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Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome Support Thread

Longtimeuser said:
I have tried many things to reduce the frequency and duration of my episodes. So far I have found that Probiotics help both before episode to minimize episodes and to aid in recovery from an episode. I have heard of some people using NSAIDs but they haven't helped me. Hot showers always work but they are extremely short term relief.

Recently I returned to working out with free weights. This has helped me to reduce my weight and I believe it has also kept me from having an episode. I have been smoking for 30 years and didn't have any problems until my job changed and I became more sedentary. I am trying to change that for my overall health but noticed it has added benefits of keeping me from having an episode.
I would like to hear from others what their daily level of activity is and if you perform any formal exercise on a regular schedule.

Does anyone exercise regularly and have CHS symptoms?
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I am a Foreman for a flooring company. I am using my body hard for 8 hours a day during the week, and I play drums at night. I could stand to get a little more cardio, but I think I work myself pretty good on a mostly daily basis, and I still get CHS symptoms. My level of activity hasn't changed over the last 5 years, and that covers the time the CHS kicked in. However, changes out of my daily routine seem to trigger things sometimes. It happened when I went to CT to visit family for a week. It just started happening again the last couple weekends when I started going up the the mountains to play drums for a musical over the weekends. It just made me think of that when you said it started when you got a new job. Maybe stress is a big contributor?
 
It is such a relief to have found this thread and other threads on the internet which got me smart. For over a year now I have thought I was either dying and even considered this was cancer. 3 weeks ago I was curled up in my bed in a foreign country and felt so vulnerable that I cried for the first time in a long time.....what was wrong with me and why am I so sick I cant leave my bed!! Had 2 endoscopies in 2 different countries, a colonoscopy, hospitalized already twice in 2017, always skipped breakfast and lunch when my friends wanted to go because of my morning sickness.

It is the marijuana IMO that is the cause. Smoked for 4 years. Changing from spliffs to bongs and finally the vaporizer just made it worse.

I've only been clean 10 days and already started feeling the best my stomach/digestive system has been in over a year. Unfortunately smoked the past two days and i feel it already sneaking back, will stop now again.

For me the triggers were possibly eating spicy food or eating something heavy/greasy right before going to bed. These are my best guesses so i hope they may be help to someone out there. In the period leading up to my acute episodes, the day before the appetite would slowly disappear.

For those who have suffered from CHS and went clean for a few months or few years, when you resumed smoking did the symptoms come back quick?

I love my weed so much that it would be tough to give it up forever....I could go months without smoking and completely rid my system of THC if it meant I could later use responsibly a few times a week in the future. Someone please tell me I will be able to use recreationally in the future?
 
Does anyone know if topical marijuana products will trigger this? I have a massage oil that I have been having my massage therapist use on me, and it works really really well. It does not get you high, as it doesn't get into your blood stream. It's just a very effective anti-inflammatory.
 
Evaneezer720 You are right. It didn't help one bit. I just had one of the longest episodes ever. Stress is a big factor for me but I can say it has happened when I didn't feel I had any stress. I had a very stressful 2 weeks at work then got sick. This time it was about 11 days. Usually I get a warning that I never acknowledge. Maybe I will vomit first thing in the morning and my stomach will be upset but I will feel mostly ok for two or three days then i'm ready for the ER all at once. This time I got sick one morning but felt fine for the day. I stopped using and still got sick within three days. I was able to handle the first couple of days at home with showers, zofran. also some colnazapan. But after a couple of days it really got bad. I went to the ER and was admitted. This time I was so dehydrated my kidneys stopped functioning.
Yes family visits have done it for me too. Thanksgiving around ten years ago was the first attack. I was at my mother in laws. Since then it's happened on other family holidays. Two cruises I spent entirely in the toilet vomiting. Also more than a few funerals.. It's very hard to stop a habit you have had for decades.
 
chronic7891 said:
I saw on one of the first pages of this thread that someone was eating yogurt every day to keep the sickness away. Well, I've been eating yogurt daily ever since I read that, and it has helped immensely. Usually in the mornings I still feel nauseous, but it is nowhere near the pain and agony that this was putting me through. I make sure to eat a yogurt before bed, then drink a nesquik with miralax in it (that's for my methadone, unrelated), and both of those together seem to prevent me from having those 4-5 hour insane nausea and sweating episodes. It only occasionally gets bad enough where I have to lay down in a hot shower, whereas before it would happen 3-4 times a week.

