Cannabis users ’suffering new syndrome’
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.
