Pot rot plagues ER's

New section added to Funny Stuff Funnies
on severe reactions striking chronic users

Paul Conant includes a new section, reproduced below, in his educational comic book on alcohol and drugs called Funny Stuff Funnies -- Fast Facts on Drugs and Alcohol.

Hospital ERs are seeing more and more chronic cannabis users who can’t stop puking and screaming from abdominal pain.

In many cases, users have been ingesting marijuana or its lab-made cousins (cannabinoids) on a regular basis for years, often since their teens. Then one day they are overwhelmed with nasty symptoms: vomiting, dry retching and agonizing abdominal pains lasting up to 48 hours at a time. Apparently, pot chemicals latch onto certain body receptors, which tell the body in no uncertain terms: STOP!

Afflicted people often try to doctor themselves with excessive bathing in hot water. But that is only a temporary palliative. The right thing to do is go to the emergency room, being honest with the medics that you use grass quite a lot.

There is a simple solution. Quit!

Of course that is easier said than done for those with a psychological or maybe even a physical dependence. For help, see our HELP PAGE.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, this affliction -- known as CHS, or cannabis hyperemesis syndrome -- comes in three phases:

1. Phase one is most common in adults who have used cannabis since they were teenagers. You may have abdominal pain or morning nausea. You may also fear throwing up but never actually vomit. This phase can last for months or years.
2. This is the characteristic phase of CHS. It usually lasts 24 to 48 hours and involves overwhelming, recurrent vomiting and nausea. You may start compulsively bathing and avoid certain foods or purposefully restrict your food intake.
3. You reach the recovery phase by abstaining from all use of marijuana and related chems. Most people with CHS who stop using cannabis have relief from symptoms within 10 days. But it may take a few months to feel fully recovered.

For more on lab-made chems that simulate pot, please see our Legal but iffy page.

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