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The symptoms began in 2021. Despite declining health and repeated hospital stays, doctors initially misdiagnosed her ailment as a migraine disease.
She underwent numerous tests for 2 years. (Representative Image)
A Massachusetts woman has opened up about her years-long battle with a rare condition that causes her to vomit up to 15 times per hour when she encounters stress, anxiety, or premenstrual symptoms episodes. She will feel better after that, but the cycle will resume the following week for days at a time.
Sharisse Zeroonian, 29, has been diagnosed with rare cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) that affects 2% of the population and is more prevalent among women, young adults, and people with a personal or familial history of migraines.
Sharisse told Today.com that she lost weight, had emotional turmoil and lost her job as a result of the recurrent vomiting. She even experienced suicidal thoughts, which, unfortunately, would cause her to vomit more.
“I was feeling like, I don’t want to live like this anymore. What kind of quality of life is this?” she told the outlet.
Sharisse’s symptoms began in 2021. Despite her declining health and repeated hospital stays, doctors initially misdiagnosed her ailment as a migraine disease.
Sharisse underwent two years of testing — including numerous blood tests, endoscopy and a gastric emptying study — and multiple ER visits to get a correct diagnosis. She was eventually diagnosed with cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) in 2023.
The symptoms of CVS, a chronic gut-brain connection disorder, include frequent vomiting episodes punctuated by periods of normal health. Abdominal discomfort, diarrhoea, headache, light sensitivity and dizziness are other symptoms that may appear during a vomiting episode.
Menstruation, motion sickness, overexertion, overeating, sinus issues, stress or excitement and specific foods and beverages like alcohol, coffee, chocolate, and cheese are all known to cause CVS episodes.
“The episodes caused me to feel anxious and even suicidal at times, but it was a Catch-22 situation because the anxious and suicidal thoughts were also causing the episode,” Sharisse told Today.com.
Managing symptoms and altering lifestyle choices to avoid situations that can cause vomiting episodes are the mainstays of CVS treatment. Additional therapies include benzodiazepines, which have been demonstrated to reduce anxiety symptoms, migraine medications, and medicinal marijuana, which can reduce stress and nausea.
Sharisse still has weekly episodes of vomiting, but they are less severe and last one to two days instead of four or five. Sharisse turned her hardships into inspiration and wrote and directed the semi-autobiographical Nothing Solid, a dark comedy film that she describes as a “vom-com.”
“Making this movie and being open about it has helped because I think I suffered a lot more when I was not open,” she said.
A team of writers at News18.com bring you stories on what’s creating the buzz on the Internet while exploring science, cricket, tech, gender, Bollywood, and culture.
A team of writers at News18.com bring you stories on what’s creating the buzz on the Internet while exploring science, cricket, tech, gender, Bollywood, and culture.
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