A Teen’s Cannabis Habit Nearly Cost Him His Brain After Weeks of Vomiting

A 15-year-old boy in Georgia lost between 25 and 30 pounds in just a few weeks, and the reason was not a diet or a growth spurt. He was vomiting so often that his body began running dangerously low on nutrients, eventually leaving him with neurological symptoms that sent his doctors searching for a much more serious explanation.

His first diagnosis seemed straightforward: cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, a condition linked to repeated cannabis use that can cause severe cycles of nausea and vomiting. But when he returned to the hospital weeks later, he was slurring his speech, struggling to respond, experiencing blurred vision and showing involuntary side-to-side eye movements. His sodium was dangerously low, his liver function was worsening, and doctors realized the vomiting had triggered a potentially life-threatening vitamin deficiency.

The Hot Showers Were Already A Warning Sign

The boy had been using cannabis heavily and developed a pattern that doctors increasingly recognize in patients with cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, or CHS. Along with repeated vomiting and headaches, he had begun taking extremely hot showers over and over because the heat temporarily eased his nausea. That unusual behavior can be an important clue when someone presents with unexplained vomiting after long-term cannabis use.

CHS can produce cycles of intense nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. The condition is sometimes given the grim nickname “scromiting,” a combination of screaming and vomiting that reflects just how severe some episodes can become. For people who develop CHS, continuing to use cannabis can keep the cycle going, while stopping cannabis is considered the key step toward recovery.

The condition can also become dangerous when vomiting continues for long periods. Dehydration, electrolyte disturbances, weight loss, malnutrition and injuries caused by repeated vomiting or excessively hot showers are among the complications doctors can encounter. In frequent cannabis users who arrive at an emergency department with severe vomiting, CHS is common enough that it needs to be considered. For this teenager, however, the initial diagnosis did not explain what happened next.

His Neurological Symptoms Changed Everything

When the boy returned to the hospital, his symptoms had moved far beyond stomach problems. His speech had become slurred, his responses were inconsistent, his vision was blurred and his eyes were moving involuntarily from side to side. Doctors also found dangerously low sodium levels and worsening liver function, creating a picture that demanded urgent neurological attention.

The medical team at Augusta University suspected Wernicke encephalopathy, a serious neurological disorder caused by a deficiency of thiamine, also known as vitamin B1. It is more commonly associated in the public imagination with long-term alcohol misuse, but the underlying problem is nutritional deficiency. Severe and prolonged vomiting can create the same danger.

That distinction was critical. The teenager had been losing food and fluids repeatedly, meaning his body was being deprived of nutrients at the same time his brain continued to require them. His doctors recognized that the combination of neurological changes and prolonged vomiting could point toward a thiamine deficiency before every laboratory result was available.

The case was later documented as Wernicke encephalopathy associated with CHS in a 15-year-old patient, an unusual presentation because Wernicke encephalopathy is far more commonly recognized in adults with other underlying causes.

The Vitamin His Brain Could No Longer Spare

Thiamine plays a central role in helping cells convert food into usable energy. The problem is that the body stores only limited amounts of it, so prolonged periods without adequate intake can become dangerous surprisingly quickly. Clinical references note that thiamine stores can become depleted within about four weeks when intake stops, after which neurological symptoms may begin to appear.

That creates a troubling connection with prolonged vomiting. Someone can continue eating occasionally and still become nutritionally depleted if they cannot keep enough food down. Every episode removes more fluid and nutrients, while the body’s demand for energy continues around the clock.

The brain is particularly vulnerable because it depends heavily on a constant energy supply. When thiamine becomes severely deficient, neurological symptoms can emerge, including confusion, abnormal eye movements, problems with coordination and changes in speech or responsiveness.

The teenager’s symptoms fit that pattern closely enough that doctors began treatment for suspected Wernicke encephalopathy while they were still waiting for laboratory confirmation.

Wernicke Encephalopathy Can Be Easy To Miss

The condition has a reputation for being associated with chronic alcohol use, but alcohol is only one possible route to severe thiamine deficiency. Other situations can include bariatric surgery, cancer treatment, dialysis, eating disorders and prolonged vomiting, including severe vomiting during pregnancy.

Doctors are taught to watch for a classic combination of altered mental status, problems with walking and abnormal eye movements. The problem is that many patients do not show the full combination. Clinical references indicate that only about one in six patients displays all three classic features, while some patients may initially show none of them.

