Consider yourself pretty lucky if you’ve never heard of the word “scromiting.” The freaky sounding word is a combo of screaming and vomiting, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. The medical name is Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome, or CHS. And it’s showing up in emergency rooms across the country including right here in WeHo at Cedars, at rates that have doctors tripping themselves and getting worried.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the hospital system that serves West Hollywood and much of the Westside, has been sounding the alarm. According to the hospital, CHS causes repeated and severe bouts of nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain in people who use marijuana daily over long periods. Symptoms typically show up after about 10 to 12 years of chronic use, though researchers still can’t explain why some heavy users develop it and others don’t.
Now, for your weed 101 lesson: marijuana contains THC and related chemicals that bind to molecules in both the brain and the digestive tract. Short-term, cannabis is known to ease nausea. But, Cedars-Sinai says, ironically, that long-term daily use can actually change how those digestive molecules respond, essentially flipping the script. Instead of calming your stomach, it starts wrecking it.
The syndrome follows a pattern. First comes the prodromal phase, where patients deal with early morning nausea and belly pain that can drag on for months or even years. A lot of people increase their cannabis use during this stage because they think it’ll help. It doesn’t. Then comes the hyperemetic phase, the brutal part, with persistent vomiting, more nausea, weight loss and dehydration. The only path to recovery from this hellish ride comes when you stop using cannabis entirely.
One of the stranger aspects of CHS is the hot shower thing. Patients almost universally report that scalding hot showers or baths are the only thing that temporarily eases their symptoms. Cedars says that if a patient tells their doctor a hot shower made them feel better, that alone is a strong indicator of CHS.
The numbers are getting hard to ignore
A study published in JAMA Network Open in November 2025 looked at data covering about 85 percent of all U.S. emergency department visits and found that CHS cases spiked during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 and stayed elevated through 2022. Most of those patients were between 18 and 35 years old. A separate study from July 2025 found ER visits for the condition among teens and young adults aged 13 to 21 jumped more than tenfold between 2016 and 2023.
In Northern California, researchers tracked suspected CHS cases over 11 years and found annual prevalence increased by as much as 175 percent, with the sharpest climb coming after recreational cannabis sales launched.
A nationally representative survey of over 7,000 adults published in January 2026 estimated that more than 40 million Americans now use cannabis daily. That’s the population most at risk.
All of this matters in West Hollywood, where cannabis dispensaries have been part of the landscape for years. The city was one of the first in Los Angeles County to welcome recreational cannabis retail after California legalized adult-use sales in 2018, and shops along Santa Monica Boulevard do steady business.
Some doctors think the potency of modern cannabis products is part of the problem. THC levels in today’s marijuana are estimated at roughly four times what they were a few decades ago, and high-potency products like vapes and concentrates may carry even more risk.
Diagnosis is tricky, and that’s part of the problem
No single test exists for CHS, and that’s a big reason so many cases get missed. Patients who downplay their cannabis use, or leave it out entirely, tend to get bounced through rounds of imaging, bloodwork and specialist referrals before anyone lands on the right diagnosis. Cedars-Sinai says the only real confirmation comes when a patient quits marijuana and the symptoms go away.
When someone does show up to the ER mid-episode, doctors typically treat with IV fluids to fight dehydration, anti-nausea drugs, pain medication and in some cases capsaicin cream applied to the stomach. That last one sounds odd, but it’s shown results. Still, all of that is just managing the moment. Cedars-Sinai says the only actual cure is quitting cannabis completely, and they don’t sugarcoat the rest of it. Use again, and the vomiting comes back.
On the research side, tracking CHS just got a lot easier. A federal committee created the first official diagnostic code for Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome, R11.16, in October 2025. The World Health Organization added its own code shortly after. Before that, there was no standardized way for doctors to log CHS in medical records, which meant the data was always incomplete.
Cedars-Sinai notes that walking away from daily marijuana use brings other health improvements too, from better lung function and sharper memory to improved sleep and a lower risk of depression and anxiety.
Their bottom line: if you’ve been throwing up for more than a day, talk to your doctor. And if you’re a regular cannabis user dealing with any of these symptoms, don’t leave that part out of the conversation. It could save you a lot of unnecessary testing and a few more trips to the ER you didn’t need.
Easily explained by the fact that your body adapts over time to bring it to equilibrium/Homeostasis—that is why people develop tolerance to Drugs; The body tries to counteract the effects of longterm foreign chemicals. People who develop it probably have a sluggish immune system/lymphatic system/or Genetic variations that slow down the detox mechanisms of THC/Cannabis molecules out their body; Therefore, there body has to adapt by counteracting the effects more virulently