marijuana induced anxiety/panic/something terrifying and i need help

[scrim]

sorry for the late reply guys i've been extremely busy with school and work. i haven't had any time to check this thread

and to @Grandad46, i believe any damage to your IQ or brain (long term) is a result of constantly smoking. prior to this edible experience, the last time i smoked was a year before that. i highly doubt that one or two experiences dropped my IQ. i understand that my brain is still developing but one time, i believe, shouldn't have any dangerous effects on me. correct me if i'm wrong, though.

to @Fresco, no there isnt any discomfort. i just lose my appetite. last time it happened, at least.

to @samm2, i don't know what it is, that's the problem. am i more prone to anxiety attacks? i've also been having a lot of anger issues that manifest itself at certain points (obviously when i get upset or angry).
i tried to eat something during my attack but i just couldn't. my diet isnt the best but it's definitely normal. i do eat healthy. somewhat. i dont eat a lot of sugar or crappy snacks and i do have nuts once in a while.

i honestly think it's some sort of mental health issue. the anxiety, the constant feeling of sadness/depression/crap, the anger issues, the isolation issues, the dp/dr, etc etc. everything that i swept under the rug has come out. that's my theory at least. some blood work or a doctor's visit would be nice but, again, i don't want to involve my parents because that'll just worry them even more. my only solution is to ride this out or visit my college's mental health center. but i was thinking about what one of the posts above said and i don't know how my school's mental health center works. the last thing i want is to be placed on some sort of list. i wouldn't mention my drug experience but, still, i don't know what they'll do if i tell them what's been going on. maybe i'm just being overly paranoid, though. my condition for the most part hasn't gotten better. i generally feel like trash and i get dizzy spells on some occasions

i'll see what i can do to fix this. for now i'm just going to lay low

 

[5po0ky]

Hey Scrim, sorry to hear what you've been dealing with. I dealt with anxiety issues for nearly ten years that all started with eating an entire medicated chocolate edible, much like your case.

There's a few things about anxiety you should know. First is that while medication can be helpful to keep it at bay or to get through an attack, in the long run you will need to beat this without it.

Anxiety is a strange beast, since it is both the cause and effect simultaneously. You become about becoming anxious. It then will lead to a vicious cycle where as your anxiety levels increase, your body starts releasing chemicals like adrenaline into your bloodstream that perpetuate anxiety's effects.

Learning the triggers that cause you to head down that path is crucial in order for you to avoid doing down that path. You already see how in those moments right before falling asleep, losing conscious control over your mind trigger your anxiety. Your body remembers that in the recent past, there was a time that you felt similar and it had a disastrous outcome. You then unconsciously start heading down the path of anxiety where you begin to fear its effects. At the same time the effects of that anxiety is causing your body to start releasing adrenaline, increasing both your heart rate and your blood pressure. Your muscles tense up. At this point you start feeling those effects on your body and begin thinking "my heart is pumping too fast! Oh no! Am I going to have an episode like last time!??" And that causes you to become increasingly anxious which then causes your body to release more chemicals into your bloodstream, and the vicious cycle continues until you are having the episode you were trying so hard to avoid.

So recognizing triggers before your body starts responding to your anxiety is crucial, because anxiety is tough enough to beat mentally, let alone when you have tons of adrenaline in your blood for no reason except fear.

When you recognize what's happening, you need to distract yourself IMMEDIATELY. Start counting backwards from 100 by 7. 100, 93, 86 etc. Do this while you start your Xbox up and play a video game. I personally use the video game method because it's so good at keeping the part of your brain busy you need to distract. Play Overwatch (or whatever you kids play these days lol) for 20-30 until you're able to reset. That allows your blood pressure and heart rate to return to normal as well.

With your trigger being you literally just falling asleep, I suggest going to the doctor and getting some Xanax, the lowest possible dosage. This will help you mentally and physically avoid responding to the trigger as you fall asleep. Once you are able to feel that sensation of falling asleep without it triggering an episode, slowly lower the dosage until you are off then completely.

Schedule an appointment with your doctor. You should be getting annual check-ups anyway, so if your parents ask, tell them it's been over a year and you want to use their insurance while you can or whatever. If that doesn't sound feasible, tell them your school requires a checkup. Or maybe they require you to get the latest round of tetanus/vaccine due to a small outbreak or something. Just try not to offer too much info, but also think about what questions they might ask and have your answers ready so you aren't fumbling for an answer.

Your doctor, by law, cannot disclose anything to your parents. You can be 100% honest with him/her, tell them everything. They may want to scan your brain to rule out any kind of issue there, but I'm pretty sure they will classify it as anxiety disorder, and write you a script for Xanax or something similar.

In the end, you received a lot of good advice on this thread about the anxiety stemming from holding emotions and anger in, avoidance issues where you aren't dealing with things, buying them down inside instead. Serious self reflection and a healthy lifestyle is the best advice for combating your current behaviour. Making small, incremental changes towards a healthy lifestyle, it's not something you can fix overnight. In fact, it's a life long journey.... Having a positive perspective will be key, looking at this whole thing as the trigger that allowed you to change yourself for the better, so you can become the best "you" you can be.

Sorry for the lengthy diatribe, reading what you are going through really struck a chord with me and I made an account just so I could type all this out, hoping these words will be able to help you.

Good luck with everything, I know you can overcome this.

Spooky