🤢 Weed Use: The Chilling Side Effect Doctors Call ‘Scromiting’

Could your cannabis habit lead to uncontrollable, painful sickness?

While cannabis is often viewed as a “safer” substance compared to drugs like cocaine, instances of a horrific side effect are on the rise. Hospitals in the US are reporting more cases of a severe condition called Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS), especially among regular, long-term users.

What Is Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS)?

CHS is a disorder that affects chronic cannabis users, causing extreme stomach pain and sickness. It’s becoming such a concern that the World Health Organization (WHO) has formally recognized it and added an official code for diagnosis.

• Symptoms: CHS causes severe nausea, abdominal (stomach) pain, and intense vomiting.
• Frequency: Attacks can hit a chronic user about three to four times per year.
• Severity: The vomiting can be so severe that it happens up to five times an hour.
• Duration: Symptoms can appear within 24 hours of using cannabis and sometimes last for days.

The symptoms are often so bad that emergency room doctors have given the severe sickness a nickname: “scromiting,” a blend of screaming and vomiting.

Why Is This a Growing Problem?

Even as more US states legalize recreational marijuana and medical use is allowed in many places, doctors are seeing an increase in these severe reactions.

According to Beatriz Carlini, a research associate professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, having a specific diagnosis code for CHS is crucial. It helps health professionals:

• Count and monitor these growing cases.
• Supply hard evidence on adverse (negative) events related to cannabis use.

This hard data supports what many doctors are already reporting: CHS is a growing public health problem.

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The Challenge of Treatment

One of the biggest issues is that CHS is still largely unfamiliar to many doctors, which can make it hard to spot. Doctors often confuse it with other stomach illnesses like food poisoning or the stomach flu.

Also, there are currently no established therapies for CHS.

• Traditional anti-nausea medications often fail to help patients.
• Patients have found temporary relief by applying capsaicin cream (which contains an ingredient found in chili peppers) to their stomachs.
• Taking a hot shower has also been shown to ease the discomfort.

Dr. Chris Buresh, an emergency medicine specialist, says that a patient reporting relief from a hot shower is often the key to confirming the diagnosis. Patients often take such long, hot showers they use up all the hot water in their house.

Beyond ‘Scromiting’: Other Known Effects

While CHS is a dramatic concern, it’s not the only reported downside to long-term cannabis use.

• Lungs: Smoking regularly through your 20s and 30s can affect your lung health over time.
• Cognition: One study found that regular smokers had a slightly lower IQ (by about 1.3 points), though experts noted this difference wasn’t typically noticeable.

The Takeaway

While the long-term effects of cannabis use are still being studied, the rise of CHS is a serious warning about the risks associated with chronic, regular use. If you are a long-term user and experience sudden, severe, and repeated attacks of stomach pain and vomiting, it’s crucial to tell your doctor about your cannabis habit. This information can speed up a diagnosis and help you find relief.

Would you like to know about the reported benefits of quitting cannabis use?