A 23-year-old woman who used cannabis most days as a teenager and young adult has described a pattern of severe vomiting and abdominal pain that left her repeatedly hospitalised, dramatically underweight and reliant on a feeding tube, in an account that health authorities say is consistent with cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, a condition linked to long-term, frequent cannabis use.
The woman, Sydni Collins, said she began using a cannabis vape pen “on most days” from the age of 16 and later developed episodes of relentless nausea, stomach pain and vomiting so intense she screamed and cried while retching, symptoms sometimes referred to in emergency settings as “scromiting”, a slang term combining “screaming” and “vomiting”.
Collins’ case has been shared online by VT, which said she spoke publicly in an effort to warn other cannabis users about a syndrome that can be difficult to recognise and is often mistaken for more common gastrointestinal illnesses.
According to VT’s report, Collins’ first severe episode occurred during a flight in the spring break of her senior year, when she could not stop vomiting. The article said she described days when the illness lasted until midday, forcing her to miss school, and leaving her “puking all morning”. Collins was quoted as saying: “I would let out yells or cries because nothing would come out. I was just dry heaving.”
The report said Collins did not receive a diagnosis during her first visit to hospital and, even after the worst vomiting eased, she struggled to eat. Over one month, she visited emergency departments seven times, as nausea and stomach pain returned in waves, with some days tolerable and others leaving her unable to eat or leave home.
When she was finally admitted, Collins said doctors told her she weighed 87 pounds and required a feeding tube, according to VT. She was quoted as saying clinicians told her: “This is not normal, we need to figure it out.”
In the account, Collins described trying hot baths for relief, a behaviour widely reported among people with cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, though she said the baths worsened dehydration. She said she could not tolerate most foods, and even struggled with drinks such as nutritional supplements or sports beverages. “I would chew on ice cubes. I would lick the salt off pretzel rods. Cold washcloths helped,” she was quoted as saying. She added: “But I would be in the fetal position on the bed for hours because that was the only way my stomach didn’t hurt as bad.”
Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, or CHS, is a condition characterised by cycles of persistent nausea, repeated vomiting and abdominal pain in people who use cannabis frequently over a prolonged period. The Cleveland Clinic says symptoms typically begin “several years” after the start of chronic cannabis use, and that repeated vomiting can occur “up to five times an hour”. It notes that hot baths and showers often reduce symptoms, sometimes leading patients to bathe compulsively.
The term “scromiting” is not a medical diagnosis but is used informally to describe the subset of CHS cases in which pain is so severe that patients scream while vomiting. The Cleveland Clinic describes the term in those terms, saying it combines “vomiting” and “screaming”.
In the VT account, the syndrome was described as difficult to pin down clinically, with both patients and doctors sometimes uncertain initially about the cause. Misdiagnosis can occur because symptoms overlap with gastroenteritis, food poisoning and other disorders, and because patients may not associate their illness with cannabis if they have used it for years without prior problems.
A patient information leaflet from University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust makes a similar point, telling patients that admitting to daily marijuana use can speed diagnosis, and warning that “CHS can take several years to develop” even in people who have used cannabis for a long time without issues.
The NHS leaflet says that during severe vomiting episodes, hospital treatment may include intravenous fluids for dehydration, anti-sickness medicines, pain relief, proton-pump inhibitors for stomach inflammation, frequent hot showers and topical capsaicin cream to reduce pain and nausea. It says symptoms often ease after a day or two unless cannabis is used again, and adds that “only stopping marijuana use completely will prevent CHS”, noting that cutting down may not resolve it.
In Collins’ case, VT reported she was initially misdiagnosed with superior mesenteric artery syndrome, a rare digestive disorder. The report said that other CHS patients also often receive alternative diagnoses before the cannabis link is identified.
VT also included the account of another patient, Dan McGovern, described as 34, who said he developed severe nausea and vomiting after daily use of marijuana concentrates as a teenager and was initially diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux disease. He was quoted as saying: “When I was consuming a lot of the concentrates, I would wake up with severe nausea that went on for a while. I would start getting cold sweats. It just got even worse. I would wake up every morning and just start throwing up and involuntarily yelling during the dry heaving.” (VT)
McGovern’s account, as reported by VT, mirrors clinical descriptions that CHS episodes can recur and escalate, sometimes leaving patients unable to keep down even small amounts of water, and prompting repeated emergency care. The Cleveland Clinic says providers often diagnose CHS based on symptoms and a history of frequent cannabis use, with diagnostic criteria typically including long-term use, cyclic vomiting, abdominal pain, symptom resolution after sustained abstinence and compulsive hot bathing.
Researchers have not established a single definitive mechanism for CHS, but the Cleveland Clinic says the main theory is that it may result from long-term overstimulation of receptors in the body’s endocannabinoid system, which then disrupts normal control of nausea and vomiting.
For patients, the uncertainty can be reinforced by periods of apparent recovery. VT reported that after Collins’ month-long hospitalisation she stopped using cannabis for about nine months, before being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disease. She then wondered whether her prior vomiting episodes were linked to Crohn’s rather than cannabis, and resumed use.
According to the report, Collins then suffered a new major episode. She was quoted as saying: “I started doing [weed] again, and three years from my first big episode, I had another one and went to the hospital a bunch of times. [I] ended up having to get a feeding tube and lost a bunch of weight again.”
That recurrence after restarting cannabis is a hallmark feature described by clinicians, who say symptoms can return if cannabis use resumes even after a period of improvement. The NHS leaflet similarly states that symptoms can ease after a day or two “unless marijuana is used again”, and emphasises that full recovery requires stopping completely.
VT reported that Collins said her second hospitalisation led to her quitting cannabis altogether two years ago. She was quoted as saying: “The only way to figure out if [my symptoms] were from weed is if I stopped. So I did, and I got better.”
Health bodies stress that CHS does not affect all long-term cannabis users, which can make it harder for individuals to accept or recognise. The Cleveland Clinic says people who use marijuana long-term, “typically for about 10 to 12 years”, are at risk, and that it tends to occur more often in adults who have used cannabis since adolescence. But it adds that not everyone who uses cannabis long-term develops the syndrome.
The NHS leaflet also warns that denial is common, stating that some patients “may not want to believe that marijuana may be the underlying cause” because they have used it for years without problems, despite the condition potentially taking years to develop.
In online comment threads around VT’s Facebook post about Collins’ account, some users expressed scepticism or suggested other explanations, while others said they had seen or experienced similar patterns of illness associated with cannabis use. Such reactions are common around CHS discussions, particularly in jurisdictions where cannabis is widely used or legally available, and where public perceptions of risk vary sharply.
Clinicians, however, continue to advise that severe, recurrent vomiting combined with long-term cannabis use should prompt consideration of CHS, especially where patients report temporary relief with hot showers and where symptoms recur after cannabis use. The Cleveland Clinic and NHS leaflet both identify hot bathing as a recognised feature, while emphasising that abstinence remains the only known definitive way to prevent recurrence.
For Collins, as presented by VT, the experience was defined less by a single episode than by a cycle: sudden onset of vomiting and pain, repeated emergency visits, difficulty maintaining nutrition, dramatic weight loss and prolonged recovery, followed by relapse when cannabis use resumed. Her account underscores the importance clinicians place on discussing cannabis use openly in emergency and primary care settings, both to rule out other dangerous causes of vomiting and to avoid months or years of repeated illness without a clear explanation.