That makes recognition especially important when someone has a clear risk factor for nutritional depletion. A patient who has been vomiting for weeks and suddenly develops confusion, abnormal eye movements or coordination problems may have a neurological emergency hiding behind what initially looked like a stomach illness.

Untreated Wernicke encephalopathy can be fatal, with estimates placing mortality around 17%. Among survivors, severe and lasting memory problems known as Korsakoff syndrome can also develop. The condition therefore leaves doctors little room for waiting when the clinical picture raises suspicion.

Treatment Started Before The Lab Results Came Back

The treatment for thiamine deficiency is straightforward once doctors recognize the problem: replace the missing vitamin. In this case, the medical team began administering thiamine while laboratory results were still pending because delaying treatment could allow neurological damage to progress.

The boy began showing improvement in his neurological symptoms within a day of receiving thiamine. Laboratory testing subsequently confirmed the deficiency doctors had suspected, strengthening the connection between his prolonged vomiting and the neurological crisis.

A similar case involving a 28-year-old woman also illustrates how quickly prolonged CHS-related vomiting can become a nutritional problem. She had been vomiting for eight weeks, lost 10 kilograms and developed double vision and an unsteady gait. Testing found a whole-blood thiamine level below the stated reference range, and treatment with intravenous thiamine was followed by substantial recovery.

These cases remain case reports rather than evidence showing how frequently this complication occurs. They do, however, demonstrate that prolonged vomiting associated with CHS can create a pathway from a gastrointestinal problem to a serious neurological emergency.

Nearly 200,000 Emergency Visits Put CHS In Perspective

The teenager’s experience was unusual, but CHS itself is increasingly showing up in emergency departments. Between January 2023 and May 2026, there were 199,565 emergency department visits involving CHS in the United States, with the highest rates among people aged 15 to 24.

There is an important qualification attached to those numbers. CHS received its own diagnosis code in October 2025, and the available analysis indicates that the increase in recorded cases likely reflects improved recognition and coding rather than an immediate real-world explosion in incidence.

Cannabis potency has also changed dramatically over the decades. Cannabis seized by law enforcement averaged 3.96% THC in 1995, compared with an average of 16.14% in 2022. That does not establish that higher-potency products caused the teenager’s illness, but it provides important context for understanding how cannabis exposure has changed over time.

For younger cannabis users, the numbers make one point difficult to ignore: persistent vomiting should not automatically be dismissed as something that will pass, particularly when cannabis use and compulsive hot bathing are part of the picture.

The Warning Signs Doctors Want People To Recognize

There are several symptoms that should make prolonged vomiting more concerning, especially when they appear together:

• Repeated vomiting: Persistent episodes can cause dehydration, electrolyte disturbances and serious nutritional deficiencies.
• Compulsive hot showers: Repeated hot bathing for relief is strongly associated with CHS and can itself cause burns.
• Rapid weight loss: Losing a large amount of weight over a short period can signal that the body is no longer receiving or retaining enough nutrition.
• Neurological changes: Slurred speech, confusion, abnormal eye movements, blurred vision or problems with coordination require urgent medical attention.

The important issue is the duration and severity of the vomiting. Someone who is eating normally and keeping food down is in a very different situation from someone who has spent weeks repeatedly losing meals and fluids.

Thiamine itself is found naturally in foods including pork, legumes, whole grains, meat and nuts. Most people who eat a varied diet and can keep food down receive enough of it through food. Severe deficiency becomes a much bigger concern when the body has been deprived for an extended period.

The Boy Eventually Returned To Normal

The teenager agreed to stop using cannabis, and his vomiting stopped. At his last reported primary care follow-up, he appeared to have returned to normal health, and his brain scans were also normal.

The case authors described it as one of the earliest reported pediatric cases of Wernicke encephalopathy associated with CHS. That makes the case unusual, but it also exposes a connection that can be overlooked when severe vomiting is treated as the main problem.

The biggest warning sign may be what happens when the vomiting keeps going. A person can begin with nausea and abdominal pain, develop dehydration and weight loss, and then reach a point where a missing nutrient starts affecting the brain.

When someone who uses cannabis regularly is vomiting repeatedly, especially for weeks, the combination deserves medical attention. If confusion, slurred speech, abnormal eye movements, blurred vision or coordination problems appear, waiting for the symptoms to pass can carry a much higher cost than the original stomach illness.