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Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome Support Thread

My question is, who the fuck would willingly put themselves through that?
 
I dont remember originally replying to this thread because I was probably really stoned and without nausea... This is something else!!! Blaming this on cannabis is ignorant and irresponsible/dangerous. This girl has something else going on like I had something else going on

THIS ILLNESS DOES NOT EXIST!

I did my research. I have talked to doctors. I have talked to heavy stoners who have gone through this. I WENT THROUGH THIS!

Every symptom, just like I would imagine terrible iv heroin withdrawal. I sweat through my bed to the point i had to bring it to the dump. It looked like someone had been brutally stabbed to death on my matress and someone had tried to bleech the stains. Like a water spot on a ceiling. While laying in that bed i heard my beads of sweat hit the hardwood floor after leaking through my matress and boxspring.

I vomited for the most part every 3 minutes for nearly two weeks. My throat was bleeding. I was on the edge of developing a hernea (sp?) from the constant heaving. I was prescribed expensive zofran, put on a potassium drip during many of my stays in the hospital.

Zofran helped... Sure, but, another symptom: a blazing hot shower for hours on end was the only temporary cure. This went on for so long that I realized a formula to success. Fill a large glass with ice. Take it and your bottle of zofran to the shower. Turn it on full blast if you can handle it (my shoulders and back were babys ass smooth for weeks. My hair looked like a rockstars) if you yack in the shower, so be it. As soon as the high temperature supplies some relief, take the zofran. Give it 20 minutes of pounding heat to be sure the pill is working. Then down that glass of ice that should now be cool water at whatever speed you feel comfortable with. Another 20 minutes in the shower and that glass of water has a good chance of turning into piss for you... I really should have thought to squeeze lemon wedges on the ice for some real nutrients. Either way this would supply me with a full two hours to try and drink a meal replacement shake which actually stayed down a few times.

No doctor could tell me what it was for sure but one doctor who I had seen before and have seen since told me that he simply does not believe this is directly linked to marijuana.

Does it make any sense that after hundreds of years of relentless abuse of this plant by people around the world that our generation would be the first to deal with this illness? I dont believe so myself.

I think this illness is related to something else we havent figured out yet. Under the advisement of the previously mentioned doctor i took a few weeks off and started smoking and vaping again. Not a single problem since. I am not even close to the only person who has experienced this that believes this cannabis hyperemesis is not actually real. This is a mystery. Have these people in for all the tests that can be done. I had many tests done that proved dick all but maybe something is being missed that a good doctor may find
 
First let me say I AM NOT CRAZY. I am a 29 year old female in semi good health with no prior medical issues before this living in the USA. For the past 10 years doctors have been telling me this was all in my head so when my brother came across CHS(cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome) I wanted to cry and send copies to all the doctors who have ever told me my vomiting abdominal pain and the OCD hot showering was all in my head.

