Life after a psychotic break

[Beat It]

Btw I have experienced a mental breakdown from lsd as well. I suffered from delusional thinking and mood swings for some time after my trip but I chose to go a natural route. I don't know your whole situation but I would try waiting the symptoms out before going onto a antipsychotic like Zyprexa. I think you will likely get better results from just abstinence of drugs, not putting more into your head. You need to let you head heal itself, drugs aren't the answer. Especially if your still young!! The bodies have an amazing capacity to heal themselves if they are allowed to.

 

[It's a baby!]

Thanks everyone for your opinion. I will have about 6 months clean before I even have the option to use again, hopefully I just won't want to at that point like crimsonjunk has suggested. I appreciate the blunt honesty that I get on these forums which is at the same time realistic. I'll definitely be sharing at NA to hear what they have to say, even though I'm pretty sure it's just going to be a longwinded version of "don't use, period". And to missykins, I have been honestly sharing what's been going on with me at NA but I am struggling with my first step because it is completely contrary to my nature, which I fear will cause me to become embittered to the rest of their message, some parts of which have certainly been helping me to stay clean. If anyone else wants to weigh in I'm definitely open to more information.

I'd say you don't need to take the steps seriously at all. The steps help some people but they aren't for everyone. Just talking to a community of people who are all dedicated to being clean is the real advantage of NA imho. You realize that you're all pretty similar in some ways, etc.

Good luck man, I still have big temptations to smoke pot but I'm just not going to, if anyone asks me why I just say "it makes me feel like I'm going crazy" (which it does!)

 

[It's a baby!]

I'm gonna go against the current here because I think this needs to be said. I don't think anyone is playing russian roulette when it comes to smoking weed. There might be Some recorded cases where subjects go permanently insane from using strong psychedelics like lsd, and mushrooms (in high quantities) but no one is going to smoke some weed and then never come back to reality... Come on guys! Thats a little overboard... Everyone knows that drugs wear off. Stay clean. Thats a good idea. But if you decide to smoke some weed, thats a lot healthier and safer than to use other drugs, including antipsychotics. Talk about drugs that are toxic!

Secondly, I don't think any of us here have enough information to know whether the OP is an addict. AND YES!!! there is a huge difference between someone being addicted to heroin and stealing from their family to someone being "addicted" to marijuana. Marijuana addiction is real, but the risk is much more manageable.

Actually, smoking marijuana CAN induce long-term psychotic breaks. Any psychedelic can. I was so sensitive to marijuana when I first started smoking it that if I told you the stories of how high it could get me (as high as a good dose of LSD and even higher in some ways), and how long those highs would sometimes take to go away, you'd think I was bullshitting. It effects everyone differently. I, for some reason, really liked the freaky trips pot gave me so I just kept smoking and smoking until I had such a tolerance that it did not effect me.

 

[RobotRipping]

^yes very true; cannabis will exacerbate psychotic symptoms if they are already pleasant. Cannabis likely won't develop them completely on it's own, maybe bring out an underlying condition. However, if you have already experienced psychosis and/or have psychotic symptoms, it can certainly make them worse.

 

[Cycik]

Secondly, I don't think any of us here have enough information to know whether the OP is an addict. AND YES!!! there is a huge difference between someone being addicted to heroin and stealing from their family to someone being "addicted" to marijuana. Marijuana addiction is real, but the risk is much more manageable.

What if I told you I know someone that stole from their family to fund their marijuana 'addiction'? Then we've seen H junkies that don't steal a thing? It is not the drug but it is the person instead. Weed can also cause more anxiety and paranoia. After tripping with a friend and him having a psychotic break on a heavy heavy dose of mescaline, I smoked weed a few weeks later and had some terrible flashbacks and started freaking out again. People really underestimate marijuana at times.

 

[Beat It]

^^ Good point however I would say that the people that you speak of are a minority. I don't think your argument about it just being the person really holds water. The percentage of heroin users that become addicted is much higher than those who smoke marijuana. Also, the crime rate of those who smoke marijuana is not significantly different from the general population and I would not think the same of junkies or heroin addicts. I'm not saying that pot heads can't be bad people, but marijuana is not going to cause crime (besides distribution) whereas drugs like heroin can.

Also, I agree with you guys that marijuana can exacerbate psychotic symptoms. I know because I've experienced it. However, I don't think it is realist to tell the OP that marijuana is going to induce long term psychosis. For the majority of people it won't. To be honest, I have never read anything about marijuana inducing long term psychosis. I am sure it is possible for someone who is on the verge of breaking but not for most individuals.