So I don't know what's in yogurt, but whatever it is, it seems to be working for me.
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Probiotic active cultures I forget the names but there's a couple big ones
 
I have smoke marijuana almost daily for about 2 years with about 3 different times of quitting. I recently quit again and the best remedy for me is to sit through the bull crap and eventually you'll be okay. I believe that CHS is due in part to the amount people eat while high giving them indigestion and nausea the next day. A loss of appetite is also a problem but with time and keeping a good diet it goes away.
 
I have used Zofran for attacks but find it can only stop minor attacks. Phenergan works better but it also has it's limitations. I recently found Compazine works best overall. It can stop a full blown attack at just about any point. If you can get your doctor to prescribe compazine you will have what you need.
 
It is prescribed in the US. I take it, and don't have cancer. However, as of late, my vomiting, nausea, sweating, chilling, and all of these from either emotional or my gastritis is acting up again. Not sure. Anyway, now I switched to Compazine per orders from ER Doctor. I love it for what is going on right now. Also added Zantac. For years, zofran has been my go to. For nausea not coming on from an upset Zofran is amazing. It dissolves on the tongue, but tastes minty. So it usually won't cause more nausea like smelling food, tasting food, or any mention of food. Use a small dose as possible though, it can cause strange uncomfortable feelings in limbs if you max out for the entire day (Extra pyramidal symptoms.)
 
I agree, ER doc gave it, and Zantac in iv and I was cured. The previous visit, she gave me Ativan. It was amazing too, but I cannot take benzos. I went through withdrawal cold turkey so ER doc gave me enough to taper somewhat slowly. What a difference! If anyone needs help with withdrawals from benzos just ask!
 
I can only smoke the equivalent of one large pipe load per day or I get sick. I think it's actually dehydration illness. 1/2 gallon of water or juice per day you might be fine if you follow this. Save it for night time. Then you can smoke more at one time, and you will find that the positive attributes of MJ are better if you wait till night. It's a reward. Weed is very dehydrating. Add other meds, esp. opiate meds and you are really not able to cheat without some kind of sickness. Look up dehydration illness, anxiety attacks, and CHS. They are all similar. I don't get sick if I eat regularly throughout the day and drink 16 oz. every two hours or so. Before you know it, you might have gotten more than a half gallon down. See if it helps.
 
Hey be careful with miralax and just any drug, esp methadone which must remain at a consistent level. I use ducosate sodium instead because it doesn't absorb medications like miralax can. Make sure u take your methadone separately from any softener. About the nausea, MJ I believe makes us sick because it is dehydrating, so is methadone. Plus, most patients, like me, take other meds. The need for a daily half gallon of water or juice, non caffeinated drinks. Very, very important. I still get gastritis so I have to be careful. I can't smoke medical MJ more than one good sized bowl per day. It is just too dehydrating, the potent stuff. It's enough, a couple tokes a few times a day. I can't get super inebriated like I'd sometimes like to be, but that's ok. I'm basically sober if I'm not drinking or on benzos. MJ goes to my pain, so does methadone. Methadone doesn't produce any high.
 
I have been taking 2000 mg of L-Carnatine and 200mg of COq10 twice a day as per the recent research I found online. My last attack was 3/6/2017.
 
21 year old female , who has been smoking excessively daily for 8-9 years . This was my first time experiencing CHS. I spent three days in the ER, hooked up to IV because of being so dehydrated . They ran so many test such as urine test , blood test, stool samples, tried so many nausea medicines. They couldn't figure out why i was so nausea & throwing up all morning as soon as i woke up, i had serve stomach cramping as well. lack of appetite, after eating a small amount of food i would get sick immediately . Even the thought of food made me sick.The only thing that made me feel better was hot showers/baths.I would wake up out of my sleep just to take a shower. I have been without marijuana for about 5 days now & the symptoms are slowly getting better. I haven't experienced withdrawals yet but i know that there are coming. Does anyone know anything I can do to ease these withdrawals? how long does it take to stop feeling sick & the pain ? I know many people are going to be in disbelieve about my symptoms are caused by marijuana. But i swear this is real & it is one of the worse things you can experience.
 
