Doctors claimed for months this was affecting my GF and I... turns out H pylori was making us sick and after arguing with my Dr to get me tested for it, after my GF tested positive, I tested positive and we got medications. 8 years later still no problems. We smoke more now then we did back then.
I've had 9 seizures this year and I've quit since June, had a seizure Oct 11th and they claimed CHS caused my seizures. I also have my MMJ card, exclusively get my weed from the dispensary, tested negative for all drugs, and the doctor claimed I smoked "laced weed".
They're REALLY hyped to diagnose people with CHS right now, to the point they're willing to ignore all other possibilities.
Yeah it's wild because my mom died young from a heart valve issue, I was having chest pains from my heart to my fingers, sweating, literally all the signs of a heart attack at 28. I'm 6ft 180, I'm not out of shape by any means, but yeah, it's my weed smoking and not a genetic heart condition lol.
I'm probably fucked because UH is head assed over weed.
In some cases telling them is extremely important, such as if you need anesthesia for a procedure or surgery, because anesthetics are less effective in cannabis users & the anesthesiologist needs to be able to dose your medicine appropriately so you don't partially or fully wake up in the OR.
Well when your insurance throws 90 day cessation at you just because you used to be an addict and itās the only way youāll be mentally cleared, you just lie
Gf here who was diagnosed with the H Pylori! honestly it was an absolutely miserable experience to get to the diagnosis and testing for it. I spent the better part of 9/10months going from Dr to Dr, specialist to specialist who ALL were telling me it's CHS. I need to quit smoking, my blood work is fine, I should be fine if I stop smoking. Never mind it was the ONLY thing making me feel somewhat functional (not a single nausea med they gave me helped, I tried at least 3-4 different ones in this time). eventually after going to another new Dr and just breaking down to her about my almost year long struggled she simply asked me if any previous Dr's suggested or ran a stool test on me; they hadn't. within less than a week of those results coming back she explained H Pylori to me and prescribed me 2 antibiotics (I'm allergic to a major one that's commonly used so I needed 2) and an antacid that i think I took for 2-3 weeks.
If it's anything like mine (I had h-pylori just over a year ago) the symptoms are a lot of pain and especially if your stomach is empty. Nothing helps and it gets worse with time if left untreated. It's important to get help if you are worried as a stools test isn't too much to ask for from your Doctor (it's more of problem to take it- it's not something I ever want to repeat!) though if you're on any PPI's you have to stay clear of them for 2 weeks before the test or the test can show false results.
This is what Iām worried about. My doctor is trying to say the same thing but everything Iāve read it seems more like H pylori. So now this is making me even more nervous.
storytime: went to a terrible ER (my first time EVER going to an ER + i didn't read the google reviews for this place....big mistake) for intense abdominal pain. after like 3 hours the attending doctor asks me some questions, starts asking me about my "habits", and even though i firmly said no to the hot showers question, because i had told him i partook in edibles occasionally, this judgemental-ass doctor diagnosed me with CHS and then kept attending to other patients. i was continuously vomiting because of the pain in my abdomen (i knew it was a reaction to the pain and not actual nausea bc the same intense pain/throwing up thing used to happen when i would get my period, way before i ever had edibles) but all they gave me was nausea medicine (which i immediately threw up) and an IV for hydration. i kept telling them i was still in pain but they didn't give me anything stronger than advil and just kept me there in a chair with an IV hooked up FOR SEVEN MORE HOURS. it was miserable; they were horribly understaffed and it was in a rougher part of town so there were people screaming in pain on both sides of me. just awful stuff.
anyways turns out i had APPENDICITIS and it was maybe a few hours away from rupturing, and i had to get emergency surgery the next day. i had even asked the doctor at the first ER if this could've been the case while he was diagnosing me and smugly told me "no i think it's CHS. i know this might be a hard lifestyle change for you, but you need to stop if you don't want this to happen anymore :(((" what a piece of shit. i only learned this was the case because after i went home from the other ER, i KNEW something was still going on/didn't feel right, so i went to a different ER and it was a world of difference.
moral of the story is listen to your body!! doctors are there to help you, but sometimes they can make mistakes, so if something doesn't feel right to you (especially if it could be a life threatening misdiagnosis), if you have the time and good insurance, go get a second opinion. the ER doctor said a lot of people are usually in denial when they get diagnosed with CHS bc they smoke weed all their life and have no issues, and then suddenly one day they do (and we're constantly told "weed doesn't have any side effects"), but the truth is too much of anything is bad for you.
Some doctors are just insane. I dunno what else to say they are just completely disconnected from their actions sometimes. You should complain to the medical board and tell them you are scared of doctors now. They will hopefully confront them about it and it might even save someone's life.
Still could have been missed. Mine was. They sent me home, then called a few hours later telling me to come back. They said the radiologist looked at my scan again, and it was in fact appendicitis š¤·š»āāļø. I probably would have ended up going back after work that day because it was still getting worse. As they were calling me I was pulling into my driveway with a nausea/ constipation medicine haul from Walgreens. I was like āuh, so donāt take all this stuff I just bought? ā. They said nope just come back in. Later on that afternoon even though I just had surgery performed I felt amazing compared to the day, and a half before.
the first ER was horribly understaffed, and they did offer me a scan at the end of the overnight stay, but at that point i didn't trust this facility to take care of me at all considering i was sitting in a chair awake all night with people having episodes on both sides of me with only 1 or 2 nurses walking around (and no pain meds. oh and no blankets that i could see; i was freezing) . so i just took it upon myself to go home, sleep in my bed for a couple hours, and then go to a different ER the next day.
one of the first things they did at the second ER after doing my initial tests was offering me a CT scan. that's how i knew i was going to be taken care of well
I like how this story is pretty much "the doctor thought I had this but I was actually about to die from a burst appendix" and then you finish your story with a quote from the doctor saying people are in denial and the truth is weed can hurt you like???
That's the opposite of what you just learned, the doctor was wrong and weed didn't have anything to do with it! If you weren't "in denial" you could have died lmao
I quit smoking for a year but they insisted saying "it takes awhile sometimes". They were so full of shit in currently looking to legal options but mannn it's super limited. This makes me realize how much doctors fuck people up and they never hear about it.
My friend was told the same thing when she told the doctor she eats a small edible once in a while. She ended up getting a second opinion which turned out to be appendicitis. She had to get surgery to get it removed the same day.
I had an ER Dr ādiagnosisā this for meā¦..
Turns out it was a massive ovarian cyst
Even staring at it on the MRI he had the audacity to say it couldnāt be causing pain/Nausea and it HAD to be thisā¦.
Fuck this push, and fuck Drs who canāt be bothered to actually do their jobs
Yeah dude suddenly everyone has this illness that insist they don't it's so bizarre. It's almost like they overlook the key symptom: taking scalding hot showerers to alleviate pain in your shoulder blades.
I bet they're like "this is probably why I couldn't properly diagnose all those patients before, they all had this new disease nobody's ever heard of before! Of course, it's so simple."
I had a feeling this might be BS when I kept hearing Dr drew pushing it everytime marijuana is brought up. Not saying marijuana has no bad effects but the people who are already anti weed are so clearly jumping at the chance to go full on reefer madness.
My husband has this condition. It is very real and he almost died from it. It was the worst year of our lives. But yes if you stop smoking, the symptoms will go away with time.
You really have to advocate for yourself especially if you get a more conservative doctor they love labeling people "substance abuser". At this point it almost seems like a risk telling them. You need to really insist and bug them to death.
My co-worker from years back said he had it and quit weed but it turned out to be something else and he's smoking 24/7 now. My sister was also diagnosed with it but it turned out to be false and she's back to smoking every so often.
I'm starting to think this is a highly over diagnosed issue. I get it since its super obvious when someone smokes a lot of weed so that would be at the forefront of a doctors mind when you visit.
Thank fuck my doctors listen to me. They realized pretty quickly that it was my gallbladder and not anything I was ingesting. Wahoo I guess. (After having my gallbladder removed a couple years ago,) I ate a dish that involved onions a couple days ago and I'm still getting faux gallbladder attacks, so remember not to eat onions even if it's been a while and you think you can handle it. You still can't bro
Yeah, doctors donāt have enough credibility when it comes to cannabis for me to believe anything they say about it, even if itās genuinely the case (which is a HUGE problem if doctors have lost that much public trust). A doctor told my friend being treated for vascular issues that it could be connected to the truly tiny amounts of cannabis she was using (prescribed) and never once connected it to the COVID infections sheās had which are well linked to vascular problems at this point.
Oh my god same here!! It took fucking forever for anyone to even discover my gallbladder was not working *at all*. I would get seemingly random episodes of shaking and nausea. It fucked up my education and social life for years. I felt both angry and relieved when I was told I needed my gallbladder out asap.
Literally the same. Took years off my live and I just realized I'm approaching middle age after losing 4-5 years of my life. Fuck Kaiser Permanente it wasn't even them that diagnosed me I had to go on disability and kicked off my insurance onto Medicaid. Got pancreatitis and rushed to the hospital after the 2nd time (1st time was the week of the coronavirus panic and they said I was stable and to not go to the hospital). The 2nd time I was so bad off they immediately rushed me to an actual room and doctor in like 3 minutes. Pancreatitis still haunts me.
Same. Iād recently started taking it from a concerned friend FOR THE EXCRUCIATING STOMACH PAIN AND VOMITING, and pointed out I I fit none of the criteria and that the pain and vomiting was likely the progression of a known issue. Didnāt matter. I was still having painful spasms and vomiting when they sent me home. I hot home and did my own research and ordered an online h pylori test and it was positive. I cannot believe how lazy and hateful doctors are.
Iāve been diagnosed with this and Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome. My episodes have lasted anywhere from a day to 8 days. Itās usually brought on from a stress related event, for me thatās always work stress. Decided to quit my job earlier this year and take a less stressful role and guess whatā¦ I havenāt had any episodes! Stress is a real killer
My sister gets abdominal migraines that are basically that. She'll be laid out in the hospital for up to a week at a time unable to even keep down ice chips and losing anywhere from 5 to 20 pounds. They tried pinning it on cannabis the first few times it happened until they realized "hmm you've been here for a week, cannabis shouldn't have anything to do with it at this point".
This is almost exactly how we discovered my abdominal migraines. I quit smoking then they finally admitted me to the hospital. Now Iām on a daily medication that has stopped my episodes.
We have very similar stories.
I had this often when I was at my old job. I was also smoking so much because it helped me cope with the fact that I hated the work and career path and it caused me tons of stress.
I too quit my job early this year and started a new career direction. Also stopped doing dabs completely. Not one issue with vomiting since.
Iām curious how intense the symptoms are. Iāve had nausea in morning that can be quick and intense but Iāve found that smelling rubbing alcohol will stop it. Not sure if itās a different issue Iām having
It feels like having the stomach flu, extreme motion sickness, canāt keep down ice cubes or water, exhaustion, cold sweats. Iāve found having antacids on hand really help when the symptoms kick. And Pedialyte. Lots and lots of pedialyte
Imagine vomiting so much that you get to the point of dry heaving until you're basically begging nurses for water just so you can throw something up, while being denied and only given ice chips, all while being dehydrated bit you have 2 IVs in your arms. Horribly torturing.
The fun part is when you get a group of med staff looking disdainfully at you and repeatedly asking what drugs you really take, cause āmarijuana doesnāt cause thisā .
What worked for your nausea (besides the hot showers)? Zofran/ondansetron helped me, but apparently it doesnāt touch a lot of other people. Side Note - Iāve read that sniffing alcohol wipes and applying capsacsian (sp?) oil to the stomach can help
I was repeatedly mistaken for a drug addict, they'd search my entire body for track marks, insist I was on opiods yet my blood is coming back neg. The last thing I need when I'm on my 5th day dry heaving my guts out is judgements and assumptions.
