Smoking electronic cigarettes, girl hospitalized for mental disorder

Increasing dose, dependence on e-cigarettes

A media talk show on health and e-cigarettes was held by the Institute of Mental Health (Bach Mai Hospital) this afternoon, August 21.

At the seminar, the doctors informed that they are treating a female patient with mental and behavioral disorders due to the use of electronic cigarettes. The patient is a 27-year-old female, a university graduate, often livestreams to sell products and has used cigarettes for about 8 years.

Dùng thuốc lá điện tử, cô gái nhập viện do rối loạn tâm thần và hành vi - Ảnh 1. — E-cigarettes are untested and unregulated, so chemicals can be added incorrectly.

At first, the patient only used it when playing with friends, but out of curiosity, he switched to using e-cigarettes, gradually increasing the frequency. From about 3-4 days to finish 1 chill pod (tentatively translated as essential oil tube), then increased to about 2-3 days to finish 1 chill pod. Over the past year, after breaking up with her boyfriend, the patient felt stressed and used e-cigarettes more frequently.

Patients use e-cigarettes daily, in large quantities, about 1 chill pod per day because they feel that using e-cigarettes helps them feel more comfortable, their body relaxes easily, increases concentration and makes it easier to fall asleep.

The family forbade the patient from using e-cigarettes. However, when not using them, the patient felt restless, irritable, had trouble sleeping, had difficulty concentrating, and was easily irritated. He continued to order online, often ordering in the middle of the night, and began to feel that he could not control his e-cigarette use, and used more and more.

In the past few months, the patient has been smoking e-cigarettes continuously all day, using 2-3 chill pods a day and is always in a state of drowsiness, lethargy, and fatigue.

The patient skipped meals and had inappropriate behaviors such as ordering delivery items online for no reason but then throwing them away without using them. The patient often locked himself in his room and just lay there smoking e-cigarettes.

Sometimes the family saw the patient saying irrelevant sentences, looking absent-minded, mindlessly scrolling through his phone, and when people around him called and asked questions, the patient didn't pay attention or answered very slowly.

Warning contains toxic substances and drugs

The treating doctor said that the patient was hospitalized due to abnormal behavior, smoking too much electronic cigarettes, which had been evident for about a year.

Through questioning and examination, doctors discovered that the patient had a smoking addiction syndrome, emotional and behavioral disorders (emotional instability, irritability), sleep disorders, reduced work activities, reduced physical activities, just lying in bed smoking a lot of electronic cigarettes; behavioral disorders, poor eating and sleeping, and reduced concentration.

The patient was diagnosed with mental and behavioral disorders due to tobacco use.

At the hospital, after chemotherapy, the patient is now awake, able to communicate, has appropriate emotions and behaviors, appropriate thinking, no longer feels restless, irritable, no longer craves cigarettes, and eats and sleeps well.

According to Dr. Le Thi Thu Ha, Head of the Department of Substance Use and Behavioral Medicine (Institute of Mental Health), e-cigarettes mainly contain nicotine and a few other substances in the liquid-filled spacer (glycerin, propylene, conductors), and there are currently not many long-term follow-up studies.

E-cigarettes cause direct harm to users through inhalation of vapor. Notably, nicotine can cause psychological dependence; glycerine can cause pneumonia...

According to Dr. Ha, electronic cigarettes contain different conductors depending on the brand, which may contain formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, which are substances that can cause cancer, and may contain other substances that have not been inspected or regulated, so they are often added incorrectly to the buffer chamber containing the liquid. That is the main cause of poisoning or abuse in combination with other drugs, cannabis essential oils, etc.

"Electronic cigarettes can be misused to cause toxicity or abuse of multiple substances," Dr. Ha noted.

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