cannabis and HPPD/schizophrenia

[neurotic]

so heres the deal, ive been smoking weed very unfrequently (like sometimes once every two months or more) for the past like one or two years. it was never a habit, i just happen to do whenever i felt like it.
but this particular last month, i started smoking a lot more - every weekend for the last four weekends, to be precise. i know its still not much (actually very little compared to friends i know...), but still... weed is very very strong for me, i always get mad visuals, total confusion, touching gets really crazy, and i am not able to even maintain a conversation or function... i guess i could say i trip on it maybe? i definitely dont get just chill and relaxed

so heres the thing, yesterday at a party i got really really high again, nothing out of ordinary for the last few weeks, but then today i woke up, and still felt slightly high. didnt really care. but then, at night, i was having dinner with my friends, and suddenly, i started to feel like i was high. that particular weed high. i wasnt getting any visuals or weird touching, but my vision was... weed-vision. i swear. and i was like what the fuck why am i high? anyway i got a bit worried, came home, lied down on the hammock, closed my eyes trying to sleep... and i start hearing sounds of people running... i know theyre not real but i cant help but not hear them!! if i stay on the silence for long enough i even hear voices of friends of mine talking...

is this HPPD? ive read a bit and these symptoms definitely sound a bit schizophrenic... i am not schizophrenic nor is anyone in my family...

should i worry?

i know for sure i will stop with the weed for some time... should i take an antipsychotic? i have access to risperidone... would it help?
any thoughts and experiences on the matter would be much, much appreciated... the thought that i might become schizophrenic because of little playing with weed makes me really anxious...


thanks

 

[Mafioso]

first, I'd be curious of your other interactions with drugs since you say you have access to risperdone, as well as if you have any history of mental/psychological conditions. Marijuana isn't known to cause any mental condition outright as far as I know but supposedly it can interact badly if you have an existing or predisposition to mental conditions. Everyones brain chemistry is different, and it is going to effect the way you experience drugs.

secondly how much are you smoking? I have a buddy who will smoke once a week to once a month and describes his experience much like yours, likes to be alone because he feels he can't maintain thought or conversation, easily confused and so on. I noticed when he smokes with me he will smoke enough to get me and other heavy smokers stoned. I don't know what you mean by mad visuals but if youre seeing things that aren't there besides a sort of static and "enhanced' colors and lines you may want to lay off.. I know when I first started smoking I would smoke with my friends who had been smoking for years, and I would smoke as much as they would. I wouldn't say I got heavy visuals, but it was definitely more of a psychedelic experience than it is now. Definitely a lot more paranoia, I think a lot of that has to do with societal taboos and much more the legality issue in most places. Also it may sound strange, but I remember feeling uncomfortably scatter brained when I first started smoking. I still feel scattered, but its like over the course of the past 5 years I've learned how to function through it... just like any drug there will be effects undesired.

I can say for sure that not everyone enjoys weed in the same way that not everyone enjoys drinking alcohol. Some people will drink every night and enjoy it, others would not be able to maintain or function if they consumed similar levels of alcohol. The same is true with weed. There are people who can smoke, even feel they need to smoke, all day every day without exaggeration. Personally I feel more relaxed during social situations if I'm slightly stoned, and if I'm drinking then I like smoking a lot more. It wasn't always this way, and a lot of it will depend heavily on your tolerance. I think the thing that most people overlook when it comes to tolerance is that there is no feasible amount of weed you can smoke that will kill you, unlike with all other drugs. I'm sure tolerance tops out somewhere around when your struggling to balance getting stoned with taking out the trash, but it is possible to smoke as much as time and money permits and still function well enough to still be alive to smoke more. The same is not true with any other drug, usually there is a certain amount that beginners can handle, and a larger but still relatively specific amount that heavier users can handle before their body starts shutting down and their life starts falling apart. I know a lot of people who don't smoke a lot and talk of getting really stoned and the effects lingering for a day or sometimes two.


i really doubt youre schizo. I had a buddy who was institutionalized and he could barely spit out a coherent sentence for a while, and he says years afterwards still that the meds they gave him made whatever it was worse.(he was using heavy psychs at the time tho). Try just relaxing, not smoking weed, eating healthy and exercising and focus on something other than the thought that you may or may not be crazy. If you were crazy, you wouldn't see it yourself and it wouldn't matter if you did. If youre not crazy wondering so will just make you one step closer to crazy.

