Weed overdose and anxiety? Or what else?

[Steven_Tyler77]

I really need some advice and support. Sorry for the long intro. Please skip to the heading about my questions (towards the end of the post) if you don't feel like reading it all!

This is what happened to me: two weeks ago, I smoked from a pipe for the first (and definitely last) time. I had some really strong weed, with I assume a lot of THC content (lots of trichomes). I had smoked previously a small joint out of this batch and everything was ok... I'm not a newbie, I've been smoking for 3.5 years, but I was now at the end of a 3-weeks forced T-break. Up until then, I had generally smoked once a week. Now when I smoked from the pipe, the first two hits I didn't feel anything, then on the third one I was gone. I mean, far out. I experienced a very psychedelic state of mind and I fel very uncoordinated. Oddly enough, I didn't get scared of what I experienced, although I didn't like the fact it was so intense. Besides that, my pulse was really raised and uncomfortable... Next day, I felt pretty much ok and I smoked again, this time out of a joint, adding some lorazepam to the mix. I again got into a psychedelic state of mind, albeit much less so. I must say I enjoyed it greatly. Then, I took a break for a day and smoked again, this time very late at night. Not such a great high, but I got so revved up, I couldn't get to sleep. I could feel my heart beating and every small noise woke me up. In the morning, I popped a benzo again and felt fine. Now this is were I went really stupid. Despite not having felt so great, I went on and smoked during the evening, next morning and next afternoon, with really good results.

Well, on to the disturbing part. The morning after I last smoked, I felt really fine in the beginning, then, as time went on, I got a very heavy feeling and, during lunch, I suddenly got nausea, an upset stomach and dizziness. The dizziness scared me big time. It felt like losing my self, my mind and my Ego, kinda like depersonalization. As a result, I got a strong panic attack. It only stopped after taking some lorazepam.

Of course, then I got recurring panic attacks ever since, almost every day. Whenever I got a little bit dizzy (or thought I had gotten a bit dizzy), my anxiety went sky high. I got quite a high heart rate every time I checked for it (90-110 bpm), but I only checked for it when I had extreme anxiety. Only yesterday and today were a bit better and I managed to get by without benzos and even feel a little more okay.

A most logical explanation would be the fact that I got very scared when I got the nausea and dizziness and, knowing me, this scare would be enough to give me recurring panic attacks. Whenever I manage not to think about getting dizzy, I feel fine, especially when being out with friends. Also, I started taking calcium supplements today and they made me feel more clearheaded and energetic so far. My GP thinks my body got into overdrive because of the stress and the on-going stomach sickness. Well, I'm pretty sure my body and my endocannabinoid system got into overdrive because of smoking so much weed (this he doesn't know)... Gonna take a long break from smoking and see my former therapist for the anxiety. As for pipe-smoking, never again. Except if it's some strain with low THC and high CBD.

My questions are:

1. The one thought that scares me to death and sends me to an unbearable level of anxiety is the idea that I might have somehow damaged my endocannabinoid system in an irreversible way. I think this where I need most reassurance. If it's just anxiety of the "regular" kind, no matter how bad it is, I'll ride it out in the end, like I did before on so many occasions (unrelated to drugs)... So that's a stupid idea, right?

2. I am 99.99% sure the weed wasn't laced. The first time I smoked out of this batch has been really ok. It did smell like weed and had loads of trichomes. But suppose it was laced with some RC or PCP? What damage could have done to me?

3. Do I stand any chance to ever be able to smoke again in small amounts, like I used to for so many years, and enjoy it, without anxiety?


Thank you for bearing with me!

 

[Mafioso]

In all honesty I would be more concerned about your benzo use as WDs can be pretty nasty and there have been a great many of people hospitalized and some who have even died unfortunately. So please keep that in mind and look into that.. but you will probably be ok with benzos so long as it's not a long term or frequent usage thing. Rebound anxiety is a common side effect so some of these experiences could be caused largely by benzo rebound and perhaps amplified by side effects of weed. Dizziness is also a side effect of benzos...

As far as permanent brain damage, I doubt any was caused by weed and if there was damage done it will be largely reversible but will take time.

Chances are that the weed wasn't laced. Financially it does not add up especially if it was already a good product to begin with. I'm going with your weed was not laced it was just a stronger batch, possible it had lower levels of CBD and strain was particularly psychedelic- this combined with benzo rebound/side effects and perhaps even a low tolerance is entirely more probably than laced weed IME.

