Hello all! I am creating this thread in efforts to discuss with others the actual science behind CHS. Little to no extensive research has been done on CHS, and with increased legalization in the U.S. I would not be surprised if more people get diagnosed with this syndrome within the next 5-10 years. Below is my personal experience and my own hypothesis. I am definitely not a doctor, this is simply my take on the syndrome based on personal research. MY CHS STORY: I currently have CHS, it's a real thing. After being someone who originally thought CHS was just some made up thing it took significant research to get me to even fathom the idea that the weed was the problem. I am 21, have only been smoking since I was 18. Started off slow but by a year and a half in I became a very heavy user daily. My vomiting began on and off in November and by February I was waking up vomiting daily. I found much relief from doctor prescribed zofran. I wasn't until May that I decided to try a tolerance break. To those who don't believe CHS is real, I cannot deny that the only change in my lifestyle was that I stopped smoking weed, and within 2 weeks I stopped vomiting. I since then have tried smoking on weekends only, it took just two weekends before I woke up ill on Monday morning. So back on a longer tolerance break hoping to give moderation another try given enough time. The only part of CHS I personally have not noticed is the hot shower thing, it seems to be a learned behavior among patients so perhaps I just did not learn it. MY HYPOTHESIS: Here is my hypothesis behind what CHS is actually doing to your body. CB-2 receptors line your gastrointestinal tract. When activated this receptor is primarily responsible for decreasing nausea and inflammation. CB-2 receptors react with cannabanoids, this included your body's naturally produced endocannabanoids as well as from outside sources, i.e. smoking weed (or any other kind of marijuana intake). It is likely that those with CHS have overloaded their CB-2 receptors. Your body has been shown to change it's natural production rates with excessive stimulation from almost anything, from caffeine to cocaine. It is not unlikely that as heavy cannabis users over time our bodies begin to produce less endocannabanoids, since it is receiving so many cannabanoids from an external source those natural endocannabanoids have no cb-2 receptors left to react with. This makes sense as to why most people's vomiting occurs in the morning, after you have been sleeping all night, your body does not produce enough endocannabanoids (anymore) to keep you feeling normal and you don't take in external cannabanoids while you are sleeping. This also aligns with why smoking helps with the nausea for those with CHS. This additionally explains why many are able to return to smoking after a long enough break from it, because eventually your body does return to its natural endocannabanoid production. Again this is just my personal hypothesis, I am not a doctor but this seems like the most logical explanation of CHS compared to others I have heard. I will admit this hypothesis does not acknowledge the reason that hot showers benefit those with CHS, something I am still at a loss for.
You're hypothesis seems logical, well research and was well written. From my understanding of the endocannabinoid system this seems very likely.
I've been looking for a while for a good spot to post my experience with CHS, and what seems to work for me. I agree with the author of this post, on his hypothesis, I have read dozens of different theories about it because there's not much else you can do when you're in this type of pain, and this is definitely the most logical. And whether it's true or not, like all theories it's as useful to us as the deductions we derive from it are effective in the real world. I'm going to skip telling the story as everyone tells it, 10 times a day everyday then I had kids and instantly it started, assuming due to not being able to be relaxed, that seems to be some kind of a commonality on how this starts, though that is not really keeping with the hypothesis presented here, but nonetheless it coincided with that event in my life very specifically. Until the solutions: 1. The most effective solution that is out there is taking breaks, a few days a week. Personally I hate that, I don't see why I should have to suffer withdrawal every single week, but that attitude is why I am in the situation I am in. 2. One really important thing to understand about this condition is that you will be sweating profusely, and possibly vomiting quite a bit. So the second most important thing you can possibly do is get a box of emergency electrolyte packets and emergency vitamin packets. 3. This disease is going to inflame the crap out of your stomach. Inflammation drugs won't work. I have found aloe vera gel is super effective, and peppermint essential oil mixed into it even greater. 4. You're going to find yourself showering way too much and running your utility bill. Purchase a. $20 heated foot spa, one of the tricks here is you absolutely do not need to submerge your whole body to feel relief. 