by 
I’ve been using high THC cannabis for 10 years regularly for anxiety relief. Then one day, I felt queasy. Knowing cannabis is good for nausea I dabbed for relief. It wasn’t long before I was increasing my daily cannabis use to address the pit in my stomach. Fast forward a week and I found myself spending most of my time either in a hot bath, shower, hugging the toilet or curled up in my bed in the fetal position. After 5 days of this my girlfriend had had enough and insisted on taking me to the emergency room.
The doctors were perplexed and ran a series of tests. Living in an illegal state at the time, I did not disclose my use of cannabis and no one asked… until my third visit to the ER when a young nurse asked if I used cannabis. Thankfully, she had read a case study in one of her classes about cannabis causing similar symptoms to mine in a very small number of people. She suggested I stop using cannabis and see what happened.
It was hard for me to believe cannabis was making me sick, especially given it is such good medicine for so many. After a 10-day break from cannabis I was feeling better but could not shake my anxiety so I thought a few puffs wouldn’t matter especially given I was accustomed to dabbing. This time the nausea came on hard and fast. Within 24 hours I was vomiting uncontrollably. I was so dehydrated, I had to go to the ER for fluids.
The attending physician and I had a long conversation about my medical history and all my visits to the ER. He was doubtful cannabis was the problem so he gave me a bunch of antiemetic drugs, ran an MRI and blood panel. Those four hospital visits cost me $55K+. Two weeks after my last hospital visit that same ER doctor called me directly to say that he thought I could be right given a few case studies he read subsequently in the literature.
Quitting cannabis was HARD because it was a part of my daily routine and was ingrained in my lifestyle. Luckily, I had the will and the support network to walk away from it. It took me a year to recover fully. I’ve found other ways to address my anxiety including high intensity exercise, counseling and eating well. I no longer feel tempted by cannabis.