Cannabis for Anxiety

[MidnightDevil]

Thank you and all above for sharing your knowledge with me. There's a lot more to cannabis that I had any idea of. But I bless the day one of my sisters turned me on to her gummies. I've been going to bed and waking up at about the same times each day, thanks to my gummies. Life goes so much better, when you have some semblance of a regular daily pattern. I was cursed with insomnia since childhood. There's no explaining to those who sleep normally how disruptive insomnia is.

You're definitely not alone and cannabis as a sleep aid is definitely a shared common purpose for many of us that use it for self medication purposes (whichever they are). If the gummies help, the gummies help. The mood lifting effects are also a plus!

 

[agoraphobe]

I've been hearing that weed can actually *cause* anxiety and paranoia.

It can do both. Make one panic on Tuesday but calm on Thursday. I'm in my 30's now but marijuana was a huge cure all for more anxiety in my early 20's but turned on me later in the decade. What once caused deep restful sleep eventually gave me night terrors. I mean sleeping after smoking. Not permanent or continuous.

The good thing is marijuana is fairly harmless so it's not dangerous to experiment with.

 

[NullVoidXIII]

I'm the caregiver to both of my parents and both of my grandparents, all four of them are physically handicapped.
In between taking care of them I slip out the back and take a few tokes. It helps me calm down.
It's extremely difficult to take care of 4 physically handicapped people in an old 1960s house where the geometrics for the house are not exactly handicap-friendly and making modifications to make it that way, while doable, are expensive and kind of a pain in the ass.
Today is a good example. I ran around doing a bullet-list of objective stuff for 10 straight hours on 1 meal.
It'd be a lot easier and a lot more doable if they weren't always arguing with each other. That's the main problem, they fight and complain too much about a bunch of trivial stuff amongst themselves. My whole day was a great example of "there are 4 of you and 1 of me, you're going to have to wait."
If I was Mr. Fucking Socialite Extrovert it'd be fine, but I am not that at the fuck all. I'm the opposite of that entirely.
So basically I'm a dying fish outta water with a bunch of assholes like "he's flopping around, I think he's happy..."

 

[PtahTek]

in my 50 (at least) yrs of puffin la its a coin toss when ingested if there is relax or hype.
but the science seems fairly accurate (most times) as if indica is sourced with certain terps it will in fact relax ya.
i feel it (up/down) may also be affected by ones mental and general state before one ingests the substance.
not a scientist but individual experiences can lead to different outcomes from the same product. so this remains a coin toss for me personally.

 

[sHR00m]

I'm dealing with some intense anxiety and sleep problems - hard to fall asleep, wake up a lot. For a year, I've been getting gummies online that are actually able to put me to sleep, which I ran out of. I felt very intimidated about walking into a weed shop because I'm so inexperienced in cannabis. I figured those places were for people who really would know what to buy. In my city, shops sprang up like mushrooms after rain, shortly after cannabis was legalized. Plus, those shops tended to be small, seedy-looking places, with druggy sounding names.

Well, I went into a big and busy weed shop, near a University, and was quite surprised. It was brightly lit and had a very welcoming staff, who were cordial and ready to offer advice. They didn't have what I've bought online. So the guy says he will look it up, study the strains listed for it, and attempt to find what they had that might be similar. He even consulted with another sales person. I was impressed that they were this helpful. I learned stuff. They said retail shops in my state can't sell gummies with as high a dose as I was getting online, which were 30 mg per gummie. (Their limit was 10 mg per gummy, without a prescription.) Also, they said the ones I got online had strains of THC that they knew to be especially sedating. They made a recommendation, which I bought.

I've been trying to find a book online, along the lines of a guide to all these different strains, and not finding anything that really explains all these forms of THC - with all these different letters. The list of ingredients on labels totally is Greek to me. What they sold me is working, if I eat about 4 gummies. They said they could sell me stronger ones, if I got a medical card. Then they told me how to easily get a card for medical cannabis, which would also save me 20% on the cost. It was really uplifting because running out of my usual supply had me in despair.

