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(JWH-018) - OD - Synecdoche JWH

Fixed5217

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Synecdoche: JWH -- An apt title, because this report defines how I now view all of the synthetic cannabinoids.

The setting is a quiet night at home (midnight-ish), with things planned to do the following day—saturday. Pertinent details include that I had had a few cups of coffee earlier in the day around mid morning or noon, and had also done about a two hour workout session involving some rather heavy lifting and mostly swimming where the intervals I was doing had me at my anaerobic threshold. Being recently 21, I'd had a few drinks in the evening—some beers grilling with my dad, and some wine to wash it down with smooth jazz at dinner. I'd also partaken in a Perodomo maduro cigar with my dad after dinner...but after watching a movie, I was certainly sober and ready to get some sleep.

These are all relevant details, as each has some effect on the cardiovascular systems of the body...and mine was healthy. But being well used throughout the day, my heart muscles were fairly unprepared for what lay ahead.

Needing to sleep, but not being entirely tired...I asked my bro about some of the JWH-018 he had. Now we often hang out till late and go for a walk or something after partaking in psychoactives, but tonight we were just off to hitting the hay.

He had been using a lightbulb vape for the JW, and had only added a little bit to an already very resined over piece. I lighted it conservatively, having used a similar apparatus for vaporizing weed, and having gotten more than an ample dose of JWH warranting unpleasant effects. Well the hit I got wasn't much and I waited a minute to ill-satisfaction. I asked my bro to light me a hit. That was a lung burster—maybe not a good sign for pure JW. I, feeling a bit high already, thanked my bro and said goodnight to retire to my couch.

I layed down, but kept getting higher...and higher...and higher over the next ten to fifteen minutes. At that point with the high still climbing and the level of discomfort increasing, I went to the bathroom, looked in the mirror and checked my heart rate – 185 bpm – hmm, not good. I've only ever been to 205 working at absolute anaerobic overload, whereupon HR subsequently dropped with rest.

I knew this was not something to sneeze, especially after having just smoked.

The rest of my experience blurs a bit with order of events. The images and feelings though – no pun intended – remain a flashbulb memory.

I immediately started drinking water – cool water – to cool my badly overheating body. I remember laying on the floor to try to ease blood pressure. I put an ice pack on my heart and over my forehead to cool both vitals down. I lightning searched the internet to find OD information, to relatively no avail.
Having lifeguard training, I attempted strategies used in cardio emergencies with the ever-growing though in my head of calling an ambulance. In absence of aspirin and not wanting to rouse my parents and alert them to the situation, I chewed an adult multivitamin (disgusting!!). I even opened our basement freezer door and stood as much inside of the freezer as possible...guys I was desperately taking measures. Hypoxia experienced due to the JWH breathing depression was rather severe as well, I had to force breaths in betwixt my massive heart-rate--this also made sleep a near impossibility later.

That was the extent of available options or ones I could think of short of the ER. I experienced moderate chest pain from about 30 minutes in and my left arm began numbing. Whenever I took some of these courses of action I proceeded slowly as standing up pushed me very closely towards loss of consciousness. The sensations in my brain were horrible, feeling like the JWH was eating away at my CB receptors—not objectively unlike descriptions of SSRI 'brain zaps.'

Well, despite enduring all of these symptoms and putting 911 on speed dial in the cell phone I had in my hand at all times, I decided to lay down. At some point I decided to pray. Talking to God really relieved, if nothing else, a tiny bit of the anxiety I was experiencing. I guess I was resigned to the outcomes of the situation at that point, but that was one of the most real conversations I've ever had with mr. Omega.

I'd tried closing my eyes to fall asleep, but the body load and paradoxical cannabinoid stimulation would not let me sleep. I just kind of layed there with my brain running on overdrive throughout. I can't remember most of the thoughts I had running up there, but I had a lot. At some point, by the grace of God, I fell asleep. I had been enduring the acute effects of a JWH overdose, and what I would describe as nothing less than a mild myocardial infarction for over 2 hours, maybe 4 but who knows when sleep actually befell me.

I awoke the next day and boy was my chest ever sore, my heart hurt, and I needed no prompting to avoid the cup of coffee I was offered at breakfast. I told my brother what had happened – neither of us will so much as touch JWH's to this day. I have to thank something that I made it through the experience alive and that 6 months later I experience no noticeable lasting cardiovascular damage. I'm certain that some of my precursor activities may have lowered the threshold for my experienced acute side effects, but the point is I unintentionally undertook a massive overdose.

My conclusions are that using a vaporizer holding residual product is not at all a prudent idea for chemicals with such a steep dose response curve as JWH, and that benzos should be available to the general public for emergency use. While the latter will never happen, I think I've carried away enough long lasting lessons from this and I hope it will resonate well with those of you who take the time to share the experience vicariously.
 
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Not to be a dick, but the symptoms you describe are almost text book symptoms of a panic attack, a well known side-effect of high dose JWH use...

I'm sorry you had a bad experience, doesn't sound like fun.
 
Hmmm... I also consider the experience you describe as directly resulting from a panic attack. Don't worry that it makes you sound like you're weak, or that it makes the experience less subjectively real... It doesn't.

But simply by double posting and saying "fuck off" to panic attack proponents, even before you receive a single reply to your OP indicates that even you expect your experience to be interpreted as a panic attack.

Standing in front of a freezer and putting cold compresses on your chest is a panic attack response. There is NO precedent for cardiovascular attacks after JWH usage, especially not from two measly hits.

It's unlikely you are the first person whose FEAR-inducing panic attack was in fact a cardiovascular event.

Sounds to me like a panic attack tis indeed the case in this situation.
 
