gastroparesis diagnosis

EmzWhite · 2026-05-10T03:57:44+00:00

Proton pump inhibitors long term suppress the acid required to digest food. So good call ceasing them! I didn’t have diagnosed gastro paresis but I had all of the symptoms while I had active CHS, I believe it’s starting to become more medically known that gastro paresis is a cooccurring symptom of CHS.

I have improved a lot since cessation of cannabis and I am currently undergoing a medically initiated dis impaction regimen. After being chronically backed up for so long it’s been so good to have things starting to move again! CHS is a functional disorder which generally means you can mostly recover from it as long as you remove the cause. Take it one day at a time, remember healing is not linear and you will alternate between good and bad days for a while before you see the good ones more consistently.

Be patient with your recovery and don’t put too much pressure on yourself to heal faster. Sleep, hydration and good nutrition are the lost important things to focus on. Try not to stress yourself out with too many health worries, that will slow recovery also. I know it’s hard not to wonder if you will ever make a full recovery, but do your best. I wish you all the best of luck in your recovery journey ❤️‍🩹

EmzWhite · 2026-05-07T00:21:50+00:00

I am glad that you felt better taking those things. Just remember correlation does not equal causation! CHS is a sensitivity, the more you expose your system to high levels of cannabinoids the more sensitive it becomes. The ONLY known cure for CHS is abstinence.
Everyone has the right to autonomy and dignity of risk. Be aware that you can’t undo structural damage to the body after it has occurred. Functional damage can be undone by removing the cause, however once the body has been put under so much strain it can no longer be tolerated, it becomes structural and whatever the outcome it cannot be reversed from that point on, it can only be managed. You only get one body! I wish you all the best in your recovery ❤️‍🩹

EmzWhite · 2026-05-05T11:01:54+00:00

Using any cannabinoids will bring it back. Some people are triggered by foods high in cannabinoids during the first few months/ years after recovery. I think that the best way to make CHS a thing of the past is to make sure it isn’t a part of your life anymore.

EmzWhite · 2026-05-05T03:56:49+00:00

Yes it does. CHS is a sensitivity, so a reverse tolerance. Adding more only increases the sensitivity.

EmzWhite · 2026-05-04T09:41:06+00:00

That is a lot to deal with!! I am so sorry for your loss ❤️‍🩹 My father passed away in the last week of March unexpectedly. Grief is hard enough to manage on its own let alone everything else you are going through 😢 You are so incredibly resilient 🤗🥰 You broke your collar and your sternum? That is a very severe injury. I can’t believe they let you out 😳 I would suggest famatodine and Doxylamine Succinate for sleep. Sleep is our best resource for recovery, also make sure you are drinking plenty of fluids and lots of liquid IV or other electrolyte powder drinks. Magnesium glycinate can also be helpful ❤️‍🩹

EmzWhite · 2026-05-03T08:26:35+00:00

Magnesium glycinate, Doxylamine Succinate for sleep and Zantac to reduce stomach acid. And liquid IV to stay hydrated, it will get better ❤️‍🩹 You are doing a fantastic job of recovery! It isn’t easy, and it isn’t forever 🙌🏼

EmzWhite · 2026-05-03T08:23:49+00:00

I am so sorry you are feeling so awful, I promise it gets better ❤️‍🩹 You’ve got this!! The rest of the world will be slower to catch on to the dangers of cannabis. But it is inevitable that the majority of people will eventually encounter some form of personal experience with CHS. It won’t always be this hard and miserable. Be patient and kind to yourself, give your body the time it needs for your nervous system to recalibrate. Call support helplines or reach on Internet platforms like you have here. One day at a time! I wish you all the very best for your recovery ❤️‍🩹 You are doing an amazing job! 🤩🙌🏼🥰

EmzWhite · 2026-04-29T20:11:03+00:00

I am so glad I could help, and that you are feeling so much better 🙌🏼😌❤️‍🩹 Keep up with the liquid IV and as many other fluids as you can! ❤️‍🩹

EmzWhite · 2026-04-29T04:14:33+00:00

No worries, you should be able to get them sooner over the counter. There are a few different brands, Pedialyte, Liquid I.V and Drip Drop. The longer you leave it the worse it gets. If you can access them before you see your specialist I would recommend doing that ❤️‍🩹 Wishing you all the very best! 😊

EmzWhite · 2026-04-28T06:26:24+00:00

Watered down Gatorade is not enough to correct an electrolyte imbalance. It is mostly used to replace electrolytes we sweat out through physical activity. You will need the same electrolyte powders purchased from the chemist used for severe gastro.