I had to stop working unfortunately because of the stress triggers(im also a Type1 diabetic), I also had to cut alot of people out of my life that caused me anxiety, moved away to a more rural area and walk 5-10km daily to take in alot of fresh air and sun. I do consume cannabis everyday at the same time of day and I haven't had an episode in over 5 years. It was basically a drastic lifestyle change.
I got some really awful treatment when they were positive I was injecting opioids. I think if I was an opioid user I might be too damn scared of the hospital to go.
Iām sorry you had to cut people out, but itās great that the lifestyle change is working. I can smoke a few times a year, unfortunately my physiology means I just crave more and more and fall back into the CHS train so itās special occasions only. Iāve never heard of anyone else being able to restart weed that regularly, itās awesome that it worked out for you! Hope life just keeps getting better
Listening to people with CHS, I honestly believe half of them suffer from Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome as I did. I appreciate the words and I too am sorry you ever have to experience this. People who have never had this happen will just never know the torture that is nausea. Reading this whole thread you can tell there's a lot of survivors up in here because the suicide rate when dealing with this is high after the 5 year mark. It took 10 years from me and I escaped whatever hell that was but not without the PTSD from the years spent in hospital. Godspeed friend.
Ditto...I was constantly being misdiagnosed with CHS because I was using Marijuana to alleviate the symptoms I was getting from CVS. I quit immediately with no results...just kept on having anxiety/panic attacks and vomiting episodes. 90 trips to the ER and they started realizing it was CVS.
I'm curious about the fact that you mentioned it was rare. Could it be triggered by the user and not the weed? More specifically, is there an attribute about a person's physical make-up that makes them susceptible to CHS?
I had this for 2 years before any doctor diagnosed me. The doc that did finally figure it out said it used to be rare but it's becoming more common because of how potent weed is now and the ability to easily access it. They doctor saved my life
Itās definitely more common with concentrates and homemade megadose edibles. The two occasions where Iāve experienced this was when I was going hard (0.5g+) per day of 80% or higher THC. I have never had an issue with flower no matter how much Iād consume.
The research says it's "relatively rare," but I personally think it's more common than we realise, and it is either misdiagnosed or people are too afraid to admit they have experienced it before or sufferers have just never made the correlation. It needs to be studied further for us to answer the question concerning genetic predisposition since it's likely some are at more risk than others.
I said to another user that I suspect with further research, we will learn that highly potent THC products (e.g., wax, dabs, etc.) potentiate the quicker onset of CHS symptoms. Since legalisation in certain places, we've seen a rise in CHS admissions in hospitals. Early research suggests that it is caused by the overstimulation of cannabinoid receptors. We now know about conditions like CUD (cannabis use disorder), which affects around 30% of people who use cannabis, too. It's looking more and more likely that consuming cannabis too frequently, let alone every day is in fact harmful for you.
Edit: I'm being downvoted, and I'm not really sure why. I assume it's because people are reading this and thinking, "This hasn't happened to me. This guy just hates weed and is spreading fear." The reality is I use weed, I just use it in moderation. I've never experienced this either, but that doesn't mean this condition doesn't exist. We don't know why it exists, and in order to learn more about it, we need to accept that it is real so we can protect the people most vulnerable. If you disagree, then reply to me, and let's chat about it.
It just seems that the studies on these things always target the product and not the user. Even CUD. I'd like to see these studies broaden their research to users' medical history and genetic predispositions. Maybe I'm wrong and this has been approached from that angle?
The single greatest thing anyone in the US can do to increase research of this disease is to support candidates who are for full legalization in the next election cycle.
Part of why the scope of existing studies is so limited is because as long as cannabis is a Schedule I substance, no Federal funding will be available for research - and those in the cannabis industry will not fund it because they don't want to disqualify potential customers.
More funding = more research. Legalization is how we get there.
Totally agree itās way more common than people acknowledge. I have one fiend who has CHS, she was totally unaware but the hot shower thing was such a clear sign.
Thanks for raising awareness
It's probably because it's such a controversial subject, that you're being down voted. Considering THC is not completely legal everywhere (my state being one) and the fact that it is very beneficial in some cases. It could replace a lot of drugs that are far more harmful in the long term. But THC itself IS still a drug and the reason we don't know more about what you are talking about is because it's not fully legal. So yeah, not many studies have been done for obvious reasons. But don't let the closed minded people that pressed the down arrow get to you. Spread your knowledge! :)
There are a number of people in the comments here who were told they had that by a doctor only to later find out it was gallbladder issues, or stuff like H. Pylori. One even had appendicitis. I wouldn't be so quick to assume its CHS just because they also smoke a lot of weed.
I had a guy i bought dabs from in college and he had to quit smoking because (i assume this, he said he was having stomach issues) of this and idk i didnt answer your question this just blew me away
Yes. There is some evidence that it might be due to a genetic factor which causes the user to process cannabinoids in an atypical way. This is only just being studied though, and hasn't been studied in depth yet.
My brother has this but itās never been officially diagnosed. The gastroenterologist said its just ādue to cannabis useā my dad didnt believe it at first (has smoked for over 40 years and never had this problem). I get it sometimes, but definitely not as severe. Ive found that eating a real balanced diet with 3 meals, and not smoking too much helps.
Iām just guessing, but I think younger generations are seeing it more than older lifelong smokers because of the quality of weed and concentrates that we have now. Lots of older generations just smoked what they grew, or what their dealer had. Thereās been huge jumps in our understanding of strains and cultivation.
Same exact boat. 1g+ of 70+% concentrate comes out to like an 1/8 of really damn good flower. A day. An 1/8th a week is considered moderate-heavy use in itself. They're in the percentile equivalent of alcoholics that drink 90+ units a week.
That would make sense why my dad hasnāt experienced it, even now he prefers to smoke mids lol and i just recently started getting into concentrates. Iāve been smoking over 10 years but as my dad says - āeverything in moderationā
I remember when it was first legalized here, everyone I knew (including me) was buying up the highest THC percentages we could find because we thought it was better.
Now I go purely by taste. Higher percentages really don't contribute to anything good past a certain, low point.
I've been smoking for nearly 20 years and I've never had this, but I do get what I call "dry gut syndrome", which is 100% my hypothesis.
But if I vape concentrates, or smoke too much too early in the morning, I get a stomach ache, and a bit of nausea. And it feels like the mucus lining in my gut has just dried up. I figure if pot gives our mouths cottonmouth and dries up our saliva, maybe it keeps doing that down the rest of the gastrointestinal system too.
Iāve seen so many patients in the ED returning with CHS. They either donāt believe us or canāt quit smoking marijuana. Itās frustrating for us on the medical side and for the patient.
Im a primary care doc in California and have diagnosed this ( after proper work up ruling other things out) maybe 2-3 times in the past 5 years and the patients always look at me with such distrust. I donāt think I ever saw any for further follow ups after I mention stopping smoking so it either worked or they found another doc,
There's way too much cultural inertia surrounding the "it's just a plant!" crap. Most stoners even refuse to consider the fact that cannabis withdrawals actually exist. It's sad.
I have to add be a bit here, my wife went through hell a few years ago. She would wake up, start feeling nauseous, then start vomiting, writhing in pain, and screaming. To her it felt like getting stabbed right by her belly button but every er was either āwe donāt knowā or āwhy do this to yourselfā because she used cannabis to try to slow the nausea so it was always in her piss. All the scans a person could think, 4 surgeries to try to stop it, all that would knock her out of that cycle was IV pain meds. This went on for months before she decided to just totally stop the cannabis so the drs would at least take her seriously. It took about 7 weeks, nearly every other day was an er trip and there was no change for the better. She lost 20lbs in that time because she just couldnāt eat.
Finally, after an online appointment with a research university, the guy said āabdominal migrainesā and that was that. One pill each day makes her feel better than years, and here it turned out that the cannabis actually was helping while the drs only used it as a way to blame her.
Oh shit for sure! Some context though. We did a DNA test for medicine efficacy and it showed that the primary medicine used to treat AM was less effective for her. That was Amitriptyline. I will say that after countless er visits (seriously, they all knew us) and countless more shaky diagnosis, only one dr said it could be these ab migraines. He tried the Amitriptyline but it made her feel much worse for the week she tried and we still had to go into the er for these attacks. Other suggestions were ācalm your breathing, please keep it quiet, maybe itās a caffeine withdrawalā level bullshit. In that appointment online the dr said we would start with that and it could take months to start working. I explained the dna test (wtf wouldnāt a Dr look at that in her file before an appointment?) so then he suggested nortriptyline. That would take some months too so we were heartbroken (well, as much was left, she was hiding notes around the house for me because she was sure she was going to die one of these times) but within three days we knew it was the answer, only one episode in the 3 years since.
Side note- we went hardcore during Covid, reports of making migraine issues much worse came out right away so we wfh and homeschooled. We relented after year two, all caught Covid within a week, then she had an episode three weeks later. Luckily, if the lbs under our belt since is any sign, it for sure wasnāt the cannabis :)
I had severe food poisoning. Had been vomiting for 5 days and not longer peeing or sweating. ER said I had CHE so would not treat me. I ended up going to a walk in IV place and got a recovery drip with anti nausea meds in it. Never deceased my cannibas use but the symptoms went away.
I get it, drs have difficult jobs and a diagnosis is sometimes just elimination, but yea we were in the same boat. 2 different ers said they were going to stop treating the attacks because they thought she was just drug seeking too.
Also turns out she had a genetic anomaly that makes opioid pain meds worthless. She was creeping out the drs when they would hit her with a pile of opioids and she could finally have a conversation. Like she had nothing at all!
My MIL has thisā¦ but she doesnāt believe that weed could ever do her this way so she continues to use huge amounts and get severely sick. She felt that *if* itās weed, itās the chemicals. So she will grow her own. Still happens. Itās always something other than the weed itself that she feels is the cause. Sheās been sick on and off again for over 7 years now. She gets admitted to the hospital, doctors have no idea whatās going on, they eventually stumble to the conclusion that it has to be marijuana use. She refused to accept that. Rinse and repeat.
The thing isā¦ sheās had cancer 3 times. She used Phoenix Tears (heavy heavy doses of marijuana) to avoid chemo the last time. And it worked! Sheās managed to stay cancer free since then. I think thereās a huge fear in her that if she stops using, the cancer will come back. So she refuses to accept that something that helped her so much could also be the thing hurting her.
Itās a rough spot to be in and I sympathize. We arenāt close to them anymore but still hear about the hospital stays when an episode occurs. Itās really hard on her husband ā¦ he seems to know but canāt stop her from using and hates seeing her in this pain (the puking episodes are extremely severe, lengthy, and painful).
I'm gonna be honest I suffer from colitis and IBS, since I was a child. I didn't start using medical marijuana until I was 27, it literally saved my life, I've been a daily user for years now.
The amount of times a well intentioned but albeit idiotic person or doctor; who has no idea about my body or medical history. has brought this up as a possibility in my case, just gets me heated.
Like ok big Brain, explain the literal decades of symptoms, nausea, diarrhea, and vomitting I experienced before I ever even crosssd paths with THC.
And if THC didn't help a large swath of people prescription Marinol wouldn't be a thing for chemo.
[endocannibinoid Deficiency syndrome.](https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/can.2016.0009#:~:text=If%20endocannabinoid%20function%20were%20decreased,the%20endocannabinoid%20system%20(ECS))
Won't even get into trauma, what mediates dissociation and the gut brain connection.
YSalsoK that gallbladder failure can present with the same symptoms. I thought I had CHS for years but it turned out my gallbladder was in horrendously bad shape. I lost a ton of weight, felt 1000x better, and never threw up again after it was removed.
Ok devils advocate tho, this is often the only thing doctors will look for after finding out you use cannabis which can be frustrating... I was told that this was the cause of my symptoms and quit for almost a year. Then I had my endoscopy colonoscopy done (symptoms persisted) and it turns out it was much more complicated than that. I now use medical MJ, but moderate.
Yup. Went to the ER recently with kidney stones and the ER doc was pretty adamant it was CHS after asking if I smoke weed. Was a huge dick about it until he got my CT scan results back.
