15-year-old girl from Pazardjik had a seizure after smoking a vape, BNT reported.
The teenage girl was admitted to hospital a few days ago. After 12 hours of treatment, her condition improved.
The girl is now cured and discharged. A few days ago, however, the situation was far more alarming.
"The 15-year-old girl arrived with convulsive symptoms, confused, somnolent, it was difficult to get information from her that she used the so-called vape. In general, her condition worsened", said Dr. Dimitar Bakalov, Emergency Department at the Medical Center - Pazardzhik.
Doctors in the hospital in Pazardzhik insist on legislative changes and real control.
"Currently you can buy a vape with the active ingredient of marijuana, and the only thing stopping you is one question: "Are you 18 years old" on the site where it is ordered. Now if you go to a cafe, you will see at least 10 girls who use vape and are under 18 years old", explained Dr. Dimitar Bakalov.
E-cigarettes pose serious risks because of the toxic substances and nicotine they contain, especially for children. Some vapes contain a synthetic substance similar to tetrahydrocannabinol, the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.
"A person who inhales this substance through vaping gets red eyes. There is disorientation, impaired coordination, can get more sensitive and convulsions. They can also experience collapse, i.e. blood pressure drops, as blood vessels expand and may become inadequate, especially children," said Sofia Angelova, pulmonologist.
"After a few breaths, they get dizzy, headache and collapse. Most often with such symptoms of collapse, they come to the clinic. In some cases we have also proven the actual presence of marijuana, but much more often, hexahydrocannabinol. The effect is the same as marijuana, only the concentration is much stronger and it attacks the brain cells" commented Prof. Snezha Zlateva, toxicologist.
"It has already been proven that the possibility of developing schizophrenia is 6 times more than in normal cases. Now, in the last month, we had young people around 20-24 years old who have already developed schizophrenia, they are on permanent antipsychotic therapy and when we ask them, they always start first with marijuana or vapes", Prof. Snezha Zlateva also explained.
Doctors also remind that smoking these vapes or marijuana opens the door to other addictions - alcohol, stimulants or opiates. And they add - there is no harmless smoking.