What Is CHS?
Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS) is a condition linked to long-term cannabis use. It causes cycles of intense nausea, vomiting, and stomach pain. Often described as the sickest someone has ever felt. Because cannabis is often used to ease nausea, CHS can feel confusing, frightening, and surprisingly easy to miss.
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While CHS can feel confusing and frightening at first, many people find relief by understanding the pattern, recognizing triggers, and learning what the body needs to recover.​​
Why It Happens
CHS is believed to involve the body’s endocannabinoid system — the network that helps regulate digestion, stress, temperature, and balance. With repeated THC exposure, this system can become overstimulated and start sending mixed signals.
Common Signs It Might Be CHS
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Nausea that gets worse over time
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Vomiting episodes that come in cycles
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Relief from hot baths or showers
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Trouble eating or keeping food down
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Intense stomach cramping or bloating
​Many people go months or years without answers before learning about CHS. Understanding what’s happening is the first step toward feeling safer and more in control.
Here are two in-depth resources designed to support you:
Free CHS Relief Guide
A gentle, printable guide with flare-day support, hydration and heat strategies, and grounding steps you can follow when everything feels overwhelming.
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Simple, step-by-step support to follow during a flare
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What typically helps CHS symptoms
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Hydration, heat, and grounding techniques to calm your body
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A printable flare-day checklist you can save or share
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Gentle guidance written by someone who’s lived through CHS
CHS Deep-Dive Playbook
A comprehensive, lived-experience and research-informed ebook that explains CHS in depth and offers practical tools for recovery.
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Clear research-informed information on how CHS works and why it happens
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Comprehensive outline of the three phases of CHS, with symptoms, patterns, and timelines to help manage expectations
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Lived-experience insights on triggers, misdiagnoses, and recovery
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Practical strategies for flare days, quitting, and long-term healing
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Supportive tools for rebuilding stability, nourishment, and calm
Why heat helps?
Why do hot showers and capsaicin cream help?
Hot showers and topical capsaicin activate the same TRPV1 receptors that provide temporary nausea relief — which is why warmth helps so many people during a flare.
What CHS is not:
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Not “being dramatic”
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Not a personal failure
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Not “just anxiety” or a random stomach bug
CHS is a nervous-system, brain, and gut response to long-term cannabis use. You didn’t cause this on purpose — and you’re not alone.
Managing CHS can feel overwhelming, especially when every flare hits differently.
Having the right tools on-hand can bring grounding, comfort, and moments of relief while the body resets.​​​
Not sure if what you’re experiencing is CHS?
Many people with CHS go months or years without a name for what they’re going through. If you see yourself in these patterns — cycles of nausea, relief from hot showers, and symptoms that ease when you stop cannabis — it may be worth exploring CHS with a medical professional.
Cedars‑Sinai Medical Center Health Library – “Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS) – Symptoms & What to Expect”. (Simonetto et al., Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2012; PMCID: PMC3538402) (Dean et al., Clinical Toxicology, 2020; summarized via JournalFeed.org) (Ruberto et al., Clinical Toxicology, 2021; PubMed ID 33998315)