WHY I’M QUITTING CANNABIS (please tell me if you’re experiencing the same thing/can rationally convince me not to with research)
I write this with tears streaming down my cheeks as I prepare to take one final puff out of my Alpine Live Resin cartridge. I take one last look at the beautiful golden resin. My eyes roll back as I get one last whiff of that godsend Sativa, Jack Herer. My hands already shaking in anticipation of my withdrawal symptoms, I stick my tongue down the mouthpiece...no? ok i’ll stop.
WHY AM I QUITTING CANNABIS?
I started experiencing intense nausea and vomiting a couple of months after I started smoking marijuana. I know what you’re thinking: “I use weed for anti-nausea, what are you smoking?” I’m smoking weed. And it seems to be causing a condition called Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome, or CHS.
Just to make sure you don’t get me wrong, I freaking love weed. It’s helped me deal with issues like depression, chronic pain, anxiety, and insomnia. It forced me to introspect in a way that changed my career, turned me into an entrepreneur, and turned my life around for the better. Thus, it’s taken me a good while to sit down, look at the facts, and seriously consider that weed could be the cause of this crippling condition.
And it is crippling.
It had even gotten to the point where I would wake up, feel sick, and immediately think: “aw shit it’s happening again. Gotta cancel my entire day because I’m just going to spend the rest of it throwing up in the bathroom.” And that’s exactly what I did. Five times an hour, for 18 hours. The absolute worst. If it’s affecting you too, I’d recommend you take an honest look at your cannabis use and consider the connection.
Alright, here’s what we know about CHS. That’s Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome for the forgetful fucks.
The symptoms:
- Morning sickness
- Abdominal pain
- Nausea
- Constant vomiting, up to five times an hour
- Dehydration
- Constant bathing or showering in hot water (in my experience and others’, this actually seems to help reduce the nausea)
Some of these symptoms are divided into “phases,” but I’ve personally experienced them all at once, typically right when I wake up.
Here’s a (basic) rundown of the earliest known study on it:
- In 2004, Australian researchers noticed that while studying 10 subjects with cyclic vomiting issues, they all were chronic cannabis users.
- Users that abstained from cannabis use stopped feeling the symptoms, and if they relapsed, they would experience the symptoms again.
- In most cases, researchers noted that people with CHS would compulsively bathe or shower to alleviate the nausea.
(This image isn't to say that smoking weed while showering will alleviate your symptoms - while hot showers do help with the nausea from CHS, it's likely that taking even more weed for the nausea will compound the symptoms. Yep...Definitely not saying this from personal experience or anything...)
Without getting too much into the other studies which are pretty easily found through a Google search, here’s a few other possibilities and notes from research I’ve compiled:
A lot of doctors have met the studies with skepticism, but at this point pretty much NO ONE is denying that CHS as a syndrome exists. Pretty much at this point if you deny the existence of the syndrome, you’re the pothead equivalent of a flat-earther.
Some people are saying that CHS is actually Azadirachtin poisoning. Azadirachtin, from what I can tell, is a synthesized version of a pesticide, occasionally used on cannabis plants. Symptoms from Azadirachtin poisoning match up with those of CHS, and supposedly symptoms cease when using Azadirachtin-free cannabis (if someone can confirm this with a study or anecdotally I’d love to see it/hear about it.) Here’s a steemit post I found on the subject:
The last theory I’ve read is that this is an allergy-related issue. Specifically if you’re allergic to something like pine trees, and the cannabis you’re taking has terpenes and smells like pine, it could have the same terpenes that exist in a pine tree, which would cause the symptoms. Now normally, this sort of theory wouldn't gain much traction with me because I haven't found much research to back it, but remember how I said I was smoking Jack Herer? Turns out Jack Herer is a prolific source of pinene terpenes. Anyone that's smoked this godlike Sativa knows of its heavenly pine scent.
A CRY FOR HELP:
If you've got anything (preferably researched-based information) that can clarify or narrow down the culprit for the symptoms seen in Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome, please post it in the comments! If you've had any similar experiences or stories to share, I'd love to hear them in the comments as well. Help me get the word out about CHS so I can start smoking weed again! we can get to the bottom of this dire issue! Resteem, upvote, and comment! (:
Feel free to follow me on Steem! I'm new, but I love it on Steemit so far, so it looks like I'm here to stay. Cheers everyone, thanks for reading!