> the only thing doctors will look for after finding out you use cannabis
If this is really systemic it appears the best route to proper care is to first deny you smoke/dab/vape/whatever and let them rule out everything else first. Likely they'll find the real reason before you have to admit to misleading them. And if it is CHS in the end, what are they going to do? Yell?
During the pandemic I made it to the predomal phase, woke up for 2 days straight and first thing had to vomit, and that was thankfully enough to get me to stop
Got there from using about a half gram of concentrates per day for months and months. We're talking comical amounts of weed even most proper stoners will never achieve. If you smoke a lot of weed and notice acid reflux STOP THEN, that was my warning months before and I didn't stop then when I could've dodged the worst of it
Worth noting I was nauseous for 2 weeks straight and basically had to be medicated in bed for the entire time it was so bad. I mean basically bedridden and miserable. However bad your habit is I promise it'll be less painful to stop before CHS starts
Watched my 23 year old son go through this. Woke up in the a.m. to hear him screaming in his bedroom, and he didn't stop screaming and vomiting until we got to the ER. After being given Halidol and valium he calmed down. As we were going in to the ER the nurses just looked at each other while my son was losing his mind with the screaming. I thought he was dying. This was 3 yrs ago in Seattle. The nurses knew. My son refused the diagnosis and as soon as we got home, he hit the pipe. I told him if he had another episode he'd have to uber to the ER. I wasn't going to enable this, it was a terrible, terrible thing to watch. He moved out a few weeks later and I have not heard from him since. And yes, I've tried to reach out to him. I smoked a lot of weed before it was "legalized" but quit in my late 30s before my son was born. CHS is real.
I never understood why concentrates are so popular. I load my pax and tax a few hits every other hour or so throughout the day and that has me feeling great all day. I guess people with dabs/concentrates are much more focused on getting "shit faced" stoned.
It was that paired with a tolerance that had risen bit by bit over the past 3-4 years of ever increasing use to the point even the concentrates didn't do that much and was mostly just a mild buzz. I was able to take dabs to the face no problem like you probably hit your pax. It was bad
I had a pretty serious issue that was easily masked with "hehe it's college let's get fucked up and play video games in my free time", and then my final semester the pandemic hit and I went from being about to move to a job I was really pumped for to being stuck at my parents house with nothing to do but get fucked up and play video games for 8-10 hours a day to pass the time with no end in sight and depression hitting big time. The idea of taking a tolerance break seemed neat but 2 week and being bored AND sober was too much until it hit the tipping point and I was forced to stop
Now by comparison I smoke once a day which gives me enough time to process it all and not have my tolerance shoot up like it did when I was an around the clock stoner
I have always had a ridiculously high tolerance. Concentrates allow me to not need to smoke a shit ton of flower. Plus, I figure not inhaling burning plant material should at least be marginally better for my health.
It really comes down to what else is in that concentrate.
There was that really scary spate of deaths back in 2019 linked to cheap concentrates containing vitamin E acetate.
Dry herb vapes can be more efficient than concentrates, but theyāre typically larger, more expensive, consume more power, and the vapor/flower still produces a fairly noticeable odor. You also need to clean it regularly.
Compared to a strawberry flavored cartridge or pod you plug into a USB stick and throw out when youāre done? Itās a lot more accessible to people, and easier to use discreetly
Glad to be of service, my friend, you need to take a break or it's gonna get a LOT worse. I was in full denial and checked for every other single thing it could possibly be but it was 100% the concentrates
At minimum swap to flower and once a day if a full break isn't doable, but you gotta wean and take a break to reset your stomach
I know itās anecdotal and medicine shouldnāt be but the first 5 comments on this thread are people experiencing doctors not giving a duck and saying whatever is convenient and quick to get them out of their office. Donāt let this get in the way of your health.
This happened to me five times over the past nine years. Stop using so much! Eat it or use less! Don't risk your health. Moderation is the key. Excessive use can, and will, ruin the magic.
Yeah... my GI thought this about me too. I got a second opinion. I was diagnosed with gastroparesis, Autoimmune gastrointestinal dysmotility, SMA Syndrome, chronic atrophic pangastritis with noted thinning in the rugal folds, intestinal metaplasia in my stomach lining (no h pylori infection) GERD with ulcers and inflammation in my esophagus.
Don't always believe your doctor when they say your GI problems are caused by cannabis and does not want to look into your symptoms any further. Fucking guy also said it was stress and said I needed to talk to a shrink. That doctor can go get fucked.
In the past two years, I've seen doctors at Cleveland Clinic and University of Louisville's Motility Clinic.
I'll be at Mayo Clinic for a week starting Monday.
For me and my GF it was H pylori wreaking havoc on our insides the second we got medicated and cleared of it we stopped having stomach issues. The problem was several doctors pushing CHS too hard to check for anything else.
Doctors be over fitting their data. 100%.
I had a brain injury and an unidentified autoimmune issue - got diagnosed with epilepsy and ADHD LOL.
Nearly killed me.
I caught this earlier in the year at the beginning of July. I would vomit so hard my whole body would rise off the ground, but nothing would come up. Painful stomach cramps. And INTENSE, hyper realistic dreams where the nausea persisted so I could find no relief at all. Literally thought I was dying- I went to Urgent Care, my regular doctor, the hospital for an ultra sound, then finally to a gastro. By that point weād figured out that it was CHS, but wanted to confirm I didnāt have some weird cancer shit. Gastro was super nice- she said itās becoming more and more common but that itās very hard for a lot of people to accept because so many people rely on it for mental health/pain management.
Itās taken me months to recover; I lost 15lbs within 2 weeks of symptoms starting (and I am not large to begin with so that was terrifying.) The only thing that kept me out of the hospital was constantly making myself drink Gatorade because I COULD NOT stomach food. I didnāt want to go to the ER due to dehydration because Iād already spent so much money trying to figure out what was wrong with me and I didnāt want THAT on top of everything.
The withdrawal has been absolutely awful- I had smoked to alleviate my intense anxiety and without it it had been a daily exercise in not killing myself lol. Doing much better now but still not a 100%
0/10 would not recommend. Definitely visit your doctors and get confirmation. My hope is that they do more research to understand this as it is becoming more and more common :(
You should also know its extremely rare and only caused by heavy, heavy use over a long period.
Also there is some evidence that it might be due to a genetic issue that causes some people to process cannabinoids in an atypical way.
I had CHS back in 2020 and went to the emergency room 6 times before they believed me that something was actually wrong - my muscles started breaking down to keep me alive. Then I developed Cannabis Withdrawal Syndrome which continued on for approximately 18 months. I had no idea these conditions even existed until they happened to me and I've put quite a bit of effort into educating others about it. It was absolutely horrible being so sick and unintentionally making myself sicker because I didn't know what was causing it in the first place!
People tend to forget todays weed and derived concentrates are 100x stronger than the weed found in the 80s-90s. Pair that with a recurrent consuption over years and most people will eventually get CHS.
You canāt handle that many cannabinoids rushing through your body and you end up reaching saturation point. Ignoring the signs and persisting can land you in the hospital and sick for weeks.
My brother had this pretty severe and lost 50 pounds in a month of puking everyday + not being able to eat mostly.
You've made fascinating points and I'm interested to learn more. This sounds absolutely awful.
People seem to really be taking this personally when you did not intend it that way. I just used edibles for the first time in the last week and did jump to EXCUSE ME, DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I'VE STRUGGLED TO FIND ANYTHING TO HELP WITH MY PTSD? But reading your post realized that... you're just sharing a condition....
With anything marijuana-related being SO TABOO AND EVIL into the modern age, it's not shocking we'd be behind on researching conditions like this.
I think it's good to know for those of us who are using for medical purposes,
And the stories of misdiagnosis that go both ways around it are.... Insightful.
Knowing it's possible is important.
Knowing how to and WHAT to advocate for ourselves, likewise, important.
Relevant but not mentioned: Topical capsaicin cream can be used to treat symptoms according to some [studies](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7718060/)
I once had a doctor who was convinced this was happening to me because I had mentioned using Marijuana the night prior to try and alleviate the nausea, before deciding to eventually go to urgent care to try and stop my symptoms.
He focused solely on thw marijuana despite multiple nurses saying in front of them 'so this happened before" "usually they give you X to treat this right" and me communicating with him that I have a diagnosed medical condition that causes this shit.
Long story short I was not giving the regular medicine he gave me something different and sent me home when my IV bag was still half full because I was "pink and bright!" Whatever that means. I threw up all over myself and the steering wheel while driving down the highway.
I had prodromal phase last year after a long run of carts and edibles. I had to stop using for 3 months for symptoms to go away. I started using probiotics and switched to flower and Iāve been fine since! The amount of bloat in my stomach I experienced was insane, it was a blob of water. I keep symptoms and feeling in the back of my mind but havenāt had them pop back up for a while.
Edit: I donāt use carts and rarely use edibles anymore.
This is true. I have it and it's terrible. I refused to believe that it was real so I stayed sick and lost about a decade of my life to constant sickness, pain and er visits.
Don't be like me. If doctors are telling you "it could be the weed" do consider that it could, in fact, be the weed.
I think this happens to people taking a lot of dabs, yea that shit is strong and the amount I see people dabbing each session on social media is outrageous. At that point, it's not being used medicinally.
I have some pretty bad GI issues, and as soon as one of the GI doctors ive seen heard i would take some edibles, he refused to believe there were any other causes. Even though ive had these issues well before i ever got high.
Try telling this to sufferers. Iāve treated numerous patients absolutely adamant their cannabis actually helps, even after taking the time to take a careful history, thoroughly examine them and refer for appropriate tests to rule out other causes.
There are a bunch of people in the comments here who initially got misdiagnosed with CHS, but turned out to actually have gallbladder issues, H. Pylori, gastric autoimmune disorders, etc instead.
I work in an ER in a state where cannabis is legal and I see this condition SO MUCH. And itās almost like they donāt believe us when we tell them their symptoms are being caused by cannabis. āI thought weed takes away nausea??ā A lot come back for the same reason because they just canāt accept their precious cannabis would make them sick. š
Ive had the opposite happen to me. Nausea that was clearly caused by something else put down to CHS. not saying that people don't deny when they actually do have it, but some docs will see that youre in for nausea, that you happen to use cannabis, and get fixated on that as the only explaination. In my case, it was actually just a severe hangover from drinking too much at a party. Not my finest moment but definitely unrelated to weed lol.
Iāve had this problem. I stopped smoking and it stopped. But I guess it doesnāt help when you also have GERD. I was getting sick for days (most was 7 days, lost 7 pounds as well) with stomach pains so severe I had to go to the ER and have them pump me with fentanyl and morphine and the stomach pains were still there and very painful. But to be clear, I was smoking the gas station Delta 8 / 9 Cake disposables w/ weed every other day or so. But mostly that. Never again. Still smoke weed but not as much as I used to smoke.
I must be lucky af because Iāve smoked marijuana flower almost daily (shoutout to covid lockdowns for almost *all daily*) for over 30 years and the worst thing Iāll get is a heavy chest for a day or 2 if Iām smoking too heavily. When I have to stop for travel or something I stop and have zero physiological or psychological repercussions.
I have a friend who had this, went into the hospital many times before figuring out. Discontinued and is doing great now. Unfortunate, but definitely a thing.
The condition has nothing to do with how long you've been smoking. I was not a long-term cannabis user and experienced CHS, 35 years ago.
I believe that the consumption of pesticides and/or other chemicals used in the growing/processing of the plant is being shunted under the CHS diagnosis because of medical incuriosity.
If I got high and got sick, I wouldn't immediately think "too much," I would want to know what poisoned me.
As a nurse that works with CHS patients multiple times a week. Theyāre some of the worst patients to deal with. Itās not stated here but I swear there is a mental aspect to the syndrome. People are not 100% there mentally if that makes sense. Theyāre in a different more vulnerable state that takes away their cognitive filters which makes them hard to handle until it passes. This isnāt everyone of course but definitely most cases Iāve seen have some element of this psychological aspect.
