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.

  • wolfshadowheart
    9•10 months ago

    Interesting, this is the first I’ve heard of CHS possibly having a catalyst. Up to this point my experience with CHS has been through friends, one extremely heavy smoker a little younger than I, and one very light smoker only a generation older than myself. It’s almost seen as an allergic reaction, however the release of excess THC stored in fat actually makes a lot of sense, much more than you suddenly being allergic to something you’ve been ingesting for decades.

    Not that it’s impossible or anything, this is how allergies occur all the time. It’s just interesting to look at different avenues, there’s still so little we know thanks to a lack of research. For what it’s worth, a majority of reports of CHS come from daily extended smokers, so it doesn’t seem like moderation or even light excess is something that commonly causes it. With what you mentioned about your father’s case in mind, it seems to align with that idea as well. I mean, more people are smoking weed than ever but CHS hasn’t exponentially grown in cases.

    Hypothesis: CHS is rare because its condition is triggered by an overabundance of THC with how the bodies process and metabolize it. For your father, the young friend and older friend of mine, each of them had weight loss and metabolic problems that began around the same time they started having problems.

    I’d be curious to see cases where short term smokers have symptoms of CHS and what potential afflictions surround them.

    Of course it’s important to mention, I’m no doctor or scientist, just a medically inclined stoner who has done a couple class studies in the field. My information is solely from public research, anecdotal sources, and assumptions based on my limited understanding.

    • @ProcurementCat@feddit.deEnglish
      4•10 months ago

      however the release of excess THC stored in fat actually makes a lot of sense

      This also ties in perfectly with the anecdotal evidence shared in this post that extremely hot showers provide (immediate) help. Brown adipose tissue, or brown fat, is an extremely crucial part of maintaining body heat and regulating blood temperature - in fact, that’s its primary purpose.

      https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/24015-brown-fat#:~:text=Brown fat is responsible for,glucose)%20and%20molecules%20of%20fat.

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_adipose_tissue

      Together with the mentions of sudden weight loss, it really sounds like some change in the affected people’s bodies leads to a higher metabolic rate of fat burning, and when most of the white fat is reduced and the body turns to brown fat, stored THC enters the blood stream and ruins their day.

      This would also explain why only people who have been smokey frequently for years develop this disease - it takes time and a lot of weed to get all this excess THC into the fat in the first place.

      Edit: well well well, would you look at this paper from 2011: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3576702/

      THC accumulates largely within body fat which serves as a long-term storage site for the drug [20,22]. This characteristic partially explains its prolonged elimination half-life. A large reservoir of stored THC in fat tissue may produce a “reintoxication effect” secondary to increased lipolysis during times of increased stress or food deprivation [23]. These characteristics of THC may have implications in Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome as these patients are chronic users of cannabis who likely have large lipid stores making them susceptible to increased cannabinoid levels in the plasma during times of stress.

    • brotkel
      2•10 months ago

      Burning stuff stored in fat is one way to get toxic levels of stuff into your bloodstream, but I can’t imagine it’s the only way. It would just be hard to get sick off pot through normal use and not realize it.

      I think you could get into a bad cycle with this if you didn’t have the information about what was causing it. Nausea makes you not want to eat, which makes your body burn fat. Not wanting to eat but knowing you have to might cause you to smoke more to treat the nausea. Nausea gets worse making it harder to eat, etc.