How To Stop Nausea From Edibles

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Xmas, isn’t it? We know so, because we just wrote a blog last week all about shopping for loved ones this holidaze season.  Something else that is sure to strike as the snow is white this festive season has to do with Xmas ganja goodies: feeling dizzy from edibles.  Whether you’re trying to learn how to stop nausea from too many marijuana edibles, or are suffering from the effects of an edible that was way too potent for you, greening-out happens all the time during the white, snowy winter months.

Even St. Nick himself can get a little Grinchy in the gills from eating so many weed cookies & milk, so it’s not embarrassing to admit when we literally bite off more than our minds & bodies can chew. Sometimes, for no particular reason at all, edibles can hit us even harder than usual.  Where we used to be a savvy, stoic stoner in the face of even the hundreds of milligrams of THC, there are some nights when just the first dose of many hits us square in the face. 

There are a number of factors that can determine how high you feel vs how little effect edibles have, and we’ll definitely be discussing them throughout this article. For now let’s set the stage with some key questions to answer about feeling dizzy from edibles: Why do edibles make some people sick? Why do edibles make you dizzy hours after eating them? Is it possible to learn how to stop nausea from edibles? Or is smoking weed easier on the stomach than getting baked on baked goods?! 

We’ll endeavor to answer these questions and more as we chew through the tasty bits of managing your edibles high without the nausea.  

Why Do Edibles Make You Dizzy?

Before we discuss what the ramifications are for getting too high, too quickly from edibles, let’s focus on the causes first.  If you weren’t already aware that edibles can make you nauseous, then you’re either very lucky or you’ve been doing your grandma’s dose for far too long.  It’s almost a rite of passage for every stoner – you’re planning on getting ripped for an Xmas party, or dropping edibles with friends at the local light up festival.  The night is marching on, fun and festive, when all of the sudden it hits you – the weed, that is, all at once! 

Cannabis of all types is capable of knocking us back a few blocks, but there’s something particularly troublesome about edibles.  Most peoples’ first couple edibles experiences are bad experiences. In fact, are overly intense and get out of hand before you can say “Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer”.  Have you ever wondered why do edibles make some people sick, while others seem unfazed by them? You might as well ask why some people can eat and eat and eat without gaining weight, whereas others drink a milkshake and waddle around after – it’s all about that metabolism.

Every person’s metabolic rates of digestion, absorption and expulsion are unique to them – even within families, most members show different physiques, gastrointestinal health and food allergies or aversions.  People’s stomachs and bowels are so variable, in fact, that from meal-to-meal they can experience a multitude of digestion problems, even though they eat that certain food item(s) all the time. Just like with cannabinoids tolerance, most people don’t know how their stomachs will handle a type of food until it’s been digested and expunged through our waste system.

The main takeaway from this rant of the obvious is to keep our metabolisms and digestive systems into consideration when we’re eating our cannabis.  Even though you might have a higher tolerance for THC when smoked, vaped or even dabbed, eating it requires the entire process of digestion to take place before our bodies absorb the active phytocompounds.  This extra step of digestion presents a whole list of potential issues, such as:

Indigestion, constipation

Cramping, bloating, gas

Delayed effects from slow metabolism

Prolonged effects from inefficient digestive system

Blood sugars & blood pressure conditions

Foodborne reactions within the stomach 

Acid reflux, vomiting, diarrhea

These aren’t the typical symptoms from eating cannabis edibles – if anything, most edible forms of cannabis would end up soothing some of these gastrointestinal issues by reducing inflammation, pain or nausea in your stomach, gut and bowels.  Nevertheless, even cannabis can hit the wall and lead people to start feeling dizzy from edibles, nauseous from edibles, or pass out from being too high.

The best way to avoid any of these nasty symptoms is to have a handle on your diet & fitness.  A hydrated, healthy body fueled by good nutrition isn’t likely to fall prey to a measly dose of THC pot cookies. Conversely, someone who has low blood sugar, a slow metabolism, hasn’t eaten anything nutritious all day or has never tried edibles before is sure to run into some hairy situations with their stomachs.