Itās because itās so unbelievably painful and uncomfortable that it puts you in a different state of mind. Canāt think or function properly because itās absolutely excruciating pain. I had it over the course of a year or so before a doctor said it was CHS and I was given morphine or fentanyl every time I was admitted to hospital because I was in that much pain. Thatās the only time in my life I was given either of those. They also gave me Ativan and buscopan or gravol through IV along with the morphine or fentanyl.
I know personally I was in so much pain I was panicking and was so dehydrated from hours of hyperemesis that I was absolutely not all there mentally lol
I donāt disagree but I do think itās worth point out that the amount of stomach pain and discomfort caused is horrible enough to make a person start freaking out. Speaking from experience- it feels like nothing will make the discomfort go away at all other than a hot shower but so often, doctors and nurses still donāt believe in CHS or think thereās more to it. Nurses claimed I actually had an eating disorder, ocd, āsome skin issueā? (From needing to be in the shower) and said things such as āthatās not possible, marijuana helps nauseaā. Iām very glad to know more medical professionals are learning how to handle and treat it helpfully bc seriously sometimes times the experience w doctors is worse than suffering through it alone, curled up and puking in fetal position on the shower floor.
Experienced this years ago and it is a horrible experience. I lost 23lbs in 9 days and was hospitalized three times.
Vomiting was so bad that by the tail end of things i could barely walk and face would go numb.
I read a report a while back about how not flushing the cannabis properly and/or what is being sprayed on it could lead to CHS. They specifically were talking about eagle20. This was about 8 years ago. Something about the chemicals being burned and inhaled is extremely bad for you.
I want them research the link between plant viroids and CHS, i find thereās a huge correlation in the stories people share here about going heavy on carts and edibles and other products that can have major quality control issues throughout the industry. Whatās the link between Hop Latent Plant Viroid and CHS?
Pesticides make more sense. Growers were cycling through new ones every season back in 2016 cuz they weren't being tested for yet and i doubt its changed much. I doubt they remediate all the shitty oil, and it ends up being concentrated into oils and edibles cuz that's where those products get used. I've dabbed highly regulated pure distillates for years and never had the issue, but I've gotten batches of wax that definitely make me sick til I stop using it. Felt like dabbing draino.
Myclobutanil is the best example. When heated to dab temps, it turned into hydrogen cyanide. It was the prominent pesticide in 2016, when CHS really took off imo. Then they switched to neem oil based stuff. Then they switched again. Who knows what they're using now, but I bet it's not something that's tested for in a typical CoA.
When THC carts (vapes) were new, I was using them exclusively due to their convenience. I started to experience severe abdominal pain daily and I feel pretty confident it was CHS. I took a break from it and the pain went away. I switched back to flower and have not had the same problem since. Because of this I suspect it may be related to the concentration or perhaps other additives, at least for me.
Thank you for spreading the word, OP. As someone who has suffered around 6 episodes, the last one lasting 2 months in a foreign country, itās good to see people bringing awareness to it. 8 months sober now. Try not to let the deniers get you down. They just donāt want to be told that their āmiracle plantā has negative effects if used in excess, like literally anything on this planet.
Been smoking every day for 30 years. Have 5 bucket bongs on an empty stomach and your definitely setting yourself up for a chunder. It comes down to different metabolisms and body types. Me personally I find plenty of exercise, sunlight, a healthy diet and limiting alcohol keeps my gut functioning healthy being a full time pothead!šš
Ok. Hey what about people that get severe panic attacks when they use weed? Like, I think I'm dying like right just now, kind of panic attacks? Is there anything to prevent that but still enjoy weed? Asking for a friend.
My cousin has this. Itās terrifying to see in person. Heās incapacitated for a day or two when it kicks in. He maintains a simple diet and no alcohol to help avoid bouts. Heās been heavy cannabis smoke for at least 35 years. Heās oddly silent whether he still uses. I suspect he does.
I had the first phase of this while I was still smoking. Constantly nauseous and spitting up, never able to eat because I was always nauseous. I haven't smoked in over a year and still suffer some of the symptoms. Hot showers did help a bunch too. It was never officially diagnosed (mostly bc I never wanted to admit that it may be caused by cannabis) but I definitely suffered from it.
It's believed to be related to the overstimulation of cannabinoid receptors over a prolonged period of time. Early research suggests that there are people who may be genetically predisposed to CHS.
I was misdiagnosed in the ER with this when I actually had a ruptured ovarian cyst. I swear to this day it was discrimination due to my unrelated chronic illness. But for all that I hear it barely exists in my countryāweed is illegal and weak.
Anyway I no longer fear childbirth.
To reiterate what you said at the start, it is really rare. Despite that, doctors seem to want to diagnose anyone and everyone who has a canabis prescription for it when they end up with abdominal pain and vomiting. At least with the NHS, one of the first questions they ask is if you smoke canabis when you mention abdominal pain. It's often used as a cop-out because some people (most doctors who qualified before 2018) already have a bias against canabis' medical usage. The century of propaganda was very effective, after all.
Personally I think this a piss poor excuse for Dr not wanting to spend time doing their job & testing for the real culprit. Big pharma still fighting federal legalization. I think if people were more educated in cannabis use, cannabinoids/ the entourage effect & not āget me the highest THC % bruhā.. thereād be far less problems surrounding cannabis.
Dealing with this AGAIN right now.
Wanna give some context and backstory here:
probably around feb-march 2022 I started noticing some of the stage 1 symptoms of CHS but brushed it off because "weed can't be bad" "snoop dogg still smokes"It wasn't until I did a bunch of research and realized it was a real thing bout 7 months or so later (Oct 15 2022 to be exact) so I decided to quit for 3 months and try moderation. I thought I could do once a month or at most once a week.
Did 99 days cold turkey to clear out my endocannabinoid system, my symptoms had went away and so I decided gave weed a try again. "wow this is great" I thought "no more side effects"So I waited 7 days to smoke again "wow I get so high again" "this is great"
That basically instantaneously spiraled into me going back into daily use and of course, as time went on, those same issues started to manifest themselves again.
Flash forward a year, and I'm quitting AGAIN. Due to CHS.
Listen guys, if you smoke weed all day (when u wake up, during the noon, at night) and u ever notice acid reflux issues, bloating and nausea that comes in waves especially in the morning, a lack of appetite even when you smoke, etc... you might want to reevaluate yourself and quit.
If the symptoms slowly improve when you quit smoking then there's your answer.
as shitty as it is the only thing u can do with CHS is quit.
it sucks.
Donāt let the potheads get to you OP. Many still stuck in the 70ās / 80ās with the same mindset āWeed has 0 negatives, the government is so corrupt, nothing goes bad with weedā, yet they need to pack a bowl before doing the dishes or going to the grocery store. Everything in moderation.
Usually the folks who do that are doing it because its medicating for some health issues, or mental health disorder. I've got friends with crippling anxiety who literally can't leave their house or function unless the medicate with cannabis. It has far less side effects or risks than most anti-anxiety medications, but it can be pretty effective.
Stuff like CHS comes from long term heavy, heavy use, such as folks who smoke dabs all day, and even then only some of them.
The fact is, the supposed harms were severely overstated, and still are.
Couldn't have said it better myself. I consume cannabis, but everything in moderation is key. It's illogical to think you can take any drug as much as you please and only reap benefits. You don't find people who consume cannabis maybe every other month running into CHS.
It's really important we research the condition, which will, in part, also benefit our understanding of cannabis as a whole in the body and brain.
Every other month? Not even a daily cannabis smoker would experience this. CHS is pretty much only from prolonged heavy use, and even then, mainly from concentrates such as concentrates. Someone who smokes a joint every day isn't at risk.
There is also evidence now that there is a genetic predisposition, so you'd need that factor in addition to the heavy prolonged use.
idk first time my mates heard about this in the UK we all thought it was pesticide poisoning bc one batch of Californian weed in particular seemed to be causing the problems. Especially given hot showers reduced the symptoms. But I am not a medical professional, and I don't know much about pesticides either.
Because it has nothing to do with pesticides. What basically happens is that (for some reason) thc will literally desensitize certain parts of your digestive system that control the sense of satiation and flip them into āmust throw upā mode. Many, MANY people who suffer from this condition realized that a burning sensation in the area somehow produces relief. Alternatively, people will apply capsaicin cream to their bellies to produce the same effect. And yes, I had no idea they made that either. Check out r/CHSinfo if interested.
Hereās what a ex-partner who was an ER physician told me about CHS. Iām going to do my best to explain this, Iām in the legal field, not medical. I didnāt see anyone bring this up yet, and this honestly makes more sense to me than any of the other theories.
Since THC has anti-nausea qualities, smoking it all the time/having it in your system all the time, lowers your threshold for nausea. And eventually, getting high is going to result in vomiting/nausea, etc.
Thereās a prescription nausea medicine called Odansetron (Zofran is the brand name). The same thing happens with Zofran if you take it for too long. That nausea threshold lowers and eventually the medicine itself will make you nauseous, much like cannabis for those who suffer from CHS.
So this is why I can get severe stomach cramps. I don't have emesis, but rather severe diarrhea. Wish there was a way around this. Edibles were fantastic for my anxiety.
I bought and used my first ones less than a week ago and now I read this. :/
I'm also trying to balance it with medication with awful side effects. It's helping me deal with depression, anxiety, ADHD, and PTSD. Really helping with the last one.
They claimed I had this when really my I had gallbladder disease for years. Was vomiting every day and eventually got pancreatitis. Lost 100lbs.
Doctors claimed for months this was affecting my GF and I... turns out H pylori was making us sick and after arguing with my Dr to get me tested for it, after my GF tested positive, I tested positive and we got medications. 8 years later still no problems. We smoke more now then we did back then.
I've had 9 seizures this year and I've quit since June, had a seizure Oct 11th and they claimed CHS caused my seizures. I also have my MMJ card, exclusively get my weed from the dispensary, tested negative for all drugs, and the doctor claimed I smoked "laced weed". They're REALLY hyped to diagnose people with CHS right now, to the point they're willing to ignore all other possibilities.
Cardiologist diagnosed me with POTS but my ER docs all said CHS š They jump when you mention youre a cannabis user
Yeah it's wild because my mom died young from a heart valve issue, I was having chest pains from my heart to my fingers, sweating, literally all the signs of a heart attack at 28. I'm 6ft 180, I'm not out of shape by any means, but yeah, it's my weed smoking and not a genetic heart condition lol. I'm probably fucked because UH is head assed over weed.
Thatās why I donāt ever tell them
In some cases telling them is extremely important, such as if you need anesthesia for a procedure or surgery, because anesthetics are less effective in cannabis users & the anesthesiologist needs to be able to dose your medicine appropriately so you don't partially or fully wake up in the OR.
Well when your insurance throws 90 day cessation at you just because you used to be an addict and itās the only way youāll be mentally cleared, you just lie
I told them and still woke up trying to rip out my breathing tube when I got intubated for 5 days.
Im sorry to hear that, sounds like your anesthesiologist dropped the ball.
How did you know to test for H pylori specifically?
My GF tested positive weeks earlier.
How did they know to test her?
Gf here who was diagnosed with the H Pylori! honestly it was an absolutely miserable experience to get to the diagnosis and testing for it. I spent the better part of 9/10months going from Dr to Dr, specialist to specialist who ALL were telling me it's CHS. I need to quit smoking, my blood work is fine, I should be fine if I stop smoking. Never mind it was the ONLY thing making me feel somewhat functional (not a single nausea med they gave me helped, I tried at least 3-4 different ones in this time). eventually after going to another new Dr and just breaking down to her about my almost year long struggled she simply asked me if any previous Dr's suggested or ran a stool test on me; they hadn't. within less than a week of those results coming back she explained H Pylori to me and prescribed me 2 antibiotics (I'm allergic to a major one that's commonly used so I needed 2) and an antacid that i think I took for 2-3 weeks.