Let's start from the beginning. I started smoking pot when i was 18 years old. For the first year I was a pretty light smoker and after that it became a daily habit sometimes smoking up to a quarter ounce a day(yes extremely heavy smoker). I smoked like that for about 3 years when one morning I woke up very nauseous and experiencing abdominal pain and figured I needed to smoke to get rid of it seeing as this had always worked in the past. Halfway through my joint I needed to throw up and this continued for about 4 days with the vomiting and abdominal pain finally having to go to the ER for fluids, pain medication and antiemetics. The following two years I had 52 trips to the ER for unexplained nausea vomiting stomach pain and an uncontrollable OCD for hot showers and baths. And when I say OCD about hot showers and baths I mean severely OCD it was the ONLY thing that would make the symptoms go away. I would rent hotel rooms for days at a time just to utilize their endless supply of hot water to feel some kind of relief. After running out of pot and being too sick to leave to get more after a few days my symptoms went away and I was able to function once again. Now before people start throwing disorders out there let me say they've done every test they could going as far as performing a very unnecessary surgery called laparotomy essentially going through my intestines by hand(yes I had a colonoscopy prior with no abnormalities as well as a smaller exploratory surgery that only required 2 small incisions((laparoscopic)) with no abnormalities as well) and they found nothing once again. The only thing I had was elevated WBC. After all these tests coming up negative they referred me to a psychiatrist telling me I had cyclic vomiting syndrome and that my symptoms were being made up in my head(being told it a conversion disorder). The entire time the only drug/medication I was on was marijuana. No OTC meds no prescription medicine just marijuana. Every time I would get sick it would be the same thing, abdominal pain vomiting accompanied by the OCD hot showers and after being sober for 3-7 days the symptoms would magically disappear and I could go back to living normally only to think "Hey I feel better lets light up the sticky icky and mellow out" and BOOM back in the ER. At one point and time since I was diagnosed with cyclic vomiting my doctor decided it would be in my best interest to prescribe me a medical marijuana card making it legal for me to consume marijuana seeing as though the antiemetic effects of marijuana have been so valuable to so many people. Of course i was stoked, who wouldnt be? This only led to further complications more ER visits more doctors and no results. My family was convinced by my psychiatrist that I was bipolar and I was having attacks of PTSD and that every time I had an episode it was in my best interest to be hospitalized in a psychiatric facility. They were happy to oblige seeing as I was becoming more of a pain in the ass with the OCD hot showering and endless vomiting and I was becoming a strain on them emotionally and financially. After 3-5 days in each psychiatric facility and of course not smoking pot I returned to my normal self again. The doctors attributed this to of course the intense regiment of antipsychotics antidepressants and antianxiety drugs they shoveled down my throat. I have been to psychiatric hospitals 10+ times. I’m not full of shit I have piles of medical records as proof. It wasnt until I turned 28 and became pregnant that I knew I had to sober up for my little one. My pregnancy was hell but i stayed sober having no further episodes of my vomiting. There was complications after I gave birth (to a healthy baby boy) and i got MRSA having to have a picc line inserted and IV antibiotics 3 times daily. I am extremely allergic to the medication they use for MRSA and was sick to my stomach 24/7 so for the first time since I had found out I was pregnant I bought a bag and smoked away the nausea. It had been over a year since I had used and like clockwork I went back to smoking an insane amount of marijuana and after a month of intense smoking back came the vomiting abdominal pain and the OCD for hot showers to relieve my symptoms. I literally had to lock myself in the bathroom for 3 days staying sober those 3 days and on the fourth day I felt fine and was able to continue living normally. Less than a week after my latest episode my brother found the information on cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome. I have since remained sober with no further episodes of vomiting abdominal pain or my OCD hot showering. And in case youre wondering i stopped ALL psychiatric medications the only prescription medication I take now is a sleeping medication and I feel better than I have in years. If anyone had told me marijuana was the cause of my symptoms I would have laughed in their face and called them crazy. I know I’m not the only one out there with this problem. I’ve read everything I can find on CHS and it is the ONLY thing that describes what I was going through. Please please please if there’s anyone else out there that has experienced this respond to this post I know I’m not alone. And NO I am not against marijuana now that i cant partake I am still very PRO on the issue but just like some people cant drink alcohol I cannot smoke marijuana. I just want people to know that this is a very real syndrome. I havent had time to read every post on this topic and I know how skeptical people can be when it comes to this issue having spoke to many users about whats happened with me. If I am “one in a million” fine great good. I’m just putting my story out there hoping it may help someone else not waste years on a diagnosis OR being misdiagnosed like I was for so many years. Looking forward to responses, many thanks.
This is my 5th attempt to join a forum and speak freely about my experiences all other forums have banned me either for “demonizing” marijuana or spreading what they call lies. I am holding out hope for this forum. Let me say in addition to the information I have provided I feel I need to be 100% honest about my symptoms and so I will add this: During my periods of hyperemesis I would drink ungodly amounts of water(gallons) only to make myself throw up because it provided, if only for a few seconds, temporary relief of the symptoms. Also while visiting the ER I would make ANY excuse to find a way to a shower and NOTHING they gave me in the ER would ease my symptoms. Going for days sometimes as long as a week with the constant vomiting stomach pain and hot showers I would reach the point of becoming suicidal. It seemed like death was my only escape which is the reason for the referral to the psychiatrist. But just like others who have experienced this after abstaining for a while I returned to normal. Since abstaining I have had NO suicidal thoughts or actions and have stopped all antipsychotics and have been able to return to a normal life. Years people…years I suffered with this. My 20’s were lost to surgeries, hospital stays and a personal hell you cannot imagine unless you’ve experienced the same thing. Please please please if there is a doctor out there who reads this educate yourself on this syndrome. If I had been told 8 years ago that stopping my marijuana use would return me to normal I would have stopped years ago but like so many others I was convinced marijuana would actually help my symptoms so I continued smoking. Like others have stated in their posts light one up for me I miss it horribly but am not willing to risk having these symptoms return.
 