 

[Mafioso]

Really please don't play with drugs like risperdone and the things of the like. I really don think it will help only create more problems for you years down the line

 

[neurotic]

thank you so much for your reply

i have went to therapists and psychiatrists for few years and never got diagnosed any mental illness. i have risperidone because my psychiatrist told me to take it (along with benzos, everything for anxiety). when she prescribed me it, i questioned the reason and she said it was just to 'calm me down because i was going through a stressful phase'... her words... i also never done any hard drugs or anything, just weed, alcohol, benzos and morphine once

when i smoke, it is usually around 4 hits (that seem to be rather big hits compared to my friends) from a joint and bam. when i say mad visuals it is that my vision gets really, really weird and crazy... hard to describe without starting a semi-trip-report id say haha but definitely like you said, psychedelic i guess ... i dont get just chill and relaxed... lights go really crazy, everything feels/looks like it is continuous, moving, alive, bright... there was one time i even got closed eye visuals i swear...
and yes, this feeling scattered is totally relatable for me. the following day that what i described happened i was exactly like this. like a had an 'empty mind' or whatever, idk, but i slept well and am already feeling pretty normal again, also hearing voices and stuff didnt happen anymore

also, anything weird that i felt high out of nowhere, like almost 24hs after smoking weed? well... go figure

im definitely gonna stay away from weed for at least a bit for now... and when i smoke again, im gonna smoke less
maybe even go to a neurologist just for a check idk...

im not constantly worrying if im crazy anymore btw haha but id just like to now before i mess around with weed again if it isnt particularly bad for my mental health

anyways, thank you very much for your reply dude

 

[pos1den]

I can say that being diagnosed as a schitzo-effective at 23, had my first psychosis at 21 and another at 22. Started smoking at 19. I can attest that mixing marijuana with other mind altering drugs including mdma and mushrooms can lead to chemical imbalances in the brain which can cause psychosis. After my psychosis's, I began having sober hallucinations, hearing voices, and conjuring up mad delusions far off from reality. Don't take resperdone. It's pure bullcrap. Made me feel like a zombie. Makes your brain sterile. If an antipsychotic is a must, aim for Abilify. I've been on Resperdal, Latuda, Lexapro, Depakote, xanax, and have found haven with Prozac and mostly Abilify as an anti psychotic. I also want to raise awareness that even though a drug may be harmless, or harmless when properly dosed, combining and taking different drugs within a certain time range can cause chemical imbalances in the brain that may lead to psychosis or Shitzophrenia.

 

[nigmuffin]

I take it you are a very anxious person? Or maybe under a lot of stress? To me this sounds like a case of Depersonalisation and Derealization c: you'll be fine, youre not going crazy, youre completely safe and sane, you're just anxious/stressed/depressed and your mind has activated the flight or fight response for temporary permanence, which has altered your perception. You will absolutely get better

 

[Erikmen]

so heres the deal, ive been smoking weed very unfrequently (like sometimes once every two months or more) for the past like one or two years. it was never a habit, i just happen to do whenever i felt like it.
but this particular last month, i started smoking a lot more - every weekend for the last four weekends, to be precise. i know its still not much (actually very little compared to friends i know...), but still... weed is very very strong for me, i always get mad visuals, total confusion, touching gets really crazy, and i am not able to even maintain a conversation or function... i guess i could say i trip on it maybe? i definitely dont get just chill and relaxed

so heres the thing, yesterday at a party i got really really high again, nothing out of ordinary for the last few weeks, but then today i woke up, and still felt slightly high. didnt really care. but then, at night, i was having dinner with my friends, and suddenly, i started to feel like i was high. that particular weed high. i wasnt getting any visuals or weird touching, but my vision was... weed-vision. i swear. and i was like what the fuck why am i high? anyway i got a bit worried, came home, lied down on the hammock, closed my eyes trying to sleep... and i start hearing sounds of people running... i know theyre not real but i cant help but not hear them!! if i stay on the silence for long enough i even hear voices of friends of mine talking...

is this HPPD? ive read a bit and these symptoms definitely sound a bit schizophrenic... i am not schizophrenic nor is anyone in my family...

should i worry?

i know for sure i will stop with the weed for some time... should i take an antipsychotic? i have access to risperidone... would it help?
any thoughts and experiences on the matter would be much, much appreciated... the thought that i might become schizophrenic because of little playing with weed makes me really anxious...


thanks

I wouldn´t worry about it. Try to stop smoking weed for a while and see if it gets better.
I don´t really enjoy smoking MJ anymore. I was always getting paranoid and very anxious.
The feeling of being high out of the blue has happened with me once and it´s definitely not comfortable, but it happens.
Hope you feel better soon!
All the best,
Erik