NEW YORK -- Gregory Rodriguez thought he had the flu when he went to the emergency room Sept. 18, feeling feverish, nauseated and short of breath.He woke up four days later in a different hospital, with a tube down his throat connecting him to a ventilator, and two more tubes in his neck and groin, running
NEW YORK — Gregory Rodriguez thought he had the flu when he went to the emergency room Sept. 18, feeling feverish, nauseated and short of breath.
After about two years, friends suggested that he try vaping THC. He ordered a few vaping devices from Amazon and found local THC dealers.He would text a dealer, and they would meet, usually in the dealer’s car. A cartridge holding a gram of THC oil cost $40, which Rodriguez would pay in cash, money he had earned from a part-time maintenance job at Kennedy Airport.
Eventually, Rodriguez was vaping much of the time. “I was never without it,” he said. His favorites included flavors like Fruity Pebbles and Sour Patch Kids. The few times he ran out, he could think about nothing but getting more, and sometimes, one of his legs would start shaking. A cartridge that would last most people four or five days, he would finish in a day or two.It is possible to become addicted to marijuana or dependent on it, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
In August, distraught over the death of a dog his family had for 13 years, Rodriguez began vaping even more heavily. His mother, who works nights, arrived at the hospital a few hours later. She insisted that he tell the doctors about his vaping. Rodriguez was transferred to the main campus of Long Island Jewish Medical Center and was on the machine for 4 1/2 days.
She said doctors do not understand why Rodriguez, like many other patients, had vomiting and diarrhea before the lung symptoms set in, but she said it may be a systemic response to a toxic substance or irritant that moves into the bloodstream after vaping and spreads around the body.
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