Chronic vomiting tied to long-term marijuana use has now has been codified by health officials seeking to diagnose and track the mysterious disorder, which has been increasingly seen in emergency rooms this decade.
In October, the World Health Organization (WHO) gave what’s known as cannabis hyperemesis syndrome (CHS) its own diagnostic code, which also has been adopted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CHS, which has sent its sufferers to urgent care and emergency rooms, is characterized by symptoms that include ongoing nausea, vomiting, belly pain and decreased appetite and weight loss.
The more rare complications of CHS include “heart rhythm abnormalities, kidney failure, seizures, and death,” according to the JAMA Network, part of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Symptoms typically start within 24 hours of the last cannabis use.
The disorder even has hatched a new term among users — “scromiting,” a combination of vomiting and screaming at the same time from the pain.
Many physicians have misdiagnosed CHS because it can mimic food poisoning the stomach flu and some patients have suffered from it for months and even years without answers.
According to the Cleveland Clinic:
People who use cannabis chronically are at risk of developing CHS. It tends to occur in people who use cannabis at least once a week and occurs more often in adults who have been using cannabis since their adolescent years. Typically, there is a delay of several years in the onset of symptoms preceded by chronic marijuana misuse in nearly all cases.
The disorder has been on the rise, judging by emergency room visits, according to a new study released in November by the JAMA Network, which noted that half of the American population lives in states with legalized recreational cannabis.
According to Fox News’s analysis of the JAMA findings, “CHS-related ER visits rose approximately 650% from 2016 to their peak during the pandemic, especially among those ages 18 to 35, according to the study. The authors also noted a dramatic shift in THC potency, with today’s products often topping 20% THC, compared to just 5% in the 1990s.”
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The JAMA study reported that prevalence of the disorder has remained elevated since 2022.
“Researchers say isolation, stress and increased access to high-potency cannabis products likely contributed to the rise” during the pandemic, Fox News reported.
The codification of CHS will contribute to research and treatment, say researchers.
“It helps us count and monitor these cases,” said Beatriz Carlini, a research associate professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine who studies adverse health effects of cannabis use. “A new code for cannabis hyperemesis syndrome will supply important hard evidence on cannabis-adverse events, which physicians tell us is a growing problem.”
Carlini added, “A person often will have multiple [emergency department] visits until it is correctly recognized, costing thousands of dollars each time.”
According to the Cleveland Clinic, “People with CHS self-learn to take hot showers, which helps reduce or curb some of the nausea they experience,” many of them “compulsively for four hours every day.”
The prestigious Ohio hospital system prescribes a permanent solution for the syndrome.
“The only known treatment to permanently get rid of CHS is to stop cannabis use completely,” the clinic advises in its literature. “You may have symptoms and side effects of CHS for a few weeks after quitting cannabis. Over time, symptoms will disappear.”
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times best seller House of Secrets and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. He is also the cofounder of Primary Purpose Productions, a production company that has made films to help people recover from drug and alcohol dependency. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
