I’ve worked for 20 years with people who use cannabis to address medical conditions, illness, and injuries, and among the top three things that people hope to treat with cannabis is nausea. People undergoing chemo and radiation treatments use it to treat the vomiting and severe nausea that can be a common side effect. Much as there are no atheists in foxholes, there are no prohibitionists in vomiting, and many have been moved to change their minds about cannabis after experiencing its anti-nausea properties on themselves or a loved one.
Its application for the relief of menstrual cramps is also well documented, and that’s been many women’s first exposure to medicinal cannabis use. But pain relief is the most common goal of medicinal users, with 89 percent of OMMP card-holding patients in 2016 listing “severe pain” as their qualifying condition.
Which is why it’s rather surprising that there’s a condition that’s being identified with increased frequency in some cannabis users that results in severe nausea, cramps, and vomiting. And the way doctors suggest those suffering cure it? By ceasing their use of cannabis.
It’s called cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS), and was first described in 2004 in Australia, when 19 regular cannabis users experienced cramps, nausea, and repetitive vomiting for no discernable reason—except they used cannabis, and that part is a bit fuzzy.
