Trouble breathing several hours after a joint!

[TheBiggest]

Hi all new here and specifically made an account to post this. A little background first. I've been smoking the ganja for about 7 years and I love it. I smoke daily. I started with bongs then slowly transitioned to joints when I moved to the UK from Australia. I smoke about 4-5 joints daily. Although I smoke daily, I do have about 2-3 months in the year when I don't smoke at all. This is because I go visit my family in UAE where finding weed is impossible and their laws are bloody strict. I quit smoking tobacco like 2 years ago (so glad I did that). I've never had major health problems and am fairly healthy.

However things have changed recently. Now, I smoke a joint and I'll be fine but after 4-5 hours my airways will suddenly get really congested and I'll start coughing up phlegm (colorless- light yellow). I have no trouble inhaling but exhaling has becomes very difficult. This lasts usually for 10-12 hours! Here is the weird thing - If I'm trying to sleep it will bother me so much and I'll keep trying to cough it out (it feels like my airways is blocked and i get the bubbly feeling trying to get that fluid out - wheezing too). I once stayed in bed for 5 hours repeating this. However I found a way to lessen it to 2-4 hours. If I focus and play a game and pay minimal attention to breathing, it kinda goes away or at least becomes better. I guess what I'm trying to say here is to avoid forcefully trying to clear it out by breathing heavy and coughing - then it improves and goes away soon but its really hard to do it and the congested feeling really bothers me. More and more hours later and finally with some sleep - I'm okay again. I don't cough normally or anything - breathing back to normal.

I found a thread with this exact problem but it was moved to anxiety thread. Is my case really anxiety related?? I mean I can handle a lot of weed and get really high and still be okay to ride the high. I don't get paranoid. But this is happening to me like several hours later after toking when I've sobered down? Can anybody shed some light on this please! It really messes me up for several hours and I can't sleep at all (I like to toke at night) - it ruins the experience!

 

[Egzoset]

Salutations TheBiggest,

I smoke daily.

Keep the hope, there are alternatives. Maybe you didn't realize it in some tangible enough every-day manner just yet, that doesn't mean these don't exist. Simply awaiting to be discovered... Lets wish you don't wait decades to find a fix that suits your situation better!

...after 4-5 hours my airways will suddenly get really congested... ...exhaling has become very difficult. ... ...feels like my airways is blocked and i get the bubbly feeling trying to get that fluid out - wheezing too... ...with some sleep - I'm okay again.

Would that help to leave the building for some time, say 15 minutes to 2 hours for example? Try relaxing in a chair outside with direct unrestricted access to fresh air...

That's no professional advice - anyway it can't hurt i guess.

I found a thread with this exact problem but it was moved to anxiety thread. Is my case really anxiety related??...

Ah! Ah! Sorry but this reminds me of some story i can't relate in details. Lets just say it's quite possible to confuse a case of mold allergy and wrongfully proceed with an anxiety premise as the basis for an official diagnostic instead, resulting in a waste of resource$ as we can all imagine (!) - not to mention this in itself can turn out to be real anxiogenic, i mean being asked to get strip-naked and wear the traditional paper clothing, euh... Held in "observation" in the coocoo nest, trying to spend time doing nothing in a room filled with more exotic birds of paradise standing still on their feet or sitting on their specifically assigned bed... Talk about fun time! aHummm...

It's funny somehow but i'm the only one who can have a decent good laugh at it i believe, my apologies.



M'well, just to make sense have you considered allergy-related issues exacerbated by mold in your environment, among other causes, for example?...

...

Also, do you have opportunities to spend time outside and "consume" away from a potentially "sick" building during at least a few days (in wait for improvement signs), provided that might happen to be the case, naturally. Who knows?!

It really messes me up for several hours and I can't sleep at all (I like to toke at night) - it ruins the experience!

Honestly i can envision this!!

It seems to me the best attitude to have in absence of an explanation as to the cause would be to reduce exposure in a lack of more definitive resolving.