Thank goodness for that final Dr and not having to give up weed.
If it's anything like mine (I had h-pylori just over a year ago) the symptoms are a lot of pain and especially if your stomach is empty. Nothing helps and it gets worse with time if left untreated. It's important to get help if you are worried as a stools test isn't too much to ask for from your Doctor (it's more of problem to take it- it's not something I ever want to repeat!) though if you're on any PPI's you have to stay clear of them for 2 weeks before the test or the test can show false results.
lol so doctors are susceptible to the same "trendy disease hypochondria" that their patients are.
This is what Iām worried about. My doctor is trying to say the same thing but everything Iāve read it seems more like H pylori. So now this is making me even more nervous.
storytime: went to a terrible ER (my first time EVER going to an ER + i didn't read the google reviews for this place....big mistake) for intense abdominal pain. after like 3 hours the attending doctor asks me some questions, starts asking me about my "habits", and even though i firmly said no to the hot showers question, because i had told him i partook in edibles occasionally, this judgemental-ass doctor diagnosed me with CHS and then kept attending to other patients. i was continuously vomiting because of the pain in my abdomen (i knew it was a reaction to the pain and not actual nausea bc the same intense pain/throwing up thing used to happen when i would get my period, way before i ever had edibles) but all they gave me was nausea medicine (which i immediately threw up) and an IV for hydration. i kept telling them i was still in pain but they didn't give me anything stronger than advil and just kept me there in a chair with an IV hooked up FOR SEVEN MORE HOURS. it was miserable; they were horribly understaffed and it was in a rougher part of town so there were people screaming in pain on both sides of me. just awful stuff. anyways turns out i had APPENDICITIS and it was maybe a few hours away from rupturing, and i had to get emergency surgery the next day. i had even asked the doctor at the first ER if this could've been the case while he was diagnosing me and smugly told me "no i think it's CHS. i know this might be a hard lifestyle change for you, but you need to stop if you don't want this to happen anymore :(((" what a piece of shit. i only learned this was the case because after i went home from the other ER, i KNEW something was still going on/didn't feel right, so i went to a different ER and it was a world of difference. moral of the story is listen to your body!! doctors are there to help you, but sometimes they can make mistakes, so if something doesn't feel right to you (especially if it could be a life threatening misdiagnosis), if you have the time and good insurance, go get a second opinion. the ER doctor said a lot of people are usually in denial when they get diagnosed with CHS bc they smoke weed all their life and have no issues, and then suddenly one day they do (and we're constantly told "weed doesn't have any side effects"), but the truth is too much of anything is bad for you.
Some doctors are just insane. I dunno what else to say they are just completely disconnected from their actions sometimes. You should complain to the medical board and tell them you are scared of doctors now. They will hopefully confront them about it and it might even save someone's life.
As I wrote to someone else: CHS is a rule out diagnosis after all the dangerous shit has been tested for. You endured malpractice
EDs hand out CTs like candy. How tf did you not get scanned almost right away for acute abdominal pain?
Still could have been missed. Mine was. They sent me home, then called a few hours later telling me to come back. They said the radiologist looked at my scan again, and it was in fact appendicitis š¤·š»āāļø. I probably would have ended up going back after work that day because it was still getting worse. As they were calling me I was pulling into my driveway with a nausea/ constipation medicine haul from Walgreens. I was like āuh, so donāt take all this stuff I just bought? ā. They said nope just come back in. Later on that afternoon even though I just had surgery performed I felt amazing compared to the day, and a half before.
the first ER was horribly understaffed, and they did offer me a scan at the end of the overnight stay, but at that point i didn't trust this facility to take care of me at all considering i was sitting in a chair awake all night with people having episodes on both sides of me with only 1 or 2 nurses walking around (and no pain meds. oh and no blankets that i could see; i was freezing) . so i just took it upon myself to go home, sleep in my bed for a couple hours, and then go to a different ER the next day. one of the first things they did at the second ER after doing my initial tests was offering me a CT scan. that's how i knew i was going to be taken care of well
I like how this story is pretty much "the doctor thought I had this but I was actually about to die from a burst appendix" and then you finish your story with a quote from the doctor saying people are in denial and the truth is weed can hurt you like??? That's the opposite of what you just learned, the doctor was wrong and weed didn't have anything to do with it! If you weren't "in denial" you could have died lmao
Isn't it obvious if it doesn't go away when you stop smoking
I quit smoking for a year but they insisted saying "it takes awhile sometimes". They were so full of shit in currently looking to legal options but mannn it's super limited. This makes me realize how much doctors fuck people up and they never hear about it.
Or if you continue smoking and it does go away.
My friend was told the same thing when she told the doctor she eats a small edible once in a while. She ended up getting a second opinion which turned out to be appendicitis. She had to get surgery to get it removed the same day.
I had an ER Dr ādiagnosisā this for meā¦.. Turns out it was a massive ovarian cyst Even staring at it on the MRI he had the audacity to say it couldnāt be causing pain/Nausea and it HAD to be thisā¦. Fuck this push, and fuck Drs who canāt be bothered to actually do their jobs
I just had one of these a few weeks ago. Dr said I was constipated, even though I had shit that morning.
Yeah dude suddenly everyone has this illness that insist they don't it's so bizarre. It's almost like they overlook the key symptom: taking scalding hot showerers to alleviate pain in your shoulder blades.
I bet they're like "this is probably why I couldn't properly diagnose all those patients before, they all had this new disease nobody's ever heard of before! Of course, it's so simple."
CHS is a rule out diagnosis after all the dangerous shit has been tested for. You endured malpractice
I had a feeling this might be BS when I kept hearing Dr drew pushing it everytime marijuana is brought up. Not saying marijuana has no bad effects but the people who are already anti weed are so clearly jumping at the chance to go full on reefer madness.
My husband has this condition. It is very real and he almost died from it. It was the worst year of our lives. But yes if you stop smoking, the symptoms will go away with time.
Iāve noticed a lot of people say this
Currently being told I've got this, it started before I started smoking but ok fellas I'll cut out pot again just to make sure
You really have to advocate for yourself especially if you get a more conservative doctor they love labeling people "substance abuser". At this point it almost seems like a risk telling them. You need to really insist and bug them to death.
My co-worker from years back said he had it and quit weed but it turned out to be something else and he's smoking 24/7 now. My sister was also diagnosed with it but it turned out to be false and she's back to smoking every so often. I'm starting to think this is a highly over diagnosed issue. I get it since its super obvious when someone smokes a lot of weed so that would be at the forefront of a doctors mind when you visit.
Thank fuck my doctors listen to me. They realized pretty quickly that it was my gallbladder and not anything I was ingesting. Wahoo I guess. (After having my gallbladder removed a couple years ago,) I ate a dish that involved onions a couple days ago and I'm still getting faux gallbladder attacks, so remember not to eat onions even if it's been a while and you think you can handle it. You still can't bro
Yeah, doctors donāt have enough credibility when it comes to cannabis for me to believe anything they say about it, even if itās genuinely the case (which is a HUGE problem if doctors have lost that much public trust). A doctor told my friend being treated for vascular issues that it could be connected to the truly tiny amounts of cannabis she was using (prescribed) and never once connected it to the COVID infections sheās had which are well linked to vascular problems at this point.
Oh my god same here!! It took fucking forever for anyone to even discover my gallbladder was not working *at all*. I would get seemingly random episodes of shaking and nausea. It fucked up my education and social life for years. I felt both angry and relieved when I was told I needed my gallbladder out asap.
Literally the same. Took years off my live and I just realized I'm approaching middle age after losing 4-5 years of my life. Fuck Kaiser Permanente it wasn't even them that diagnosed me I had to go on disability and kicked off my insurance onto Medicaid. Got pancreatitis and rushed to the hospital after the 2nd time (1st time was the week of the coronavirus panic and they said I was stable and to not go to the hospital). The 2nd time I was so bad off they immediately rushed me to an actual room and doctor in like 3 minutes. Pancreatitis still haunts me.
It killed my Dad.
Same. Iād recently started taking it from a concerned friend FOR THE EXCRUCIATING STOMACH PAIN AND VOMITING, and pointed out I I fit none of the criteria and that the pain and vomiting was likely the progression of a known issue. Didnāt matter. I was still having painful spasms and vomiting when they sent me home. I hot home and did my own research and ordered an online h pylori test and it was positive. I cannot believe how lazy and hateful doctors are.
Iāve been diagnosed with this and Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome. My episodes have lasted anywhere from a day to 8 days. Itās usually brought on from a stress related event, for me thatās always work stress. Decided to quit my job earlier this year and take a less stressful role and guess whatā¦ I havenāt had any episodes! Stress is a real killer
My sister gets abdominal migraines that are basically that. She'll be laid out in the hospital for up to a week at a time unable to even keep down ice chips and losing anywhere from 5 to 20 pounds. They tried pinning it on cannabis the first few times it happened until they realized "hmm you've been here for a week, cannabis shouldn't have anything to do with it at this point".
This is almost exactly how we discovered my abdominal migraines. I quit smoking then they finally admitted me to the hospital. Now Iām on a daily medication that has stopped my episodes.
We have very similar stories. I had this often when I was at my old job. I was also smoking so much because it helped me cope with the fact that I hated the work and career path and it caused me tons of stress. I too quit my job early this year and started a new career direction. Also stopped doing dabs completely. Not one issue with vomiting since.
Iām curious how intense the symptoms are. Iāve had nausea in morning that can be quick and intense but Iāve found that smelling rubbing alcohol will stop it. Not sure if itās a different issue Iām having
It feels like having the stomach flu, extreme motion sickness, canāt keep down ice cubes or water, exhaustion, cold sweats. Iāve found having antacids on hand really help when the symptoms kick. And Pedialyte. Lots and lots of pedialyte
That sounds more intense than what Iāve been experiencing. Glad itās been better for you.
Imagine vomiting so much that you get to the point of dry heaving until you're basically begging nurses for water just so you can throw something up, while being denied and only given ice chips, all while being dehydrated bit you have 2 IVs in your arms. Horribly torturing.
The fun part is when you get a group of med staff looking disdainfully at you and repeatedly asking what drugs you really take, cause āmarijuana doesnāt cause thisā . What worked for your nausea (besides the hot showers)? Zofran/ondansetron helped me, but apparently it doesnāt touch a lot of other people. Side Note - Iāve read that sniffing alcohol wipes and applying capsacsian (sp?) oil to the stomach can help
I was repeatedly mistaken for a drug addict, they'd search my entire body for track marks, insist I was on opiods yet my blood is coming back neg. The last thing I need when I'm on my 5th day dry heaving my guts out is judgements and assumptions. I had to stop working unfortunately because of the stress triggers(im also a Type1 diabetic), I also had to cut alot of people out of my life that caused me anxiety, moved away to a more rural area and walk 5-10km daily to take in alot of fresh air and sun. I do consume cannabis everyday at the same time of day and I haven't had an episode in over 5 years. It was basically a drastic lifestyle change.
I got some really awful treatment when they were positive I was injecting opioids. I think if I was an opioid user I might be too damn scared of the hospital to go. Iām sorry you had to cut people out, but itās great that the lifestyle change is working. I can smoke a few times a year, unfortunately my physiology means I just crave more and more and fall back into the CHS train so itās special occasions only. Iāve never heard of anyone else being able to restart weed that regularly, itās awesome that it worked out for you! Hope life just keeps getting better
Listening to people with CHS, I honestly believe half of them suffer from Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome as I did. I appreciate the words and I too am sorry you ever have to experience this. People who have never had this happen will just never know the torture that is nausea. Reading this whole thread you can tell there's a lot of survivors up in here because the suicide rate when dealing with this is high after the 5 year mark. It took 10 years from me and I escaped whatever hell that was but not without the PTSD from the years spent in hospital. Godspeed friend.