5. You absolutely need to eat all the way through this process. Skipping a single meal will cause acid reflux and dramatically intensify your symptoms in an excruciating downward spiral. I recommend eating two very specific things that are like Miracles while this is happening. Number one is chicken soup, only ingredient will be chicken and salt. Make sure you use the iodized salt, I can't back that up that's just my opinion. Feel free to make it too salty, because a big part of what's happening to you here is that your sodium levels are getting whacked from all the sweating. When the soup is done drink the broth hot. You know that relief you experience from the hot shower, you're going to get double that relief from this hot broth, the effect feels the same. The second food that I recommend is plain white rice overcooked. You can't eat just the soup, it won't fill your belly, and so it won't stop the acid. Plain white rice is great because you can eat it super slowly while you sit in the shower or something, and it digest quick enough that even if you're puking every 30 minutes you can still digest and get some nutrients out of that in-between. I also recommend eating this as hot as is tolerable, I just experienced much more relief from eating super hot stuff during this. 6. You should have a plan for your recovery phase. For me it is such a beneficial herb I don't plan on quitting I plan on managing. So part of that plan is to spend as little time with my body impacted as possible, I'm a weightlifter for many years and I don't want to lose any muscle. During the recovery phase you're going to need to take a break from smoking altogether for at least two to three days, during this time you are now going to experience good old-fashioned regular weed withdrawal. I recommend going to your local health food store and getting some herbal Blends meant for relaxation and for curbing cravings. These herbal Blends often work on your central nervous system, such as valerian root. Your nervous system is completely shot after what you've just suffered, and this reboot / restore is really important to a quick recovery. 7. While you are in the middle of any stage of this, one of the most effective things I've found when I'm at the bottom of the barrel, is doing the shower hot cold. So, little bit of super hot to get some relief, then a bunch of normal temperature water to get your core temperature normalized because as you may have read part of what's happening is your hypothalamus is being impacted and in mice studies has even caused hypothermia. Once your core temperature is somewhat normalized, maybe 10 minutes, now make the water is cold as possible and shoot it right on your stomach. Do that as long as you can tolerate, or until you start to shiver, the goal here is to come down and restore the central nervous system, so you definitely don't want to get too cold. Okay that's about all I got. I'll close with a quick comment on the capsican cream. For some dumb reason I haven't tried it yet, I'm sure it's amazing. Based on the reasoning for that and based on the fact that we are battling slow stomach motility, I have had some success with extremely spicy stuff. I'm not going to put that into the main here because that's definitely not going to work for everyone, but I like doing my second batch of chicken soup with a butt ton of cayenne pepper and other intensely spicy ground up stuff that I won't have to digest very much, like definitely not recommending someone eat a jalapeno at this point, needs to be soft that's gentle on your belly, for me personally I have a high spicy tolerance and adding a spice to soup two has always been great. Very interested to hear any other remedies that other people are finding effective
One other thought. When you work out, get angry, see boobs, your body produces testosterone. When does your body produce endocannabinoids? I would guess that it produces them during periods of relaxation. With the Advent of the gig economy, homework and the rise of it, myself a lot of guys I know are now able to work literally all day everyday. I have found during the recovery phase, particularly well I am trying to get these CHS symptoms to subside, engaging in extremely relaxing activities really seems to help. I try to to go overboard with it, like laying my hammock in the hot sun listening to music and doing Focus focused breathing and stuff. My theory on that and you have to teach your body 2 Go back to the physical processes and mental processes it would have used to relax prior to beginning marijuana. Cuz one of my favorite things about myself when I'm on weed is that I'm a warrior, never get tired go Non-Stop great Focus, feel great, but I realize Mortals have to do things like sit down and relax for a minute, and possibly that activity is needed for your body to produce these chemicals, totally uncertain on this particular point though.
Another great remedy that worked for me for a while was lemon verbena tea. Could feel it going down and soothing my stomach right away. I find it doesn't work quite as well anymore, maybe it was just a placebo the whole time but I definitely found a lot of pain relief from it. I think everyone, especially people with CHS, need to use weed as a reward. I love being high all day, and I can do pretty much everything while I am high. I do however know that my work is better done sober. I think weed should be used when you are all done with the things you need to do during that day. I find when I do this, I enjoy being high so much more than when I smoke all day. Not only do I get higher by waiting until the end of the day, but I feel much more relaxed knowing that I had a successful day and finished everything I needed to do. After a couple of weeks of smoking all day everyday, I notice that I have little to no motivation do to simple tasks. Even getting up to go for a shower takes three times as long as when I'm sober. This is why I feel that weed is best used as a reward after you have completed all your tasks for the day. CHS sucks and I wish there was a better solution other than quitting weed.