Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome: How can I help a family member?

@treat, Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. You and your husband care a great deal about your son and would do anything to help him get through these challenging bouts with Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS).

While Haloperidol has been shown to help with symptoms of nausea and vomiting, this medication 1) only manages the symptoms not the cause and 2) according to the National Institute of Health (NIH), is in the very early stages clinical research.

The only thing that will truly help your son is him completely stopping the use of cannabis and to remain abstinent from it. All else tends to enable the behavior.

You might find the posts in this related discussion helpful:
- How to help someone recognize they need help. https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/how-to-help-someone-recognize-they-need-help/

Fellow members like @smahagnoul, @anncgrl, @aubrey1895, @minipika, have experience supporting family members struggling with use and may be able to share what helped them.

@treat, it is so hard to walk the delicate line of supporting your son without enabling. I understand your fear of his losing his job and frustration that he doesn't believe cannabis use to be the source of the issue. Is there someone among his peers or other family that he might talk to about these episodes?

My Grandson is 19. he has been diagnosed with CHS. He started losing weight about 3 years ago and I suspected drugs! I talked to him about it and he assured me that he was not using! They don’t think Marijuana is a drug! Then we started noticing he was vomiting a lot! Another year goes by and we still do not know what is going on! In and out of the hospital for another 6 months and Mom makes an appointment with a gastroenterologist Doc in another city. On their way there, he admits to smoking Marijuana but didn’t tell her how much and how long he had been using! Probably about 4-5 years! So he was finally on medication and committed to stopping using. Has a good counselor and Dr. they wanted him to go to rehab but he said no. He would quit. That was 7 months ago! He has started vomiting and losing more weight! He hasn’t quit! I want so badly to help him but I don’t know how! I don’t know if the Dr. and counselor has him on a quitting plan or if he is seeing them regularly, I am so scared because he is totally destroying his health. i don’t want to lose him! If anyone has any suggestions, I am open!

I feel so sorry for your situation with your grandson, it must be hard for you and him to go through this. I have some experience with cannabis for pain and mood disorders and it helps me to cope with other health issues, my sons who are grown men used to experiment with cannabis when they were younger. I can say for sure that your grandson is allergic to cannabis and his symptoms are indicative of this, if he keeps using it, the problem will keep hurting him, I see he’s nineteen now and he has some understanding of what is happening and logically he should be giving it up because he’s not getting any benefit from it and it’s not uncommon, cannabis is a herbal medicine and it has done great things for people with chronic illnesses like cancer to control symptoms, it’s apparent that he isn’t paying attention to what he is doing, It would be a benefit for him to see a doctor or a therapist to see why he’s continuing to use a substance that makes him sick, in the meantime if it happens again, get him into a warm shower and hydrate him, also get a anti nausea meds to prevent vomiting. I hope he comes to terms with this problem because it’s easily remedied for symptoms but the main issue is that why he keeps going back to it because it’s definitely not helping him and on a positive side cannabis is so easy to stop with no major problems, also the symptoms will disappear by stopping the drug, best of luck with your grandson’s recovery.

Thank you for your comments! Yes, it is poison for his mind and body and I hope that he can see that very soon! Every time he goes back to using it he becomes sicker. Damaging his health, his brain and his body possibly for his entire life! It is heartbreaking!

@anncgrl Hang in there. As you well know, it is brutal watching people destroy themselves with substances. I noticed you said you were in recovery. I am as well. I watched my partner essentially kill himself with alcohol. He was 55 years old. It is so frustrating and being on the other side of it makes it so hard as I could empathize with the addict in him and yet, I was the sober person, trying to get him to quit. Surrender is so hard. I hope you find some peace in all this and your grandson and his parents awaken to the reality of it as well. Keep us posted.

If he keeps throwing up, he has not stopped! He has to stop the stomach issues will stop if he does, but the minute he starts using again the throwing up will start all over! Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic both have lots of information just google it and be informed! It can have long lasting effects on his organs and brain!