As far as being able to smoke again I'd have to ask how long have you been using benzos? If you are having panic attacks related to your weed experience but long after you have smoked then I would say it would be best to give yourself some time apart from all drugs. Then maybe after 3-6months or even a year try micro dosing, like maybe take a tiny tiny hit off of a pipe and set it down for an hour or longer. If at that point in time you still desire to smoke more and feel that you can handle it I would say go for it.

Again, I have to recommend that you stop using benzos to cope with weed anxiety for this can become a vicious cycle and the same cycle that got me hospitalized not long ago. I was by far more reckless, but benzos and weed are both widely reported to hit the "fuck it" switch or black out and continue dosing.

Your not crazy tho, my guess is that you had a bad experience and now are kind of freaking yourself out and triggering your adrenal response by worrying so much. try to get out of your head when this type of stuff happens, might help if you don't focus solely on yourself and the way you feel if that makes sense.

 

[Steven_Tyler77]

Thank you so much for your response! It really is reassuring. If the weed was not laced and there's no danger of permanent brain damage, then I'm sure I can ride out any anxiety. I've had anxiety reactions and panic attacks in the past, but never in relation to recreational drugs... I will use your advice and try to focus on something else than these fears.

How long have I been using benzos for? Well, I've been using lorazepam for two months, but I could say pretty infrequently, as I am to take it as needed. I never take more than 0.5 or 1 mg at a time. And this was the only time I took it to handle weed anxiety (because I never experienced any kind of anxiety related to weed before, which of course frustrates me to no end that something like this happened now). Other than that, I've also been taking low doses of cinolazepam and bromazepam for the last two years (for sleep issues), but also infrequently. I've been able to stop taking them more than once with no ill-effects (last month was an example). It's true that, during the last 6 months, I've kinda gone overboard with both my benzo and weed use, due to some stressful times in my life. Not proud of myself for this, but oh well, at least I didn't go back to opiates...

I do hope I will be one day able to smoke weed again. It is one of the most beautiful drugs in the world and even that fucked-up psychedelic experience that freaks me out today was interesting in its own special way. Thanks to weed, I managed to cut down and give up my codeine use, when it was pretty close to getting me addicted... But I will wait for as long as will be needed, in order to resume smoking.

 

[Mafioso]

I'm not an expert on the subject but based on the quick searches I did on cinolazapam and bromazepam, it says that they are both benzodiazapine derivatives which would seem likely that they will have similar side effects.

I can't say for certain what caused the experience you mention, but based off the information you have given and the timeline I put together my guess is that it has a lot to do with rebound anxiety/side-effects from the rx's and cannabis combine. So, correct me if I am mistaken, but you say the incident happen 2 weeks ago. About a month ago you quit taking both cinolazapam and bromazepam. 2 months ago you started taking lorazepam, and you say for the last 6 months you have been going overboard somewhat.

Now I could be wrong about this, but I say benzos because it sounds eerily similar to my experience recently in which I had a seizure related to alprazolam WD. Like I said, I was being far more reckless, but was only taking large amounts for a month and a half, had worked my way up to that for about a month and a half prior to that.. so all in all I'd say about 3 months give or take a few weeks of xanax use. I was mixing with coke but I rarely do more than a small line or two at a time and space out doses pretty wide for coke. Also I wasn't using coke for the entire period mostly in the beginning and middle of the binge, but was smoking a large amounts of weed. Anyways, it wasn't until about a week after I had completely quit alprazolam and started having very strange reactions to cannabis. They would become uncomfortably hallucinogenic to the point where I was hearing my phone and alarm go off(in my head) when in reality nothing was happening and they progessed and became more bizzare than this, eventually turning into probably a psychotic episode in which I was struggling to tell the difference between reality and imagination. There were other factors that played into this like lack of sleep and not drinking or eating enough, but point is I noticed weed would set these things off and almost every time I smoked something strange would happen. Not to mention terrible anxiety.

So take it for what it is worth, but I would really suggest looking deeper into the substances you are taking. Just because it has a doctors prescription doesn't make it good or safe in my book. Also, I am by no means encouraging you to go back to opiates but please be aware that many compare benzo WD to heroin WD and many say that benzo is worse. Long term usuage, even low amounts will result in WDs.

Be safe and take care!