To prevent your red-eyes being bigger than your stoner-stomach, a simple way to stop nausea from edibles is to follow the golden rule: start with a low dose, and go slow! Just because Santa can slip down the chimney with a wiggle of his nose doesn’t mean you should eat the whole plate of pot cookies in one Grinchy bite! Edibles are often a matter of timing as much as they are about dose – it’s less about what’s being delivered, and more about the delivery method.

So, instead of asking yourself “what’s my tolerance to this kind of cannabis?”, you should also be pontificating on other things, such as:

What else did I eat today? How’s my metabolism doing right now?

If I take this edible now, how long until it’s supposed to ‘kick in’?

What strain of cannabis was used to make these edibles? What are the food ingredients in it?

How’s my digestion/bowel movements been lately? What could be some factors for whether it’s good/poor?  

We’ll detail some tips & tricks of learning how to stop nausea from edibles in the last section of this blog.  Before we discuss the secrets of the edibles trade, let’s shift our attention to what it means to be dizzy or nauseous from edibles. 

Consequences of Feeling Dizzy From Edibles

Let’s say you didn’t read the first section of this article, and you just rushed into the Xmas party late and gorged yourself on some gummies, cookies, brownies and/or cannabis bevvies… What can you expect now that you’re locked in for the edibles ride?! Buckle up your pants Chris Cringle, because these consequences of feeling sick from edibles can get pretty messy:

The Shakes

Why do edibles make you dizzy, anyway? A friend at a party recently suggested that “maybe cannabis makes you so aware of everything that you just notice the spinning of the Earth, and you suddenly feel dizzy from it”.  Now THERE’S a creative and thought-provoking idea about why edibles do make you dizzy. In all seriousness, THC and other cannabinoids in edibles can be absorbed in your stomach as they’re digested, and this means they sometimes hit you all at once, or in bursts over time.  

In both instances, you might experience sudden dizzy spells or bouts of nausea.  These feelings typically come in waves – slowly building into intense dizziness, then fading away, only to rise up and befuddle your brain again.  Feeling dizzy from edibles is quite common, but severe or long-lasting dizzy spells might be an indication that you took too much THC.  The important thing is to resist succumbing to that panicky feeling you get when you get too high, too fast.  Take deep breaths, sit or lie down somewhere comfortable, drink lots of fluids and try to just close your eyes and let the dizziness pass – because it ALWAYS does, never forget that.

The Pukes

Sometimes shaking, shivering or dizziness aren’t enough as your body reacts to an overabundance of cannabinoids in your system; sometimes your stomach feels the need to purge itself right then & there.  Vomiting is an unfortunate, but common occurrence in the world of weed – when we get so dizzy that we can’t see up from down it’s a natural reaction to upchuck all those tasty edibles.  Edibles can take some time to be digested, so if they hit too hard, too quickly then your stomach will simply hit the ‘eject’ button and bring them up and out.

As much as puking isn’t a pleasurable experience, it’s your body’s reaction to something in your stomach that it doesn’t want you to be absorbing anymore.  Especially when it comes to feeling dizzy or nauseous from edibles, you need to let your body do what it knows best.  Puke it up the urge to purge strikes you, use some mouthwash, then try to relax and check in with how you’re feeling.  If you’re absolutely sure that you didn’t take too much THC, then the culprit could be some bad ingredients or bacteria in the edibles.  Either way, get some rest, hydrate with plenty of water, and avoid eating anything until a couple hours have passed with no more nausea.

The S&%#s

Nobody wants to spoil that rad new onesie they just got in their stocking, but if there’s one way to ruin a white Christmas it’s when the abominable diarrhea stops by for the holidays.  Sometimes cannabis edibles don’t sit quite right in your gastrointestinal system – that, or the combination of eggnog, turkey and brussels sprouts.  When your body has absorbed too much cannabinoids, its immediate reaction can be to evacuate the entire plumbing system, which can mean fluids coming out both ends.  Diarrhea is almost always a last ditch effort by your body to void yourself of any contaminants, such as bacteria, viruses or foreign, non-digestible materials.

