# Researchers find new cannabis syndrome



## FruityBud (Mar 23, 2009)

There is mounting evidence to support the existence of a new syndrome afflicting heavy cannabis users, after the world's first cases were found in South Australia.

The condition "cannabinoid hyperemesis" was first identified in a group of about 20 heavy drug users in the Adelaide hills in 2004, and a new case has emerged this time in the US.

The syndrome is characterised by nausea, stomach pain and bouts of vomiting - ill effects which, oddly, sufferers say they get some relief from by having a hot shower or bath.

The new case, involving a 22-year-old man in Omaha, is published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology where doctors were also told to consider it when treating people with unexplained vomiting.

"Given the high prevalence of chronic cannabis abuse worldwide and the paucity of reports in the literature, clinicians need to be more attentive to the clinical features of this under-recognised condition," writes Dr Siva Sontineni, and colleagues, from the Creighton University Medical Centre.

In the US case, the sufferer had been smoking marijuana daily and in heavy doses for six years. This eventually led to bouts of vomiting lasting two to three hours daily, and this was worse after meals.

As with South Australian cases, the young man initially turned to "compulsive hot bathing behaviour" to relieve the symptoms but he was not cured until he gave up smoking cannabis altogether.

Adelaide-based drug expert and emergency ward doctor, Dr David Caldicott, said he had seen three cases of the illness and it was possibly also under-reported by sufferers.

"We're probably seeing the tip of the iceberg in the emergency departments, it's probably far more common but far milder (in the broader community)," he said.

Little was known about how cumulative cannabis use could lead to vomiting and, particularly, why sufferers would find some relief in hot bathing, Dr Caldicott also said.

"That's a distinct and unanimously recurrent feature of this condition, and we don't know why," he said.

"Grown men, screaming in pain, sweating profusely, vomiting every 30 seconds and demanding to be allowed to use the shower. It's a very dramatic presentation."

Dr Caldicott said the condition had been identified in a small number of cannabis users "but in the medical community it is now considered to be a real condition".

The National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre, based at the University of NSW, is taking a more conservative approach.

Centre director Jan Copeland said more cases would need to emerge before it could be considered a new syndrome linked to chronic cannabis use.

"It is not unusual for there to be significant mental and physical health complications with this level of cannabis use," Professor Copeland said.

*hxxp://tinyurl.com/dgn2gw*


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## MARY-JANE (Mar 23, 2009)

I've been a very heavy smoker for years and has never experience this at all. And I have been smoking for 20+ years.


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## benevolence6gc (Mar 23, 2009)

5+ years and never exhibited those symptoms.


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## Anarchist_UK (Mar 23, 2009)

So because a "heavy cannabis user" has something wrong with him, the only thing to blame is that cannabis? Somone needs to take a correlation vs. causation class...

I'd like to hear of what else this man has been exposed to...


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## o K U S H o (Mar 23, 2009)

Anarchist_UK said:
			
		

> So because a "heavy cannabis user" has something wrong with him, the only thing to blame is that cannabis? Somone needs to take a correlation vs. causation class...
> 
> I'd like to hear of what else this man has been exposed to...


They just used that one guys as an example and they also said that there were other cases too. That would be a very valid point if it were just the one guy. I thought this was a great find.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Mar 23, 2009)

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:   Forty + Years--I have been smoking for over 40 years.  

I would be more inclined to believe that it had to do with maybe insecticides, pesticides, or nutrients given to the plant, or some weird curing method...basically some kind of poisoning and/or alleregic reaction that probably doesn't have to do with cannabis directly.  This seems especially likely since the first know "cases" were 20 heavy users from the same place.


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## 420benny (Mar 23, 2009)

What's in your water?


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## kubefuism (Mar 23, 2009)

To avoid this in the future and prevent the spread of contaminated weed...
Please send all samples for testing to Kubefuism at....


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## WeedHopper (Mar 23, 2009)

Sounds like they were doing more then Smoking Weed to me,,but just maybe they are allergic to THC or something in it. Some PPL cant eat Peanut Butter. ORRRRRR maybe the PPL who did the Study on Brain Cell Death,,due to starving the Monkeys brains of Oxygen while gassing it with pot smoke.


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## cuy103 (Mar 23, 2009)

How do they define "heavy use" for cannibus?

How much do you all smoke a day?...in terms of weight, not joints, blunts, bongs rips...

I got about 0.5 - 1 gram a day.


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## JBonez (Mar 23, 2009)

anything outside of moderation can and should theoretically lead to some kind of effects, be it positive, negative or relatively unnoticed.

For every action, well you know the rest.


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## JBonez (Mar 23, 2009)

anything outside of moderation can and should theoretically lead to some kind of effects, be it positive, negative or relatively unnoticed.

For every action, well you know the rest.


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## blancolighter (Mar 23, 2009)

I'm pretty sure most all of us here, with our access to a uinending supply to some of the best chronic, could outsmoke these guys, and we're just fine. As someone said, some people are allergic to Penut Butter, what can ya do?