Lastly, look up Antipsychotics Induced Psychotic-Like Syndrome. Antipsychotic drugs are no better than marijuana. They are far from safe. I would argue the percentage of people who experience negative side effects from those drugs is higher than the side effects experienced from Marijuana. Not to mention worse! I know that they play a critical role in some people's recovery and that is good but I would never advise anyone to take them. I know doctors who would say the same.

 

[dazzaw]

I would be careful with using drugs in the future, once the floodgate has been opened there is a long lasting predisposition to psychosis that's always going to be problematic.

I experienced a drug induced psychosis from weed about 5 years ago and was put on abilify for 6 months. it wasn't until a year later that i started smoking again that I had another psychotic break. what was interesting was it took quite a bit to really bring it on. it wasn't a case of smoking a joint and flipping, it was a good couple of months build up, and then sure enough, break through again.

stupidly this new years eve just past i smoked again after an few years of abstinence (and a rebound antipsychotic withdrawal psychosis) and pretty much propelled back into that place straight away. I think there's a point of diminishing returns with drugs and psychosis. each psychotic break that occurs invariably lessens ones capability to handle drugs.

 

[It's a baby!]

I would be careful with using drugs in the future, once the floodgate has been opened there is a long lasting predisposition to psychosis that's always going to be problematic.

I experienced a drug induced psychosis from weed about 5 years ago and was put on abilify for 6 months. it wasn't until a year later that i started smoking again that I had another psychotic break. what was interesting was it took quite a bit to really bring it on. it wasn't a case of smoking a joint and flipping, it was a good couple of months build up, and then sure enough, break through again.

stupidly this new years eve just past i smoked again after an few years of abstinence (and a rebound antipsychotic withdrawal psychosis) and pretty much propelled back into that place straight away. I think there's a point of diminishing returns with drugs and psychosis. each psychotic break that occurs invariably lessens ones capability to handle drugs.

Thanks for posting this, it's pretty much what happened to me. It gives me more strength to avoid using marijuana in the future. I fantasize sometimes about smoking a large amount to "trip" after I've maybe been away from it for months or years. The problem is I love the marijuana trip so much, even when it's a "bad trip", that I'll just smoke it constantly. It's hard to admit you have a problem with a drug that everybody else seems to be able to use casually. It's probably just how serious alcoholics feel.

 

[cassandragemini]

I used to work in a mental care home and I can tell you very definitely that cannabis can cause permanent irreversible psychosis and other very very serious mental conditions. In fact some of the worst affected people in the house had been heavy cannabis smokers and many of them were very young <18 years old, some younger than 16. I think many people dont quite realise the serious consequences heavy and irresponsible cannabis use can cause, way way to many people have jumped on the 'it's just a herb man/it's cool to be a stoner/it should be legal' bandwagon and have no idea of how serious the consequences can be. I'm not fear mongering and I myself smoke a little pot and believe it to be fairly safe in the grand scheme of things but believe me reckless and uninformed cannabis use can cause very very serious and horrible problems for people. And honestly claiming that you know better when you don't really know what you are talking about is in my experience very naive and especially in this forum very dangerous. And believe me young people are the most vulnerable, trying to help a 16 year with permanent cannabis psychosis try to remember how to read a sentence again without forgetting instantly and reverting back to a catatonic state is absolutely awful.

 

[cassandragemini]

Sorry if I offended anyone, I don't know what it's like to be in the position a lot of you are in, I've only seen and dealt with it in others and that's where my experience ends. Working in that home really changed the way I look at pot and other drugs, I'm just projecting the attitude I got from being there and it doesn't mean it applies to anyone here and it doesn't mean I know best. It really affected me as a person and as a drug user and really I just want people to understand the worst of what can happen in extreme cases.

Sorry again if I offended anyone, most people on here deserve more credit than the general population when it comes to drugs and the consequences of them.

 

[herbavore]

I think the bottom line is that drugs, including marijuana, affect people differently. Underlying predisposition to psychosis will present even more differences. If any drug induced a state of psychosis for me I would stay away from substances and give myself a chance to heal.

Eat the healthiest diet you can, get exercise, practice meditation and mindfulness techniques. If you need support to stay away from substances then try everything available to you (AA/NA, Rational Recovery, Buddhist community classes, etc.) Joining a community of people trying to do the same thing and then creating a smaller sub-community of people within it that you feel comfortable with is essential IMO.