Distorted face perception while high on weed

[Rikki.Tikki.Tavi]

My friend is a occasional user of marijuana, who has experimented with several drugs and is generally well informed about their effects. She told me that sometimes, when she gets high on weed/hash, her face perception goes all weird.
Her friends' faces suddenly look extremely strange to her (almost unrecognizable) for a few seconds and then things are back to normal. My friend gets really scared of that, but can rationalize the situation.
This only happens when she's high on cannabinoid, no mixing.
She's a rather anxious little person, but not mentally ill (at least so she claims).

Did anyone ever experience anything similar? I've searched the web for it but found absolutely nothing.

 

[Jibult]

My friend is a occasional user of marijuana, who has experimented with several drugs and is generally well informed about their effects. She told me that sometimes, when she gets high on weed/hash, her face perception goes all weird.
Her friends' faces suddenly look extremely strange to her (almost unrecognizable) for a few seconds and then things are back to normal. My friend gets really scared of that, but can rationalize the situation.
This only happens when she's high on cannabinoid, no mixing.
She's a rather anxious little person, but not mentally ill (at least so she claims).

Did anyone ever experience anything similar? I've searched the web for it but found absolutely nothing.

Only if I zone out while staring directly into someone's face (or my own in the mirror). It doesn't just happen when I'm high, though... If I zone out and keep my eyes open a sort of tunnel vision starts to happen... my peripheral "sort of" fades to black (it's still there, it's just like it's being pushed away and is completely unimportant to my attention) and the only thing in focus is a tiny circle of light. Fucked up things can happen in that tiny little circle of light. I don't know if it's because I'm half falling asleep with my eyes open or what, but yeah... I think I can sympathize with "your friend."

 

[omnipresenthuman]

You say that her friends' faces only get distorted momentarily so I don't really see the big issue of concern here myself...you sure she's not just anxious about smoking pot in general? Because that's basically what it boils down to - whatever she's 'seeing' is very likely just being compounded by her fears and anxieties over this situation.

And, shit...I really don't want to sound sexist here, but, well, from what I've seen and dealt with myself, girls just in general seem to have a higher chance of freaking out on weed. I don't know what the deal is, maybe it's because of their smaller body size or something, but that's just been my experience...for example, I can think of 10+ girls easily that I know who have negative weed stories and reactions, which usually amount to anxiety, compared to just this one dude I know who's reported the same. Not trying to make a big deal about this point, but I may as well bring it up...but yea, definitely know a ton of chicks who will still drink like there's no tomorrow, but won't touch weed anymore due to societal pressures/constraints/anxiety issues related to using weed...and also, once again, this really isn't trying to be sexist. I personally think it just has to mainly do with body size. Getting high when you're half the size of the guy you're smoking with MUST give you some heightened effects...

 

[Rikki.Tikki.Tavi]

And, shit...I really don't want to sound sexist here, but, well, from what I've seen and dealt with myself, girls just in general seem to have a higher chance of freaking out on weed.

As I mentioned, she's a bit of a stressy person but she's also well informed about the effects of certain drugs so she doesn't tend to get very anxious about being high. She also knows what is (more or less) the right dosage for her so I guess it's not really her gender causing her odd experiences.

Just for the record, I'm not stressed out about what happens to her, but rather curious whether there is a certain cause for this illusion/hallucination/experience.
Maybe it's just an individual thing.

 

[Wandering Girl]

Well... until a few days ago I was rarely not smoking weed, so I'm pretty accustomed to the effects. One thing I can definitely say is that there were all kinds of things I never noticed being any different when I started smoking, but then whenever I stop, it suddenly becomes apparent to me that things were different when I was high because they suddenly seem distorted while sober. For example, I never thought that I really got any sound alterations while high (enhancements, but not alternations), but then after years of constant smoking and suddenly stopping I was shocked to realize that I didn't even recognize my own voice. The same thing has happened to me for faces before... I always feel like a veil is lifted and I suddenly notice all these things about peoples' faces that I never did while high. I could try to describe it but I think what it comes down to is that everyone looks more attractive to me when I'm high. So I'd say I do get some change in facial perception even if I don't really notice it, and I can understand how that would become really trippy and bad in high, anxious doses if it was something you payed attention to a lot....

And, shit...I really don't want to sound sexist here, but, well, from what I've seen and dealt with myself, girls just in general seem to have a higher chance of freaking out on weed. I don't know what the deal is, maybe it's because of their smaller body size or something, but that's just been my experience...for example, I can think of 10+ girls easily that I know who have negative weed stories and reactions, which usually amount to anxiety, compared to just this one dude I know who's reported the same. Not trying to make a big deal about this point, but I may as well bring it up...but yea, definitely know a ton of chicks who will still drink like there's no tomorrow, but won't touch weed anymore due to societal pressures/constraints/anxiety issues related to using weed...and also, once again, this really isn't trying to be sexist. I personally think it just has to mainly do with body size. Getting high when you're half the size of the guy you're smoking with MUST give you some heightened effects...