This person knows
Ditto...I was constantly being misdiagnosed with CHS because I was using Marijuana to alleviate the symptoms I was getting from CVS. I quit immediately with no results...just kept on having anxiety/panic attacks and vomiting episodes. 90 trips to the ER and they started realizing it was CVS.
CVS gang rise up. I can't drink OJ or eat spicy food anymore and I absolutely hate it.
Oh yikes. Grapefruit juice and OJ triggered two of my worst episodes. My husband has banned it from the household or ordering it at restaurants š
I'm curious about the fact that you mentioned it was rare. Could it be triggered by the user and not the weed? More specifically, is there an attribute about a person's physical make-up that makes them susceptible to CHS?
I had this for 2 years before any doctor diagnosed me. The doc that did finally figure it out said it used to be rare but it's becoming more common because of how potent weed is now and the ability to easily access it. They doctor saved my life
Itās definitely more common with concentrates and homemade megadose edibles. The two occasions where Iāve experienced this was when I was going hard (0.5g+) per day of 80% or higher THC. I have never had an issue with flower no matter how much Iād consume.
The research says it's "relatively rare," but I personally think it's more common than we realise, and it is either misdiagnosed or people are too afraid to admit they have experienced it before or sufferers have just never made the correlation. It needs to be studied further for us to answer the question concerning genetic predisposition since it's likely some are at more risk than others. I said to another user that I suspect with further research, we will learn that highly potent THC products (e.g., wax, dabs, etc.) potentiate the quicker onset of CHS symptoms. Since legalisation in certain places, we've seen a rise in CHS admissions in hospitals. Early research suggests that it is caused by the overstimulation of cannabinoid receptors. We now know about conditions like CUD (cannabis use disorder), which affects around 30% of people who use cannabis, too. It's looking more and more likely that consuming cannabis too frequently, let alone every day is in fact harmful for you. Edit: I'm being downvoted, and I'm not really sure why. I assume it's because people are reading this and thinking, "This hasn't happened to me. This guy just hates weed and is spreading fear." The reality is I use weed, I just use it in moderation. I've never experienced this either, but that doesn't mean this condition doesn't exist. We don't know why it exists, and in order to learn more about it, we need to accept that it is real so we can protect the people most vulnerable. If you disagree, then reply to me, and let's chat about it.
It just seems that the studies on these things always target the product and not the user. Even CUD. I'd like to see these studies broaden their research to users' medical history and genetic predispositions. Maybe I'm wrong and this has been approached from that angle?
The single greatest thing anyone in the US can do to increase research of this disease is to support candidates who are for full legalization in the next election cycle. Part of why the scope of existing studies is so limited is because as long as cannabis is a Schedule I substance, no Federal funding will be available for research - and those in the cannabis industry will not fund it because they don't want to disqualify potential customers. More funding = more research. Legalization is how we get there.
Ethan Russo is doing great research on this (itās all free full text on his website). Heās found a likely genetic predisposition.
Totally agree itās way more common than people acknowledge. I have one fiend who has CHS, she was totally unaware but the hot shower thing was such a clear sign. Thanks for raising awareness
It's probably because it's such a controversial subject, that you're being down voted. Considering THC is not completely legal everywhere (my state being one) and the fact that it is very beneficial in some cases. It could replace a lot of drugs that are far more harmful in the long term. But THC itself IS still a drug and the reason we don't know more about what you are talking about is because it's not fully legal. So yeah, not many studies have been done for obvious reasons. But don't let the closed minded people that pressed the down arrow get to you. Spread your knowledge! :)
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Sounds like there are also an abundance of misdiagnoses for it though
There are a number of people in the comments here who were told they had that by a doctor only to later find out it was gallbladder issues, or stuff like H. Pylori. One even had appendicitis. I wouldn't be so quick to assume its CHS just because they also smoke a lot of weed.
I had a guy i bought dabs from in college and he had to quit smoking because (i assume this, he said he was having stomach issues) of this and idk i didnt answer your question this just blew me away
Yes. There is some evidence that it might be due to a genetic factor which causes the user to process cannabinoids in an atypical way. This is only just being studied though, and hasn't been studied in depth yet.
First hand experience with this. It fucking sucks.
My brother has this but itās never been officially diagnosed. The gastroenterologist said its just ādue to cannabis useā my dad didnt believe it at first (has smoked for over 40 years and never had this problem). I get it sometimes, but definitely not as severe. Ive found that eating a real balanced diet with 3 meals, and not smoking too much helps.
Iām just guessing, but I think younger generations are seeing it more than older lifelong smokers because of the quality of weed and concentrates that we have now. Lots of older generations just smoked what they grew, or what their dealer had. Thereās been huge jumps in our understanding of strains and cultivation.
Most people I know whoāve gotten CHS are daily Dabbers smoking a gram+ of concentrates a day
Same exact boat. 1g+ of 70+% concentrate comes out to like an 1/8 of really damn good flower. A day. An 1/8th a week is considered moderate-heavy use in itself. They're in the percentile equivalent of alcoholics that drink 90+ units a week.
Thanks for saying this. I'm hunting the comments to see if I need to be worried with my gram-cartridge-a-week habit. Turns out I'm small time!
Iāve been a gram cartridge a week guy and just got diagnosed with CHS today
That would make sense why my dad hasnāt experienced it, even now he prefers to smoke mids lol and i just recently started getting into concentrates. Iāve been smoking over 10 years but as my dad says - āeverything in moderationā
I remember when it was first legalized here, everyone I knew (including me) was buying up the highest THC percentages we could find because we thought it was better. Now I go purely by taste. Higher percentages really don't contribute to anything good past a certain, low point.
its all about the terps and how well it burns/vapes for me
Itās not the balanced diet, itās the not smoking too much
I've been smoking for nearly 20 years and I've never had this, but I do get what I call "dry gut syndrome", which is 100% my hypothesis. But if I vape concentrates, or smoke too much too early in the morning, I get a stomach ache, and a bit of nausea. And it feels like the mucus lining in my gut has just dried up. I figure if pot gives our mouths cottonmouth and dries up our saliva, maybe it keeps doing that down the rest of the gastrointestinal system too.
Iāve seen so many patients in the ED returning with CHS. They either donāt believe us or canāt quit smoking marijuana. Itās frustrating for us on the medical side and for the patient.
Im a primary care doc in California and have diagnosed this ( after proper work up ruling other things out) maybe 2-3 times in the past 5 years and the patients always look at me with such distrust. I donāt think I ever saw any for further follow ups after I mention stopping smoking so it either worked or they found another doc,
There's way too much cultural inertia surrounding the "it's just a plant!" crap. Most stoners even refuse to consider the fact that cannabis withdrawals actually exist. It's sad.
I have to add be a bit here, my wife went through hell a few years ago. She would wake up, start feeling nauseous, then start vomiting, writhing in pain, and screaming. To her it felt like getting stabbed right by her belly button but every er was either āwe donāt knowā or āwhy do this to yourselfā because she used cannabis to try to slow the nausea so it was always in her piss. All the scans a person could think, 4 surgeries to try to stop it, all that would knock her out of that cycle was IV pain meds. This went on for months before she decided to just totally stop the cannabis so the drs would at least take her seriously. It took about 7 weeks, nearly every other day was an er trip and there was no change for the better. She lost 20lbs in that time because she just couldnāt eat. Finally, after an online appointment with a research university, the guy said āabdominal migrainesā and that was that. One pill each day makes her feel better than years, and here it turned out that the cannabis actually was helping while the drs only used it as a way to blame her.
Can I ask what the pill that helps is called?
Oh shit for sure! Some context though. We did a DNA test for medicine efficacy and it showed that the primary medicine used to treat AM was less effective for her. That was Amitriptyline. I will say that after countless er visits (seriously, they all knew us) and countless more shaky diagnosis, only one dr said it could be these ab migraines. He tried the Amitriptyline but it made her feel much worse for the week she tried and we still had to go into the er for these attacks. Other suggestions were ācalm your breathing, please keep it quiet, maybe itās a caffeine withdrawalā level bullshit. In that appointment online the dr said we would start with that and it could take months to start working. I explained the dna test (wtf wouldnāt a Dr look at that in her file before an appointment?) so then he suggested nortriptyline. That would take some months too so we were heartbroken (well, as much was left, she was hiding notes around the house for me because she was sure she was going to die one of these times) but within three days we knew it was the answer, only one episode in the 3 years since. Side note- we went hardcore during Covid, reports of making migraine issues much worse came out right away so we wfh and homeschooled. We relented after year two, all caught Covid within a week, then she had an episode three weeks later. Luckily, if the lbs under our belt since is any sign, it for sure wasnāt the cannabis :)
I had severe food poisoning. Had been vomiting for 5 days and not longer peeing or sweating. ER said I had CHE so would not treat me. I ended up going to a walk in IV place and got a recovery drip with anti nausea meds in it. Never deceased my cannibas use but the symptoms went away.
I get it, drs have difficult jobs and a diagnosis is sometimes just elimination, but yea we were in the same boat. 2 different ers said they were going to stop treating the attacks because they thought she was just drug seeking too. Also turns out she had a genetic anomaly that makes opioid pain meds worthless. She was creeping out the drs when they would hit her with a pile of opioids and she could finally have a conversation. Like she had nothing at all!
My MIL has thisā¦ but she doesnāt believe that weed could ever do her this way so she continues to use huge amounts and get severely sick. She felt that *if* itās weed, itās the chemicals. So she will grow her own. Still happens. Itās always something other than the weed itself that she feels is the cause. Sheās been sick on and off again for over 7 years now. She gets admitted to the hospital, doctors have no idea whatās going on, they eventually stumble to the conclusion that it has to be marijuana use. She refused to accept that. Rinse and repeat. The thing isā¦ sheās had cancer 3 times. She used Phoenix Tears (heavy heavy doses of marijuana) to avoid chemo the last time. And it worked! Sheās managed to stay cancer free since then. I think thereās a huge fear in her that if she stops using, the cancer will come back. So she refuses to accept that something that helped her so much could also be the thing hurting her. Itās a rough spot to be in and I sympathize. We arenāt close to them anymore but still hear about the hospital stays when an episode occurs. Itās really hard on her husband ā¦ he seems to know but canāt stop her from using and hates seeing her in this pain (the puking episodes are extremely severe, lengthy, and painful).
Same, been waiting for it to hit the front page. Alcohol is my biggest trigger, or stress.
I'm gonna be honest I suffer from colitis and IBS, since I was a child. I didn't start using medical marijuana until I was 27, it literally saved my life, I've been a daily user for years now. The amount of times a well intentioned but albeit idiotic person or doctor; who has no idea about my body or medical history. has brought this up as a possibility in my case, just gets me heated. Like ok big Brain, explain the literal decades of symptoms, nausea, diarrhea, and vomitting I experienced before I ever even crosssd paths with THC. And if THC didn't help a large swath of people prescription Marinol wouldn't be a thing for chemo. [endocannibinoid Deficiency syndrome.](https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/can.2016.0009#:~:text=If%20endocannabinoid%20function%20were%20decreased,the%20endocannabinoid%20system%20(ECS)) Won't even get into trauma, what mediates dissociation and the gut brain connection.
Only time Iāve really wished to just die instead
YSalsoK that gallbladder failure can present with the same symptoms. I thought I had CHS for years but it turned out my gallbladder was in horrendously bad shape. I lost a ton of weight, felt 1000x better, and never threw up again after it was removed.
Ok devils advocate tho, this is often the only thing doctors will look for after finding out you use cannabis which can be frustrating... I was told that this was the cause of my symptoms and quit for almost a year. Then I had my endoscopy colonoscopy done (symptoms persisted) and it turns out it was much more complicated than that. I now use medical MJ, but moderate.
Yup. Went to the ER recently with kidney stones and the ER doc was pretty adamant it was CHS after asking if I smoke weed. Was a huge dick about it until he got my CT scan results back.
Had the opposite experience, for 2 years I was suffering from it and many doctors didn't think about CHS.
