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What causes weed related anxiety?

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mikemikemike said:
I don;t know, Im in the same boat as you are. I used to smoke 24/7, but now only a small amount once a day. I talked to some older smokers (50+) and they said that it came about for them after 8-10 years of smoking
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Exactly what happened to me. Anxiety/Paranoia kicked in about 4 years into it, although it took me ten years to finally realize it (thank you BL!).
 
My anxiety set in on around the 5 year mark, i think the straw that finally broke the camels back was when i moved into a share house with friends and i would stay up from friday afternoon till monday morning all weekend on the meth while smoking cones the whole time. Slowly but surely after a few of those weekends the anxiety crept up with every session till where it got to the point where my body just flat out rejected weed(even when not on the meth for agaes), heart rate would rise to dangerous levels(with accompanying palpitations) and extremely bad anxiety.

Ive been weed free for 4 years now and i only suffer a little night time anxiety at times which prescribed xanax takes care of nicely. But the last time i tried to have a cone which was around 2 years ago my heart rate skyrocketed and was pumping so fast and hard that i was taken to the hospital and given some sort of drugs to slow it up. Its sucks, my body just flatout rejects weed but the funny thing is i can take anything else without any problems at all.

Ppl have suggested that i try the smoke again while im on a good dose of xanax which should knock out the anxiety. God i used to love to smoke weed i wish there was a way that i could smoke it again.

Any suggestions?
 
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Sometimes I get anxiety if I have a lot going on or on my mind. I usually just smoke more or not let the weed have me focus on the negative thoughts. Usually helps with me, plus I love smoking the chron so much, I'd NEVER be able to survive w/out it.
 
it happens in waves man, I feel your pain. Alot of people get there honeymoon period where weeds bouncin you on your head when you first start, then you get used to it your smoking and your jus getting high.. which can last for years, months or sometimes forever.. and then theres a period where anxiety comes in. It comes in waves, I just got through a tough period of getting terrible social anxiety even round people I know and love. Try some smoke shesh's by yourself where you meditate and come back one with the leaf.
Also when your smoking in situations dont be thinking "man i hope I dont start getting all anxious" on your first toke.. cuz that'll surefire stimulate your brain enough to start overthinking about that untill you are getting the anxiety.

Hang in there, take a break for a while, smoke through it, take fewer tokers or figure out any personal reasons why it might be happening, and if it comes to it quit!

Peace an Love be with you
- SS
 
I agree with Clamjuice, about only doing it after you drink some beer.

I don't smoke now but when I did smoke after getting anxiety/panic attacks from life in general and while high, I'd usually only smoke after drinking or with friends who I know are chill, and if I was already feeling anxious (as I get panic attacks/anxiety when sober) I wouldn't smoke.

I wouldn't smoke in environments where I'd have to appear/act sober like school, before/at work, or places where I'd have to interact with the public and not just relax. Also I wouldn't smoke if I had stuff to do or if I was driving or before driving. I'd only smoke at home alone or with a few close friends.

Also I'd avoid pure Sativa strains and just smoke Indica or Indica/Sativa blends where the Indica is more dominant.

Avoiding caffeine can help too, personally I love caffenated coffee/tea while high but caffeine can make some people a lot more anxious.

What also worked for me was starting at VERY low doses of smoking, like 1 hit from a one hitter and then slowly working my way up to smoking a lot more and eventually I was able to take bong hits and smoke bowls like normal. Smoking daily, getting used to the effect of pot all the time, and getting a tolerance helped too.

You should also try to recognize when you're going into anixety or a panic attack and figure out why and you can just tell yourself that it's only anxiety/panic and talk yourself down (again it's easier said than done at times but I've done this), and remind yourself that nobody's ever died from anxiety/a panic attack and just breathe deep, try to relax your mind/body, try to distract yourself from it with music/talking to someone/a movie/etc., and it sounds corny but if you start meditation and exercising a lot (like cardio exercises) that helps a lot too.
 
I think it is part of the tolerance to weed.

It doesn't work so good anymore, that you have to suck it like ..........

When I am well high, I don't have any anxiety. So it is the tolerance.
 
I've been smoking for about 5 years on and off. Mostly on weekends but there were times when i'd smoke 3-4 times a day for months. And from my experience if I dont have any problems in my live that deal with I can smoke as much as i want to and never get anxiety/panic attack.
If I constanlty think about some shit i have to deal with and keep posponing it and then smoke to relax and keep my mind off of it i'd get bad high 100% of the time.