I don't think it has to do with body size really. Usually the smallest, skinniest girls I know are the ones who freak out the least, while I personally am about the average height and above the average weight of guys I know and I've had tons of weed panic attacks. I don't think it's sexist either to suggest that there would be sex differences with drugs.... In fact I'd say you were nuts if said there aren't any.

 

[blueberrybush]

Face meditation is one of my favorite things to do. I once read a book called many lives many masters and they suggested to do this exercise where you stare directly at someones face for 10-15 minutes. The face will start to morph and supposedly it can give you insight into peoples past lives and whatnot. I don't think its anything to be scared of, but it does show how easily physical reality can be manipulated.

Also, I had developed schizophrenia about 6 months back (for the most part the delusions have gone away) but I would constantly see other people being channeled through my mother and father. I could tell the change in persona by their change in mannerisms and actions. I have yet to find an explanation for this, but it was very real for me at the time. Theres a lot of unknowns, its hard to say the science behind it, it hasn't really been explored, plus its so subjective

 

[Jibult]

Face meditation is one of my favorite things to do. I once read a book called many lives many masters and they suggested to do this exercise where you stare directly at someones face for 10-15 minutes. The face will start to morph and supposedly it can give you insight into peoples past lives and whatnot. I don't think its anything to be scared of, but it does show how easily physical reality can be manipulated.

Past lives? What's it mean when the face just starts to swirl or one eyes shrinks to a pinpoint while their other eye seems to take up their whole face? (That's mainly rhetorical )



It's good to know that it's easy to manipulate and doesn't necessarily signal some kind of mental illness, though.

 

[《Plasticity》]

Has your friend used psychedelics in the past? I find that after taking psychs for a while or even a few weeks after a single strong trip that weed becomes very psychedelic and thus the facial morphing could be exacerbated. Usually mushrooms cause a LOT of weird things with faces for me such as the effects your friend describes. Almost as if faces look so real that they are somewhat unrecognizable and vague. Other than that maybe she was just gets really high *shrugs*. I do agree that more female users tend to be lightweights compared to males, not that that is a bad thing though...in fact they need less thus their habits are fairly cheap, especially if she's a girl as alot of my friends that are girls claim they never pay for weed or drinks. The the things guys will do just for even the slightest chance of getting laid lol.

 

[Blind Melon]

What the OP described is an extremely common symptom of psychedelic mushrooms, never heard/read anything like that occurring to some one under the influence of cannabis. Then again, of all drugs, herb seems to have the widest, most unpredictable range of effects on people.

Could be some sort of mushroom flashback? Could be she just got too stoned and zoned out into a mirror or some one's face for too long and got freaked out? Or it could be she got some laced herb? Which is extremely doubtful, but I suppose possible.

Interesting

 

[AnyCouponWorks]

omg! I have been smoking for over 10 years and as a teenager in my early days with it this would happen, so hard to describe but it would sometimes make me feel scared when with my boyfriend who I was deeply in love with at the time. he would suddenly look foreign, yet so detailed and "real" as I think someone said for fleeting moments and it would fuck with my head but then face would snap back to normal. its happened randomly since a few times when I am super high with other faces but no one except my sister ever seemed to grasp what I meant when I would talk about it..

wow, this is something ive always wondered about. and ive never used any psychedelic drugs but these were the only times weed felt very mindbending for me....

cool.

 

[lodaweed]

Yeah that happens so much I love it though, for me it's everyone I see is like a stereotype, which is really weird and it feels like I know everyone in the street, until they get close or I stare at them for a few seconds and then it goes away... That's one of the desirable effects for me, although I have gotten a few really bad frights when I think i see ppl I know (like my dad, teachers etc) xD

 

[Spadez87]

You say that her friends' faces only get distorted momentarily so I don't really see the big issue of concern here myself...you sure she's not just anxious about smoking pot in general? Because that's basically what it boils down to - whatever she's 'seeing' is very likely just being compounded by her fears and anxieties over this situation.

And, shit...I really don't want to sound sexist here, but, well, from what I've seen and dealt with myself, girls just in general seem to have a higher chance of freaking out on weed. I don't know what the deal is, maybe it's because of their smaller body size or something, but that's just been my experience...for example, I can think of 10+ girls easily that I know who have negative weed stories and reactions, which usually amount to anxiety, compared to just this one dude I know who's reported the same. Not trying to make a big deal about this point, but I may as well bring it up...but yea, definitely know a ton of chicks who will still drink like there's no tomorrow, but won't touch weed anymore due to societal pressures/constraints/anxiety issues related to using weed...and also, once again, this really isn't trying to be sexist. I personally think it just has to mainly do with body size. Getting high when you're half the size of the guy you're smoking with MUST give you some heightened effects...

