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How bad would you say cannabis induces anxiety

justtakethat

justtakethat

Bluelighter
Joined
Oct 21, 2014
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Southern California
I notice when I smoke a lot of weed my anxiety is always increased. But what's weird is I smoke pretty much the same amount all the time daily but just recently I noticed more anxiety. It's pretty annoying and was wondering how many others feel cannabis is one of the main causes of their anxiety. I'm wondering if people with anxiety disorders have the anxiety more pronounced some weeks or even months than others.

Preferably habitual smokers not just people smoking once in a while and getting nervous.
 
If you are prone to developing an anxiety-disorder, THC is the perfect substance to bring this disorder to the surface. I developed a generalized anxiety disorder due to smoking Weed and Hashish, and it got worse by two factors; a) (especially the Weed) stronger highs due to strains that contain a lot of THC which makes you stoned but contain very few to no CBD, which acts as an antagonist against the paranoia THC can bring about while CBD has anti-psychotic properties and b) the issue of reverse tolerance, which more people experience with some substances (Weed, another example would be Salvia Divinorum,...) meaning that the longer you use this certain substance, the less you need to feel it's effects - you actually get more sensitive to the drug by using it more, which will enhance the intensity of your anxiety while being stoned.

Once you develop a generalized anxiety disorder fully, it's a lifetime issue (strangely enough I used to love every psychedelic and not once did I had anxiety while tripping, tho I don't use psychedelics anymore), yet Weed, and Hashish to a lesser extent, could make me panic and make me paranoid - now I have to take, because of the tolerance and because throughout the years I needed more and more, a shitload of benzo's to go to sleep (because at night, even tho I don't smoke THC anymore for over 15 years, I get severe panic attacks) - Weed would actually be the only drug I regret ever having used it, because the anxiety-disorder keeps getting worse instead of getting better; in my case it is probably something that would have surfaced anyway due to post-traumatic-stress-disorder... But another possibility is that I would never had to undergo these fucking panic attacks, which are Hell!
 
Bad enough to where i can't smoke it, tho i used to smoke every day. I do have an anxiety disorder and over the years its got worse. So i quit smoking bud. It gives me crazy anxiety
 
I had a similar thing happen to me. I smoked a lot when I was in high school and college but then all of a sudden it seemed to give me incredible anxiety and panic attacks to the point that even though my friends were habitual smokers I found myself almost always turning it down because I knew it would end up making me very anti-social and anxious. It still does that to me actually so will only now do it at home or somewhere I'm very comfortable and with people I am comfortable with. I also try and make sure that there will be no suprise visitors or any need to leave where I am. Then I find I'm ok but even then it can happen depending on whats goin on in my life at the time. My wife uses it medicinally and since being able to know exactly what strands we are getting I've noticed that the hybrids heavier in indica tend to cause less problems for me. I have always had an anxiety disorder and I find a heavy indica blend in a controlled setting allows me to just work on some music or play video games or paint or just mindlessly browse reddit. I also stopped smoking joints. I find it too much for me now. I have a small bubbler (mini-water bong if that term is regional) so what I do now is load like a pinch in at a time and have 1-2 hits and usually that will just get me in a really relaxed state. If I smoke too much I will get anxiety so it could be related to what Mananas was describing with the whole reverse tolerance thing. Anyway I hope that helps!
 
i've found this to happen to me when i overindulged.

for years it was fine but only recently had it started giving me anxiety.

it still does but i have to be drinking or on something to enjoy it without a worry but by itself i can easily become uncomfortable for about half an hour max. i just keep in mind it has the other cannabinoids in it to counteract the THC.

recently i took a small break for about 7 days and when i smoked again it was like heaven. not a worry, completely high and dumb. it was a blessing and a curse but i quickly fell back into frequent use and noticed the discomfort again.

i would focus on leaving it for the weekend strictly and seeing how it works.
 
It really depends on many factors and I'll just go into substance if the 3 S.

Too much THC?

