Horrifying 'scromiting' side effect of cannabis use that is 'hard to treat'
Visits to the emergency room have reportedly sky-rocketed across the United States as a result of a rise in 'scromiting'.
Thankfully, this eerily-named condition isn't contagious, nor does it have a long-lasting impact on a person's health.
This is because it only affects individuals who are long-term cannabis smokers.
That's right, potheads across America are being warned of a sudden surge in a particularly hard-to-manage side effect to smoking marijuana on a daily basis - and no, we're not talking about chronic munchies.
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According to A&E staff, more and more weed-smokers are admitting themselves to hospital, having suffered a sudden, sickening agony in their mid-riff.
Nicknamed 'scromiting', this condition is actually referred to by medics as cannabis hyperemesis syndrome (CHS), which is said to affect sufferers with between three and four episodes per year.
It is defined by a seemingly never-ending bout of nausea, paired with stomach pain and extreme vomiting - in both mass and frequency. In fact, some sufferers were reportedly reporting a projectile chunder as many as four to five times per hour.
Oh, yeah - if you hadn't put two and two together yet, the condition's gruesome nickname comes from a mash-up of 'screaming' and 'vomiting'
This occurrence usually happens within 24 hours of a person lighting up, but can last as long as several days.
One of the major issues with this condition is, however, that the syndrome can suddenly strike again at any time, even after symptoms have subsided.
So, even when smokers temporarily quit as a result of the condition, many continue using when their last episode is over, only to become ill all over again. It's a vicious cycle, really.
University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine research associate professor, Dr Beatriz Carlini, explains the sudden rise in cases: "A person often will have multiple [emergency department] visits until it is correctly recognised, costing thousands of dollars each time."
On top of this, neither doctors and patients can say with any certainty exactly how getting high could inflict such extreme levels of discomfort.
In many ways, this condition results in consequences similar to that in cases of food poisoning or stomach flu.
It's thought, however, that long-term overstimulation of receptors in the endocannabinoid system as a result of smoking could have the most considerable part to play, given that this can get in the way of the body’s natural control of nausea and vomiting.
With no real explanation as to how and why this side effect occurs, however, CHS can be pretty tricky to treat.
After all, with no FDA-approved therapies, and the usual anti-nausea medications proving ineffective, there's not much else doctors can say except, 'Sorry, bro, looks like you'll have to ride this one out'.
Some doctors claim that hot baths and showers can curb the painful symptoms, however, the root of the problem remains something impossible to tackle directly.
"That’s something that can clinch the diagnosis for me, when someone says they’re better with a hot shower," said emergency medicine specialist at UW Medicine and Seattle Children’s Hospital, Dr Chris Buresh.
"Patients describe going through all the hot water in their house."
Rhianna Benson