't get addicted to either caffeine or cannabis. Heroin, painkillers, alcohol, nicotine - yes. I'm waiting for you to go full-blown Anslinger/Reefer Madness on the thread and say that cannabis causes people to listen to jazz music: Most marijuana smokers are colored people, jazz musicians, and entertainers. Their satanic music is driven by marijuana, and marijuana smoking by white women makes them want to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and others. It is a drug that causes insanity, criminality, and death — the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind. Yeah - that sounds like something you'd agree with and embrace. It's becoming amusing here watching you post your Reefer Madness bullshit and countering your ignorance with facts. Their choice - you're not the arbiter of what choices individual FREE citizens make, as much as you delusionally believe you are. So if your best friend stands next to you with a gun pointed at his head while telling you that he is now going to commit suicide…you say: “It’s his choice – I’m not the arbiter of what choices an individual FREE citizen makes, so he can do what he will. How about it? If I know someone who is addicted to marijuana and is destroying their life….then I am suppose to think it’s “their choice” as an individual FREE citizen and ignore them? Is that what you are saying?
Are you really such an evil person that you truly do find that amusing?
Then why are there so many inpatient rehab treatment centers for marijuana addiction where marijuana addicts recovery is something they do not have to try to face alone? There numerous rehab problems constantly addressed to help these marijuana addicts. Surely you are aware there are such inpatient rehab treatment centers operating for marijuana addiction.
Most marijuana smokers are colored people, jazz musicians, and entertainers. Their satanic music is driven by marijuana, and marijuana smoking by white women makes them want to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and others. It is a drug that causes insanity, criminality, and death — the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind. Yeah - that sounds like something you'd agree with and embrace. Please try to stay on point….PLEASE.
Equating marijuana use to that ridiculous scenario is just, well...ridiculous. Get down off your high horse drama queen, your so-called "caring" is not going to fly with me. Admittedly….it is to some. But to many others it is not, as testified to here: Bakes' I Faced My Battle with Psychological Weed Addiction
Follow the money. Not the same as physical addiction. Nice try though. Have trouble facing reality….eh? It shows in so many ways …
Not the same as physical addiction. Nice try though. Hey, Bubba….addiction is ADDICTION.
Then why are there so many inpatient rehab treatment centers for marijuana addiction Follow the money. Nope, follow those addicted on marijuana to the front doors of the inpatient marijuana rehab centers. Then, and only then, does the money show up.
Equating marijuana use to that ridiculous scenario is just, well...ridiculous. Nope, we have established your inhumane indifference to help someone in need….we are now only showing to what degree it exists.
Sure, you never have. I didn’t say “I never have” stupid….I said “I do not consume alcoholic beverages.” I quite drinking beer when I retired from the Air Force….let’s see, that was some 42 years ago. And I have never used any kind of illegal drug. I would say this is just another attribute that makes me closer to perfect that anyone you know or with whom you have associated.
Your misguided view of yourself borders on delusional. Seek help you self-aggrandizing, holier-than-thou bullshit artist. I will now leave you with this thought of the day … Your method of proselytizing (idea imposition) is getting to be such old stuff here on LF, the same as it was on LP. You will never open yourself to debating (constructive discussion) on general attitudes. You attitude is always to bring only your agenda into the discussion and try to impose your doctrine on others. You show absolutely no kindness in the process because you have no respect about what others think since you characterize them as “opponent beliefs” and always make them out as “wrong” or even “stupid.” So, you give no argument….just your idea imposition. Your methodology includes ad hominem attacks, trying to make arguments of authority and many dialectic tricks which you use as direct attacks on others beliefs. You have no motivation to harmonize with the beliefs of others and never try to find common points on ideas and opinions. You constantly try to destroy others opinions and most importantly….you never try to understand them. It would take a great degree of kindness for you to involve yourself in an objective process and kindness is something totally lacking in your world. In other words, Deckard….you are an obnoxious asshole.
Stop lying asshole. You show absolutely no kindness in the process because you have no respect about what others think... Nah, just you when you post such totally ignorant things. you are an obnoxious asshole. Pot - meet kettle. Pot - meet kettle. The problem you can have when you don’t know how to handle sarcasm is that when it is poorly used as you have done here, it can be the most epic backfire in the history of sarcasm. Sometimes a sarcastic misfire can make you come across as a complete idiot….this is one of those times Read again….very carefully….your response to my condemnation. Now, that’s a classic backfire … You really should have just shut up after your Post #70. I am the point now that I feel so sorry for you that I will quit on this thread and let you lick your wounds.
Sarcasm my ass! As we all know, you're a egotistical, arrogant prick who thinks he can dictate what others do or say. A complete totalitarian when it comes to ideas, debate or laws. A true control freak with a submissive, pathological fetish for authority. Spoken like a true coward. ...let you lick your wounds. Get over yourself already you liar. Anyone reading the thread can see the beat-down I imposed on your ignorant ass. Don'T wasTe your breaTh Face iT Some insaniTy is hopeless VolunTary Incurable Irrepable We're pasT The age of revelaTion probaTion 2nd coming Love If you ... don't use exclamation points --- you should't be typeing ! Commas - semicolons - question marks are for girlie boys !
