Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome

The legalization of cannabis (weed) has been a good step forward but has brought on a really strange medical issue. Weed is a Schedule 1 drug which means that it has no currently accepted medical use and has a high potential for abuse. For drug Schedule information click here HERE. Weed being a Schedule 1 drug makes testing not a very high priority, so before the legalization of weed, not many tests were done to see the possible medical issues that may arise. With more and more states legalizing weed and the potency of weed rising something has begun to happen to some weed smokers. A diagnosis known as Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS) that causes cyclic vomiting which is only relieved by hot showers or intravenous sedation.

Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome is a rare diagnosis that has led to death. It is only cured by stopping weed. There is a theory on why CHS happens which has to do with the cannabinoid receptors in your stomach. Long-time marijuana use can change the way molecules in your stomach which leads to CHS. I am not a doctor so if you would like to learn more about what they believe to be going on click HERE.

There are many phases of CHS which include the Prodromal, Hyperemetic, and Recovery. The Prodromal phase is the first stage and may last for months or years before the Hyperemetic stage begins. The symptoms of the Prodromal phase normally occur in the morning these include nausea and abdominal pain that causes some people to smoke more because they think it will help. Most people continue a normal eating schedule.

The Hyperemetic phase is the stage where most people identify that there is a bigger issue. It included nausea throughout the day, repeated vomiting, abdominal pain, decreased food intake, weight loss, and dehydration. In this stage most people can not stop vomiting no matter what they try to do unless sedated in a hospital.

Recovery phase is where symptoms are gone and normal eating can return. This phase may last for months to years. They will resurface if the person continues to smoke weed. Want more info? Click here.

There has been deaths from CHS. There was a 22 year old women that the vomiting triggered a fatal heart disorder. That fatal heart conditon was later determained to be hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. She was declared brain dead. Click here to learn more. There was a 17 year old boy died due to dehydration caused by the repeated vomiting. Click HERE to read more. There is more. Click here to read about more.

There is hope for people who have CHS. The only way to get rid of it is to completely stop. The best way is to ween off of it and then fully stop. CHS effects about a third of daily weed smokers, but it also affects people who smoke periodically.

I have a personal story to connect with this and possibly help anyone going through CHS. My boyfriend had been smoking for 4 years and had a few times of repeated vomiting which I thought was food poisoning or the stomach flu and that he was just being a baby about it. Then it started to get worse and worse and more frequent. We did countless tests to try to figure out what was going on. Through this he continued to smoke. We didn't know anything about CHS. The last time we went to the ER for it there was a doctor who had another pateint that had been diagnosised with CHS which is how he knew what was wrong. At first my boyfriend didn't believe thats what it was.

It took awhile and many more trips to the ER. He th0ught that weed was helping him because it soothed the symptoms for a bit. It took him draining two 1gram carts in less than an hour to relize it was definetly was weed because everytime he would get done taking a hit he would have a very violent bout of vomiting.

After he had deduced that it was the problem he didn't know what to do next. He knew that if he just completely stopped it might kill him. So, we came up with a plan we started logging his hits from a dab pen and slowly reducing them. After that he started smoking flower every couple of hours. He than reduced that again and eventually got down to one time a day. He finally went to once a week. Then finally stopped.

He was 21 when he stopped. He sometimes smokes a very small amount of flower. Once every couple of months. He has not had a CHS bout in a long time. Recovery is possible and is necessary.

Author's Note: I am not a doctor. I looked up this stuff and used my personal experience to write this. To all weed smokers please be safe and understand that this can develope and cause death. I hope that my experience and all the research I did can help shed some light on this. If there are any questions or concerns please let me know. Please do the same for any errors that are in this. Thank you for reading.