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Benny has a point though. Most people will see a giant wall of text and just skip it.

We highly encourage the use of paragraphs and some sort of organization when posting to ensure that it wont push people away from reading it. Visual appeal is important when making long posts.
 
Hi there. I'm 19 years old and recently have been diagnosed with CHS. I had been smoking weed for nearly 3-4 years and in the last year was smoking at least 3 grams a day, sometimes more, and usually using a bong. I still cant believe this is what I have but I have stopped smoking weed. I plan on waiting a couple months or so and then trying to smoke a small joint. Just wondering if anyone else has quit for a small time and then tried smoking a joint and if their symptoms immediately came back or they were fine? If I do end up being able to handle just a small joint then just smoking weed once in a while (once or twice a month maybe?) if that would be okay and my symptoms would stay away? I would really love some feedback so if anyone can help me and give me some feedback that would be greatly appreciated.

Also, i'm wondering if edibles would be any better or if they would still make me sick?

thank you!
 
thought i dont personally have this problem, my dear friend has had this for several years. he attributes it to a time when his best friend was getting hooked on heroin. though, the real story is that he was smoking a half oz a week for a very long time. he was a daily smoker for about 6 years before this started. he went to the ER probably 2 times a month for about 2 years. he stopped school, his health insurance was fucked, and was put on a variety of unnecessary medications. he had one of the top neurologists in boston looking at his case. he had surgery for what they thought was a folded intestinal issue. in the end, it was the fucking weed.

so to all those people who have this and are trying to calculate exactly how long they can take a break so they can start smoking "ocassionally", I am sorry to tell you, it is probably not going to work. your body has built an allergy to cannabinoids. my friend tried to go back, even as comparatively lightly as a gram or two a week. instantly went back to that hellish place. only way out was a saline drip and high dose intravenous diazepam. he would get so dehydrated, he was having a hard time breathing.

It sounds like this is directly related to people who smoke way beyond what is considered normal, even by stoner standards. I hope that if anything, these stories in this thread can let users of cannabis know that do not fuck with this plant too much or it will fuck you so hard. My friend wanted to commit suicide. It was so scary. I learned from him so much too. Keep the dank at a healthy level. none of this 1/4+ ounce a week stuff. the weed these days is just too strong to pull that off forever without running into CHS
 
I experience thus for a few days every time I detox from weed because of probation. I thought it was just me.

My theory about it is that there is no pharmaceutical action that causes this but that fact your body gets so used to the anti nausea and comforting effects of the plant that being sober shocks you.
 
My daughter self diagnosed herself as having CHS. After 4 bouts of the worst vomiting and discomfort l have ever seen. My kid was so sick and doctor after doctor kept telling us they had no clue what was wrong with her. The first episode lasted close to a month as l believe she was smoking pot because she like most, know that marajuana is normally used to alleviate nausea. It is not only a morning thing, it lasts all day and night but seems less severe as the day goes on. The compulsive bathing and showering that seems to provide temporary relief is what made the connection in our minds as when she is in the middle of an episode, she is in and out of the tub or shower constantly. They put her on an I.V. with Zofran which is a strong medication used to help chemo patients with nausea which did nothing.
 
