Risk of 'brain-damaged generation' due to drug-containing e-cigarettes

Many young patients have been poisoned by e-cigarettes, and anti-poison experts are concerned that they may face a generation of young people with memory loss and behavioral disorders due to this product.

Rapid kidney failure after just a few puffs of e-cigarettes.

The Poison Control Center (Bach Mai Hospital) is treating a 19-year-old male patient, HNH, from Ninh Binh province, who was admitted due to e-cigarette poisoning.

The patient was transferred from the lower level to the Poison Control Center in a state of anesthesia and sedation for mechanical ventilation. After more than a day of being removed from the ventilator, patient H. regained consciousness but his kidney failure progressed very quickly.

Male patient suffers from poisoning and acute kidney failure due to vaping.

PHOTO: LE HAO

Before being hospitalized, while hanging out with a group of friends using vapes (electronic cigarettes) locally, the young man tried smoking and suddenly collapsed and had a seizure. After only a few puffs, he was transferred to the hospital in a coma and acute kidney failure. The patient had suffered a traumatic brain injury in the frontal region due to a traffic accident but had never had a seizure.

Dr. Nguyen Trung Nguyen, Director of the Poison Control Center, said that after 3 days of emergency treatment here, the patient is now conscious but his kidney function is severely damaged, and he also has mental health problems (anxiety and stress are all at high levels, memory loss).

Doctor Nguyen assessed that the use of electronic cigarettes this time strongly stimulated the brain, causing seizures. The specific type of poison has not yet been determined because the patient did not bring the device used for testing.

In reality, treating emergency patients due to using e-cigarettes, Dr. Trung Nguyen said that in the past, most patients poisoned by e-cigarettes only suffered brain damage, but recently there have been cases with severe kidney failure.

Long-term brain damage

Recently, a 38-year-old female patient from Bac Ninh had to be hospitalized after collapsing and losing consciousness immediately after trying an e-cigarette "just to see what it was like".

Tests and imaging showed that the patient had severe metabolic acidosis, a common sign of synthetic drug or stimulant poisoning, obvious brain damage, and severe memory loss.

Many types of e-cigarette essential oils contain new generation drug groups such as synthetic cannabinoids, amphetamine stimulants, cathinones... which cannot be detected by routine testing.

According to Dr. Nguyen, there is currently no specific antidote for the synthetic chemicals being mixed into e-cigarettes. Patients are treated with respiratory and circulatory support, non-specific detoxification, correction of metabolic disorders, and close monitoring of neurological damage. Brain damage and cognitive impairment can be persistent or permanent.

Electronic cigarettes, including heated tobacco products, are the main harbors for the new generation of synthetic drugs. These are the most complex drugs, with the strongest toxicity and addictiveness, constantly changing and the most difficult to detect.

The Director of the Poison Control Center is concerned that Vietnam may face a generation of young people with memory loss, behavioral disorders and mental health effects if e-cigarettes are not completely banned in the near future. These brain injuries cannot be completely recovered, if not completely banned, we will face a "brain-damaged generation".

"E-cigarettes and heated tobacco products need to be completely banned. If we hesitate, these products will spread among young people, causing addiction rates to increase sharply, leading to serious consequences for health, mental health, and behavior," Dr. Nguyen emphasized.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nguy-co-the-he-ton-thuong-nao-do-thuoc-la-dien-tu-chua-ma-tuy-185251210102508252.htm