How a Cannabis Side Effect Is Sending Thousands to the ER
In recent years, emergency rooms across the United States — and increasingly around the world — have reported a growing number of patients presenting with a bizarre and distressing pattern of symptoms linked to chronic cannabis use. The phenomenon, commonly referred to online as “scromiting” — a mash‑up of “screaming” and “vomiting” — involves episodes of violent, relentless nausea, abdominal pain, and extreme vomiting that can persist for hours or even days. The condition has become sufficiently widespread and medically concerning that major health authorities have begun to formally recognize it, prompting a reassessment of cannabis’s safety profile in both recreational and medical contexts.
While cannabis is broadly accepted as a relatively harmless plant — even hailed for therapeutic properties like pain relief and anti‑nausea effects — this darker side of its use is now forcing doctors, researchers, and users alike to grapple with a paradox: how can a substance known for reducing nausea instead cause incapacitating bouts of vomiting?
What Exactly Is “Scromiting”?
“Scromiting” is not an official medical term, but a slang name that has emerged on social media, emergency departments, and patient forums to describe the most extreme form of Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS). The medical community uses CHS to describe a pattern of cyclical vomiting in individuals who have used cannabis heavily and chronically for months or years.
In clinical descriptions, CHS presents with:
Persistent and severe nausea
Waves of intense abdominal pain
Repetitive vomiting, often multiple times per hour
Dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, weight loss
Temporary relief with hot showers or baths — a curious symptom observed by many patients and clinicians alike.
What makes the condition especially dramatic is not just the physical suffering, but that sufferers sometimes scream — whether from pain, frustration, or sheer exhaustion — while vomiting, giving rise to the portmanteau “scromiting.”
A Misleading Reputation
Cannabis has long been associated with anti‑nausea benefits. In fact, cannabinoid medications are prescribed to help cancer patients manage nausea from chemotherapy. That’s what makes CHS so puzzling and paradoxical: in chronic heavy users, cannabis appears to flip from a medicine to a toxin for the digestive system.
Medical literature first documented CHS in the early 2000s, but the number of recognized cases has grown sharply in the past decade as cannabis use — both recreational and medicinal — has skyrocketed.
Personal Stories: A Terrifying Experience
Real‑world accounts from patients paint a stark picture of the suffering involved. One recent report described a young adult who had been using a cannabis “pen” nearly every day since adolescence. During a particularly brutal episode, she experienced unrelenting vomiting throughout an entire morning, often producing little more than dry heaves. She later recounted screaming in frustration and pain because nothing seemed to help, and every attempt to eat or drink ended in intense nausea.
According to Reddit users who have shared their own experiences, the vomiting can be so violent that sufferers vomit green bile or even traces of blood, and episodes can last multiple hours before emergency care is sought. Many describe feeling trapped in a cycle they don’t understand, unsure whether the episodes are food poisoning, flu, or something more unusual.
Another patient described being unable to find a comfortable position due to abdominal pain waves, enduring hours in an ER with virtually no relief until more aggressive medications — such as antipsychotic drugs — were tried.
These narratives underscore not just physical pain, but fear, confusion, and a desperate search for answers that many patients and doctors initially lack. They tell of multiple ER visits, misdiagnoses, and the emotional toll of believing something has gone seriously wrong without knowing why.
How Common Is It — And Why the Surge Now?
Estimating the prevalence of CHS has been challenging. For many years, CHS lacked a specific medical diagnosis code, making it difficult for hospitals and public health systems to track cases reliably. However, in October 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) added CHS to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) with an official diagnostic code, allowing physicians to record and monitor cases systematically. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) adopted this code as well, marking a turning point in data collection.
Previous extrapolations, such as a 2018 study estimating that nearly 2.75 million Americans might meet criteria for CHS, have circulated widely. However, recent analyses suggest those figures may be dramatically inflated due to methodological limitations, with more realistic estimates perhaps in the tens of thousands rather than the millions.
Nonetheless, emergency department presentations for vomiting linked to cannabis use have clearly trended upward over the past decade, especially in regions where recreational cannabis has been legalized and its use has grown more widespread.
Experts point to several possible contributing factors:
Increased cannabis potency: Modern cannabis products often contain much higher levels of THC than older varieties, which may amplify effects on cannabinoid receptors.
Greater frequency of use: Daily or near‑daily consumption increases the likelihood that the body’s endocannabinoid system becomes dysregulated.
Vaping and concentrates: These consumption methods deliver high levels of cannabinoids rapidly, which some researchers suspect could increase the risk of CHS.
Importantly, CHS remains relatively uncommon among all cannabis users — most people who use cannabis do not develop this syndrome. But among a subset of heavy, long‑term users, it has become a serious and recurring problem.
What Happens During an Episode?