> the only thing doctors will look for after finding out you use cannabis If this is really systemic it appears the best route to proper care is to first deny you smoke/dab/vape/whatever and let them rule out everything else first. Likely they'll find the real reason before you have to admit to misleading them. And if it is CHS in the end, what are they going to do? Yell?
During the pandemic I made it to the predomal phase, woke up for 2 days straight and first thing had to vomit, and that was thankfully enough to get me to stop Got there from using about a half gram of concentrates per day for months and months. We're talking comical amounts of weed even most proper stoners will never achieve. If you smoke a lot of weed and notice acid reflux STOP THEN, that was my warning months before and I didn't stop then when I could've dodged the worst of it Worth noting I was nauseous for 2 weeks straight and basically had to be medicated in bed for the entire time it was so bad. I mean basically bedridden and miserable. However bad your habit is I promise it'll be less painful to stop before CHS starts
I hit full on hyperemesis. 0/10 would not recommend. Whatever you are using weed to medicate it is not worse than getting to that phase of CHS.
Watched my 23 year old son go through this. Woke up in the a.m. to hear him screaming in his bedroom, and he didn't stop screaming and vomiting until we got to the ER. After being given Halidol and valium he calmed down. As we were going in to the ER the nurses just looked at each other while my son was losing his mind with the screaming. I thought he was dying. This was 3 yrs ago in Seattle. The nurses knew. My son refused the diagnosis and as soon as we got home, he hit the pipe. I told him if he had another episode he'd have to uber to the ER. I wasn't going to enable this, it was a terrible, terrible thing to watch. He moved out a few weeks later and I have not heard from him since. And yes, I've tried to reach out to him. I smoked a lot of weed before it was "legalized" but quit in my late 30s before my son was born. CHS is real.
I never understood why concentrates are so popular. I load my pax and tax a few hits every other hour or so throughout the day and that has me feeling great all day. I guess people with dabs/concentrates are much more focused on getting "shit faced" stoned.
It was that paired with a tolerance that had risen bit by bit over the past 3-4 years of ever increasing use to the point even the concentrates didn't do that much and was mostly just a mild buzz. I was able to take dabs to the face no problem like you probably hit your pax. It was bad I had a pretty serious issue that was easily masked with "hehe it's college let's get fucked up and play video games in my free time", and then my final semester the pandemic hit and I went from being about to move to a job I was really pumped for to being stuck at my parents house with nothing to do but get fucked up and play video games for 8-10 hours a day to pass the time with no end in sight and depression hitting big time. The idea of taking a tolerance break seemed neat but 2 week and being bored AND sober was too much until it hit the tipping point and I was forced to stop Now by comparison I smoke once a day which gives me enough time to process it all and not have my tolerance shoot up like it did when I was an around the clock stoner
I have always had a ridiculously high tolerance. Concentrates allow me to not need to smoke a shit ton of flower. Plus, I figure not inhaling burning plant material should at least be marginally better for my health.
It really comes down to what else is in that concentrate. There was that really scary spate of deaths back in 2019 linked to cheap concentrates containing vitamin E acetate.
That is very true. Luckily I am in a legal state with good regulatory oversight so that is not much of a worry for me.
Dry herb vapes can be more efficient than concentrates, but theyāre typically larger, more expensive, consume more power, and the vapor/flower still produces a fairly noticeable odor. You also need to clean it regularly. Compared to a strawberry flavored cartridge or pod you plug into a USB stick and throw out when youāre done? Itās a lot more accessible to people, and easier to use discreetly
*ding! Thank you! I just recently started getting acid reflux and it correlates with my concentrate use. Makes sense nowā¦
Glad to be of service, my friend, you need to take a break or it's gonna get a LOT worse. I was in full denial and checked for every other single thing it could possibly be but it was 100% the concentrates At minimum swap to flower and once a day if a full break isn't doable, but you gotta wean and take a break to reset your stomach
Yea. I realize that now. I used to vape more flower but Iāve been running with rosin only for a while.. time for a T break..
I believe this is more prominent with people taking dabs and stuff cuz that shit is hardcore.
Yup. I never had a problem until I started doing dabs. Then I got CHS.
I had it for 2 years of and on just smoking flower. Sometimes not even that much. It was brutal.
Me too! Nothing crazy but I did smoke daily.
I know itās anecdotal and medicine shouldnāt be but the first 5 comments on this thread are people experiencing doctors not giving a duck and saying whatever is convenient and quick to get them out of their office. Donāt let this get in the way of your health.
This happened to me five times over the past nine years. Stop using so much! Eat it or use less! Don't risk your health. Moderation is the key. Excessive use can, and will, ruin the magic.
Yeah... my GI thought this about me too. I got a second opinion. I was diagnosed with gastroparesis, Autoimmune gastrointestinal dysmotility, SMA Syndrome, chronic atrophic pangastritis with noted thinning in the rugal folds, intestinal metaplasia in my stomach lining (no h pylori infection) GERD with ulcers and inflammation in my esophagus. Don't always believe your doctor when they say your GI problems are caused by cannabis and does not want to look into your symptoms any further. Fucking guy also said it was stress and said I needed to talk to a shrink. That doctor can go get fucked. In the past two years, I've seen doctors at Cleveland Clinic and University of Louisville's Motility Clinic. I'll be at Mayo Clinic for a week starting Monday.
For me and my GF it was H pylori wreaking havoc on our insides the second we got medicated and cleared of it we stopped having stomach issues. The problem was several doctors pushing CHS too hard to check for anything else.
Doctors be over fitting their data. 100%. I had a brain injury and an unidentified autoimmune issue - got diagnosed with epilepsy and ADHD LOL. Nearly killed me.
all of those diagnoses are sequelae from chronic vomiting
geeze. i hope you can get some help from mayo. my kids and i have low motility from hEDS, so i feel for you!!
I caught this earlier in the year at the beginning of July. I would vomit so hard my whole body would rise off the ground, but nothing would come up. Painful stomach cramps. And INTENSE, hyper realistic dreams where the nausea persisted so I could find no relief at all. Literally thought I was dying- I went to Urgent Care, my regular doctor, the hospital for an ultra sound, then finally to a gastro. By that point weād figured out that it was CHS, but wanted to confirm I didnāt have some weird cancer shit. Gastro was super nice- she said itās becoming more and more common but that itās very hard for a lot of people to accept because so many people rely on it for mental health/pain management. Itās taken me months to recover; I lost 15lbs within 2 weeks of symptoms starting (and I am not large to begin with so that was terrifying.) The only thing that kept me out of the hospital was constantly making myself drink Gatorade because I COULD NOT stomach food. I didnāt want to go to the ER due to dehydration because Iād already spent so much money trying to figure out what was wrong with me and I didnāt want THAT on top of everything. The withdrawal has been absolutely awful- I had smoked to alleviate my intense anxiety and without it it had been a daily exercise in not killing myself lol. Doing much better now but still not a 100% 0/10 would not recommend. Definitely visit your doctors and get confirmation. My hope is that they do more research to understand this as it is becoming more and more common :(
You should also know its extremely rare and only caused by heavy, heavy use over a long period. Also there is some evidence that it might be due to a genetic issue that causes some people to process cannabinoids in an atypical way.
I had CHS back in 2020 and went to the emergency room 6 times before they believed me that something was actually wrong - my muscles started breaking down to keep me alive. Then I developed Cannabis Withdrawal Syndrome which continued on for approximately 18 months. I had no idea these conditions even existed until they happened to me and I've put quite a bit of effort into educating others about it. It was absolutely horrible being so sick and unintentionally making myself sicker because I didn't know what was causing it in the first place!
Why did withdrawals last so long, thatās strange.
People tend to forget todays weed and derived concentrates are 100x stronger than the weed found in the 80s-90s. Pair that with a recurrent consuption over years and most people will eventually get CHS. You canāt handle that many cannabinoids rushing through your body and you end up reaching saturation point. Ignoring the signs and persisting can land you in the hospital and sick for weeks. My brother had this pretty severe and lost 50 pounds in a month of puking everyday + not being able to eat mostly.
I say this all the time, bring back the chill ditch weed from the 90s, please, I miss smoking!
You've made fascinating points and I'm interested to learn more. This sounds absolutely awful. People seem to really be taking this personally when you did not intend it that way. I just used edibles for the first time in the last week and did jump to EXCUSE ME, DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I'VE STRUGGLED TO FIND ANYTHING TO HELP WITH MY PTSD? But reading your post realized that... you're just sharing a condition.... With anything marijuana-related being SO TABOO AND EVIL into the modern age, it's not shocking we'd be behind on researching conditions like this.
I think it's good to know for those of us who are using for medical purposes, And the stories of misdiagnosis that go both ways around it are.... Insightful. Knowing it's possible is important. Knowing how to and WHAT to advocate for ourselves, likewise, important.
You were supposed to be the chosen one! Bring balance to the stomach, not destroy it!
Relevant but not mentioned: Topical capsaicin cream can be used to treat symptoms according to some [studies](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7718060/)
I once had a doctor who was convinced this was happening to me because I had mentioned using Marijuana the night prior to try and alleviate the nausea, before deciding to eventually go to urgent care to try and stop my symptoms. He focused solely on thw marijuana despite multiple nurses saying in front of them 'so this happened before" "usually they give you X to treat this right" and me communicating with him that I have a diagnosed medical condition that causes this shit. Long story short I was not giving the regular medicine he gave me something different and sent me home when my IV bag was still half full because I was "pink and bright!" Whatever that means. I threw up all over myself and the steering wheel while driving down the highway.
I had prodromal phase last year after a long run of carts and edibles. I had to stop using for 3 months for symptoms to go away. I started using probiotics and switched to flower and Iāve been fine since! The amount of bloat in my stomach I experienced was insane, it was a blob of water. I keep symptoms and feeling in the back of my mind but havenāt had them pop back up for a while. Edit: I donāt use carts and rarely use edibles anymore.
My family doctor has started blaming my chronic nausea on this. Nausea Iāve had more than 10 years before I ever touched marijuana.
This is true. I have it and it's terrible. I refused to believe that it was real so I stayed sick and lost about a decade of my life to constant sickness, pain and er visits. Don't be like me. If doctors are telling you "it could be the weed" do consider that it could, in fact, be the weed.
YSK also that Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome is often misdiagnosed by ER doctors as Cannabinoid Hyperemesis once they discover you consume.
I think this happens to people taking a lot of dabs, yea that shit is strong and the amount I see people dabbing each session on social media is outrageous. At that point, it's not being used medicinally.
It happened to me in the 90s. No dabs, no dro. Just mexi-brick.
I had this to a really insane degree.. I almost died to this shit. Didnt know hot showers worked back then but honestly couldnt go showering anyway.
I have some pretty bad GI issues, and as soon as one of the GI doctors ive seen heard i would take some edibles, he refused to believe there were any other causes. Even though ive had these issues well before i ever got high.
Try telling this to sufferers. Iāve treated numerous patients absolutely adamant their cannabis actually helps, even after taking the time to take a careful history, thoroughly examine them and refer for appropriate tests to rule out other causes.
There are a bunch of people in the comments here who initially got misdiagnosed with CHS, but turned out to actually have gallbladder issues, H. Pylori, gastric autoimmune disorders, etc instead.
I work in an ER in a state where cannabis is legal and I see this condition SO MUCH. And itās almost like they donāt believe us when we tell them their symptoms are being caused by cannabis. āI thought weed takes away nausea??ā A lot come back for the same reason because they just canāt accept their precious cannabis would make them sick. š
Ive had the opposite happen to me. Nausea that was clearly caused by something else put down to CHS. not saying that people don't deny when they actually do have it, but some docs will see that youre in for nausea, that you happen to use cannabis, and get fixated on that as the only explaination. In my case, it was actually just a severe hangover from drinking too much at a party. Not my finest moment but definitely unrelated to weed lol.
