Mysterious illness tied to marijuana use on the rise in states with legal weed

[mountaineer]

Mysterious illness tied to marijuana use on the rise in states with legal weed
By Jonathan LaPook CBS News
December 28, 2016, 6:59 PM

NEW YORK -- For more than two years, Lance Crowder was having severe abdominal pain and vomiting, and no local doctor could figure out why. Finally, an emergency room physician in Indianapolis had an idea.

“The first question he asked was if I was taking hot showers to find relief. When he asked me that question, I basically fell into tears because I knew he had an answer,” Crowder said.

The answer was cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, or CHS. It’s caused by heavy, long-term use of various forms of marijuana. For unclear reasons, the nausea and vomiting are relieved by hot showers or baths.

“They’ll often present to the emergency department three, four, five different times before we can sort this out,” said Dr. Kennon Heard, an emergency room physician at the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, Colorado.

He co-authored a study showing that since 2009, when medical marijuana became widely available, emergency room visits diagnoses for CHS in two Colorado hospitals nearly doubled. In 2012, the state legalized recreational marijuana. ...

CHS can lead to dehydration and kidney failure, but usually resolves within days of stopping drug use. That’s what happened with Crowder, who has been off all forms of marijuana for seven months.

“Now all kinds of ambition has come back. I desire so much more in life and, at 37 years old, it’s a little late to do it, but better now than never,” he said.  ...

[mountaineer]

Has anyone heard of this?  The article mentions "various forms" of mj - are there that many varieties in use in the US?

[Sanguine]

This is the part I find fascinating:

“Now all kinds of ambition has come back. I desire so much more in life and, at 37 years old, it’s a little late to do it, but better now than never,”he said.

..

[rangerrebew]

Vomiting Disorder on Rise in Weed-Friendly Colorado
Doctors say problem may become more widespread as more states decriminalize possession of pot
 
Thursday, January 5, 2017

THURSDAY, Jan. 5, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Long-term heavy marijuana use can cause chronic vomiting and abdominal pain in some people, new research suggests.

And the syndrome could become more frequent and pervasive as more states legalize use of the drug, according to health experts.

Cases of the disorder, which is called cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS), doubled in Colorado as access to legal marijuana became widespread, said Dr. Kennon Heard. He is chief of medical toxicology for the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

https://medlineplus.gov/news/fullstory_162895.html