ok.. where do i start.. i am a 53 year old male,disabled/retired early due to some spine and pain issues.. been a pot smoker for about 40 years ,,lately in the past 5-10 more regularly and with the newer better weeds.. i have been and still am a major proponent of weed for medical uses,,works wonders for me in a lot of areas.. well so i thought ..started about 7 years ago on a trip to vegas..started to feel ill on the plane,by the time i landed and checked in felt worse..went to room to lay down and started to vomit..soon uncontrolably ..then dry heaving for hours until dehydrated and rushed to hospt..where they gave me IV's and morphine for abdominal pain.. few hours later after nothing in tests i felt good..next episode happened about 2 years later..out of the blue..same thing..nothing wrong with me,,felt great ..took a bite of something to eat and that was it,, puking again..cant stop..suffered all day..thinking a bug or virus..went to hospt for fluids etc..same thing..morphine..fluids..no anti nausea meds ever working..all tests comming back normal..cat scan,,x-rays..ultrasound..scope..few days of rest and fluids i felt back to normal.. skipping to about a year ago.. sudden attack on 4th of july.. same symptoms..vomiting,stomach pains and sweating.. admitted to hospt..same scenario..fluids..anti nausea meds to no avail and pain meds which always seem to help..now in the past year i have had 3 more episodes all about 3 months apart..all three times back in the hospt..nothing on tests everything in my body as far as stomach..bowls,,intestines etc all fine..DR told me after all tests i had CHS .. i said what is that ?? he said toxic reaction to chronic weed smoking.. i laughed and basically told him to go back to school .. after further research and being curious if anything to this,i started to read on CHS & CVS i am amazed ?? i have never heard of this in my life and thought i knew all there is to know about weed but finding so so many with same issues and symptoms as me is astounding ..now i do have other underlying factors mentioned.. lack of sleep,,poor eating habits..spine and nerve damage and some anxities i take paxil & welbutrin for.. i am so so bummed about this and am hoping just by cutting down and not toking every day i can still enjoy some weed..also curious if anyone knows if a vape would actually be better for removing toxins that may contribute to this ..thanks all
 
Well, I really don't know where to start but all I can say is smoking weed has really ruined me. I first got introduced to weed when I was in grade 11. Didn't smoke on a daily basis. Just 2 years ago, I started smoking more and more everyday. For the last year I have been suffering from constant morning vomiting, nauseated more than 60% of the day, with painful upper abdominal pain with bad heartburn. I've gone to my doctor countless times, emergency room countless times as well. All of which have given me a different diagnosis. Anywhere from a stomach ulcer to sever stress and anxiety. I've been on gastric medications to anxiety and depression meds. Nothing helped. When I did feel the symptoms, I'd smoke weed to alleviate the pain. Which helped, for that moment, but it put me into a really horrid, painful cycle. My daily routine was, wake up( as soon as I opened my eyes) throw up, smoke a joint, go to back to bed for a bit. And when I tried to stop smoking, the pain was simply unbearable that I couldn't even keep myself from going back to smoking. Anything I ate, would come back up not even 10 mins after eating. And it was the opposite with the hot baths and showers, they made me even more nauseated. I can't stand the heat. But it did work sometimes.

Recently, as of 4 weeks today, I haven't smoked at all. I can proudly say this and couldn't have done it without the support of my boyfriend. To this day, these symptoms haven't decreased. In fact, I'd say it's gotten worse. Every morning, It feels like I start from the beginning. I wake up, in a hot sweat, open my eyes, become dizzy and extremely nauseated. For a week it was only dry heaving but this week, I have to maintain a strict diet otherwise if I get the sudden urge of hunger pain, my days ruined. In the morning, I try to eat. And lately, it's been almost impossible to hold anything down in the morning. It's so hard to force myself to eat anything. I know I need to, bad and if I don't, it will just be worse. But if I eat, anything, and my pains have subsided a bit, my stomach just explodes and I feel bloated, my digestive track is weird in the sense of having the extreme urge to go and it comes out of nowhere. Excuse me for being a tad graphic but in the morning, it's not just throwing up and dry heaving, it's right after that, i have the sudden urge to eliminate. Then throw up again. Everyday, I lose more weight then I put on. Eating is just bullshit (pardon my language). I can't work and have only worked one shift since October of last year because of trying to find the proper solution. I have become extremely sensitive to certain foods and smells. It's so difficult to deal with. It's put me under a lot of stress and into a horrible morning cycle that won't seem to get better as time goes on. Stress is the last thing my body needs and it's almost impossible to relax myself and my body after each morning. I have constant heartburn that even if I take something for it, my stomach won't accept it. And it just comes right back out. I believe that ever since I started smoking this garbage, my body has been wanting to shut down. Didn't notice it at first and was very stubborn to believe that it could cause such a thing. I can say this would be an extremely sever case of CHS. I went from smoking a quarter every two to three days to absolutely nothing. I don't know how long this will last and when the pains and this nausea will go away. But I swear it feels like it gets worse and worse each morning.. Maybe it's suppose to get worse before it gets better. My body is perhaps trying to fix itself but it sure doesn't feel like it. I had to quit smoking because I've noticed id feel even worse after then slowly start to feel better, but that was after smoking a minimum of 2 joints. And again, threw me into that vicious cycle. I am only 21 years old, and I am Canadian. I am 100% certain that I am not the only one with this sever disease because I know I was embarrassed to come forth to even my doctors at first about me smoking. Because I literally had an addiction and was embarrassed of it. It's so discomforting being frowned upon by each doctor I was seen by, like they didn't even care. Just prescribed me the next medication and sent me on my merry way. I really hope it starts to get better. But it's been 4 weeks now and each day gets worse.. Well that's what it seems like. So please, if anyone knows of anything that helps this type of sever case, let me know. I am always looking to be in less discomfort. Preferably homeopathic ways. I'd rather not get dependant on pills to make me feel better an mask the problem.

