A 27-year-old woman developed a mysterious cannabis-related syndrome that left her vomiting and caused her to fall asleep while showering

• A 27-year-old woman was hospitalized after falling asleep in a hot shower and burning her skin.
• The shower was her attempt to soothe nausea and vomiting she experienced after using marijuana.
• Doctors diagnosed her with cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, a condition that affects frequent weed users.

A 27-year-old woman with a mysterious illness that causes marijuana users to develop extreme nausea and vomiting landed in the hospital after burning herself when she fell asleep showering.

According to a March 24 case study in the journal BMJ Case Reports, the Florida woman used marijuana daily for many years but only developed nausea and vomiting over the last 18 months. To soothe her nausea and abdominal pain at home, she would use heating pads and warm showers.

Her doctors initially thought she had gallbladder damage. But after she shared her marijuana use and home treatment regimen, the doctors diagnosed her with cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, or CHS.

CHS affects frequent marijuana users who suddenly develop adverse reactions to the substance, usually in their 30s, after using the substance daily or weekly beginning in their teens. The condition was coined in the early 2000s and experts are still unsure what causes the unrelenting nausea and vomiting, Insider previously reported.

Like the woman in the case study, people with CHS tend to rely on hot showers, baths, and heating pads to soothe their pain. According to a 2016 systematic review of CHS patients, 92% of diagnosed patients have "compulsive" use of these pain management techniques.

When a person applies heat to their skin, it can open their blood vessels and relieve blood clots that are causing pain in a specific area, which could explain why the soothing method is so popular for people with CHS, according to Temple University researchers.

The woman fell asleep in her hot shower and burned her skin

In the woman's case, her soothing techniques led to skin burns on her stomach.

During her hospital exam, she told the doctors, "I was vomiting so much one time I got in the bathtub and ended up falling asleep and burning up my skin."

Once they examined her, they found her stomach covered in red splotches and suggested she stop using marijuana to prevent further nausea and potentially dangerous soothing techniques.

Abstaining from marijuana use is the only way to treat CHS, University of Oklahoma internal medicine doctors wrote in a 2011 review of the condition.

When the woman heard this advice, she was hesitant to stop using marijuana.

According to the doctors on the case, she said, "I tried to quit, but I can't. Are you sure it's the weed?"

The woman's doctors didn't disclose whether she took their advice or not.