Chronic Marijuana Use: Mens Drug Rehab Program

By Hugh C. McBride

Marijuana, which consistently ranks among the most commonly abused illicit substances in the United States, has been associated with a range of negative effects, including brain damage and respiratory problems. If recent reports hold true, that list may need to be updated.

In the past five years, medical professionals in the U.S. and Australia have noted a troubling and previously undiagnosed condition that may result from chronic marijuana abuse: cannabinoid hyperemesis, a disorder that is characterized by episodes of severe vomiting.

A Rare & Painful Condition

In an article in the March 14, 2009 edition of the World Journal of Gastroenterology, Dr. Siva Sontineni described how he and colleagues from the Creighton University Medical Center diagnosed the condition in a 22-year-old male patient. 
In addition to severe bouts of vomiting, sufferers also experience nausea and stomach pain – and reports indicate that the only way they are able to ease their pain is by taking long, hot showers or baths.

On March 23, the ScienceDaily website reported that Dr. Sontineni and his team believe that the relatively complex relationship between chronic marijuana use and the development of cannabinoid hyperemesis has resulted in widespread misunderstanding of the nature and prevalence of the condition:

Recent research into the neurobiology of cannabis has led to the identification of different receptor types including two specific types that mediate neuropsychiatric and immunologic effects.

According to Dr. Sontineni, doctors and health care workers currently under-recognize the syndrome leading to delayed diagnosis and expensive diagnostic investigations. Increasing consistent use of marijuana among United States populations, particularly young people, over several years will see a steady rise in the number of cases diagnosed each year.

The patient who was under the care of Dr. Sontineni’s team was a heavy chronic user of marijuana who had been smoking the drug on a daily basis for more than six years. His cannabinoid hyperemesis manifested in regular episodes of vomiting that lasted as long as three hours at a time.

An Extreme Sensitivity to Cannabis

The young cannabinoid hyperemesis sufferer who was treated by the Creighton University team has garnered more than a few headlines, but he is not the first person to have been diagnosed with the condition.

Four and a half years before Dr. Sontineni’s article appeared in the World Journal of Gastroenterology, an Australian general practitioner published a similar case in Gut, an international journal of gastroenterology and hepatology. The Australian physician, Dr. Hugh Allen of Mount Barker Hospital, wrote about having first observed the condition in the late 1990s.

In an Oct. 14, 2004 article by Anna Salleh of the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC), Dr. Allen said his initial exposure to the condition involved a 22-year-old patient who had been smoking marijuana on a regular, heavy basis for about three years.

“He would vomit continuously for two or three days," Dr. Allen told ABC. “It was so bad he had to go to hospital and be put on a drip.”

The only way that the patient could achieve non-medicated relief, the doctor noted, was to sit in a hot shower. “It became an obsession with him,” he said. “He would have 10 to 15 showers a day.”

After suffering from episodes of heavy vomiting for more than a year, the patient stopped smoking marijuana, and the nausea, vomiting, and stomach pain all went away, Dr. Allen said. Intrigued, Dr. Allen and his colleagues attempted to determine the prevalence of severe vomiting among chronic marijuana users.

His team identified 10 additional cases, all of which appeared to demonstrate a direct link between heavy chronic marijuana use and severe nausea and vomiting.

“Out of the 10 cases, seven abstained and all got better. Three took up smoking again and got sick again,” Dr. Allen told ABC. “Of these three, two gave up again and got better and one continued smoking and remained ill.”

Dr. Allen estimated that about 1 percent of chronic marijuana users suffer from cannabinoid hyperemesis, which he attributed to a rare extreme sensitivity to cannabis.

Help for Chronic Marijuana Users

Even if they are among the majority of marijuana users who are not affected by cannabinoid hyperemesis, individuals who smoke marijuana on a regular basis are still at risk for a number of social, medical, and developmental problems. For example, teen marijuana use has been linked with use of tobacco and alcohol as well as increased unexcused absences from school.

For many young people, marijuana use is a symptom of greater underlying problems, such as depression, anxiety, academic frustration, or an inability to form and maintain healthy interpersonal relationships. Many teens who are abusing marijuana may benefit from outpatient therapy or enrollment in a therapeutic boarding school, where they can receive extensive support in a healthy, nurturing environment.
 

To speak with an expert about marijuana addiction, call Sunrise Recovery.