Thanks
 
Probably at least some pharmaceudical action
Imean nausea is a real thing it's not imaginary...
Unless you are literally imagining it and you don't realize it which wow idk...
 
The Answer to what causes CHS

I have CHS. My details are like yours. I suffer and I am so sorry you suffer as well.
I am retired (medical) and disabled from pain.
The hypothalamus and CB1 compounds are involved.
As with tobacco, smoking MJ causes toxic compounds to be made not present with vaporization.
I have smoked for 40 years. I have had CHS for 20 years except for over two years that I vaporized my pot. When my vaporizer broke I smoked, and CHS returned every two weeks. I have vaporized now for 4 months and no attacks. My triggers no longer cause attacks.
I propose that vaporization (throw away your pipe) will eliminate CHS for you. At least I hope so.
If you are slow to get with it and are still taking showers let me suggest:
1) get a sprite chorine shower filter. My lungs have lost 10% by chest x-ray to chlorine burns. Also my skin has been burned.
2) Use minimally effective heat to avoid throwing your hypothalamus heat regulation off. You are sweating a lot in a hot shower, adding to your dehydration. I suck on ice cubes flavored with decaf sweetened tea. Even if you throw it back up the ice will keep your head cool and maybe help with hydration. Avoid ginger ale, gatoraid or coke as their pH and hyper tonicity irritates your stomach. Get a proton pump inhibitor on board to protect stomach if at all possible.
3) nomorerack.com sells dual shower head that will stretch your hot water supply for $24. Also I got my sprite chlorine filter there as well.
I wish and pray for your wisdom and clarity of thought that allows you to see the truth and make decisions that will stop your needless suffering from CHS. STOP COMBUSTION. Buy a vaporizer.
 
I recently discovered that I have this too, very sad day as I basically had to say goodbye to a great friend of 8 years (it's always been there when I needed something to cheer me up, inspiration, etc). What I'm curious to know is whether or not anyone on here has experienced these symptoms but never smokes cigarettes? I thought for the longest time that my symptoms were a result of anxiety but when getting on anti-anxiety medication didn't fix the problem, I looked into it more and discovered this just recently. I am 99% certain that weed has been the cause all along now, as thinking back, I actually only started to have difficulty eating breakfast (due to nausea and a feeling that if any solids enter my throat, they would trigger my gag reflex and I'd hurl everywhere) after I'd begun smoking regularly in 8th grade, by grade 9 I was skipping it entirely.
Now I'm just trying to determine if there are ways to eliminate this while still enjoying pot, I mean for now I'm just gonna quit for a long time and then come back to it but much less frequently, definitely not daily...however if there is a way to ensure that the nausea doesn't come back from even infrequent use, I'm all for it. From the descriptions I've read edibles and vaporizing won't really do anything as it's supposedly due to cannabinoid accumulation but perhaps there are ways to sort of flush yourself out after smoking, to ensure there isn't accumulation?
 