............... The sensations in my brain were horrible, feeling like the JWH was eating away at my CB receptors—not objectively unlike descriptions of SSRI 'brain zaps.'.......
Can you describe this part in more detail?
 
Citing wikipedia to be a bit more clear:

Classical symptoms of acute myocardial infarction include sudden chest pain (typically radiating to the left arm or left side of the neck), shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, palpitations, sweating, and anxiety (often described as a sense of impending doom).[1] Women may experience fewer typical symptoms than men, most commonly shortness of breath, weakness, a feeling of indigestion, and fatigue.[2]

DSM-IV Diagnostic Criteria for Panic Attack

A discrete period of intense fear or discomfort, in which four (or more) of the following symptoms developed abruptly and reached a peak within 10 minutes:

Palpitations, or accelerated heart rate
Sweating
Trembling or shaking
Sensations of shortness of breath or smothering
Feeling of choking
Chest pain or discomfort
Nausea or abdominal distress
Feeling dizzy, unsteady, lightheaded, or faint
De-realization (feelings of unreality) or depersonalization (being detached from oneself)
Fear of losing control or going insane
Sense of impending death
Paresthesias (numbness or tingling sensations)
Chills or hot flashes

Panic attack symptoms may be masking heart attack warnings and precursors. Chest pain, shortness of breath, unusual exhaustion and other heart attack symptoms should be evaluated by a physician to distinguish panic symptoms from heart disease symptoms

I retract my fuck off statement before after having read many reports of people experiencing acute effects, posting they're experience and having someone--obviously not an m.d--just tell them 'o just sounds like you had a panic attack...'

The symptoms are quite similar. But one would respond to a heart attack with panic, no?
I believe the difference here lies in the fact that I experienced pain in the chest and later my left arm. Some of the activities I had done earlier in the day--in wonderful captain hindsights view--elevated my risk as well. My heart did hurt the next day as well.

I guess it's pointless to argue--nobody arguing this is a qualified physician. I have my view based on experience and amalgamated information. Take the experience for what you will.
 
I should say that I'd been augmenting my smoking for the past 6 months on and off using 5htp (100-200mg quick release), which:

Direct and indirect evidence for possible yet unproven risks and side effects associated with 5-HTP when overdosed:

Heart valve damage or disease (cardiac fibrosis)

edit: I'm forgetting details, having written this 6 months after the fact
 
But simply by double posting and saying "fuck off" to panic attack proponents, even before you receive a single reply to your OP indicates that even you expect your experience to be interpreted as a panic attack.

Yea, I did actually...it's how i'd seen anyone write off the bad experiences of others with regards to the JWH's. I see a subconscious 'ignorance is bliss' ideal here...it may have fucked you over, but it's still fine for us kinda thing...idk if that's the case or not. Not that this was an utter irresponsibility of use as i'd consumed 4g's of jwh-018 and 1g jwh-073 safely in the year prior.

There is NO precedent for cardiovascular attacks after JWH usage, especially not from two measly hits.

Measly hits is not how i would describe them. The second hit delivered me the single largest does of jwh i'd ever received, having put 10-15mg on a spliff about a year prior--to a semi-unpleasant, albeit manageable overdose. I have a very large lung capacity from swimming and can hold my hits.

It's unlikely you are the first person whose FEAR-inducing panic attack was in fact a cardiovascular event.

Maybe the case, I remove judgment in the Aristotelian manner.
 
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Can you describe this part in more detail?

It's hard to put a finger on the description for this--though this was the most severely i'd experienced this side effect of JWH. I'd had the feeling before after making JWH brownies and smoking before, though each time it was more of a background feeling or something that subsided quickly.

I guess I attribute it to an overload of active chemical at it's constituent receptors--and the brain's pain message response.

But it felt like localized electric shocks of low voltage, though highly unpleasant. I might also describe it as the feeling of a hot needle being jammed around in cerebral regions.

That's all I can say, really--other than coming up with more metaphors to approximate the feeling.
 
jwh-018 is pretty fuckin wild when you dose too high. I think everyone with a decent supply will have an experience like this sooner or later.
I've been in public on many high dosed substances and combinations that make acting normal a bit of a challenge (psychedelics of course). it was always manageable.
but I had a few moments with 018 in the subway that were beyond good and evil. with gravity attacking from all sides, visual field split into 4 swirling patterns, complete dissociation and time dilation that a nice 4-subst. tryptamine would have been proud of...
the stimulating, dissociating, scattering effect of 018 can get you by the balls too. it's like "now i gotta do this to feel good/sane", but you forget or get distracted before you can do anything to get yourself in order and new "tasks" keep stacking and stacking. if you don't stop this loop at some point and lay down and just breeaaaathe you might very well end up trying to step into the freezer to cool your crazy mind down... :)

018 is a very, very serious compound if dosed high enough.
 
jwh-018 is pretty fuckin wild when you dose too high. I think everyone with a decent supply will have an experience like this sooner or later.
I've been in public on many high dosed substances and combinations that make acting normal a bit of a challenge (psychedelics of course). it was always manageable.
but I had a few moments with 018 in the subway that were beyond good and evil. with gravity attacking from all sides, visual field split into 4 swirling patterns, complete dissociation and time dilation that a nice 4-subst. tryptamine would have been proud of...
the stimulating, dissociating, scattering effect of 018 can get you by the balls too. it's like "now i gotta do this to feel good/sane", but you forget or get distracted before you can do anything to get yourself in order and new "tasks" keep stacking and stacking. if you don't stop this loop at some point and lay down and just breeaaaathe you might very well end up trying to step into the freezer to cool your crazy mind down... :)

018 is a very, very serious compound if dosed high enough.

lol, I've experienced this--at much lower doses than the one described--and had a friend call me after he lapsed into thought loops. You can have psych-like fun at the higher doses:)
 
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