As many people here mentioned you have to think positive.
 
elevated levels of dopamine combined with low serotonin = waitng for a panic attack to happen.

bumbbaclatt vesuvius
 
I noticed the first paranoia while high after 4 or 5 years of relatively heavy use. It's only severe when i have no tolerance though, a week of heavy smoking and it's totally gone.
 
I know all to well about this subject. You who want relief should give vaporization a shot. It gives you the medical qualities of marijuana. Its a better way for an older person to use the drug. Check it out!!
 
I first started smoking cannabis in 1965. First occasionally and then more frequently. My experience was that cannabis and beer didn't go well together. Usually causing bad body reaction and vomiting on hands and knees. At that time I often turned on in groups and there were occasions that people would react weirdly or suddenly get sick. At that time this didn't bother me too much, apart from bringing me down because the situation would have to be dealt with.
My first really bad reaction came in 1967 when I visited an old school friend to celebrate his 21st birthday. I had some dope and rolled up a joint, when a girl who was there launched into this incredible hate thing. I passed the joint around but nobody was particularly interested and I ended up smoking most of it myself.
Suddenly after about half an hour stuff got really bad and I had to head to the toilet, where I spent the next three hours watching the tiles in the floor leaping out and falling away, and intermittently vomiting and crapping my guts out.
I put the experience down to a bad vibe and had no problems until the day before my own 21st.
I was visiting my hometown and hanging out with a group of people I was fairly familiar with. Somebody I hadn't seen in a long time handed me a tab of acid. Joints kept going round and it was only after quite a while that I noticed a completely different quality to the high.
Most of the people left the room, one girl was lying on her back and masturbating. She suddenly seemed to realize what she was doing and jumped and headed down the stairs.
That left me alone with another guy and we were both pretty stoned and we grinned at each other and said something about going out, so we trundled off down the stairs and landed in the café downstairs. It was chaos, there was a drunk guy who was wrecking the place. We headed for the door, but for some reason the guy with me turned round and said he couldn't handle it. and so we went back up.
Shame really because I think if we had gotten out on the street things would have been better;
Anyway to cut a long story short everybody came back, and the drunk guy too.
He was spreading a really bad vibe and playing on bongos at the same time (he was a drummer)
Things went downhill from there on.
Eventually I started having really horrible hallucinations and ended up by asking somebody to help take me out on the street.
I had a lot of trouble with flashes after this trip, and ended up having a sort of breakdown and taking valium for some time.
I also discovered that it was impossible to smoke dope anymore. Dope just brought on flashes and made me feel paranoid.
Even so in the next thirty years my wife and I occasionally enjoyed a bit of dope, but in very small amounts. I found that if I fucked it was okay, but that the paranoia would come back after the sex.
Well about 5 years ago I tried E for the first time and enjoyed it very much.
I roll with my partner and one day she suggested smoking a joint together after the roll.
Initially I felt somewhat anxious but that soon dispelled and now I can enjoy dope (cannabis) after E, but not cannabis on its own.

So personally I think that some of the paranoia comes from learned experiences and that these can be countered by the serotonin release due to E.
 
I usually attribute anxiety to a raised heart rate and some trouble breathing after a large toke. since I usually want a large toke my heart rate goes up and my breathing is panicky for several minutes afterwards. not being able to breathe clearly causes me anxiety.
 
mikemikemike said:
I don;t know, Im in the same boat as you are. I used to smoke 24/7, but now only a small amount once a day. I talked to some older smokers (50+) and they said that it came about for them after 8-10 years of smoking
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Yep..you betcha. I'm a 50 year old cagey old veteran and I can attest to it happening to us more "seasoned" tokers. It happened to me a few years ago and I still deal with it now and then.
When I was able to come to grips with it is when I realized that it can be managed mentally. Sure, the physical symptoms are there, for me it started out as a chest pain followed by a lightheaded feeling and then I would hyperventilate with a feeling as though I couldnt get a deep breath ( also why I swore off coke).
To me, the most important step in this is understanding that it WILL subside and you will be just fine. When it starts do your best to try to relax and tell yourself that you know what this is and you are going to ride it out. Breath slowly and try not to get excited, those things go a long way.
...Well,,,I gotta add that I kept and still do small doses of .5 Xanax. I found that letting it melt in your mouth hastens recovery from it. I rarely need it anymore but I'm always packin just in case :)
Take heart in that it will lessen in severity in time if not go away altogether.
 