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## IRISH (Mar 23, 2009)

The Hemp Goddess said:
			
		

> :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: Forty + Years--I have been smoking for over 40 years.
> 
> I would be more inclined to believe that it had to do with maybe insecticides, pesticides, or nutrients given to the plant, or some weird curing method...basically some kind of poisoning and/or alleregic reaction that probably doesn't have to do with cannabis directly. This seems especially likely since the first know "cases" were 20 heavy users from the same place.


 
>>> Wow. got me by 7 years. . been 33 for me. the only thing i ever coughed up was... well you know. ...

prolly doing the imbombing fluid cure. ...bb...


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## slowmo77 (Mar 23, 2009)

as long as cannabis has been around and has been being used they've only found 21 people ever to have this problem? hardly sounds like a reason to worry to me, nor does it sound like they have enough studies to make a real claim that its cannabis related. im with THG, i would think its more likely to be something that was added to the plant during its life or the drying and curing process than the plant its self. maybe mold or mildew , it could be one or several of many things. who really knows


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## scatking (Mar 23, 2009)

:holysheep: I guess since I usually shower twice a day i have built up an immunity to this.
:doh:


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## ozzydiodude (Mar 23, 2009)

Been a heavy smoker for 30+ yrs have never had this problem, vomiting when overtoking the bong, drinking to much. But I have never smoked any marijuana I did not know who grew it. The chemical some people use can kill you.

I have heared of people smoking "mold" pot and getting sick, IMO the "mold" caused the problem. You never know what someone may be allergic to, with the chemcals man has added to the eco system it is no wonder were all not mutated. 
For the record, I am warp and insane in the membrain, not a mutant or allien. Marijuana keep me normal.


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## GrowinGreen (Mar 24, 2009)

that's it- i'm quitting.


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## HappyCat (Mar 24, 2009)

But where are the reports of the 20 _*million*_ cases of intense vomiting from heavy alcohol consumption I wonder...


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## WeedHopper (Mar 24, 2009)

You know whats funny,,Im setting here typing and here a Commercial for some kinda medicine and they are listing all the side effects to this paticular medication.I mean they even say,,"can cause death"!!! Its freaken crazy,,its OK to buy poison from these Drug Companies,,,,Cause the Government says so,,,,BUTTTTTTT,,,out of the Millions of PPL who smoke Pot,,,some moron finds 20 PPL who had some problems that just so happen to smoke weed! This kinda crap shouldnt even be posted on this Forum. This is the **** that everybody pays attention to when its time to vote for MMJ laws.
Like I said this is the same crap that the Government put out when they said that weed kills brain cells. They didnt bother telling anyone that the poor freaken Monkeys brains cells were being killed cause the idiots was staving the Monkeys brains for Oxygen with the mask full of Pot Smoke for hours on in,, with no freash air. Thats the same thing that kills you most the time in a fire,,way before the flames get ya.But they didnt bother telling PPL that did they? What is it they arnt telling PPL this time?


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## PencilHead (Mar 24, 2009)

When I first joined this forum, I asked about this canabanoid hypermesis in a post, and no one responded.  I was accused of the syndrome by the medical staff at UF.  Thank God it wasn't--I went without and still had the condition.  I had a cyclical vomiting thing and you get in the hot shower for the cramping--doesn't matter what causes it, if you're vomitting every 30 or 40 minutes, you just want some relief.  Hence the shower thing.  Apparently mine was stress related, and like Rocky Racoon said, "I'll be better, I'll be better just as soon as I am able."  And I'm better and I still puff and I don't get Adelaide morning sickness anymore.  Go figure.  And you skeptics are correct--there just isn't enough medical evidence to back up the claim.  Some backwater doctor got to put his mname in the AMA Journal by writing what may well turn out to be pure fiction.

http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38152


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## WeedHopper (Mar 24, 2009)

:yeahthat: times 20 other PPL.


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## cubby (Mar 24, 2009)

It appears to me that instead of saying these people became ill due to smoking mj, maybe the emphisiss should be" what are they doing that other mj smokers are'nt".
I'm willing to bet that the study done by this "doctor" was underwritten by big pharma. The overwhelming majority of attacks on mj are published by and propped up by pharmasudical corporation backed mouthpieces.


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## PencilHead (Mar 24, 2009)

cubby said:
			
		

> It appears to me that instead of saying these people became ill due to smoking mj, maybe the emphisiss should be" what are they doing that other mj smokers are'nt".
> I'm willing to bet that the study done by this "doctor" was underwritten by big pharma. The overwhelming majority of attacks on mj are published by and propped up by pharmasudical corporation backed mouthpieces.


 
True that, Cubby.  Notice the cases are all in the same general area (Adelaide Hill) but for the Omaha dude.  Either 1) These people are all getting tainted product from the same general source or 2) the medical proffession in that area is over-zelous in diagnosing this issue.  My doctor at UF was happy as a pig that she had a patient with cannabanoid hypermesis--and I broke her little heart proving I didn't.  It's easy enough to tell if ganja is the clulprit--just quit and see if you improve.  Like I said, I was greatly relieved to have another attack while on quits.


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