Adverse Reaction to Cannabis now

[RichardMooner]

I use to smoke frequently, maybe a couple of times a week, for a month about once a day, whatever I was really in the mood for. Wasn't like some huge habit or whatever, I really just smoked when I had weed, and I only bought about twice a month, but I mainly smoke with a buddy of mine and when he became a pretty heavy smoker he would always come over and share bowls with me, so I, in turn, became a semi over weight smoker. Anyway, I loved weed. Took away all of my anxiety, made me happy, allowed me to chill out and have fun etc....but after taking a little break (couple of weeks), I smoked again with a friend of my brothers. He had a small bong but a bowl piece that could hold about .5 grams, and I wiped the whole bowl out in one hit. Which wasn't that big of a deal, until I did the same thing immediately after. I'm used to brown weed grown in a shitty climate, and the weed he had (in a great climate + plus different area and dealer) was something that I was not prepared for. I was ripped, I mean absolutely ripped. I got extremely high, and then just kind of curled back into my own thoughts and started having some extremely vivid and violent images appear. For about an hour I obsessed over them (cannabis's nature) and really had a bad time. I never freaked out or anything, but I really hated the images. After the high wore off I stopped smoking again for about a week and then continued to smoke as normal without any problems, but then the exact same images started to appear, granted they were in my head and not hallucinations, but I couldn't get them out of my head. Now, every time I smoke they appear again. I've stopped smoking completely and intend to continue without it. I can take substances that are well known to cause anxiety, such as Adderall (I take as precribed unless I have extras and then I take around 30mg-40mg just to get a boost and slight euphoria, Kratom I have no problems with, Opiates I have no problem with, although they're not known to commonly cause anxiety, and pretty much everything else I can think of I'm fine with, but weed I can't handle. I see things like massive objects crushing me, or my toe nails being ripped off, etc......And sometimes if the strain is good and euphoric, I think there are things running up and down the inside of my spine and I can feel them moving. I was jus wondering if anyone else has had any experiences like this? I understand that weed is known to induce psychosis if the given person is vulnerable to it, and while i don't experience these thoughts when sober, I don't ever want to and that is my reasoning for quitting. Anything shared will be greatly appreciated.

 

[shaddi]

I use to smoke frequently, maybe a couple of times a week, for a month about once a day, whatever I was really in the mood for. Wasn't like some huge habit or whatever, I really just smoked when I had weed, and I only bought about twice a month, but I mainly smoke with a buddy of mine and when he became a pretty heavy smoker he would always come over and share bowls with me, so I in turn become a semi over weight smoker. Anyway, I loved weed. Took away all of my anxiety, made me happy, allowed me to chill out and have fun etc....but after taking a little break (couple of weeks), I smoked again with a friend of my brothers. He had a small bong but a bowl piece that could hold about .5 grams, and I wiped the whole bowl out in one hit. Which wasn't that big of a deal, until I did the same thing immediately after. I'm used to brown weed grown in a shitty climate, and the weed he had (in a great climate + plus different area and dealer) was something that I was not prepared for. I was ripped, I mean absolutely ripped. I got extremely high, and then just kind of curled back into my own thoughts and started having some extremely vivid and violent images appear. For about an hour I obsessed over them (cannabis's nature) and really had a bad time. I never freaked out or anything, but I really hated the images. After the high wore off I stopped smoking again for about a week and then continued to smoke as normal without any problems, but then the exact same images started to appear, granted they were in my head and not hallucinations, but I couldn't get them out of my head. Now, every time I smoke they appear again. I've stopped smoking completely and intend to continue without it. I can take substances that are well known to cause anxiety, such as Adderall (I take as precribed unless I have extras and then I take around 30mg-40mg just to get a boost and slight euphoria, Kratom I have no problems with, Opiates I have no problem with, although they're not known to commonly cause anxiety, and pretty much everything else I can think of I'm fine with, but weed I can't handle. I see things like massive objects crushing me, or my toe nails being ripped off, etc......And sometimes if the strain is good and euphoric, I think there are things running up and down the inside of my spine and I can feel them moving. I was jus wondering if anyone else has had any experiences like this? I understand that weed is known to induce psychosis if the given person is vulnerable to it, and while i don't experience these thoughts when sober, I don't ever want to and that is my reasoning for quitting. Anything shared will be greatly appreciated.

you smoked a lot on low tolerance. u gota treat it like a psychedelic. set and setting. u were sounding ocd/paranoid about nothing, so maybe u had those fears to begin with, and they became more pronounced. did u feel as if the person with you was making you feel uncomfortable, like u couldnt share and say everything u wanted to, like u had to hold things in? dont smoke with someone/somewhere where u feel you can't hold yourself together. after taking a long break u need to go back to it slowly, because 1 hit after a long break should be enough and then go slowly. u said u are used to shitty weed, so then u smoked 1 gram of some very good stuff w/ no tolerance, sometimes veteran smokers can't even handle that

 

[Orpheos]

Hey, new on here.

Just thought I'd respond as I've both had experiences with psychosis as well as cannabis...though not related.

