A survey of more than 1,100 people with suspected or diagnosed CHS offers one of the clearest looks yet at the condition, including a notable finding: exclusive vape cartridge users reported symptoms appearing sooner than exclusive flower smokers.
By Riley Kirk, PhD and Codi Peterson, PharmD
Cannabis is known for helping fight nausea. It can calm the stomach and help patients deal with chemotherapy, chronic illness and pain. It is even FDA-approved for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in certain forms. But for a small group of heavy cannabis users, something strange can happen.
Instead of calming the stomach, cannabis can begin to trigger waves of nausea and severe vomiting. Some people end up going to the emergency room repeatedly before anyone realizes what is happening. The condition is called cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, or CHS.
For years, CHS has existed in a gray area between cannabis culture and medical science. Many physicians fail to recognize it, leading to prolonged symptoms and repeated emergency room visits. At the same time, some patients are misdiagnosed with CHS simply because they disclose cannabis use. Many consumers have never heard of the condition, leaving those who develop it spending months, or even years, trying to understand why they keep getting sick.
Part of what makes CHS so confusing is the gap between cannabis use, the early onset of general symptoms and the later phase of relentless vomiting. People can consume for years, even decades, without getting sick, only to suddenly develop the syndrome. Researchers still do not know exactly what causes it, although previous work has suggested that there may be a genetic link that makes some people more likely to develop CHS than others. Many cannabis consumers have also wondered whether CHS could be related to pesticide exposure, other medications or compounds in the plant …
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Author: High Times Contributors / High Times