I'm facing dental surgery that has my anxiety through the roof, due to an experience of going through a very painful extraction years ago. I'm hoping to tamp down this anxiety with cannabis gummies. Normally, I'ld probably have a glass of wine to calm down. But some recent upper GI bleeding removes that option. I'm trying to heal a stomach ulcer. Alcohol seems to create excess stomach acid.

So can any one share any experience they've had with using cannabis for managing anxiety? I thought I read on this site something about not discussing brands of cannabis. Can we discuss strains? So far I've read that indica is more sedating than sativa. Any advice on choosing strains will be most appreciated.

Another thing: Can you get dependent? Is there worse rebound anxiety from suddenly stopping use? Thanks!

What I found personally is that the usual high potency strains 99.x% THC 0.x% CBD tend to increase base anxiety. I would recommend to try some low potency strains with like 50/50 THC/CBD. Yes, terpenes matter also but I would start at the basics using more CBD.

I also never had an anxiety attack with good, traditional hashish instead of weed, like maroc or lebanese hash. I found this could be in fact somewhat anxiolytic, giving you a calming body stone instead of an anxious high. Of course being totally, visibly stoned and couch locked might limit your activities that day. It could be excellent for falling asleep though.

Yes you can get dependent if you use it frequently, especially if you need it to control your anxiety. Common withdrawal symptoms of weed are sweating, lack of appetite and possibly cravings. Stronger cannabinoids can even have opioid like withdrawals (though that happens very rarely with THC alone). Its hard to answer if there would be rebound anxiety in your case. If you use it to combat anxiety I would expect that anxiety to come back and the cravings might not make it better.

Oh and I would forget about RSO. RSO is cheaply, effortlessly produced gunk you pay a premium for because it is marketed for health reasons (like curing cancer no less). Many kids produced "RSO" in their days. Not because they were geniuses but because they didn't know what they were doing.

 

[paranoid android]

For anxiety a landrace indica like hindu kush or a almost landrace like northern klights would be best imo. Also strains with some CBD like blue dream wuld be good to

 

[DesertHarp]

What I found personally is that the usual high potency strains 99.x% THC 0.x% CBD tend to increase base anxiety. I would recommend to try some low potency strains with like 50/50 THC/CBD. Yes, terpenes matter also but I would start at the basics using more CBD.

I also never had an anxiety attack with good, traditional hashish instead of weed, like maroc or lebanese hash. I found this could be in fact somewhat anxiolytic, giving you a calming body stone instead of an anxious high. Of course being totally, visibly stoned and couch locked might limit your activities that day. It could be excellent for falling asleep though.

Yes you can get dependent if you use it frequently, especially if you need it to control your anxiety. Common withdrawal symptoms of weed are sweating, lack of appetite and possibly cravings. Stronger cannabinoids can even have opioid like withdrawals (though that happens very rarely with THC alone). Its hard to answer if there would be rebound anxiety in your case. If you use it to combat anxiety I would expect that anxiety to come back and the cravings might not make it better.

Oh and I would forget about RSO. RSO is cheaply, effortlessly produced gunk you pay a premium for because it is marketed for health reasons (like curing cancer no less). Many kids produced "RSO" in their days. Not because they were geniuses but because they didn't know what they were doing.

Thanks for the input. I recovered from the anxiety, once I got my dental issue taken care of. My ongoing problem is the insomnia. Well, my strong gummies got that problem totally under control. I've been traveling, which usually screws up my sleeping. I take a couple gummies 2 hours before I want to sleep. They kick in very nicely. I highly recommend them for anyone with a sleep disorder.

Is hash available legally anywhere? I'ld like to try that for anxiety. I don't often get anxious, but, when I do, I can get totally beside myself, where I start pacing from room to room.

 

[paranoid android]

Thanks for the input. I recovered from the anxiety, once I got my dental issue taken care of. My ongoing problem is the insomnia. Well, my strong gummies got that problem totally under control. I've been traveling, which usually screws up my sleeping. I take a couple gummies 2 hours before I want to sleep. They kick in very nicely. I highly recommend them for anyone with a sleep disorder.

Is hash available legally anywhere? I'ld like to try that for anxiety. I don't often get anxious, but, when I do, I can get totally beside myself, where I start pacing from room to room.

