High Schooler with Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome Goes Viral for Talking About How the Rare Condition Affects Her Life (Exclusive)

• Tasha Lawson was diagnosed with cyclic vomiting syndrome in the fall of 2024 after dealing with stomach problems for many years

• Prior to the high school student's diagnosis, she and her mom Tanya initially thought she had a dairy sensitivity or excessive stress

• Recently, Tasha, 16, posted about living with her condition on TikTok, where her video went viral, amassing more than 1 million views and 2,500 comments

Tasha Lawson wasn’t supposed to have a TikTok account when she posted a video about her experience with cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS). So, when her clip went viral, amassing more than 1 million views and 2,500 comments, she knew it was time to come clean to her parents.

One day, when the 16-year-old high school student got home, Tasha sat her dad and mom, Tanya, down. "I was like, 'Hey, I did something. You're probably not going to be proud of how I achieved it, but I achieved something. I lied. I did have TikTok, and I posted a video about my cyclic vomiting syndrome that got a million views.' "

"My parents have always been an incredible support system for me. And honestly, I was a little nervous to tell them, but I knew they’d be supportive because I accomplished something positive by using my voice," she tells PEOPLE exclusively.

Tasha was diagnosed with CVS — a chronic condition that leads to cycles of severe nausea, vomiting and exhaustion lasting anywhere from a few hours to several days — in the fall of 2024. Prior to her diagnosis, she had struggled with stomach issues, which she and her mom initially thought were related to a dairy sensitivity or stress.

Then, on April 1, while visiting her grandma in Florida, Tasha became so sick that she couldn’t board her flight home. That's when her mom, who’s also a doctor, grew concerned.

"I had a really bad episode, and my mom was actually looking into it because by then, we were thinking something else was wrong," Tasha tells PEOPLE exclusively over Zoom. "I was taking lactate, and it wasn’t working. So she found an article about cyclic vomiting syndrome and sent it to me. I looked into it myself, and all the symptoms matched perfectly."

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After doing more research, the pair scheduled an appointment at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. A few months later, during the appointment, Tasha explained what was going on, and with the help of her doctor, she underwent a series of tests, including blood work, to rule out conditions like celiac disease or Crohn’s disease.

Once those were eliminated, her diagnosis with CVS was confirmed. "It felt extremely validating to me to have that diagnosis," the high schooler says.

She adds, "I'm so lucky and so privileged that I have a mom and I have family who told me it wasn't in my head because I know that there are a lot of people, especially people in my comment section, who say they've been dealing with this for years, and thought it was all in [their] head. I definitely would've thought the same if I didn't have family members help me pursue this as an option."

According to the Cleveland Clinic, CVS involves sudden, repeated episodes of severe nausea and vomiting and presents in four phases: prodrome phase, vomiting phase, recovery phase and well phase. Episodes can be triggered by numerous things, including stress and anxiety, physical exhaustion, prolonged fasting and extreme emotions.

While Tasha takes daily medication to prevent episodes, along with as-needed anti-nausea medication and anti-anxiety medication, it's not always effective.

"I think it creates a little bit of anxiety for the family," Tasha says. "If I say my stomach hurts, we're all like, 'Oh my gosh, is an episode coming?' But we're trying to take it one day at a time."

The stages of an episode look different for everyone. For Tasha, the prodrome phase usually shows up as a massive stomachache, which she refers to as a "stomach migraine" and causes her to miss large amounts of school. From there, she'll go through periods of vomiting.

At first, she'll throw up in five-minute intervals, and then slowly they'll stretch out to 10 minutes, then 20 minutes and then 30 minutes.

"When you get to 30 minutes without throwing up, that's the golden spot because then I can take a Benadryl and I'm able to fall asleep," Tasha says.

"I am a little bit more on the lucky side," she adds. "There are people who will have episodes that last for days and sometimes weeks. Mine last, including the prodrome, probably a couple of days. But not the vomiting, just throwing up, it probably lasts 2 to 4 hours."

After throwing up, Tasha says her stomach usually goes back to normal. Often, right when she wakes up, she'll crave Chipotle.