I think this must happen to every smoker at some point. I smoked for about a year every day, 24/7 and was fine until all of a sudden i started having panic attacks almost every time i smoked. My heart would pound so fast and hard i seriously thought i was having a heart attack. And i would have trouble focusing on anything and i felt like i couldn't breathe. I just quit for a while and now i'm back to smoking again and i haven't had that happen at all. When i very first started smoking weed i had horrible panic attacks the first few times i got high. I didn't even know what it was. My heart would feel like it was skipping beats and i had insane deja vu like i knew EXACTLY what was gonna happen and what everyone was gonna say. It kinda freaked me out but i just figured it would have to go away eventually and it did.
 
I used to get it for a while when I would smoke and I thought it was weird because I used to smoke a lot.

I think it was kinda all in my head, I just kind of tuffed it out and now I'm fine when I smoke.
 
Im almost positive its 100% all in our heads, at least for me it was anyway...

I've experienced just about everything you guys described once or twice

As soon as id start to feel a little anxiety and it became noticable.. it just snowballs and gets worse and worse until you completely freak yourself out...

I've noticed if you don't fight it, and just completely relax as much as you can... Take deep breaths and count them in/out up to 15-20 or so if needed, just ride it out and you'll be fine within 5 - 10 mins.

ONE time i was so high when i felt my heart skip a beat i put my hand over my chest and couldn't feel my heart beating, i thought my heart stopped, i was completely freaking out hahah

So basically in my opinion the anxiety is basically just a big mind fuck.... It's really easily for this to happen when you're high, and once it starts its a snowball effect. The mind is really susceptible on THC, especially if you're not a daily smoker
 
WOW what the FUCK this thread is almost 4 years old ... im WAY to high to be browsing forums peace out.
 
It really depends on where you are. If your at somones house you dont know well that might increase your anxiety.

I've found that weed actually cures my anxiety, I dont take benzo's anymore and when I smoke it chills me out completely. I used to get panic attacks when I smoked if I was in a place with bad vibes.

I think sativa's cause less anxiety then a heavy indica if your prone. Just remember you have full control.
 
I'm curious about this too...

Indicas are a very body-oriented high, aren't they? Wouldn't that be WORSE than a head high?

So I smoked some Blue Dream about two weeks ago... much to my surprise, other than a slight awareness of something in my chest, I was fine... Mind you I was anxious BEFORE smoking it because of a bit too much methylone and was debating on benzos and alcohol or trying some jane. Buddy has his medical card so I figured why not - looked the strain up, was known good for anxiety.

Well Saturday night, I hung out with my bud and I'd been up for 72 hours (meph/methylone binge) so I was hoping the DJ Short Blueberry he picked up just for me would knock my ass out. Vaped three hits and felt phenomenal, even fell asleep for a bit.

Then I fucked up. Got ballsy as hell and decided Hashberry sounded and smelled friendly enough. Boy was I wrong... 3 hits of that joint and I went into quite possibly the WORST panic attack I've ever had - made my first weed induced panic attack look like child's play. I put my finger on my neck to check my pulse and was CERTAIN it was over 200, had the pains rolling through my body almost like the salvia pins and needles but they just wouldn't go away. 1mg sublingual Xanax made it WORSE... my bud took my pulse and BP twice for me with the machine and pulse was 65 at the highest (normal resting 84) and BP was 129/95 (normal is 110/90) so that wasn't out of control either but even with the two times he took it for me and showed it to me, I couldn't fight the feeling. The body high was just way too intense.

Basically, here's my thinking. My tolerance is zilch. I really shouldn't be fucking with MMJ with such a high THC content in the first place when it usually only takes a hit or two of shwag to get me stoned... But maybe doing small hits here and there til I build a tolerance again will get me past the cannabinoid sensitivity? Its obviously ENTIRELY mental... I used to be able to smoke bowls day in day out when I was younger but I quit for 9 months and it was never the same... then one day I was rolling and my friend decided it would be funny to play a joke on me - tell me he's smoking weak shit and so of course, I took a huge hit - was white widow. Second worst panic attack of my life only I didn't have benzos handy so I was awake for the whole 5 hours.

I should also mention... that panic attack while rolling was the first I ever had - and after that, I started having them daily, had to quit drinking caffeine products, had to cut back on sugars, then finally had to start xanax once every two weeks or so which quickly became a daily thing and now I take 2mg of Klonopin a day...
 
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