• Cannabis Discussion Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules

Unpleasant sensations from ganja/severe anxiety

JessesLoco77

Greenlighter
Joined
Jun 24, 2015
Messages
17
Hello all! I am new to blue light and was wondering about a certain subject that many have discussed.

I was a heavy smoker for around 4 years, smoking around a quarter a week, some may consider that not heavy others may. Anyways, about a year ago I took a 2 week break from a dry spell the city was having.. I reunited with my brother that I hadn't seen in awhile and he had some smoke, so we figured we would spark up. I took 3 big rips from the bong, was coughing pretty hard, and was done. Well, later on we were just talking, and I started too feel like I was gonna pass out. Kept blacking out and had some tunnel vision.. Well, normally I would want to feel like this, and chase that kind of buzz that I could never get from smoking so frequently. This time I started to freak out a little bit, and threw myself into a panic attack. I came inside and got some water, and we started playing some call of duty. Well, I have surround sound in my room, and the music from the game was just totally tripping me out, and made everything worse.. The buzz just kept getting stronger and stronger and I couldn't manage too calm myself down from the state of panic that I was in. I went into his room told him I couldn't play it, and started to feel these electric shock type feelings going through the front of me, then the back. They were literally making me sway front wards and back wards, it was extremely unpleasant and at this point I was literally convinced from the panic that I was going to die. I was also getting these weird sensations every time I would touch something that felt painful, it was just like a dull sensation of pain every time I would sit down I would feel it in my legs and butt, if I would stand up I would feel it in my feet, if I would touch something or hold something I would feel it in my hands ect. My vision was very laggy type, almost like a frame by frame type thing it was like my vision was clicking when I would turn my head or move my eyes. I usually get that when I'm really stoned, almost like slow motion but it never bothered me before.

After all of this went away and I had managed to calm down by him playing his guitar to me and singing.. I was afraid that the next day I was going to be completely different, and that reality would never be the same.

Ever since then, every time I smoke now, even if I just take a half a hit I go into a full blow panic attack. Heart races, muscles tense up, numbness in face, chest and arms, stomach feels like it's in a complete knot, and I just feel like impending doom is coming. I miss smoking so much, but have slacked off almost completely in the last year. I'm a drug addict and have been taking subutex to get myself to stay away from heroin, but weed was the only thing that actually kept me away from hard drugs. It never did it too me until that 1 night.

There are only 2 things that I could possibly think of that could be the culprit. Number 1: I use to smoke some of the k2 or synthetic marijuana before everyone figured out how bad it actually was.. And it continued to get stronger and stronger so I eventually couldn't smoke it anymore. it was a few years back but I thought maybe it caused some permanent damage to my cannabinoid receptors from some long term effects that it's had on my brain? I thought that maybe every time I smoke weed, that maybe my receptors think that it's the fake bake, and it effects me the same way the fake smoke does.. Just a thought.

number 2: maybe it's just my anxiety and nerves messing with me, but before this ever happened weed used to make my anxiety better.. I do have generalized anxiety, and panic disorder. So maybe it's just all in my head, but I can't understand why it would affect me so late in my times of smoking.

Anyways, I was just wondering what everyone's thoughts were on this subject, I would appreciate any feedback I can get. I really do wanna start smoking again, if someone has some kind of miracle cure for this it would be great, I've also tried to take a Xanax before smoking and it still doesn't help very much whatsoever. The only thing that helps is smoking while I'm pretty drunk.
 
hey, welcome to BL. being haunted by past traumas is pretty common around here, i'm sure you'll get some good responses
 
hate to say it but it could be the other drugs. I don't know if it is a drug interaction by medical definition but it does seem that constant use of any drug will change your experience with weed. If you are trying to get sober off of H I would suggest that you take it extremely easy on weed if at all. The psychoactive properties of THC seem to be anxiogenic so if you are already experiencing anxiety then smoking weed could make it worse. If you really must smoke it might be time to get a medical card(if you live in a place where that is possible) and try to get some strains that have been tested to show lower THC levels and high CBD levels, but I would suggest giving your psyche a break from everything. I don't mean to preach but you truly can't run forever.