Salutations,

About:

[ http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/426434-Theory-on-new-cannabis-hyperemesis-syndrome ]

Chances are i'd be much better leave it alone as i don't see a correspondance in any direction as far as i'm concerned, but at least i can think of 1 question as follows.

...

Does "Heavy dose" mean daily, on average, or does this instead also account for the rate of change in cannabic blood concentrations as well??

'cause that other factor is bound to vary wildly at the time of consumption, unless micro-dosing that is.

In the later case i can easily imagine "heavy doses" ain't necessarily excluded. It all depends on what's "heavy" and how evenly that's spread throughout the day, e.g. it terms of a roller-coaster effect as i've mentioned.

Good day, have fun!! =D
 
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lalamariex
Hot showers help but are only short term. As far as meds , you need a supply of zofran and phenergen or compazine. Zofran works when you feel an attack coming on but if you are already vomiting you need compazine or phenergen to stop the contractions that are causing the stabbing pains. Additionally a supply of a benzodiazepine like Atavan or Zanax to calm you down and allow the meds to work. If you can't get these from your doctor you can always use benedrel to make you sleep which helps and hot showers to ease the cramps.

I have been suffering for 7 years and tried many meds and other suggested ways to help. Recently my doctor told me about new studies that show that daily doses of CoQ10, L-Carnatine and B 12. I looked it up online and found a few recent studies that have shown a lot of promising results. I have been doing this and have been attack free for 3-1/2 months. That's not proof yet but my average frequency of attacks is about 2 months.

I have my fingers crossed.
 
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hey guys, I was led to this thread after an emergency room visit on monday. I figured I would add some more anecdotal data to this thread. This is the second time that this same set of symptoms happened to me and this time the doctor mentioned it could be CHS. She noticed because of the really strong odor of terpenes in my sweat.

Here's what happened:
I was trimming some bud at someones ranch last sunday. The people who were growing on the ranch make this concentrate called "The Clear" which is super hot in at least southern CA right now. Some kind of distillate, supposedly the purest thing you can inhale. Almost pure thc, most of everything including terpenes are stripped out - I have NO idea how it's made. In retrospect, this was probably like taking a shot of moonshine instead of a glass of wine or whiskey. I took a glob-sized dab of it and immediately felt nauseous and light headed like the old days when I first began smoking (about 8 years ago). I have a really high tolerance and was surprised at how strong it was (shouldn't have been, it is a distillate after all) The nausea eventually subsided and I continued trimming. I was a bit too medicated for my liking all the way until I fell asleep later that night. (Edit: just realized I had a 7mg edible when I got home like a complete idiot)

The next morning I woke up and felt like I had really bad gas, like a lactose reaction. Just as described many times in this thread, I went to the bathroom and sat, trying to clear it all out of my stomach and nothing really was happening until my body heat started to rise, my forearms started tingling, and I started dry heaving like I was about to throw up. Had to sprint to go get a trash bag so I could be ready for anything. It got worse and worse, the retching got louder and louder. At this point I'm sweating so much that there's a puddle on the floor where I'm crouched over, trying to throw up but only getting stomach acid.

I had no idea the shower thing was a common symptom but the only thing I could think to do was to climb in the shower and sit down and let the hot water run over me. This helped temporarily and then it just went to hell from there. I couldn't lay in bed because I would instantly soak the sheets with sweat so I had to just stay in the shower. Tried to take some activated charcoal, all it did was make my throwup black. Stabbing pain, nausea, every time i transitioned form inhalation to exhalation, I felt like I was going to puke my guts out.