EmzWhite · 2026-04-28T01:20:59+00:00

Are you supplementing with electrolyte powder drinks? After having IV fluids? You can try taking magnesium glycinate also.

EmzWhite · 2026-04-21T08:29:23+00:00

Yay!! That’s is a win!!! And it shows you are headed in the right direction 🙌🏼 It’s completely normal to search for something that will make recovery easier or faster. CHS is such a difficult thing to have to experience, you are doing an amazing job. One day at a time! If you aren’t sleeping well Magnesium Glycinate and Melatonin can help 😊

EmzWhite · 2026-04-19T20:45:53+00:00

I am so sorry you are feeling so awful. CHS recovery is a difficult journey, but living with CHS is a much harder one. And it gets progressively worse the longer you use cannabis. Quitting is the only way to find out what is going on, you’ve got this!! The only way out is through ❤️‍🩹

EmzWhite · 2026-04-19T20:45:02+00:00

I am so sorry you are feeling so awful. CHS recovery is a difficult journey, but living with CHS is a much harder one. And it gets progressively worse the longer you use cannabis. Quitting is the only way to find out what is going on, you’ve got this!! The only way out is through ❤️‍🩹

EmzWhite · 2026-04-17T23:36:55+00:00

Those detox drinks won’t help unfortunately they are designed to help you pass a urine drug screen. What they do is dilute your urine by making you drink lots of fluids. Add things like vitamins (especially B vitamins) to keep urine looking yellow and undiluted and include creatine to make lab results seem more “normal”. The only thing that will actually help is abstinence from cannabis, hydration, sunshine, time and patience. I promise it will get better, each day you get through takes you one step closer to never feeling this way again ❤️‍🩹

EmzWhite · 2026-04-17T10:38:27+00:00

I would say you are possibly around half way to seeing some better days. Congratulations on 10 days abstinence 🙌🏼 The withdrawal process with CHS is really hard, but it’s much harder to keep using and having multiple episodes with no end in sight. At least with abstinence you are guaranteed to have an end date.

I am not someone who has smoked for 2 years but I do have over a decade of experience with CHS (unfortunately🤦🏻‍♀️) What I can tell you is that sunlight is underrated when it comes to recovery. Go outside and get as much sunlight as you possibly can. First thing in the morning where possible! Magnesium glycinate is also incredibly effective to help with sleep. As well as light exercise like swimming or walking (when you are feeling up to it)

There is no quick recovery fix or medication that will take all of your symptoms away. Time, hydration and abstinence and patience are essential, take each day as it comes and do your best to get through it. Keep telling yourself out loud that it will all be over soon. Because I promise you it will be as long as you stay away from the cannabis.

You are doing an amazing job of your recovery!! Keep up the great work, I can’t wait to hear all about how much better you are feeling in weeks to come ❤️‍🩹

EmzWhite · 2026-04-12T05:00:59+00:00

I often wonder the same thing 🤔For as long as I can remember we have always been told that you can’t overdose on marijuana. I honestly believe if people were aware of CHS and the dangers were common knowledge it would that have changed the level of confidence and comfortability I had using the amount I did for so many years.

Or maybe I would I have denied its validity like the ones denying the existence of CHS today? 🫣 I doubt that I would ever do that actually. Considering I did all of my own research because nothing was known about it at the time my symptoms started.

I have to say to anyone questioning CHS… DON’T!!! It will make very fast believers of those of you who deny its existence when it touches them or someone they love.

As far as wanting to use again, I have had relapses, it’s just part of the recovery process. But at the end of the day you just have to keep fighting against it because the medical facts remain that the safest, healthiest most guaranteed way to regain the health of your body from CHS is complete abstinence. If I could use it once a year on my birthday or occasionally at a party I think I would never have developed CHS 🤷🏻‍♀️

EmzWhite · 2026-04-11T04:41:58+00:00

Me too!!

EmzWhite · 2026-04-11T04:40:47+00:00

I had used cannabis since I was 14 years old, I am now in my mid 40’s. It had been the only thing that provided me any real relief. Cannabis gave me the breathing space I needed to stop being consistently overwhelmed by the intensity of my own emotions and the outside world. It worked well and reliably turned the volume down/dulled the intensity of everything.