That may sound like a bad option in itself, though what if there happened to be an alternative consumption method that will at the very least diminish the variety of known toxic compounds intake from smoking, etc. I'll try to illustrate what i got in mind. Imagine a guy who used to consume 1 g each day, sometimes even more when the "weed" was of poor quality... Now here comes the fairy tale part!... Someday a solution is finally revealed which translates as follows: 1 g = 8 bowls (125 mg), 1 bowl = 6 ~ 10 tokes, 2 ~ 3 tokes = 3 ~ 4 hours... E. G. one 18 hours day requires on average 3 ~ 5 bowls at most when depleted vegetal substrate is dumped into a cooking jar early, for future edibles. Sticking to a routine of 2 ~ 3 quality tokes every 3 ~ 4 hours that should result in a daily load of 3 ~ 5 bowls or half a gram per day on average. Plus cookies as a bonus. In comparison when smoking nearly half of the cigarette/joint goodies are simply destroyed merely to keep a fire alive, how about aiming for improved benefit from a same resource and get rid of toxic contaminants in the process??

%)

Please ignore such wild talk should that prove to bother in any way.

Good day, have fun!!

 

[xiyou]

why are you here and not at a hospital pot is known to cause direct lung damage and haemorrhages from the shit the dealers spray on it to make it smell/look better etc get to the docs now!

 

[Macstrider]

Evening TheBiggest,

First and foremost it sucks that you're going through this.

I'll start coughing up phlegm (colorless- light yellow)

Given the description of color i'm going to go out on a limb and say this is most certainly phlegm, Cannabis has been found to increase phelgm aswell as mucus production. Can you give us a timeframe of how long this has been happening for? It actually sounds a bit as if you're just sick to some extreme, have you been experiencing anything that echos this thought? Lastly is the production of phelgm isolated to your lower airways (throat,lungs etc) or are you also experiencing mucus buildup in your upper airways? (Sinuses etc)

I smoke about 4-5 joints daily

In the past i've experienced the same issue as you (granted not to the same extreme) while smoking a similar amount in a day. Have you looked into vaporizing at all? It was truly a godsend in my personal case and completely eliminated the issue aswell as has the health benefit of getting rid of smoke altogether (because although we don't often like to admit it any smoke is harmful). I personally used the MFLB which worked fantastically for well over 2 years before I decided to upgrade to a larger volcano. Cost wise the MFLB is the way to go however.

Is my case really anxiety related??

It doesn't sound like the root cause is anxiety, though it sounds like it's possible that it's being exacerbated by anxiety. Try getting some fresh air, meditating or other things to calm yourself down when you're feeling wheezy (though admittedly as I said my personal belief is a medical one so there's a chance this could do nothing for it.)

Hope this at least offers some insight, look forward to hearing back. :D

Mac.

 

[ErgicMergic]

It sounds like you've either damaged your lungs through smoking cannabis, or are currently damaging your lungs by smoking it. Not to worry, I personally prefer smoking cannabis only while my lungs are damaged and can "handle" a bit of abuse, otherwise it's extremely obvious feeling the damage I'm doing to my respiratory system with healthy lungs.

After quitting smoking cannabis for months and only dabbing, there is no more phlegm, my lung capacity is back to normal, and my taste buds are also back to normal. My lungs are probably somewhat pinkish and healthy now. What I think is going on is after such a long break, your lungs have cleared themselves of phlegm and have begun the healing process (this is why quitting smoking can be more temporarily painful to your lungs as continuing to smoke), and now you're introducing particulate matter combined with heat shock, and the respiratory system has just enough phlegm to be able to easily expel it, but not enough to stay gunked up in your lungs. Basically, it's good that you didn't ignore this. Try switching to edibles by making your own cannabis coconut oil w/ lecithin in a mason jar in a slow cooker on "low" for 10 hours, your lungs will thank you and you don't have to worry about this anymore.

 

[thujone]

might be time to get a referral to a pulmonary specialist and have an X-ray done, not to get all WebMD on you but you really never know how serious persistent health issues are until it's diagnosed properly

 

[Bagseed]

yeah you should seek out a lung doctor... could be something asthmatic

 

[Egzoset]

Salutations,

After quitting smoking cannabis for months and only dabbing...