I went to the ER and the first thing the doctor says when she walks in is "It smells like a pot farm in here". I told her I smoke daily and she mentioned I should look up CHS. Had to be hooked up to an IV, they gave me like 4 or 5 liters of liquid along with a bunch of different nausea medications, none of which worked. Just the pain meds kind of worked for the burning but it came back shortly thereafter.

They finally ended up giving me a "GI cocktail" of maalox, lidocaine, and benadryl which helped immensely. Didn't know you could drink lidocaine. The day after (4th of july) I hadn't yet researched it and I ate an edible for the nausea like an idiot. To be honest it didn't make me relapse and it did help (it was a pretty big dose of RSO syrup). Then i took a dab and I instantly got a migraine and felt nauseous. I didn't make the connection but I figured my body had enough stuff in it for the last couple days and I put the wax down.


The time before this, I thought I got food poisoning. This was months ago. I chalked it up as a stomach bug because a lot of people were getting the stomach flu that week. Same symptoms and I daresay even more painful. They thought it was an infection and put me on antibiotics.
The thing is, two of my friends got the same thing I did (albeit not as bad, no ER visit). One of my friends and I were smoking a LOT of rosin at the time and I think it was when we really first got into dabbing. Another friend of mine got dab sick around the same time and he thought it was improperly purged BHO.

What I'm getting at is that both these episodes happened after dabbing way more than usual or way more than needed, supplementing with needless edibles, etc. I don't know if its because of contaminants or because a toxic level of terpenes are in your body. I know they've done plenty of studies on THC toxicity but I haven't seen any done on bodily reactions to terpene levels, which are way more abundant per weight in a concentrate form than they are in flower (right?).

My friend who got dab sick went back to smoking flower only and he hasn't had a problem.

Also I clearly remember last week eating pizza and waking up with a miniature version of what happened to me monday, i thought it was the cheese and that my stomach was getting less tolerant with dairy but I can eat ice cream or eat a cheeseburger with no issues. Maybe it was my body warning me in the prodrome phase? Come to think of it I get little "lactose" attacks all the time but I'm beginning to think its CHS.

I've been nauseous since monday but nowhere near as bad and my appetite is good.

My plan is to take a tolerance break, dry myself up, take some coQ10 and b12 and see how I feel. Cannabis really does help me with a lot of things but if I go back to flower and this happens again I think I'm going to quit. Not worth it. Still hopeful.
 
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I have been suffering for years and have only recently come to the conclusion this is likely my problem. I've been studding up and have a few things to share.

Causation

My episodes are usually set off by stress and heavy foods. These seem to be more of triggers than the cause. I'm a heavy long time smoker. Never had problems before 2011. No one saw this before 2004 in AU. People have been smoking weed forever. We don't see this in some countries. Mostly places with a culture of indoor grows. While weed is a commonality these cases not all heavy smokers are symptomatic. Could there be something being used on weed that was not before? Commercial grows are a newer development. What are grows using as insecticides?

It turns out there is a "organic" pesticide commonly used on weed plants, Neem Oil. It even seems that the Neem tree although native to india also grows in AU and has been marketed there since around 2000. Neem works not by killing insects but by making then so nauseous they refuse to eat. When I read that description i could totally relate. This product can be applied to roots or sprayed on the buds. As an oil it will concentrate up just like the THC. Will also accumulate in your fat cells just like THC. Since Neem is "organic" it is not regulated in the same way as chemical insecticides. I am very suspect over this insecticide. I have found I have more attacks from store bought buds.

I don't claim to have the answers but this neem oil is very suspect.

Treatment

We all know of the hot bath trick. And Docs want to med us up with some powerful anti nausea meds which don't seem to help.

I ran across someone yesterday who claims an antihistamine helps. This is fascinating. I learned back in scouts to treat poison ivy with a hot shower. (not until after you've cleaned the oil off, only to treat the itch) The way that worked is the hot shower released the histamines from from cells until you run out, vs an antihistamine which block the histamines from being released. Could this be the same thing going on????? Do the hot baths release histamines relaxing an allergic reaction?

Anyone going through an active attack try an antihistamine??