It's so great and comforting knowing others have been through this as well. I suffered from this illness, too. After years of reading and hearing Marijuana is harmless, I continued to use it and felt fine. Then, it happened. One day I felt very ill and stomach pain only the devil could love, ferocious vomiting and only scalding hot showers seemed to smooth my pain. After a few days of feeling ill, I dismissed it as a terrible case of food poisoning. Weeks went by, then it happened again... and again. I thought," Damn! Guess I better lay off the McDonalds. This stuff is killing me!" All the while, I kept smoking and I kept getting sick. After years of ER visits, countless IVs, hundreds of pills, sleepless nights, enough vomit to fill a swimming pool and medical bills even Floyd Mayweather couldn't afford, I thought I was going to die. No Dr knew what was wrong and I had lost almost 60 pounds. I had been told, some people just have cases of cyclic vomiting and just have to live with it. It was a death sentence. However, if I had ever learned anything from life, there is a cause and effect to everything. I REFUSED to believe I was just" sick". I found a study based in Australia about patients who had been heavy marijuana users and experienced the same symptoms as myself; the clincher was the excessive showering. Until that point I was still smoking. After reading it I sat for awhile and did two things I didn't think I could do. First, I cried. Then, marched out to the dumpster and threw away my pipes and a baggy that still had weed in it. I walked away feeling a mix of emotions, sadness because I was gonna miss it. Anger, because I had been my own worst enemy this entire time. Happiness, because it would finally end. Embarrassment, because I smelled like vomit and looked like a corpse on a bad acid trip. I also remembered what Harvey Dent said in The Dark Knight," The night is always darkest before the dawn." And lord knows that night was BLACK! Humor aside, it was hard and the current episode of vomiting I was on lasted 8 days. No sleep, no eating, constant pain and only hope that this would end. It did. 2.5 years later, I'm clean, happy and I don't miss it. I had to learn to walk again, but now I'm running. Thanks for reading.
 
interesting stuff, great stories from all that shared too. a lot of good advice.

Although I do have slight lingering skepticism about how the conclusions are being drawn, as far as I understand the medical community isn't drawing any conclusion further than heavy cannabis use and chronic nausea. Every stoner I know or have ever met has complained of similar symptoms- and by stoner I mean someone who smokes either all day or all their free time.

From a simple view, it would seem logical that if when you smoke cannabis and it makes you hungry then when sobering up you will have a temporary but opposite effect. What I mean by that is for example, it is know that MDMA causes your serotonin to flood the brain, amongst other things as well. Then the next few days your going to be experiencing extremely low levels of this chemical until your body can regenerate it naturally. Or a more chronically used drugs like opiates, which causes constipation because we also have opioid receptors that regulate the GI tract and prolonged use will cause a build up of opioids in the GI tract, at which point your body starts producing less and less in attempts to balance it out. This is also why w/d's from opiates involve diarrhea. I would imagine it is similar with cannabis and the endocrine system.

Most cannabis users will smoke the most at night, before bed. I know for myself I've gone all day without smoking and sat and smoked an eighth in a matter of hours(3 joints doesn't take long) then gone right to bed. My point from this is just like opiate users, a heavy cannabis user will experience the biggest change in levels, or W/D upon waking up in the morning because most people don't eat edibles right before bed. I always attributed the need to smoke in the morning in order to eat to the fact that I usually wake up with a bit of a cough and feeling anxious about my day. I've also had the thought in the back of my mind, having gone through opiate addiction in which every morning is complete hell, that maybe it was something of a weed W/D.
 
Absolute bullshit. The only side effect ever scientifically proven from cannabis is bronchitis (smokers cough) which is avoided entirely when vaporized or ingested via edibles. I've been smoking every single day since I was 12 years old and am now 21 (if that doesnt qualify as chronic idk what does) n still have experienced nothing of the sort. And those commercials on now saying it stunts brain development is bullshit too, smoked all through middle and high school n graduated with a 3.5 GPA. A's in trigonometry &analytic geometry and calculus. Suck it.
The only way it's ever caused any form of nausea is if I take a massive hit to the back of the throat and it makes me gag for a second. but not like a dry heave, like when you accidentally almost swallow a cough drop or something. Have tried every form of ingestion possible and edibles are by far the best. Whole body just seems to vibrate with life and joy.
 
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