The more i look at my own customized consumption method the more i begin to conclude it's a form of micro-dabbing (performed at a tiny scale not visible to the naked eye). %)

Instead of 1 large sticky blub i get my untransformed nature-provided "dry-flower" goodies spread throughout the fractal-like surface of a small volume which won't hold a lot more than 125 mg: e.g. « Divide to Conquer » using LESS HEAT overall (hence a lesser exposure to direct danger)... There's still a risk that results from drawing too much heat with the cannabic stream, of course, yet nothing which proper acquisition of operator skills did't help to manage with, eventually, conditional to quite a few iterative modifications on top of that (m'well, after a long journey i shall confess!) - and no thanks to vaporist-dedicated web sites as that was just a mirage "resource" distracting me FOR YEARS from a better destiny, by the way! Because of weird unproductive guru/troll originated/perpetuated trophy-controversies apparently revolving around some "social content" instead of vaporism, whatever, etc.!

...

So in retrospective i can finally have some fair rest after searching for my ultimate "driver", relentlessly: i feel i've managed to find my optimal match when none will come from ready-made products of the "stoner" market. It's one solution inclusive enough to want to share this much genuine satisfaction with anyone else would could have good use for it, nonetheless.

Bye bye electric dryness (and go figure what more)!! Welcome organic-compatible soothing plus improved aroma/taste appreciation as a bonus! The rewards far exceed all past frustrations and i even almost sense some feel of guilty for being practically alone to access such level of content on planet Itnoc - so far!... Oh! And that's my "Plan-B", so i can't but imagine the thrill of a future "Plan-A", someday, sometime, somehow. Who knows!

Good day, have fun!!

 

[Mycophile]

why are you here and not at a hospital pot is known to cause direct lung damage and haemorrhages from the shit the dealers spray on it to make it smell/look better etc get to the docs now!

What a bunch of complete bullshit.

If this is so common why aren't people constantly going to the hospital cause of lung damage from weed??

I'm not saying it's not POSSIBLE it could have happened before, but it is CERTAINLY not common, and while I don't know what is causing his issue, to IMMEDIATELY assume that he's having lung issues from a chemical someone sprayed on it to the effect that he should already have admitted himself to the hospital is ridiculous.

Talk about jumping to conclusions VERY quickly.

There could potentially be a number of other causes.

Everyone knows that weed does not usually cause serious lung damage.

What's MUCH more likely is he's developed some kind of lung issue or asthma, but not that it necessarily came from anything sprayed on it.

I also have asthma and will get asthma attacks if I smoke too much so I have to smoke it very rarely or mostly vape.

I agree with the mod who said he should see a pulmonary specialist, but immediately assuming it MUST be because something was sprayed on it is a bit far fetched.

If so, then I guess we can assume you don't smoke either?

Or else you'd probably be in the hospital now as well...

 

[xiyou]

What a bunch of complete bullshit.

If this is so common why aren't people constantly going to the hospital cause of lung damage from weed??

I'm not saying it's not POSSIBLE it could have happened before, but it is CERTAINLY not common, and while I don't know what is causing his issue, to IMMEDIATELY assume that he's having lung issues from a chemical someone sprayed on it to the effect that he should already have admitted himself to the hospital is ridiculous.

Talk about jumping to conclusions VERY quickly.

There could potentially be a number of other causes.

Everyone knows that weed does not usually cause serious lung damage.

What's MUCH more likely is he's developed some kind of lung issue or asthma, but not that it necessarily came from anything sprayed on it.

I also have asthma and will get asthma attacks if I smoke too much so I have to smoke it very rarely or mostly vape.

I agree with the mod who said he should see a pulmonary specialist, but immediately assuming it MUST be because something was sprayed on it is a bit far fetched.

If so, then I guess we can assume you don't smoke either?

Or else you'd probably be in the hospital now as well...

promoting dangerous baehaviours WILL result in a ban thankyou!

 

[PotatoMan]

promoting dangerous baehaviours WILL result in a ban thankyou!

if you have nothing to add here please stop posting useless drivel