I seem to be able to control through diet. But I have been symptom free for months until I bough a 1/2 from the dispensary. I had two attacks off that 1/2. That bud gave me a little bit of a headache and my gums hurt a little when I smoked it. I have other bud that does neither.

I'm just trying to riddle this out like the rest of you.
 
TesticlesJr said:
I have been suffering for years and have only recently come to the conclusion this is likely my problem. I've been studding up and have a few things to share.

Causation

My episodes are usually set off by stress and heavy foods. These seem to be more of triggers than the cause. I'm a heavy long time smoker. Never had problems before 2011. No one saw this before 2004 in AU. People have been smoking weed forever. We don't see this in some countries. Mostly places with a culture of indoor grows. While weed is a commonality these cases not all heavy smokers are symptomatic. Could there be something being used on weed that was not before? Commercial grows are a newer development. What are grows using as insecticides?

It turns out there is a "organic" pesticide commonly used on weed plants, Neem Oil. It even seems that the Neem tree although native to india also grows in AU and has been marketed there since around 2000. Neem works not by killing insects but by making then so nauseous they refuse to eat. When I read that description i could totally relate. This product can be applied to roots or sprayed on the buds. As an oil it will concentrate up just like the THC. Will also accumulate in your fat cells just like THC. Since Neem is "organic" it is not regulated in the same way as chemical insecticides. I am very suspect over this insecticide. I have found I have more attacks from store bought buds.

I don't claim to have the answers but this neem oil is very suspect.

Treatment

We all know of the hot bath trick. And Docs want to med us up with some powerful anti nausea meds which don't seem to help.

I ran across someone yesterday who claims an antihistamine helps. This is fascinating. I learned back in scouts to treat poison ivy with a hot shower. (not until after you've cleaned the oil off, only to treat the itch) The way that worked is the hot shower released the histamines from from cells until you run out, vs an antihistamine which block the histamines from being released. Could this be the same thing going on????? Do the hot baths release histamines relaxing an allergic reaction?

Anyone going through an active attack try an antihistamine??

I seem to be able to control through diet. But I have been symptom free for months until I bough a 1/2 from the dispensary. I had two attacks off that 1/2. That bud gave me a little bit of a headache and my gums hurt a little when I smoked it. I have other bud that does neither.

I'm just trying to riddle this out like the rest of you.
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I literally just read someone in a comment section say that they were stuck in a bathtub for like 6 months with this and they realized the flowers and dabs they were smoking were sprayed with Azadirachtin which is an OMRI certified "organic" pesticide that is "safe to use up until harvest day". This is assuming it will be on a fruit or vegetable that can be washed. Also that worries me that neem oil could also be a culprit since I use it in my garden. That being said, I never use it during flowering/fruiting because it would absolutely ruin the taste of some stuff - it's common among people who use it in organic gardening to discourage its use in flowering but I can imagine plenty of growers just thinking "organic = use it as much as you want".

Also I'm sure it was mostly the lidocaine in the drink the ER gave me but there was some benadryl (antihistamine) in it and that was the most significant relief I got the whole night.

To your point about the hot baths: "One theory on the effectiveness of hot showers states that it may correct the disequilibrium of the thermoregulatory system in the hypothalamus. Another theory suggests that the concept of peripheral vasodilation and redistribution of blood flow from the splanchnic circulation to peripheral musculature helps decrease vomiting. This research gap shows that further studying of cannabis and its effects are still needed."


Also FYI (hope this hasn't been posted already) - its an article in which some doctors gave haloperidol to a CHS patient and symptoms resolved within a day of starting it and she didn't quit smoking cannabis. https://www.hindawi.com/journals/crips/2016/3614053/
 
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I'm convinced that I had this syndrome and the good news is that I found almost instant relief through accupuncture! I told my acupuncturist that I'd had gastroenteritis for months and he was able to stop the symptoms. I felt better immediately. Bad news...I had to quit smoking, it's just not worth months of pain. Please try it, I haven't seen accupuncture mentioned in any of these forums and I wasn't able to get relief from herbal remedies or anti-nausea drugs.
 
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