And you are an arrogant anarchist prick that feels you're so self important, you can dictate that the rest of the populace should suck up being victimized by your addicted filth you support. Just like all snowflakes... I'm the infidel... Allah warned you about. كافر المسلح
Thanks for the post, tater! I'm joining the Church of Cannabis, now. See the youtube video below: You have performed a great service for spreading inspiration around the world!
Not my drug lords - yours.
igh hopes: members of the congregation in the Church of Cannabis. Photograph: Ryan David Brown. As the service begins we are encouraged to get to know each other: people spark up joints and pass them around. Long wisps of smoke float to the ceiling and cover the congregation in a flowery shroud; splutterings of coughs and giggles, the sharp intake of breath on all sides. There are about 30 of us in all, a mixed bag of misfits ranging from a self-proclaimed pothead granny, whose eyes appear to move independently of each other, to a couple of Harold & Kumar wannabies taking selfies at the altar. And then there’s Lee: a former Bible quiz champion, raised in a strict evangelical Christian home, he has the credentials of a preacher if not the look: bushy hipster beard and long messy hair, dark bags under his eyes and the whiff of old smoke on his shirt. It feels more like the start of an AA meeting than a spiritual encounter.
#40. To: Deckard (#22)
How the CIA Turned Us onto LSD and Heroin: Secrets of America's War on Drugs
The CIA, Afghanistan’s Poppy Fields and America’s Growing Heroin Epidemic
CIA Fueling New U.S. Drug Epidemic Using Cheap Afghani Heroin
#41. To: Deckard (#35)
Marijuana is actually LESS addictive than coffee.
#42. To: Gatlin (#38)
Actual science ...,
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#43. To: Gatlin (#40)
How the CIA Turned Us onto LSD and Heroin: Secrets of America's War on Drugs The CIA, Afghanistan’s Poppy Fields and America’s Growing Heroin Epidemic CIA Fueling New U.S. Drug Epidemic Using Cheap Afghani Heroin
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#44. To: Gatlin (#41)
Marijuana is actually LESS addictive than coffee.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#45. To: Deckard (#37)
Like nearly all people with substance abuse problems, most heroin users initiated their drug use early in their teens, usually beginning with marijuana and alcohol.
#46. To: Gatlin (#41)
Why does anyone want to use anything that is addictive and harmful to their health?
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#47. To: Gatlin (#41)
addictive marijuana.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#48. To: Gatlin (#39)
It is not I who prays at the altar of cannabis and worships weed…it is you.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#49. To: Deckard (#44)
Marijuana is actually LESS addictive than coffee.
#50. To: Deckard (#48)
#51. To: Deckard (#46)
Why does anyone want to use anything that is addictive and harmful to their health?
#52. To: Deckard (#47)
addictive marijuana.
#53. To: Gatlin (#51)
That is impossible for me to do since I do not consume alcoholic beverages.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#54. To: Deckard (#47)
When are you staring your jihad against coffee, nicotine or alcohol?
#55. To: Gatlin (#52)
(Edited)
Just because something is less addictive that something else…that makes it okay to become addicted to it?
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#56. To: Deckard (#53)
Why does anyone want to use anything that is addictive and harmful to their health?
#57. To: Deckard (#55)
It's becoming amusing …
It is utterly strange that you find it amusing when someone expresses an affinity and shows sympathy for people needing help to overcome an addiction to marijuana.
#58. To: Deckard (#55)
You don't get addicted to cannabis.
#59. To: Deckard (#55)
I'm waiting for you to go full-blown Anslinger/Reefer Madness on the thread and say that cannabis causes people to listen to jazz music:
#60. To: Gatlin (#56)
So if your best friend stands next to you with a gun pointed at his head while telling you that he is now going to commit suicide…you say:
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#61. To: Gatlin (#57)
It is utterly strange that you find it amusing when someone expresses an affinity and shows sympathy for people needing help to overcome an addiction to marijuana.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#62. To: Deckard (#55)
- the addictive effects of cannabis are negligible ..
It took more than a decade, countless pledges to quit cold turkey, and some harsh words from my grandmother, but I've finally decided to start taking my dependence on weed seriously.
Why do you continually rationalize away facts?
#63. To: Gatlin (#58)
Then why are there so many inpatient rehab treatment centers for marijuana addiction
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#64. To: Gatlin (#62)
Psychological Weed Addiction
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#65. To: Deckard (#61)
Get down off your high horse drama queen, your so-called "caring" is not going to fly with me.
#66. To: Deckard (#64)
Psychological Weed Addiction
#67. To: Deckard (#63)
#68. To: Deckard (#60)
So if your best friend stands next to you with a gun pointed at his head while telling you that he is now going to commit suicide…you say:
#69. To: Deckard (#53)
That is impossible for me to do since I do not consume alcoholic beverages.
#70. To: Gatlin (#69)
I would say this is just another attribute that makes me closer to perfect
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#71. To: Deckard (#70)
#72. To: Gatlin (#71)
You will never open yourself to debating
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#73. To: Deckard (#72)
(Edited)
you are an obnoxious asshole.
#74. To: Gatlin (#73)
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#75. To: Gatlin (#73)
I will quit on this thread
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.
#76. To: Gatlin (#73)
boris
#77. To: Deckard (#74)
who thinks he can dictate what others do or
#78. To: Gatlin (#39)
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