Science: THC effective in intractable nausea in a patient undergoing gastric bypass surgery
BBSNews 2008-02-03 -- (IACM) Californian doctors presented a case-report of a 31-year old woman with a long history of obesity, who underwent gastric bypass surgery to reduce her food intake. Within the following weeks she developed severe nausea and inability to tolerate fluids or food and was admitted to hospital seven times. A variety of anti-emetic drugs were tried including a serotonin antagonist, which only provided limited relief. Finally, the patient asked her gastric bypass be reversed. As a last resort, oral THC was prescribed with a maximum of 15 mg per day. She noticed a significant improvement in her symptoms within 1-2 days and tolerated the medication well. Her mood and energy levels improved quickly and she began tolerating more foods and liquids by mouth. She used THC for less than 4 weeks.
Gastric bypass surgery makes the stomach smaller and allows food to bypass part of the small intestine. The patients feel full more quickly, which reduces food intake. Bypassing part of the intestine also results in fewer calories being absorbed leading to weight loss. Nausea is a well-documented post-operative complication of this intervention, which often responds to standard treatments, but occasionally is unresponsive. The authors noted that "THC could have a useful role in treating this serious and debiliating post-operative complication."
(Source: Merriman AR, Oliak DA. Use of medical marijuana for treatment of severe intractable nausea after laparoscopic Roux- en-Y gastric bypass surgery: case report. Surg Obes Relat Dis 2008 Jan 26 [Electronic publication ahead of print])
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