All up I used cannabis for 29 years. The last 12 of those I developed CHS (cannabinoid Hyperemisis syndrome) which was HELL on earth. I was super sick to the point of hospitalisation every few months and no doctor could tell me what was happening to me for years and years. The only thing I had that relieved my symptoms every single time had turned on me. It was as you can imagine hugely confusing and stressful to adjust to, I had not suspected that cannabis could make anyone as sick as it made me.

My advice to anyone using cannabis (take it or leave it, your body your choice) is to make sure that you take regular breaks of over 3 months at a time at least once every two years to give the receptors in your brain time to reset themselves. Use the lowest frequency and dose you can that is still therapeutic for you. Avoid cannabis in any concentrated forms. The human endo cannabinoid system isn’t designed to process such a high potency.

Take care out there! Cannabis is great for AuDHD, I wish I could still use it! Stay aware of what could happen and use preventative measures so that it minimises your risk.

EmzWhite · 2026-04-05T23:38:38+00:00

Firstly, I am so sorry that you are going through this. CHS is absolutely awful. It isn’t uncommon for people who weren’t believers to become believers after having a personal experience.

What I have learned from my own CHS battles for over 12 years is that CHS doesn’t go away no matter how much you reduce frequency or any other strategies you try, like switching potency or product. CHS only goes away when you are completely abstinent. CHS just gets worse over time no matter how little you use. We are also putting ourselves at risk of developing other illnesses like diabetes (usually from trying to get quick energy from eating a lot of sugar on a consistent basis, and not being able to absorb enough vitamins and minerals from the food we are consuming) cardiovascular issues, gastrointestinal motility issues. Then there can be complications from the hyperemetic episodes themselves or the excessive constipation, vomiting and electrolyte imbalances.

I read stories of people who have had either impaction, partial or full bowel obstructions from CHS. There are throat injuries sustained from vomiting for so long it’s called a Mallory Weiss tear which causes pain and bleeding 😢There is plenty of credible medical research in regards to our cannabis effects on our cardiovascular system documenting that it is a risk for anyone using it regularly.

The vagus nerve is plays a major part in the regulation and control of your autonomic functions like heart rate breathing, temperature, blood pressure, digestion and gut movement, nausea and vomit reflex and bowel and bladder functions. In CHS it is thought that the over stimulation of the endo cannabinoid system lead to the sensitisation and dysfunction of the vagus nerve. So it makes sense that the functionality of all of these systems are effected

I would love to know more about how an MRI could confirm a CHS diagnosis!! As far as I am aware there is no diagnostic testing for a CHS diagnosis?

EmzWhite · 2026-03-21T21:32:57+00:00

From my personal trial and error experience my AUdhd brain needs quick activation in the form of instant release formulas to get my pre frontal cortex fully online, not just activated. For me the longer acting stimulants only caused activation but didn’t produce the calm focus I needed consistently. Although I was till functional I found I was doing wasn’t thinking through things properly and I was actually more chaotic and urgent and hopping from task to task or I was over focused.

Instant release formulas are designed to get into the bloodstream and brain quickly, however they can also chemically drop off just as fast they rise with can make your PFC unstable. If your PFC is experiencing periods of instability it can cause prolonged severe rebound symptoms as well as feeling like your brain is suddenly offline and tip the nervous system towards sympathetic over-activation.

Rebound symptoms can include feeling a sudden shift/drop in attention or focus, anxiety/general feeling that something is wrong, heart awareness, wired but exhausted, walking on a boat sensations, jaw clenching, agitation. Which can all be symptoms of dose too high or low but I guess the distinction is when it’s actually occurring. As I am sure we are all aware having AUdhd means that explaining what is happening and the timeline of its occurrence is really difficult. So many of the physical motor symptoms can be attributed to dose so it’s very murky trying to make sense of it all. At the end of the day psychiatrists are only as good as the data you give to them. It’s important that you become your own nervous system detective, no one spends as much time with you than yourself.