A classic CHS episode unfolds in three phases:
Prodromal Phase:
Individuals may start to feel uneasy, with mild nausea or recurring stomach discomfort. Often, cannabis users may mistakenly increase their intake in an attempt to self‑medicate the symptoms.
Hyperemetic Phase:
Severe nausea and vomiting become frequent and intense. Some patients report vomiting multiple times per hour, accompanied by sharp abdominal cramps. This phase is what most people refer to when they describe “scromiting.” Warm water — particularly hot showers or baths — can offer brief relief, a strange phenomenon noted repeatedly in patient reports.
Recovery Phase:
Symptoms gradually diminish once cannabis use stops. Recovery may take days to weeks, and symptoms may return with re‑exposure to cannabis.
Patients often describe the pain and discomfort as excruciating — some liken it to labor‑like cramps and debilitating waves of nausea that disrupt sleep, eating, work, and everyday life.
Why Does Cannabis Cause This? A Scientific Paradox
Understanding why cannabis — a substance with known anti‑nausea properties — can in some people trigger such severe vomiting is an ongoing area of research. The short answer: the endocannabinoid system — the network of receptors in the body that cannabis interacts with — also plays a key role in regulating gastrointestinal function, nausea, and appetite.
One leading theory is that long‑term overstimulation of cannabinoid receptors (especially with high‑THC products) disrupts the normal balance of neurochemical signals in the gut and brain. Instead of suppressing nausea, this chronic overstimulation may paradoxically trigger cycles of vomiting in certain individuals.
However, the precise mechanism remains unclear. Genetic factors, individual differences in metabolism, and other unknown biological factors likely influence who develops CHS and who does not.
If CHS does develop, cessation of cannabis use is currently the only known path to recovery, although symptom management during acute episodes can help patients cope with dehydration and distress until the condition resolves.
Diagnosis and Treatment: Challenges and Controversies
Diagnosing CHS can be difficult, especially in patients who do not initially disclose their cannabis use or are unaware of the connection between their symptoms and cannabis consumption. Many patients get misdiagnosed with gastroenteritis, food poisoning, or other gastrointestinal disorders before clinicians consider CHS.
Unlike some conditions with clear laboratory tests, CHS is diagnosed based on symptoms and a history of chronic cannabis use, combined with repeated episodes of vomiting and relief with hot showers. This lack of objective biomarkers has contributed to skepticism among some healthcare providers and the public.
Treatment
Immediate care:
Patients with severe vomiting often require intravenous fluids, electrolyte correction, and anti‑nausea medications.
Hot baths/showers:
Many sufferers find temporary relief through heat exposure, likely due to its effects on nerve receptors involved in nausea regulation.
Cessation of cannabis:
Complete abstinence from cannabis is the only intervention shown to prevent recurrent episodes.
Some clinicians have experimented with drugs like haloperidol or capsaicin cream applied to the abdomen with mixed results, but these are not widely standardized treatments.
Controversies
There is debate in both medical and cannabis communities about how common and serious CHS really is. Some argue that it is overdiagnosed, while patient advocates insist that many cases go unrecognized or dismissed. Social media conversations reflect both perspectives — from users in denial about the condition to those sharing harrowing accounts of near‑daily vomiting and repeated ER visits.
Public Health Implications
The increase in CHS cases raises broader questions about cannabis policy, safety messaging, and public awareness. As more jurisdictions legalize cannabis for recreational and medicinal use, it becomes imperative that users and clinicians alike understand not just its potential benefits but also its risks.
Healthcare providers are now being encouraged to ask about cannabis use when patients present with unexplained nausea and vomiting, and to educate heavy users about the possibility of CHS. Public health campaigns could also play a role in raising awareness about this paradoxical side effect.
Real People, Real Pain: Voices from Patients
While statistics and medical definitions matter, personal experiences bring the reality of CHS into focus:
“I felt like I was in a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from… vomiting so hard I thought I’d pass out.” — CHS survivor recounting their ER visit.
“No medicine helped until they tried haloperidol — and even then, relief was slow.” — chronic user who endured multiple hospitalizations.
These stories highlight the need for empathy, better diagnostic tools, and patient education.
Conclusion: A Complex Condition in a Changing World
“Scromiting,” or cannabis hyperemesis syndrome, underscores a critical lesson about drugs and health: no substance is without risk, and even compounds considered therapeutic can produce serious adverse effects in certain contexts. As cannabis use continues to expand globally, so too does the need for awareness of conditions like CHS, informed medical care, and nuanced public health messaging.
For users, the bottom line is clear: if you experience repeated cycles of severe vomiting and pain tied to cannabis use, this is a real medical syndrome with a recognizable pattern. While recovery may take time, cessation of cannabis use currently remains the only proven cure.
Understanding and acknowledging these risks does not diminish the potential benefits of cannabis for many people — but it does ensure safer, more informed use in a world where both recreational and medicinal cannabis are becoming more common than ever.
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