Marijuana Induced Paranoia

[Brilliant_Frenzy]

Situation:

Last weekend I smoked a little pot with some friends. One friend packed two bowls in a water bong, of which I smoked about 3 small puffs out of each bowl. The pot was fairly high quality. I tried to smoke only a little because I tend to get paranoid when I smoke pot. The environment was as follows: my friends live in an apartment on the first floor; the patio doors and blinds were open; people were there that I've never met before; my friends brought up the fact that the neighbors had called the police during a pervious party concerning noise--they've never had any legal problems, the police just asked them to turn the volume down. For entertainment, a friend of theirs turned Children of the Corn and Halloween Five on, which freaked me out. My reactions were as follows: I became very very quiet; I didn't say anything, I just became really quiet and nervous.

Background:

Pot was not the first drug I tried. I tried e, acid, and hydrocodone before pot. When I first tried pot (about three summers ago) I found it enjoyable: I got giddy, euphoric, and laughed a lot. I noticed time distortions when I first started smoking, but I found them interesting.

After smoking that summer, I went to college and smoked in that environment. Things changed. I began to get paranoid, suspicious of people (I thought they were talking about me), and was very judgemental of myself.

Ever since then (the first paranoid college pot experience), I've ALWAYS had bad pot "trips."

Also, I should mention that I have anxiety issues and that I've had a coke problem in the past. I've not done coke in a long time, and this has been the first time I've done pot in almost a year.

Questions:

1. Is it possible to be negatively conditioned concerning pot? Since I've had that first negative experience, I seem to go into that same mindset: things are going to be bad; the entire high scares me, especially the time distortions.

2. If negative conditioning exists, is it possible to recondition yourself to have positive experiences again? I mean, I would like to smoke pot again if it was a positive experience. I'm not sure if this would be effective, or how I could go about this. Does anyone have any suggestions?

3. Would my former coke problem affect my present pot experiences? I'm pretty sure pot and coke affect different neurotransmitters, but could the after effects of my coke use cause problems with pot?

4. Finally, I've never had bad trips on other psychedelics (acid, shrooms, ketamine); it's just been pot. Whenever I smoke pot, it's like a mini-acid trip. Whereas most people relax, it seems to make me (now) uptight and very anxious.

Purpose:

The purpose of this post was to get any suggestions as to how I might have a positive pot experience again, and to explain why I may have negative experiences now.

BTW:

I should have included this in the original post. I was also drinking (two drinks with rum and Dr. Pepper) and did a few poppers. Ok, for those who don't know what poppers are. It's slang from Amyl Nitrate, but I'm pretty sure the stuff people buy around here isn't Amyl Nitrate. You go into a store and ask for "Video Head Cleaner." It's a liquid that comes in a small brown vial, and you inhale the vapors quickly then put the cap back on. To be honest, I'm not sure what the stuff actually is. I don't think it's Amyl because I think that's illegal in this state. Anyway, it produces a "rush" for about 10 seconds then you're back to normal. I don't think the alcohol or poppers contributed to the paranoia, because I wasn't really drunk and I only did a few poppers. Also, like I said before, I've always gotten paranoid on pot since that first bad experience.

 

[Cimora]

1. Is it possible to be negatively conditioned concerning pot? Since I've had that first negative experience, I seem to go into that same mindset: things are going to be bad; the entire high scares me, especially the time distortions.

Absolutely.

2. If negative conditioning exists, is it possible to recondition yourself to have positive experiences again? I mean, I would like to smoke pot again if it was a positive experience. I'm not sure if this would be effective, or how I could go about this. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Yup. Lots of people get paranoid on pot. I find that sticking to small groups of people whom i trust minimizes the effect. Less stimulation while your high: Dont do it in public places. That should help. Also, remember to breathe, concentrate on physically relaxing, and that its all in your head, its not real.

3. Would my former coke problem affect my present pot experiences? I'm pretty sure pot and coke affect different neurotransmitters, but could the after effects of my coke use cause problems with pot?

It may do, but most side effects from drugs fade with time. Its probably more to do with your anxiety though.

 

[frizzantik]

pot is a minor psychedelic.. therefore set and setting do play a part

once you have a paranoid pot experience they are a lot more likely to occur, just because you are paranoid that you might become paranoid hehe

heavy coke use may cause anxiety later in life.. my lady did lots of coke as a teenager and now she has anxiety and depression problems. they could be unrelated though.


if you want to continue smoking pot, learn to see the signs of a paranoia attack and once it starts happening try not to focus on it. it is hard as you can begin pumping with adrenaline which makes it tought to calm down but remember that you'll be ok :D


dig around in this forum there is endless discussion on this topic.

 

[PassMeTheVicks]

1)Yes. I usually get nervous b4 a weed trip. Its the conditioning you say from previous uncofortable trips.

2)Maybe. Try to relax. Although I find that once you have the first toke of weed, your mind has a mind of its own and can start to stumble on neg thoughts.

