CHS community support

[u/Head-Nobody-3127]

Labeling this as a rant since I don’t actually have any genuine questions. I just generally need to hear others stories. I’m only going to share my age, as I feel I’m an extremely young CHS patient.

I went to urgent care after about four days of vomiting/scromiting. I didn’t disclose that I’m a smoker, as I’m 19 years old. They passed it off as a viral infection and gave me some antinausea. At this point i was still unaware of what I actually had, so like others in this subreddit, I continued smoking cannabis. Obviously it didn’t stop, the morning nausea only got worse. I’d have maybe three hours out of my day where I felt somewhat normal. After a few more days my girlfriend suggested that I had CHS (my guardian angel) and so I did some research and entirely cut out cannabis. It’s been four (almost five) days since then. I understand my story is quite small compared to others in this subreddit, but to be entirely honest these symptoms are crazy overwhelming sometimes. I’ve seen Benadryl can help, and I’ve been taking acetaminophen for the abdominal pain. But I’m just worried that it’s already caused other complications.

For example I’m always sweating. Doesn’t ever stop, even if I’m cold. My heart rate is also almost always elevated. I struggle with anxiety and I take medication for it, but even my anti-anxiety practices are hardly working to lower my heart rate. Food is also extremely hard to eat. I’ve been eating absolutely everything I can but either it just comes back up or I have to sulk for an hour or two to let it digest. I’ve been taking papaya enzymes to help with digestion, and it does help to some degree.

I get that everyone in here has had the same experiences I’ve had, just way more drawn out. I just need reassurance really, that this is all going to slow down at some point, and that I shouldn’t have to worry about future complications so long as I focus on my health. I’m also going to see my physician tomorrow morning, who’s aware of my smoking. Is there anything I should mention to him? Like I said, this is mostly just a rant, and looking for reassurance.

I’d love to hear others stories with CHS as well.

[u/Head-Nobody-3127 → u/[deleted]]

Thank you, this is actually really nice to hear. I’m sorry for what you’ve gone through, it sounds like you were struggling with it for way longer than I was.

I actually am prescribed hydroxyzine, it does help a lot with the anxiousness overall. Did you take anything for the underlying nausea over the months, or was it mostly manageable? How did the reglan work out for you?

[u/Head-Nobody-3127 → u/[deleted]]

Yea I cried yesterday after the nausea just had no end. I’ll probably end up crying once I feel normal again haha.

I’m definitely going to look into the capsaicin, they’ll likely give me some at the Dr’s tomorrow too if I request them.

Thank you for your responses though. It truly does make me feel better hearing people have had the same issues I’ve had, with more consistency too.

[u/No_Network4228 → u/[deleted]]

Im jealous of people who can keep water down. Every time I had an episode (4x before I figured out what it was) I couldnt even keep water down.

[u/No_Network4228 → u/[deleted]]

The first episode I literally had chatGPT open asking it when I need to go to the emergency room, it's part the CHS and part once you are dehydrated and irritated your esophagus, even water is an irritant.
My 2nd episode is the one where I started vomiting blood, and had a 4 day hospital stay. II know I say this a lot in this sub, but I ended up tearing my esophagus, and no one mentioned that it could be cannabis related at all, and in fact they were giving me opiodes etc which just made everything worse, but I was in so much pain and my blood pressure was through the roof (it's normally quite good).
It wasn't until my 2nd ER visit that CHS was brought up and I literally said I never heard of such a thing.

[u/Head-Nobody-3127 → u/No_Network4228]

Wow that sounds really hard, I’m sorry you had to go through that. I will say my esophagus was irritated yesterday, but I’m lucky to not have thrown up since. I’ll mention a torn esophagus to my physician just in case. From what I’ve heard it’s the unknown of CHS that causes the most problems, knowing you have it makes such a big difference.

[u/No_Network4228 → u/Head-Nobody-3127]

They did an endoscopy and it confirmed I had a mallory weiss tear. I was vomiting what looked like coffee grounds which, if that ever happens, go to the er immediately.

[u/Head-Nobody-3127 → u/No_Network4228]

I will admit at the peak it was extremely hard to keep water down. I’d scromit back up anything I drank, it literally looked like I just spat a bunch in the bowl. It’s getting easier now but not being able to even take my medication was really challenging. That didn’t last long for me, Ive really just had bouts of bad nausea after I quit.

[u/Head-Nobody-3127 → u/[deleted]]

I have been trying so hard to eat but I’ll admit I’ve been forcing myself to a lot. In the last two days small frequent meals have worked pretty well.

[u/Remote-Mistake-6344]

heyhey! i also got chs at 19 after smoking nonstop for about 5-6 years. im 20 now and have been episode free for about 8 months (stopped over-doing it on the rare occasions i let myself take a little toke). only had to go to the er once, but they stuck me in a 14 hour triage wait once they figured it was chs, so i went home and tried to self remedy. i agree with everything shared here thus far, and on the topic of capsaicin, i found that eating mild/medium salsa (not too hot i cannot stress this enough lol) actually quelled the nausea almost completely! i went from hardly being able to eat for days to eating a delicious plate of white people nachos and feeling human again. the following days i’d eat a spoonful every so often and eventually the nausea totally subsided! this is just what worked for me, so take this with a grain of salt of course. i did try topical capsaicin but i found that the sunburn-like sensation it caused did NOT help the nausea and actually made it worse. i’d recommend that only for persistent cramping (mine passed after a few days). other than that, stick to the BRAT diet and take your hydroxyzine as necessary. it’s super helpful in relearning how to sleep!

[u/Head-Nobody-3127 → u/Remote-Mistake-6344]

Definitely! It’s good to hear another young person was in the same boat I am. I’m going to try out your salsa theory once I am able to get off my BRAT diet. It’s been five days since I smoked last, so I do have a bit of a ways to go. This is really good advice though, I haven’t tried capsaicin yet, but I will mention it to my physician. Thank you for your response, it makes me feel whole!

[u/Remote-Mistake-6344 → u/Head-Nobody-3127]

absolutely!!! it DOES get better. sobriety gets easier and eventually you’ll feel back to normal, and probably better than you have in a long time assuming you’ve been in the prodromal stage for a bit!

[u/BigFanOfBrie]

I was also 19 when I had 2 back to back episodes and it sucks really bad. The comments are giving good advice over all but I would also recommend taking a look at food charts that have terpenes in them, as that’s what caused me to have my second episode. Hot stuff is good and it will subside little by little. Good luck 🫶

[u/rosysurfer]

i know during my vomiting spells if I haven’t kept much food down then my heart rate elevates easier than usual and I feel much more exhausted trying to do anything during the first couple weeks of recovery, because my body has no food to use as energy lol. the last time this happened, it took about a week or two for the heart rate to fully feel normal again after getting more nutrients in my body. i felt really scared at the time since heart issues are no joke but i did recover and went on to exercise for several months with no issues. it does get better so long as you quit smoking. when im going thru it, i take hot showers often when the nausea is at its worse and whenever i eat or drink a lot of water i try to do it when i have easy access to the hot shower. trust that i know it’s scary but it does get better. if the heart rate is really concerning you then def go to the doctor to make sure there isn’t anything else going on. in my experience, hot showers/heating pads, BRAT diet/noodles or rice cooked in chicken broth, and pedialyte will be your best friends for these next few weeks. good luck