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Cannabis User Warns Of Horrifying ‘Scromiting’ Side Effect That Left Her Hospitalized
A cannabis user has warned others of the horrifying ‘scromiting’ side effect, which left her hospitalized.
With around 61.9 million Americans now smoking cannabis on a regular basis and the drug legal in 24 US states, marijuana has become more commonly used than alcohol in the United States.
For most people, the side effects of regular use are well understood: potential lung issues, occasional paranoia, a dramatically increased interest in snacks.
But a growing number of people are turning up in emergency rooms across the country with a far more alarming set of symptoms — and the condition responsible has just been formally recognised by the World Health Organization.
What is scromiting?
The name alone should be enough to put you off. Scromiting — a combination of the words ‘screaming’ and ‘vomiting’ — is the informal name for cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, or CHS.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, it is characterised by severe nausea, intense abdominal pain, and hyperemesis — meaning vomiting so extreme and persistent that it can lead to dangerous dehydration and, if untreated, organ failure.
This is not a case of feeling a little nauseous the morning after a heavy session. Episodes can last for hours or even days, vomiting can occur up to five times an hour, and the abdominal pain can be so severe that hospitalisation and morphine are required to manage it.
Symptoms can appear within 24 hours of cannabis use, and some sufferers experience episodes four or five times a year.
The condition is associated with long-term, frequent cannabis use — typically people who have been smoking daily or near-daily for a decade or more, though cases have been documented in people who have used it for as little as three years.
Scientists have not yet pinpointed the precise cause, but the leading theory is that prolonged overstimulation of receptors in the body’s endocannabinoid system eventually disrupts its natural control over nausea and vomiting — in effect, the body begins to completely reject the substance it has been processing for years.
Why cases are rising
Scromiting cases increased more than fivefold between 2016 and 2022 among young adults in the United States, and the number of people affected continues to grow.
One study found that 32.9 percent of self-reported frequent marijuana users who came to an emergency department for care met the criteria for CHS — a striking statistic that reflects both the scale of cannabis use and the degree to which the condition goes unrecognised or misdiagnosed.
The condition has become such a pressing public health concern that it has now been formally recognised by the World Health Organization, which assigned it an official diagnostic code to help healthcare providers identify and track cases more consistently.
Dr Beatriz Carlini, a research associate professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, explained the significance of that step.
“A new code for cannabis hyperemesis syndrome will supply important hard evidence on cannabis-adverse events, which physicians tell us is a growing problem,” she said.
One significant complicating factor is that patients often resist the diagnosis. Many regular cannabis users rely on the drug for anxiety, pain management, or other conditions, and the suggestion that the very substance they are using for relief might be making them ill can be difficult to accept.
Dr Chris Buresh, an emergency medicine specialist with the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital, has noted one telling diagnostic clue: sufferers often report that hot baths and showers temporarily relieve the severe abdominal pain — a phenomenon unusual enough to help distinguish CHS from other conditions.
“That’s something that can clinch the diagnosis for me, when someone says they’re better with a hot shower,” he said. “Patients describe going through all the hot water in their house.”
Real people, real experiences
The medical description of scromiting is alarming enough. The first-hand accounts from people who have lived through it are something else entirely.
One young woman who shared her story online described beginning to smoke cannabis at 16.
For years, Sydni Collins had no idea what was happening to her. “There were some days when it lasted until noon, and I would not go to school because of how bad it was,” she said.
She described being sick every morning, letting out yells and cries because nothing would come out, her body convulsing through hours of dry retching. Multiple hospital visits followed. Eventually, she was given a feeding tube.
She quit cannabis, but later resumed use to manage symptoms of Crohn’s disease — and another severe episode forced her to stop again for good.
Another woman who had been smoking three to four times a day for more than four years described coming within what she believes was close proximity to death.
“I almost died from it, I couldn’t eat or drink for a week,” she said in a TikTok video that has been widely shared. “I was throwing up 24/7. I was in severe pain, passing in and out of consciousness, and I lost 20lbs in a week from it.”
She described how she continued smoking through the initial symptoms, not realising the connection, until her body simply could not cope anymore.
“I threw up at first, and I continued to smoke, threw up again, continued to smoke,” she explained. “This cycle continued until my body couldn’t handle it anymore.”
Perhaps the most visceral account came from a mother who compared the experience directly to giving birth.
“This s**t’s wild, it’s some of the worst physical pain I’ve ever experienced in my life, and I birthed him, a 9-pound baby,” she said. “I was crying and screaming, like I can’t take this anymore, I’m just begging God, please make it stop.”
A man who spoke to emergency medicine specialist Dr Larry B. Mellick described being admitted to hospital four to five times over a six-month period, each time experiencing what he called ‘massive vomiting, nausea and pain in the stomach’ so severe he required morphine. He had only been smoking for three years.
The only cure
There is no medication that treats scromiting. Hot showers and capsaicin cream applied to the stomach can offer temporary relief from the pain during an episode, but neither addresses the underlying cause.
The only way to fully resolve CHS is to stop using cannabis entirely. For many patients — particularly those who use it medically or who are dependent on it — that is not a straightforward proposition, which is part of why cases continue to rise and why medical recognition of the condition is considered so important.
The Cleveland Clinic is direct about the stakes. “CHS is more than just a side effect of marijuana use,” its guidance states. “It’s a condition that can lead to serious health complications if you don’t get treatment for it.”
The persistent vomiting associated with CHS can rapidly cause dangerous dehydration, which if left untreated can progress to kidney damage and organ failure.
Anyone experiencing the symptoms — cyclical vomiting, severe abdominal pain, and temporary relief from heat — is strongly advised to seek medical attention.
@lizhaniford hoping this reaches the right people #foryou #chs #awareness #healthmatters ♬ original sound – liz 🦖
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