3)Coke caused a psychotic disorder in me. I dont feel weed makes my condition any worse. Actually helps me.

4) I love the way good weed makes me acid trip too man. Just dont get into bad acid trips. They can be very un fun. Keep a positive mind. Weed can be one of the gentlest very inner touching drugs as it can turn into a bad trip.

 

[PottedMeat]

Until you build up some experience, psychs. should be taken in a very controlled envvironment. I.E., have friends around you thaat you can trust.

 

[everlost]

I dont know if you have done DXM or are interested in trying it, but for me it works wonders for stopping anxiety from pot. When I first started smoking pot I always enjoyed it but now I usually have bad reactions to pot and get severe anxiety and often start shaking.

Then I discovered DXM and found that if I smoked pot while on a high 2nd plateau DXM trip it would usually stop the anxiety. I can take large doses that would probably otherwise wig me out and have a very good time. I have had incredibly blissful nirvana like experiences in the past from smoking pot while on a high 2nd plateau and listening to music. Smoking pot on 3rd plateau is also good. I have incredible CEVs and sensations of flying through tunnels from pot on a 3rd plateau DXM trip. I rarely do pot more than once a week to keep my tolerance down so I can get really good effects. Just dont do DXM too often and you should read up on it if you are new to it and decide to try it.

If you can get benzos that might help. I havent tried that combination yet.

If anything alcohol would help anxiety if you drink enough. It can for me but I dont always enjoy the combination that much.

 

[Brilliant_Frenzy]

Thanks for everyone's answers.

To clarify a few things:

I would say I'm fairly experienced with pot. Granted, I've not smoked it in a while, but when I went through my heavy drug phase a few years ago, I smoke a lot of pot. I also thought that might have something to do with it: is there just a point that you smoke so much that it just doesn't effect you in the same way anymore (i.e., produce happy feelings?). I don't know. I do know I'm not going to smoke it anymore until I can buy my own stash and "reprogram" myself in the ideal envrionment. For now, I'm sticking to alcohol when I visit my friends. They don't really get into any drugs harder than pot. So, they can smoke and I'll drink. I mean, I'd like to bring other things. But, I know they don't like that and I think that would be rude of me to do.

Also, yes, I've tried DXM several several times. It's my mainstay drug at college--I can never get anything there. I usually do one eight ounce bottle of CVS tussin if I want a nice buzz, or two bottles if I want to get fucked up. But, it's not something I like doing all the time. It's nice every now and then, but not all the time. I'm not sure how I'd feel about taking it AND pot. Like I said, pot effects me like a mini-acid trip. DXM also causes me to hallucinate. I'm afraid it would just increase the paranoia.

Yes, I've tried benzodiazepines before. The only one I really like is Ativan, and I usually get really sloppy with it: I dose, fall into an amnesia-like state, and automatically redose without realizing it. So, I try not to do benzos that much.

 

[9baller]

Yeah, this is fairly common. Most people I know tend to get somewhat paranoid on weed. Nothing to worry about. Just smoke where you feel safe and with peope you trust.

Cheers.

 

[HotMOovZ]

I was reading an article in the Australian finaincial Review about three months ago (whilst i was supposed to be working)
Anyway the article caught my eye because it was reaserarching paranoia in people who smoked pot on even an irregualr basis .

The study, which lasted over a decade found that those who expierience high levels of paranoia and anxiety whilst smoking pot had fifteen times higher chance of developing psycosis and schysophrenia later in life. The study concluded that many of the people may have already suffered from these illnesses however suffered no symptoms and pot acted as a trigger.

Seeing i suffer from sever paranoia when i smoke pot i took the advise...

 

[dj phucktag]

Im a major pot head. All i smoke is high grade cannabis. 9 times out of 10 i feel great. That other one time i feel like i have some weird condition that makes me feel like im going to die. Thing is, im sitting there telling myself "Nick, youre just stoned" but it wont go away til im not high anymore. Anyone have similar experiences?

 

[sallycinnamon]

This was a great post Brilliant_Frenzy; I was meaning to ask this myself. Very eloquently posed.

I have big problems with this. My problem is usually that I can't get horrible, violent sexual images out of my head. I wondered (only when I was stoned) if a family member sexually molested me, and things like that. On more than one occasion, I was deathly afraid that a friend's father was going to burst into the bathroom and rape me up agaisnt the tile. I mean, all these images are very vivid and disturbing.

Sometimes I'll feel like I'm having an epiphany, but it'll turn sour because I get very down on myself. I'll tell myself that I can't handle truth because I'm a stupid woman, I'm really uncool, and in fact, a little fucked in the head. It's terrible to feel like that. It's caused me great emotional distress.

I don't smoke pot anymore because of these reasons. I've heard that it can cause emotional problems in some people. I believe what HotMOovZ posted about schizophrenia, as well. Who knows? I'm just going to stay away from it to be on the safe side. It's going to take me a long time to heal. I even want to talk about it with a psychiatrist.