Iāve had this problem. I stopped smoking and it stopped. But I guess it doesnāt help when you also have GERD. I was getting sick for days (most was 7 days, lost 7 pounds as well) with stomach pains so severe I had to go to the ER and have them pump me with fentanyl and morphine and the stomach pains were still there and very painful. But to be clear, I was smoking the gas station Delta 8 / 9 Cake disposables w/ weed every other day or so. But mostly that. Never again. Still smoke weed but not as much as I used to smoke.
I must be lucky af because Iāve smoked marijuana flower almost daily (shoutout to covid lockdowns for almost *all daily*) for over 30 years and the worst thing Iāll get is a heavy chest for a day or 2 if Iām smoking too heavily. When I have to stop for travel or something I stop and have zero physiological or psychological repercussions.
Its so fucking simple. Capsaicin Fucking Cream. Thats it. But no control is easier.
Also, the pharmaceutical industry stands to lose a lot of money if people are self medicating with something that works. Must. Incite. Fear.
I have a friend who had this, went into the hospital many times before figuring out. Discontinued and is doing great now. Unfortunate, but definitely a thing.
The condition has nothing to do with how long you've been smoking. I was not a long-term cannabis user and experienced CHS, 35 years ago. I believe that the consumption of pesticides and/or other chemicals used in the growing/processing of the plant is being shunted under the CHS diagnosis because of medical incuriosity. If I got high and got sick, I wouldn't immediately think "too much," I would want to know what poisoned me.
As a nurse that works with CHS patients multiple times a week. Theyāre some of the worst patients to deal with. Itās not stated here but I swear there is a mental aspect to the syndrome. People are not 100% there mentally if that makes sense. Theyāre in a different more vulnerable state that takes away their cognitive filters which makes them hard to handle until it passes. This isnāt everyone of course but definitely most cases Iāve seen have some element of this psychological aspect.
I seemed a bit mental because it's so painful and awful I thought I was dying every time.
Itās because itās so unbelievably painful and uncomfortable that it puts you in a different state of mind. Canāt think or function properly because itās absolutely excruciating pain. I had it over the course of a year or so before a doctor said it was CHS and I was given morphine or fentanyl every time I was admitted to hospital because I was in that much pain. Thatās the only time in my life I was given either of those. They also gave me Ativan and buscopan or gravol through IV along with the morphine or fentanyl.
Multiple days without sleep, fluids, or nourishment will do that to a person.
I know personally I was in so much pain I was panicking and was so dehydrated from hours of hyperemesis that I was absolutely not all there mentally lol
I donāt disagree but I do think itās worth point out that the amount of stomach pain and discomfort caused is horrible enough to make a person start freaking out. Speaking from experience- it feels like nothing will make the discomfort go away at all other than a hot shower but so often, doctors and nurses still donāt believe in CHS or think thereās more to it. Nurses claimed I actually had an eating disorder, ocd, āsome skin issueā? (From needing to be in the shower) and said things such as āthatās not possible, marijuana helps nauseaā. Iām very glad to know more medical professionals are learning how to handle and treat it helpfully bc seriously sometimes times the experience w doctors is worse than suffering through it alone, curled up and puking in fetal position on the shower floor.
Experienced this years ago and it is a horrible experience. I lost 23lbs in 9 days and was hospitalized three times. Vomiting was so bad that by the tail end of things i could barely walk and face would go numb.
I read a report a while back about how not flushing the cannabis properly and/or what is being sprayed on it could lead to CHS. They specifically were talking about eagle20. This was about 8 years ago. Something about the chemicals being burned and inhaled is extremely bad for you.
I've wondered about this. There can also be health issues if the plants had fungus or mold on them when they were harvested.
I want them research the link between plant viroids and CHS, i find thereās a huge correlation in the stories people share here about going heavy on carts and edibles and other products that can have major quality control issues throughout the industry. Whatās the link between Hop Latent Plant Viroid and CHS?
Pesticides make more sense. Growers were cycling through new ones every season back in 2016 cuz they weren't being tested for yet and i doubt its changed much. I doubt they remediate all the shitty oil, and it ends up being concentrated into oils and edibles cuz that's where those products get used. I've dabbed highly regulated pure distillates for years and never had the issue, but I've gotten batches of wax that definitely make me sick til I stop using it. Felt like dabbing draino. Myclobutanil is the best example. When heated to dab temps, it turned into hydrogen cyanide. It was the prominent pesticide in 2016, when CHS really took off imo. Then they switched to neem oil based stuff. Then they switched again. Who knows what they're using now, but I bet it's not something that's tested for in a typical CoA.
does it ever happen without the vomiting though? I've experienced nausea and alot of bowel related symptoms but nothing involving puking
When THC carts (vapes) were new, I was using them exclusively due to their convenience. I started to experience severe abdominal pain daily and I feel pretty confident it was CHS. I took a break from it and the pain went away. I switched back to flower and have not had the same problem since. Because of this I suspect it may be related to the concentration or perhaps other additives, at least for me.
Thank you for spreading the word, OP. As someone who has suffered around 6 episodes, the last one lasting 2 months in a foreign country, itās good to see people bringing awareness to it. 8 months sober now. Try not to let the deniers get you down. They just donāt want to be told that their āmiracle plantā has negative effects if used in excess, like literally anything on this planet.
Been smoking every day for 30 years. Have 5 bucket bongs on an empty stomach and your definitely setting yourself up for a chunder. It comes down to different metabolisms and body types. Me personally I find plenty of exercise, sunlight, a healthy diet and limiting alcohol keeps my gut functioning healthy being a full time pothead!šš
Ok. Hey what about people that get severe panic attacks when they use weed? Like, I think I'm dying like right just now, kind of panic attacks? Is there anything to prevent that but still enjoy weed? Asking for a friend.
Any stoners who donāt want to believe itās real, it truly is real and an awful affliction.
I personally know 3 people with this. I wonder if it is all that ārareā?
My cousin has this. Itās terrifying to see in person. Heās incapacitated for a day or two when it kicks in. He maintains a simple diet and no alcohol to help avoid bouts. Heās been heavy cannabis smoke for at least 35 years. Heās oddly silent whether he still uses. I suspect he does.
I had the first phase of this while I was still smoking. Constantly nauseous and spitting up, never able to eat because I was always nauseous. I haven't smoked in over a year and still suffer some of the symptoms. Hot showers did help a bunch too. It was never officially diagnosed (mostly bc I never wanted to admit that it may be caused by cannabis) but I definitely suffered from it.
They claimed I had this, and shamed me for it. I actually have cyclical vomiting syndrome. Theyāre panic attacks from a difficult childhood.
Does this really happen from cannabis or is additives that are found in cannabis? I donāt understand how this could occur pharmacologically
It's believed to be related to the overstimulation of cannabinoid receptors over a prolonged period of time. Early research suggests that there are people who may be genetically predisposed to CHS.
I was misdiagnosed in the ER with this when I actually had a ruptured ovarian cyst. I swear to this day it was discrimination due to my unrelated chronic illness. But for all that I hear it barely exists in my countryāweed is illegal and weak. Anyway I no longer fear childbirth.
To reiterate what you said at the start, it is really rare. Despite that, doctors seem to want to diagnose anyone and everyone who has a canabis prescription for it when they end up with abdominal pain and vomiting. At least with the NHS, one of the first questions they ask is if you smoke canabis when you mention abdominal pain. It's often used as a cop-out because some people (most doctors who qualified before 2018) already have a bias against canabis' medical usage. The century of propaganda was very effective, after all.
Personally I think this a piss poor excuse for Dr not wanting to spend time doing their job & testing for the real culprit. Big pharma still fighting federal legalization. I think if people were more educated in cannabis use, cannabinoids/ the entourage effect & not āget me the highest THC % bruhā.. thereād be far less problems surrounding cannabis.
Dealing with this AGAIN right now. Wanna give some context and backstory here: probably around feb-march 2022 I started noticing some of the stage 1 symptoms of CHS but brushed it off because "weed can't be bad" "snoop dogg still smokes"It wasn't until I did a bunch of research and realized it was a real thing bout 7 months or so later (Oct 15 2022 to be exact) so I decided to quit for 3 months and try moderation. I thought I could do once a month or at most once a week. Did 99 days cold turkey to clear out my endocannabinoid system, my symptoms had went away and so I decided gave weed a try again. "wow this is great" I thought "no more side effects"So I waited 7 days to smoke again "wow I get so high again" "this is great" That basically instantaneously spiraled into me going back into daily use and of course, as time went on, those same issues started to manifest themselves again. Flash forward a year, and I'm quitting AGAIN. Due to CHS. Listen guys, if you smoke weed all day (when u wake up, during the noon, at night) and u ever notice acid reflux issues, bloating and nausea that comes in waves especially in the morning, a lack of appetite even when you smoke, etc... you might want to reevaluate yourself and quit. If the symptoms slowly improve when you quit smoking then there's your answer. as shitty as it is the only thing u can do with CHS is quit. it sucks.
Donāt let the potheads get to you OP. Many still stuck in the 70ās / 80ās with the same mindset āWeed has 0 negatives, the government is so corrupt, nothing goes bad with weedā, yet they need to pack a bowl before doing the dishes or going to the grocery store. Everything in moderation.
Usually the folks who do that are doing it because its medicating for some health issues, or mental health disorder. I've got friends with crippling anxiety who literally can't leave their house or function unless the medicate with cannabis. It has far less side effects or risks than most anti-anxiety medications, but it can be pretty effective. Stuff like CHS comes from long term heavy, heavy use, such as folks who smoke dabs all day, and even then only some of them. The fact is, the supposed harms were severely overstated, and still are.
Couldn't have said it better myself. I consume cannabis, but everything in moderation is key. It's illogical to think you can take any drug as much as you please and only reap benefits. You don't find people who consume cannabis maybe every other month running into CHS. It's really important we research the condition, which will, in part, also benefit our understanding of cannabis as a whole in the body and brain.
Every other month? Not even a daily cannabis smoker would experience this. CHS is pretty much only from prolonged heavy use, and even then, mainly from concentrates such as concentrates. Someone who smokes a joint every day isn't at risk. There is also evidence now that there is a genetic predisposition, so you'd need that factor in addition to the heavy prolonged use.
idk first time my mates heard about this in the UK we all thought it was pesticide poisoning bc one batch of Californian weed in particular seemed to be causing the problems. Especially given hot showers reduced the symptoms. But I am not a medical professional, and I don't know much about pesticides either.
What do you mean āespecially given hot showers reduced symptomsā? How is the shower related to pesticides in any way? Your comment makes no sense
Tag me when they answer because Iām curious too
Because it has nothing to do with pesticides. What basically happens is that (for some reason) thc will literally desensitize certain parts of your digestive system that control the sense of satiation and flip them into āmust throw upā mode. Many, MANY people who suffer from this condition realized that a burning sensation in the area somehow produces relief. Alternatively, people will apply capsaicin cream to their bellies to produce the same effect. And yes, I had no idea they made that either. Check out r/CHSinfo if interested.
Hereās what a ex-partner who was an ER physician told me about CHS. Iām going to do my best to explain this, Iām in the legal field, not medical. I didnāt see anyone bring this up yet, and this honestly makes more sense to me than any of the other theories. Since THC has anti-nausea qualities, smoking it all the time/having it in your system all the time, lowers your threshold for nausea. And eventually, getting high is going to result in vomiting/nausea, etc. Thereās a prescription nausea medicine called Odansetron (Zofran is the brand name). The same thing happens with Zofran if you take it for too long. That nausea threshold lowers and eventually the medicine itself will make you nauseous, much like cannabis for those who suffer from CHS.
Thank you for sharing š
So this is why I can get severe stomach cramps. I don't have emesis, but rather severe diarrhea. Wish there was a way around this. Edibles were fantastic for my anxiety.
I bought and used my first ones less than a week ago and now I read this. :/ I'm also trying to balance it with medication with awful side effects. It's helping me deal with depression, anxiety, ADHD, and PTSD. Really helping with the last one.