Another possibility is that the weed was laced, but unlikely if you are with friends you trust. I have heard lacing weed with synthetics is becoming more popular. I highly doubt a dealer would be lacing product but in this world it is a possibility now.

You really don't want to start doing other drugs so that you can comfortably do another drug... I highly recommend against that.

Only thing you can really try is higher cbd strains and take smaller rips of that. Don't try to get completely blown off weed, just try to get as subtle of high as possible and see if that still causes you anxiety. If it does I'd say stay away from weed for sometime, maybe 3-6 months and if then you still have an urge to smoke then start small and slow.
 
I understand that, but really those are your options. Other than not smoking I don't know what you expect as a solution then.
 
The same thing happened to me, I use to smoke pot and be fine but then one time I got the fear and it has never left me. If I smoke too much I can get extreme anxiety. This has led to a great deal of other problems as I did not stop smoking pot, I ended up taking all sorts of other drugs to help me deal with the anxiety. My friends smoke pot all day so I considered this normal behaviour and I wanted to be normal. For anxiety my doctor prescribed an SSRI called Citalopram which interacts with cannabinoid protein-couplings in rats and we can presume something similar happens in humans, this allowed me to smoke a lot of pot. The downside for me is that Citalopram slows your metabolism and I find it very hard to lose weight so I've been slowly getting bigger over the years.

Now, it has only recently dawned on me that this approach is not normal. Different people have different chemistry and you have to accept that. Cannabis is actually a trigger in many people for anxiety, look up cannabis psychosis as this is what I was suffering from. There is an established link between cannabis psychosis and schizophrenia. For all that people say that cannabis is harmless it is not so for all people, if you suffer anxiety from smoking pot then it is best to simply stop. The odd thing is that people who suffer from this like myself keep smoking. I have strived so hard to smoke pot when really I should have accepted that smoking pot was not good for my mental health and stopped smoking it. I no longer smoke pot and am reducing my Citalopram so I can hopefully get my metabolism back.

By the way, I am in a similar position to yourself, I am a recovering addict and am taking Subutex daily. You tell yourself you need this stuff but you do not, that is your mind lying to you, it is a funny thing when you cannot trust your own mind.
 
You can also get a wave of depression from smoking a cigarette, which happened to me after I had quit a few times. People will drink booze before smoking to counteract the effect? Uh, seriously? Exercise will help you keep balanced.

I realize you already decided against doubling down butI found this... amusing?

Anyhow, um. Several years of waiting a few months before smoking. Still experienced a crazy reaction every time. Occasional drinking may have prolonged the recovery problem (?) but after a few years of finding other things to spend time on this problem has likely lapsed but after reflecting on the two halves, life is difficult enough sober.

This is a personal outlook but there were a lot of "healthy" ways to get "happy" again. Work, family, school, exercise, community. Everybody has their own issues but it is easier to deal with issues when you are feeling them instead of tuning out.

Had a quarter of the issues others seem to have prior to drug abuse but it carried a burden that was too much to bear.
 
hey, welcome to BL. being haunted by past traumas is pretty common around here, i'm sure you'll get some good responses

This made me laugh. But your issues can be from a number of things but it may be that you just had an anxiety attack because you got too stoned after a break. Its happened to me after taking a few weeks off I can easily find myself thinking "wow its a good thing i have experience or id be worried about dying or something stupid." And at that time my girlfriend was worried it was ruined for us because we went from blunts a day to a single bong rip being too much, it happens and you can either find a solution that allows you to keep using or stop. Personally even if weed doesnt really do much because of tolerance I still like it as it helps with my day to day (former heroin addict) Also I know the potent concentrates will probably be great for sleeping once i come off my methadone.
 
Top