My advice would be to just get the hell away from it if it makes you feel bad. I know there are up sides to smoking pot, but the negative just outweighs that sometimes.

Good luck on what you're seeking.

 

[sh0ck3r]

i know lots of guys who won't touch the herb cuz it makes them paranoid, yet they still do harder drugs. my question for you is...do you get paranoid when you smoke alone or maybe with 1 very close friend and just stay inside, chilling, with nothing to do that day? because if you do, i'd say pot is definitely a bad substance for you. but if you only get paranoid when out in public, say at a mall or something, i'd say that is really normal.

 

[alostlittlebird]

The marijuana experience isn't meant to be scrutinized in such a way, and when you start trying to overthink your experience or force it (or want it) to be something it isn't, there are negative side effects.

I find it helpful in terms like this:

Say you want to ask a hot girl (or guy, or whatever) out on a date. You reflect on what might happen if you are rejected, and it makes you nervous. You realize that in being nervous you probably won't be comfortable enough to score the date, and so you become anxious. You have created all of these feelings in your head, yet the ramifications are real because now instead of flowing up all natural and asking for a date, you are stranded in being nervous, anxious, and above all scared of the potential situation.

When you try and anticipate something to be good or bad, it may well end up being the opposite because your overthinking may trigger many other responses. If you try and think your way into a good experience you're not going to get anywhere because your mind is busy doing just that, thinking.

My advice: Slow down that busy mind. Instead of trying to build an expectation or force a feeling, just let things happen. Be natural - do not worry about feeling good or bad, but instead let comfort and tranquility be your guide. Good things will follow.

 

[SkiNLaB]

damn, im a very irregular pot smoker, and my second ever time, i had way 2 much, and freaked myself out, puked eventually. and ever since then i have always been a *bit* on edge. but its mostly when someone is there who ISNT smoking and never has, then its like i feel that they are looking at me all the time, judging me or something.

so i think i have resolved not 2 smoke, unless i am TOTALLY comfortable with the company.

i find if i leave the group and just sit down somewhere by myself and stare at the stars or something it can really be good. i guess its just not meant 2 be a social drug for me.... which is unfortunate cuz everyone else loves it in a social setting.

 

[The_Masochrist]

this is a great post i can relate to what so many people are saying here, last night for instance i had a toke after me and some firends went to a local bar there was about 15 of us there and i was starting to get a bit uncomfortable in teh situation by the end of the night even tho these people are my friends ?! werid eh, anyway i fleed away without even saying bye 2 anyone with one other firend and we toked and it was fine but when he left i kept on thinking about htat night thinking how much of a loser i am how uncool i am, how i cant relate to people and how fucked up my relationships are, i just kept recycling these bad feelings in my head, when i woke up i still felt it a bit but it wore off as the day went on. i think pot has made me socially paranoid and i hate it, i cant chill with people i dont know that well or that i cant fully relate with some times, when im drunk it pushes the anxiety down but if im sober i can get it, but if im high its so bad i feel like just running away. im considering going to my doctor about this anxiety if i could get some pill to make it go away i think id be alot happier

 

[fb1]

I have several friends who have been heavy pot smokers. One attempted suicided (later diagnosed schizophrenic), the other gets severly paranoid when pot and any other drugs are combined.

Echoing the sentements of the thread. If the negative outweighs the positive stay away from pot.

On the topic of "conditioning" yourself to be able to enjoy pot again. I'd say it would be difficult but not impossible. But do you really want to do that? I mean, certainly thats a sign of some sort of drug dependancy. I'd stick to sobriety.

On the topic of social anxiety. I'm a firm beliver in working through your problems. That is to say, i'd recommend against a "pill" that could elivate anxiety. Surely it's much better for your well-being to slowly reintroduce yourself into social circumstances were you feel comfortable. Start off slowly, take your time, reassure yourself and gradually work through your social anxiety. It's not going to be easy, but it will benefit you in countless other ways, much better than taking benzos or whatever.

 

[PottedMeat]

Also, you should keep a few benzo's on hand in case you start to freak out. The paranoia does not stem directly from the weed (hence your friends were ok) it stems from the environment you are in, potency of the herb etc. Just try to concentrate on having a good time and relax...relax. An herb buzz is like a wave and you are a surfer; chill out and rid that mother in. Before you know it you will hit the beach and be ready to grab another wave.%) Party on !

 

[SkiNLaB]

i think i posted in here b4, saying that i usually get paranoid 2. but i finally had a great experience smoking, and it was definatley the company and setting i was in.

It was the morning after a night of rolling, and i was taken aback, thought the world had disapeared and shit, but it was just funny, i didnt care. so i'm stoked!

 

[vidavibra]

My advice: Slow down that busy mind. Instead of trying to build an expectation or force a feeling, just let things happen. Be natural - do not worry about feeling good or bad, but instead let comfort and tranquility be your guide. Good things will follow.

what a positive message! I always try to do this.

 

[alostlittlebird]