I was borderline psychotic for five years though it wasn't brought on by smoking weed. The only thing that makes me think what your describing is related to some sort of psychosis is the tactile hallucinations of things running up and down your spine. I have a good friend who has schizophrenia and is also a heavy smoker, he has complained of feeling things running up and down his legs...like bugs. I'm not saying you have schizophrenia mind you, this guy hallucinates while sober, more so in fact.
While I've never experienced quite what you are reporting I do have experience with adverse psychological effects from smoking the stuff. At first when I began smoking it was great fun but then a few years later I began feeling really out of it, like I was a million miles a way in my mind as I used to describe it, and super nervous and even at times when the bud was rather potent, unable to even speak. This lasted several years and eventually I just gave it a break for a good long while, taking only a hit or two if I did smoke. I did come back to it in my 20's but came back well read up on the stuff and knowing somewhat what I was doing. I was able to make my peace with the stuff after discovering the joys of being it's parent so to speak and thus had much more control over what it was exactly I was smoking. Since this time I've smoked off and on, heavily again at times and had very few adverse effects knowing that I prefer to be among people and in places where I'm comfortable. I mean there's still the occasional ten minute wave of "Oh my god what's wrong with me!" if I haven't touched it in a little while but I can live with that, it's even not entirely bad for me to experience this as it keeps me conscious of things I normally am rather blind to.
I'd say just give it a good long break and if you must smoke then take a hit and see how you feel. It's a mysterious thing and effects us all rather uniquely really. You never know what could be going on beneath the layers of your mind that could be triggering these mental images and tactile sensations but it's good that you don't experience these when not smoking, that's a good sign. For me I discovered eventually that my discomfort was probably due to mild dissociation from some sort of traumatic amnesia....the amnesia part not being a mild reaction at all but the dissociation was rather mild only making me feel as if in a fog and very distant and uncomfortable, this was made extraordinarily worse when I smoked.

Just wanted to relate my experiences here,

Take it easy...

-e

 

[Libertin]

RichardMooner,

I believe experiences quite similar to yours are common, albeit with some differences, probably due to the huge variation in the mental compositions of individuals. In your case, I don't know whether actual 'psychosis' is an issue, but cannabis is well known for producing psychotic like effects, it could be classified a a psychotomimetic drug; i.e psycho + mimetic, meaning that it mimics the effects of psychosis.

My Experience with Cannabis's Adverse Effects

It know it can be tedious to read through myriad stranger's autobiographical accounts of their drug use so I'll keep mine brief:

• I started smoking cannabis age 15
• continued daily until age 23 <-- I was a moderate to heavy user, and never experienced serious anxiety
• took a 15 months break <-- no anxiety issues at this point, I quit as a curiosity to see if I would feel any benefit
• resumed smoking cannabis <-- The paranoia began, each time I smoked I would feel physically faint and weak, get palpitations and dreadful fear of prosecution and fear or others acting violence against myself. In short, typical cannabis induced paranoia.

My Observations on this Experience

Regarding my symptoms, from my reading on the topic it seems to be really common, in fact, there appears to be a pattern:

• User enjoys cannabis for a long period of time
• User takes a break, which lowers their tolerance
• User goes back to using cannabis and experiences many unpleasant negative effects, now, why would this happen? I offer you two explanation:
  • ​User's tolerance has been reset to zero, user is effectively overdosing every time. This is the explanation that is often offered to those who seek to explain their negative reacquaintance with the drug. I think this explanation is weak and can only explain a minority of cases.
  • Psychological changes in the user have caused them to respond differently to the drug. Many have pointed out that cannabis users often start young, when they are relatively care-free, there is therefore, no anxiety to be triggered by exposure to cannabis. When the user ages, typically they become burdened with more responsibilities and carry a higher load of unconscious anxiety. This is when using cannabis unleashes the demons. All of that stress, fear, anxiety, anger and worry that has accumulated during your transition to adult life is brought to the surface by this drug, which is well known to 'open the mind', Pandora's box in this analogy.

How I Reconciled My Chaotic Modern Life with Cannabis Use & How You Might be Able to do the Same

To avoid the crippling anxiety/paranoia that cannabis use can cause me now I drastically cut down my intake. I use a pipe, and a really tiny amount of bud. Extreme moderation is key here, it's better to start with just a few grains of weed, wait a while and see how you feel. Since my 15 month break, I've drastically changed the way I use cannabis. It took me a while to find a comfortable dosage range, but I can report with great joy, that I'm now able to enjoy cannabis again. I'm smoking literally tiny amounts, less than 10% of what I used to use. I use a pipe because it's far easier to control dosage than a joint/spliff/blunt (my dose wouldn't even fill 2% of a blunt). I know this is really simple advice, as essentially what I'm saying is cut down drastically and maybe you can enjoy it again. But I can't emphasise enough how delicate and sensitive our body/minds are.

While my experience wasn't a direct match for the symptoms you've reported, I believe there's a lot of commonality there, and I hope it helps you. And I hope too, that together with the online community at large, we can gain better understanding of how to use cannabis safely and enjoyably.