If you are unfortunate enough to experience ‘dope diarrhea’, then we hope you didn’t already get deep into the munchies – wasted doritos and gummy bears are a tragedy, no matter what the season. When this unfortunate turn of events occurs, make sure you stay near a toilet for an hour or two to get it all out of your system.  When you’re feeling normal enough to walk around, try brewing some peppermint tea or something warm & soothing.  CBD always works great as well to quell nausea or diarrhea, but more on that in the next section.

How to Stop Nausea from Edibles

This is the easy part – trust us, even though you might have suffered from a bad edibles trip or two, avoiding these episodes of nausea or dizziness are actually quite easy once you know what causes them. Here’s everything you need to know about why edibles make some people sick, and how to stop nausea or dizziness from edibles:

Rest Is Best

The simplest and most obvious thing to do whenever you are feeling dizzy from edibles is to sit down, close your eyes, and try to relax your way through any bouts of nausea.  Feeling overwhelmed from eating edibles will happen to even the most seasoned stoner, and when it does the worst thing you can do is to freak out.  If you’re a meditating type of person, deep breaths and a trip to your center can work wonders for quelling the weed shakes.  If you’d rather stay awake & present, then try to fixate on something calming like music, art, other people or even pets.

We would advocate for turning your mind off since it’s your brain’s reaction to the cannabinoids in your stomach which is why edibles are making you dizzy in the first place. Closing your eyes removes the issues of visual stimuli dancing & swirling in your distorted vision.  The same goes for socializing – when dizziness or nausea occur after eating edibles, it’s best to remove yourself from the hubbub of social activity and find somewhere dark & quiet to sit or lie down.  Beyond some CBD rescue that we’ll talk about shortly, the only way to stop nausea from edibles is to let it pass with time – that, or the antagonizing edibles will be purged from your orifices if your body can’t handle it any longer.

Flush Your System

Flushing hopefully doesn’t have to involve toilets, although many people who are greening-out will end up puking or pooping their night of edibles out.  To try and avoid this messy occurrence from ruining your day/night, a good hydrating flush of water, tea or electrolytes can work wonders for easing your gastrointestinal system. When edibles make some people sick, it could be because they didn’t eat enough during the day, or the fact that what they did eat is not digesting well with the added edibles in their stomachs. 

You could try some digestive enzymes to help break it down, but your body’s nausea or dizziness are reactions that are trying to tell you that ‘they need to go, now!’.  Drinking a ton of water or electrolytes can help to move things along in your stomach.  When water flows, things tend to get going – remember this any time that you feel off after taking cannabis, because hydration is the key to pushing through your discomforts.

CBD & Chill

The ultimate cannabis-related “get out of high-jail free card” is, and always will be Cannabidiol.  This magical cannabinoid is like the antivenom for the snakebite, the yin to the yang, the water to the fire of being too high.  CBD actually works to counteract the psychoactivity of THC, making it the perfect emergency remedy for those moments when your weed gets the better of you.  Every stoner, new and old, should have a bottle of high-potency CBD oil or capsules on hand whenever they’re getting stoned.

Not only can high doses of CBD help you to overcome too much THC in your system, but Cannabidiol also has a ton of benefits to your health & wellbeing, such as:

Eases pain & inflammation in stomach & bowels

Calms nerves, soothes anxiety and quiets the mind

Reverses nausea, soothes the stomach

Relaxes tense muscles, eases cramping

CBD truly is the cure-all for much of what ails us with too much THC. Cannabidiol doesn’t always take effect immediately – much like the edibles we consume, it can take some time to absorb into our system and help us to feel better.  When you need immediate relief from feeling dizzy or nauseous from edibles, large doses of CBD oil under the tongue, held for 30-60 seconds then swallowing can jumpstart your recovery.  The beauty of CBD is that you can’t take ‘too much’ of it – there’s no mind-altering effects to it, so taking super high doses will only risk wasting CBD, not your state of mind.

For more information on this life-changing phytocannabinoid, check out our other articles on CBD and all it has to offer.  The more you learn about Cannabidiol, the more we’re confident you’ll be adopting it into your daily lives. Whether you’re using CBD to ease upset stomachs or for other reasons, we want to wish you a very Merry Xmas and we’ll see you in the new year.