Size or being male has nothing to do with it. I'm male 6'2 190lbs. I have a lot of the same problems. More then likely due to being mentally Ill and having bad anxiety.

 

[Wandering Girl]

^^ I'm pretty sure I have seen some statistic somewhere that claimed that females have more weed panic attacks than males, I'm not sure exactly where it was though....

 

[adriaantje113]

I think I know what your friend means, I have noticed the same thing in the past while high on weed. I remember one example really well, I just smoked a joint and went downstairs afterwords. When I walked into the livingroom, I saw my mother lying on the couch and when I went to say hello, her face seemed wierd. I saw her face like it was, but it seemed like some parts of her face were upside-down.

It seemed really illusional and it only happened in peoples faces. The strange thing is, that it does not happend all the time, just ocasionally for me.

I don't think it's something you should be worried about.

 

[midnitecruiser]

I only experienced face distortion on shrooms, a few times. People walking past me in the street had their face turned into a greek theatre or kabuki mask. Usually the sad-sorrow mask.

Many people get that effect on LSD.

Wish weed was THAT psychedelic to me.

 

[sinidaan]

My friend is a occasional user of marijuana, who has experimented with several drugs and is generally well informed about their effects. She told me that sometimes, when she gets high on weed/hash, her face perception goes all weird.
Her friends' faces suddenly look extremely strange to her (almost unrecognizable) for a few seconds and then things are back to normal. My friend gets really scared of that, but can rationalize the situation.
This only happens when she's high on cannabinoid, no mixing.
She's a rather anxious little person, but not mentally ill (at least so she claims).

Did anyone ever experience anything similar? I've searched the web for it but found absolutely nothing.

This has happened to me several times, I was terrified the first time, however I was given a revelation. Tell your friend to not be frightened, the face morphing is a gift, a gift of perception. I have seen many things, the most amazing was when it started as a face morph with a friend, the vision expanded to reveal how I new the person in a past life, truly amazing. It's an amazing gift when you begin to understand that it is a good thing, not something to be scared of. I've shared this experience with other people at the same time.

 

[Cheshire_Kat]

Weed is a mild psychedelic. If you consume enough one should expect the doors of perception to open just a bit. Not as much as mushrooms, etc. but open they will...

 

[F.U.B.A.R.]

Weed is a mild psychedelic. If you consume enough one should expect the doors of perception to open just a bit. Not as much as mushrooms, etc. but open they will...

I would go so far as to say that weed is insidiously psychedelic.

People prone to issues like anxiety or schizophrenia can experience acute psychedelic effects that other people cannot understand. When I suffered from extreme anxiety as a young adult, weed started giving me worse headfucks than acid or shrooms.

The older I get, the more I respect and appreciate cannabis. But I now also know my limits.

 

[sinidaan]

Weed is a mild psychedelic. If you consume enough one should expect the doors of perception to open just a bit. Not as much as mushrooms, etc. but open they will...

What I found about weed was not so much about the psychedelic effect, rather more about the cognitive process under the influence, Gunja to me was always an anxious journey, was I going to experience bouts of laughter? was I going to experience paranoia? a journey inwards so to speak, that was until I had my first episode of face morphing, I was terrified, as was the other participant at the time, nonetheless we said nothing to each other that evening, I simmered on the ordeal overnight and into the next day, until the other participant felt the need to explain what they also had experienced without a mention of my own, thus revealing the same imagery that i had been shown, to my surprise they had explained to detail all that had been revealed to me in the same vision. My relationship with marijuana changed from that day onwards, I never felt fear and I ever look forward to it happening again, over the years it has, not always, but pleasantly surprised me when it does, I begin to see certain people's face morph, I've been witness to others seeing and validating their first time happenings with me also and I've been able to alleviate their surprise when they feel the distortion of perception only for them to embrace the moment and enjoy the revealing of knowing someone from another place in time. I suggest you read 'many lives, many masters' by Brian Weiss. The journey inwards has many revelations.

 

[sinidaan]

I would go so far as to say that weed is insidiously psychedelic.

People prone to issues like anxiety or schizophrenia can experience acute psychedelic effects that other people cannot understand. When I suffered from extreme anxiety as a young adult, weed started giving me worse headfucks than acid or shrooms.

The older I get, the more I respect and appreciate cannabis. But I now also know my limits.

As a former psychiatric nurse, I empathise with what you are saying. Please read 'many lives, many masters' by Brian Weiss. When you have read this book, fear not the next time you take a cannabis journey, the plant is a gift.