On Sept. 27, 2024, Tasha experienced her worst CVS episode to date. It was 9 a.m., and she was at school in the first block of her day when she started feeling nauseous. She was filling out a worksheet on her computer when she recalls thinking, "Oh my gosh, I'm going to throw up."

She raised her hand, asked to leave, and walked all the way down from the third floor to the nurse's office. "I'm so surprised I didn’t throw up in the hallway," she recalls. "I get there and I go, 'I'm going to puke.' "

"I walk into their bathroom and start throwing up," she adds. "They call my mom, I take a Zofran (anti-nausea medication), which goes right under your tongue. A lot of the time, it’s super nice because you can't throw it up. It goes right into your system. But sometimes it also doesn't work if I'm in the middle of an episode, which kind of sucks."

"At that point, I'm getting tired, and it really sucks because if you're tired and your body needs to puke, it’s just very draining," she continues. "My stomach really cramped up and lasted about four hours, and I threw up a total of 38 times. My mom eventually came and got me. I got in the car and fell asleep."

For Tasha, one of the hardest parts of living with CVS is that it’s affected her social life and school attendance. She explains that sometimes she can’t predict when an episode will hit, and the stress of anticipating it only makes things worse. "I’ll get stressed out enough thinking I’m going to have an episode, and then the stress itself triggers it. I’ll have to go home, sleep, and then I’ll be okay. But it makes catching up on schoolwork difficult," she shares.

But her mom says her school has been very understanding. "They’re very helpful in trying to keep her at school," Tanya says. "They know our goal is to keep her there, but if she has to come home, she has to come home."

"Everybody's been extremely understanding, and everybody has been so accommodating, and I'm so incredibly grateful," Tasha adds, noting how her friends will also comfort her with Gatorade, saltines and ginger ale when she feels unwell.

Recently, without her parents' knowledge, Tasha took to TikTok where she shared a 10-minute video about living with her diagnosis. She says she always has people asking her why she's out of school and questioning where she has gone, and she felt this was a good way to answer all their questions.

But then, she noticed her video went viral, with thousands of people commenting that they too lived with CVS. Some people, she says, reached out personally. One girl with the condition messaged her, saying she’s studying nursing for that exact reason.

"OMG i’m diagnosed with same thing that is insane i’ve literally never heard of anyone having it. do u have any tips all i do is take zofran when i have an episode," one person comments on her video.

"I’ve got CVS but mine presents a bit differently, I’m very lucky to only have episodes like once or twice a month but I throw up like every 20 mins in the span of like 3-7 hours, it’s so exhausting," another user writes.

Someone else says, "OMG i have never met someone else with this !!!! ive been diagnosed since 2021, and id love to talk to you or anyone who has it bc we are rlly the only people who understand how it is 💞💞💞."

"It was extremely empowering going through those comments and seeing that everybody was positive," Tasha says. "I know when you go online, you have to be prepared for negative comments, but I didn't see a single negative one."

"You never know what people are going through," she adds. "You never know what's happening behind closed doors. And that's something that I've always personally stood by. And I think this, for me, is my thing. That’s my thing that’s happening behind closed doors that people don't know about."

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After telling her parents about the post, Tanya says, "When your kid has a viral video, you're like, 'Oh my God, what kind of video?' " But then when she learned what the video was about, she thought, " 'Okay, I raised them well. They did okay.' "

"I think, besides being really proud of her, it’s something that’s made her feel like she can do something positive out of something that’s really difficult," Tanya says. "She got dealt a bad hand with this condition, and while she can’t do anything about the diagnosis, she can use her voice to make herself feel less alone, and to empower and educate others."

"She’s had to deal with a lot," the mom adds. "It’s hard being a teenager, regardless. And then you throw this on top, where it causes you to miss school. Now you have increased academic pressures. You’re out of school and missing things you want to be part of. So now there's increased social stress. And on top of that, she was also a COVID kid who missed her middle school years. So already we have this isolation where we’re on phones more. I just think this is her way of finding more of a community and having her voice. It’s really inspiring, and she should be really proud of herself."

Read the original article on People