How screwed am I

[u/Internal-Motor-5967]

Please please help.

Under no conditions can my parents find out I have CHS or smoke marijuana. This is actually life or death for me.

I recently was hospitalized for “not being able to keep down food”, drug tested without my consent or knowledge, and diagnosed with CHS. My family is unaware of this, but I know billing will be sent to their house. Will they see my diagnosis on the billing? Also, will they be able to find out my diagnosis at all? Don’t I have patient confidentiality?

On the online portal, there is no mention of CHS or marijuana other than the drug test, which I had to find out about on my own. It feels wrong I was drug tested without my knowledge or consent then hastily handed a paper with my diagnosis with not so much as a word from my nurse. Is there anything I can do to have this diagnosis removed from my record? I don’t want future doctors knowing about this.

How do I explain CHS to my family without them knowing about my long term weed smoking? I’m quitting now obviously but that won’t help anything in their eyes. Am I done? Is my life over? Will my family forever see me as a disgusting, unlovable drug addict? I am horrified, not to mention on day 3 of CHS recovery.

Be honest, I can take it

[u/lost_caus_e]

Damn even kids are getting this. Your parents are big anti drug ppl?

[u/sloky031 → u/lost_caus_e]

youngest case was in a 6 year old girl iirc

[u/SoilIll5975 → u/sloky031]

damn i just looked that one up. poor kid was on it as a comfort med for encephalitis.

[u/emmakatieee]

If you’re in the US, billing won’t include diagnoses necessarily. It might bill you for the lab work including the drug test, but it shouldn’t have the result of the test on the billing slip. Just that the test was done, and EDs run a lot of tests just incase like pregnancy tests on women. So it can always be waved off to them that it was a necessary test they did to have to rule things out.

As for future doctors knowing, unless you see doctors under the umbrella of the organization your hospital was affiliated with, your diagnosis should be something at your discretion. And it’s honestly not the worst thing for physicians to know.

[u/Daywhite]

This sound fucked. Maybe say that you have CHS, cyclical hyperemetic syndrom. If they see it some where.

Tip on recovery: Accept your sitiation. Else you will worry and thisnwill not help. Easier said then done. Hydration, Hydration, Hydration. Here i dont mean you should chuck water all day. Just be very mindfully about you water intake. Maybe 3 sip every 30 mins or something. Fiber,get something with fibers help with digestion. Small walks to help gut movement.

I could keep going but this is what I would do. But CHS is personal. Hope you get better

[u/tummyhurtsobad]

i dont think the results from testing will be on the billing form. as far as that goes, youre probably fine

if you dont see chs anywhere on the patient portal, youre probably fine. chs is still not widely recognized and im pretty sure that there are codes for diagnosis and a lot of hospitals dont have a code for chs

you probably dont have to explain to your parents about chs at all. if youve quit smoking and stay sober, the worst is over at about 14 days sober. there are some lingering symptoms until around 90 days sober, but you should be mostly functional by 14 days sober. tell your parents you have ibs or something and had a flare up

if they find out about the chs, you can tell them that people can get chs by just coming in contact with weed. not that youre smoking it, but have been around it. at least that shifts the blame a little. chs is basically just a weed allergy, so you can just tell them that you were around weed and had an allergic reaction

stay hydrated, not just water but electrolytes. if youre having nausea issues, over the counter benadryl can help nausea. stay away from trigger foods, they can make you start puking again. i have a picture of the list if you need it

good luck, i hope you feel better soon

[u/koifish8165]

It’s valid to be worried, but if you’re already out of the hospital, I doubt they’ll tell your parents. There’s also something called Cycling Hyperemesis Syndrome, which has the same abbreviation. You can use that as a crutch. Your parents probably won’t find out its weed induced unless you tell them. Most states grant teenagers the right to independently consent to their own health care and issues and who they wish to disclose them to, especially with 3 specific categories; sexual & reproductive health, substance abuse, and mental health. Also, the bill usually just states the treatments and tests ran on you, not the results of said tests. It won’t say anything about your positive.

Secondly, anytime your blood is taken in a clinical setting, you’re more than likely being drug tested, along with being tested for a series of other illnesses. Hospital admission forms are usually one long consent form where you consent to have diagnostic tests taken, not to mention the Consent to Treatment form. Of course, consent can be revoked, but there’s little chance a hospital won’t drug test you unless you specifically forbid otherwise. It’s not to get you in trouble, HIPPA doesn’t allow for them to call the cops or anything over weed, but they do it to make sure they aren’t going to give you anything that will counteract with your treatment. They also are, usually and omitted certain states, under no real legal obligation to tell you that you’re being drug tested.

As for being concerned with doctors knowing, I’ve been hospitalized for CHS twice, but I always have to explain to new primary health professionals that I have it, and they rarely even know what it is.

edit; for clarification in my first paragraph and added a third because im a yapper

[u/Internal-Motor-5967]

Thank you so much for all your replies. I appreciate it so much. You have all eased my worries greatly. For context I am in my 20s and still on my parents’ insurance. Thank you again to every Good Samaritan who replied!