Hash is legal here in Canada you can buy it at any store that sells Cannabis. I smoke it alot and prefer it over weed. It is abit pricey though but abit cheaper online. But not a whole lot really. But the online places have way better selection then at the store.

 

[notsmokeymcpot42088]

^Hash is cheaper here oddly? --- or live resin to be technical -- but even on the per g price top end pot is more expensive than 'good' live resin.

I use to go rosin but price wise I just can't justify it when I'm smokin for like 4 burgers a day and it use to cost me like 250 burgers a week. God bless legalization!

 

[steak pouch]

I'm dealing with some intense anxiety and sleep problems - hard to fall asleep, wake up a lot. For a year, I've been getting gummies online that are actually able to put me to sleep, which I ran out of. I felt very intimidated about walking into a weed shop because I'm so inexperienced in cannabis. I figured those places were for people who really would know what to buy. In my city, shops sprang up like mushrooms after rain, shortly after cannabis was legalized. Plus, those shops tended to be small, seedy-looking places, with druggy sounding names.

Well, I went into a big and busy weed shop, near a University, and was quite surprised. It was brightly lit and had a very welcoming staff, who were cordial and ready to offer advice. They didn't have what I've bought online. So the guy says he will look it up, study the strains listed for it, and attempt to find what they had that might be similar. He even consulted with another sales person. I was impressed that they were this helpful. I learned stuff. They said retail shops in my state can't sell gummies with as high a dose as I was getting online, which were 30 mg per gummie. (Their limit was 10 mg per gummy, without a prescription.) Also, they said the ones I got online had strains of THC that they knew to be especially sedating. They made a recommendation, which I bought.

I've been trying to find a book online, along the lines of a guide to all these different strains, and not finding anything that really explains all these forms of THC - with all these different letters. The list of ingredients on labels totally is Greek to me. What they sold me is working, if I eat about 4 gummies. They said they could sell me stronger ones, if I got a medical card. Then they told me how to easily get a card for medical cannabis, which would also save me 20% on the cost. It was really uplifting because running out of my usual supply had me in despair.

I'm facing dental surgery that has my anxiety through the roof, due to an experience of going through a very painful extraction years ago. I'm hoping to tamp down this anxiety with cannabis gummies. Normally, I'ld probably have a glass of wine to calm down. But some recent upper GI bleeding removes that option. I'm trying to heal a stomach ulcer. Alcohol seems to create excess stomach acid.

So can any one share any experience they've had with using cannabis for managing anxiety? I thought I read on this site something about not discussing brands of cannabis. Can we discuss strains? So far I've read that indica is more sedating than sativa. Any advice on choosing strains will be most appreciated.

Another thing: Can you get dependent? Is there worse rebound anxiety from suddenly stopping use? Thanks!

I haven’t had a huge amount of luck treating anxiety with cannabis in the whole, sometimes it helps, but if I’m at a certain level of anxious anyway it makes it worse. It does help me sleep though and I know it helps with anxiety more reliably for a lot of people.

As far as strains, I do tend to reach for sativas, green crack is my favorite. As I said, I use it to help me sleep mostly, so in my experience the indica/sativa stuff is probably more placebo or person to person. Try some different strains and see what works for you.

People love to pretend weed isn’t addictive, but any substance can be. If your brain stops getting something it’s used to getting, it’s gonna be unhappy to some degree. That being said, the withdrawals are mild and I don’t tend to notice them, some other people I know do. Maybe a headache and some trouble sleeping, some anxiety, irritability.

I won’t rehash it, others have posted good comments about other cannabinoids that would be beneficial alone or in combination. Def good to look into those, too.

 

[emkee_reinvented]

Before experimenting with CBD this might be interesting. The study seems done with pure THC and CBD. But relevant for reading. CBD Hasj is on my menu, everyday.
Must have pretty high CBD content more then the Weed. Like it as add on,
has no decreasing effect s on the high. [might enhance it ]

https://ascpt.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cpt.3381

Have no anxiety, never on Pot. Might have long ago.
High and anxiety don t match.

Vaporising seem s a clearer less intense high,
read it can be less anxiety causing for some.

And lowering the dose, halving. In the past foreign Weed/ Hasjish.
There are very strong foreign strains and form s of Hash.
Choose the lower THC variety s.