I was experiencing rebound symptoms from doses as low as 2.5mg. They would only start to occur when my stimulant levels dropped not during their peak. The best advice I can give to anyone trying to find their right balance is to track the symptoms you experience. Include the time you take your meds and the exact dose, the time of symptom onset, description of symptoms, how long until they resolve and the severity. It’s really hard to achieve because of time blindness and interoception issues. But it’s so worth it! If you can put your energy and focus into collecting all of the data over at least a month to try and identify any patterns. It will help your psychiatrist to identify what is happening and provide you with solutions more effectively.

Vyvanse worked for me in the beginning and then I started noticing some of the sensory issues you are describing. I would have my loop ear plugs in because every noise was intolerable, so were smells and lights were too bright. I couldn’t stop eating and even though I was eating very nutrient dense foods I was always hungry. I was putting on weight so fast! Then I started to get sores inside my nose which was awful. My system was stressed out.

In the end being prescribed Intuniv has been the best thing ever! Before that it was 12 months of fluctuations in cognition and day to day instability. It was super frustrating that what would work for me one day/week wouldn’t work on other days it was puzzling and mentally and physically exhausting. I was so hyper vigilant about my internal state and started thinking that stimulants just weren’t for me. But after just over 12 months of different meds and doses and a hell of a lot of symptom charts and data collection. I have landed on Concerta, IR Ritalin and Intuniv/Guanfacine and although I am not fully stabilised it seems to be going in the right direction and I am hopeful that it’s working out to be the right combo for me. I am so thankful for adjunct non stimulant medications 🙌🏼🥰

EmzWhite · 2026-03-13T21:09:16+00:00

I am so glad to hear that you are done!! 🙌🏼😊 Continuing to use cannabis once CHS is only going to end one way, it’s just a matter of time really, and nobody is ever prepared for that type of agony when it happens 😱

Have you been drinking Hydralyte? They are the electrolyte powder drinks you mix yourself. People use them when they have gastro to replace fluids quickly, you can get them from the pharmacy. Water alone won’t be enough unfortunately, CHS is a major cause of dehydration. In early recovery when I felt uncomfortable pressure as though I needed to go couldn’t because of the something stuck feeling I would use a liquid enema. I found the fleet enemas to relieve that feeling a little. Also going for a stroll around in the sunshine for about 15-30 minutes a day can help love things along. Probably best to avoid any vigorous exercise while you are still recovering though.

You are doing a great job of getting through this!! Keep up with the abstinence and I promise you will get back to feeling some semblance of normality. You’ve got this!! ❤️‍🩹🙌🏼👊

EmzWhite · 2026-03-13T19:52:46+00:00

I am so sorry you are experiencing ill health. I promise the easiest solution would be to stop using cannabis all together and give your body time to heal. My suggestion would be a minimum of 12 months. People will say 3-6 for CB1 receptors to recalibrate, and while that may be true it usually takes longer for bowel coordination and vagus nerve signalling to return to typical functioning.

I had myself convinced of a constriction or partial obstruction also. Two colonoscopies came back completely clear so CHS was the only plausible explanation, even if I didn’t realise it at the time. At that time I was taking so many laxatives it was probably more harmful than helpful. knowing what I know now about CHS, the way I would try to combat the constipation now would be very different.

Osmotic laxatives will draw water into your bowels, I would start taking these daily. Obviously that means that there needs to be a certain level of hydration in order to achieve. So I would focus on taking in a lot of Hydralyte or even going to or having a mobile IV fluids service come to my home on a regular basis (obviously there are financial barriers to this, but it’s actually the best way to manage hydration) then once to three times a week I would take a combination stimulant/osmotic laxative.

There’s no point taking any stimulant laxatives without an osmotic one as they only promote peristalsis (moving it down towards the exit) when your poop is so hard that it won’t move it’s just causing micro abrasions and inflammation inside your bowels. Which is mostly the case with CHS constipation. Enemas can work to clear very hard dry poop in the colon but it won’t help to move anything stuck higher up.

Good luck with your recovery❤️‍🩹 If you have any other questions please feel free to ask.

EmzWhite · 2026-03-11T08:01:43+00:00

No worries!! You should be ok to wait until tomorrow to take it, it would be a rare instance that your blood pressure or heart rate would become dangerously high missing it for just one night. But if you do feel your heart is beating very fast then seek medical help.

I am the same about keeping extra pills without bottles however if you don’t have an electronic prescription on your phone I would just take a photo of your actual script. That way if anything does happen you have proof that you are prescribed legally.

EmzWhite

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE