Hello all. Long-time smoker, 35, male. Anything and everything but edibles. Mostly legit. Some D8 in a pinch but nowhere near the majority.
For the last four months, about once every two weeks, I’ll wake up, take a shower, walk into my living room, have a sip of water, and then run back into my bathroom, where I will vomit until the bile comes out and writhe on the floor, onto the bed, holding my stomach for 6-12 hours, screaming for God or Satan, whoever shows up first.
I’ve been in the hospital three times over the last month over it and only on the last visit was I asked if I used marijuana. There is nothing on any CT scan I’ve done, ultrasound, kidneys, liver, pancreas, appendix.
“Well I’ve never heard of this gobbledygook and I also have no idea how to search for stuff!”
Apparently, had you the genetic disposition, cannabinoids can bind to your stomach, and the sphincters to and from it, altering the timeframe it takes for your stomach to empty and the lagging or simply disabling entirely of the functions of the bottom of your esophagus until it’s over. You’ll be screaming in pain for around 8 hours. Buckle up.
Do I believe Cannabis is solely responsible?
The disease is rare and only shows up in people (usually men) who smoke daily for two or more years. I’ve been smoking daily for ten.
(Obligatory) Psyop?
If it were, I’d expect a little more than a matter-of-fact “quit and you’ll be ok”. Usually money or some type of group wants your attention from such things. I’m more leaning to this being a legitimate disease, and peers are kind-of agreeing on it. Multiple sources seem to be finding the same conclusions and I haven’t met a Doctor yet who hasn’t heard of it in some capacity.
I’m open to bribes, though.
I don’t blame cannabis. I smoked it. It didn’t jump in my mouth and light itself. I don’t blame anyone else. I am unlucky, genetically speaking. You may never get it. You may never have a single symptom, or you might. If weed works for you, fantastic. It worked for me for years, until it wanted to kill me one morning, such is the diceroll of living.
Edit: I’ll answer everyone after 4:30pm est. At work.
That truly sucks. I’m sorry you’re going through that.
Just one thing real quick, though, just in case. My entire family has had similar issues, and for every one of us* it has been our gallbladder. Also for every one of us, they have refused to check our gallbladders. My mom was told ulcers, which she had none. Had to have emergency surgery when her gallbladder was on the verge of ruptured. My brother was told it was his drinking (±1 drink a week), quit drinking for two years with no improvement. When they finally removed his gallbladder it was so bad it literally fell apart inside him when they tried to remove it, and he was in the hospital for a week *I’m currently going through it, and they’re telling me it’s acid reflux.
The gallbladder is the medical bigfoot. Doctors refuse to believe it exists, I’m pretty sure.
I had a sporadic stabbing pain in my lower right abdomen for over a year, and already had acid reflux issues. We did lots of different investigation paths and tests, till they finally figured out the muscles in my gallbladder were barely functional and had it removed.
Side effect, it slows your digestion and now my activation time for an edible can take up to 6 hours sometimes
ER nurse here. Yes, this is a real thing. Usually, the first symptom is a steadfast denial that cannabis is the cause, so props to you for acknowledging it is likely the cause of your pain nausea and emesis. It was tough to provide care for people twice a week who would refuse to believe cannabis was causing their symptoms. That said, it looks miserable so I was always bummed someone was going through it. It would often last longer than when they tried to quit too which feels a bit unfair and contributes to the denial. There is usually a distinct retching sound people make that would out them as CHS; it is not subtle. Two things that can help fairly reliably are 1) A hot shower and 2) capsaicin topical cream rubbed on the torso. Test the capsaicin cream on a small part of your forearm first to see if you are ok with it before you lather your chest. Something about that warming sensation made folks feel much better. YMMV. Best of luck to you and others that have CHS.
My wife is an ER doctor in California, and with the advent of legality, they started seeing this more and more. It’s not a huge percent of consumers, it’s not an epidemic, it’s not something that means all people should stop consuming…but it’s super important to spread awareness. I feel like for years, the medical conversation meant people painted weed as this magic harmless cure-all, and that’s just not the case, and as use has gone up for a lot of adults, we’re seeing the edge cases. Since so many people use weed to treat nausea/appetite, this is particularly rife for denial, which just prolongs the suffering.
Maybe it’s just correlation and it’s something with specific strains, cannibinoids, ingestion methods, or farming procedures. The point is, it’s a real thing and now that we’re seeing a bigger sample size (especially a bigger sample size of people willing to admit usage to their doctors now that it’s legal) it’s certainly a thing. Now that there are less restrictions on research because of legality, I have a feeling root cause will be uncovered. I think in like 2017 I posted to /r/trees about it because my wife was seeing it, and I got down-vote nuked to oblivion because people were sure weed couldn’t cause this cyclic vomiting. It’s important to talk about this and understand that for some people, weed as consumed just isn’t an option…and that’s ok.