 

[DesertHarp]

Hash is legal here in Canada you can buy it at any store that sells Cannabis. I smoke it alot and prefer it over weed. It is abit pricey though but abit cheaper online. But not a whole lot really. But the online places have way better selection then at the store.

Wow, I didn't know Canada was like that. Even for weed gummies, I find online to be a better source than the shops in my town. I think one shop said they could sell me stronger stuff, if I get a medical card, which they said is easy to obtain.

 

[MedicinalUser247]

Well... In my personal opinion. I'd smoke Marijuana just for entertainment and use Benzodiazepines for anxiety instead. But that's just me.

 

[DesertHarp]

I haven’t had a huge amount of luck treating anxiety with cannabis in the whole, sometimes it helps, but if I’m at a certain level of anxious anyway it makes it worse. It does help me sleep though and I know it helps with anxiety more reliably for a lot of people.

As far as strains, I do tend to reach for sativas, green crack is my favorite. As I said, I use it to help me sleep mostly, so in my experience the indica/sativa stuff is probably more placebo or person to person. Try some different strains and see what works for you.

People love to pretend weed isn’t addictive, but any substance can be. If your brain stops getting something it’s used to getting, it’s gonna be unhappy to some degree. That being said, the withdrawals are mild and I don’t tend to notice them, some other people I know do. Maybe a headache and some trouble sleeping, some anxiety, irritability.

I won’t rehash it, others have posted good comments about other cannabinoids that would be beneficial alone or in combination. Def good to look into those, too.

I am concerned about the "addictive" aspect. My tolerance has already gone up. I used to take half of a gummy. Now I take one and a half . . . sometimes more.

I'm already dependent on hydrocodone. If I use up my prescription ahead of when I can refill it, I get withdrawal after 2 or 3 days, in the form of restless leg syndrome. That RLS is pure torture, so I conserve my supply very carefully.

Having a remedy for insomnia that actually works is life changing. I will try to not escalate my use. I'm a natural pessimist, and I figure there's gotta be a hidden price for something this good.

 

[BadBoy377]

Vaporising seem s a clearer less intense high,
read it can be less anxiety causing for some.

Yeah. This.

 

[kiely]

I just intensifies the effects of everything. A head change with feelings.
But nothing could be worse than opioid withdrawal. So I just keep smoking it.

Slightly ot. Paranoia wouldn't bother me like withdrawal.
Or cardiac arrest which isn't really from marijuana. I'm still here.
I think it's the systemic autoimmune ailment that is going to get me.

Keep on smokin those joints. My motivation.


Hashish is smooth and the most relaxing for nice boost and dosing.

 

[kiely]

time to dose

 

[KurtAurelius]

I get it’s not the same for everyone, but THC I find is a 1 way ticket to playing “anxiety simulator” which can be used for good but often is just annoying.

High CBD+CBG is tastyyyyy and very calming, making you want to take a nice cosy kip.

 

[BourbonMac]

You gotta know what terps might disagree with you, cause that's a thing. Terpinolene is the anxiety simulator terp for a lot of people who get paranoid from some strains. Afghan or Hindu Kush I can't imagine making someone paranoid

1,420th post

 

[steak pouch]

I am concerned about the "addictive" aspect. My tolerance has already gone up. I used to take half of a gummy. Now I take one and a half . . . sometimes more.

I'm already dependent on hydrocodone. If I use up my prescription ahead of when I can refill it, I get withdrawal after 2 or 3 days, in the form of restless leg syndrome. That RLS is pure torture, so I conserve my supply very carefully.

Having a remedy for insomnia that actually works is life changing. I will try to not escalate my use. I'm a natural pessimist, and I figure there's gotta be a hidden price for something this good.

Yeah I mean there’s always a price. Cannabis is pretty damn “cheap” for a lot of people though in that sense. The tolerance is going to happen, but if you’re looking to avoid that as much as possible, keeping it at night time only does a lot. I use a dry herb vape and go through maybe .1-.2g of flower a day and it’s been like that for a long time, mostly without diminishing returns. If you’re using it for sleep, adding CBD/CBN as some others have said is a really good idea as they work with the THC, and are really just calming and sleepy as a whole, rather than psychoactive the way normal weed is.