Not enough THCV to counter the THC anxiety?

Too much CBD reversing possible relief from THC?

Cannabis can be complex to use as medicine as there is a lot of new info and yet still it's not understood well. I'm not even going to attempt explaining the difference between agonist, inverse agonist, and antagonist in the endocannabinoid system.... I wish GW pharmaceuticals still did...
 
While smoking weed a few years ago I experienced some anxiety. From edibles it was far less so I stopped smoking and just used edibles now. I'm uncertain why I experienced anxiety while smoking, it may be related to the still illegal nature of just lighting up anywhere. I think my anxiety was attached to the imaginary boogieman that our society built around weed and once I'd spent enough time with my doctor and learning what was actually happening in my brain when I used weed the anxiety and paranoia vanished.

When I smoke now I dont feel anxiety or paranoia and honestly have never had a bad high. It doesn't seem to matter what I smoke since I rarely buy flower to smoke I end up smoking whatever is offered.

My first though is simply this, when I smoke with others and we are having a good laugh about something marijuana helps to bring out the extreme side of humour and I'll laugh almost uncontrollably at nothing, really. If I allow my brain to sit and stew about paranoid thoughts or start thinking about anxious issues it may doom me, as marijuana will help my brain find the worst anxiety or paranoia I've ever experienced. So I learned how to deal with my anxiety and paranoia and not let myself become a victim of increased emotional feeling while stoned. I can still laugh and have a great time but I fear nothing so never become paranoid any longer and I really never had much anxiety from living in the moment already in life.

I did experience a bit of paranoia when I wasn't a legal medical user so changing that helped a bit but I really don't give more than 2 seconds thought about laws. Learning to live in the here and now is my best advice to avoid difficult highs. My best work happens while slightly high, my best life happens while just marginally up from my baseline self. Edibles don't get me as high as smoking either so perhaps just being less stoned helps.
 
It seems that a lot of users start experiencing anxiety once they are past their honeymoon phase. If you continue smoking it regardless of anxiety, it may become more and more frequent, noticable and one may end up with panic disorder / agorophobia. When symptoms of anxiety start to occour, I'd say lay down from weed for at least a year.

I friend of mine who recently came from rehab told me that the majority of recovering addicts there were young weed and alcohol users.

Be conscious about every substance that alters your mind.
 
I used to smoke a lot of weed and take a lot of acid in high school and my early 20s just fine, even tho I've had a really nasty panic disorder which began as GAD with panic attacks starting in my pre-teens. Soon, it got to the point where I can't handle even the mildest of hallucinogens, even small amounts of weed (instant panic attack trigger). Now, in my 40s, it takes 8mg of Xanax (RXd) per day (I quite frequently take twice as much or more) just to get me to normal mentally and keep the anxiety and panic attacks at bay. I also hate caine, or any kind of speed drug. I even have to limit my caffeine intake, so I would have to be on a ton of powerful opioids, benzos, and liquor to smoke even a bong hit.
 
downerhead said:
I used to smoke a lot of weed and take a lot of acid in high school and my early 20s just fine, even tho I've had a really nasty panic disorder which began as GAD with panic attacks starting in my pre-teens. Soon, it got to the point where I can't handle even the mildest of hallucinogens, even small amounts of weed (instant panic attack trigger). Now, in my 40s, it takes 8mg of Xanax (RXd) per day (I quite frequently take twice as much or more) just to get me to normal mentally and keep the anxiety and panic attacks at bay. I also hate caine, or any kind of speed drug. I even have to limit my caffeine intake, so I would have to be on a ton of powerful opioids, benzos, and liquor to smoke even a bong hit.
Click to expand...

Anxiety has never been an issue for me. My early history was similar to downerhead except for the GAD. I prefer sativa except late in the day. Reverse tolerance from multiple decades of THC allows me to limit use to one hit, or two hits, for the desired effects.

If using in social settings people tend to overindulge. Anything more than needed is a waste and contributes to problems down the road.

If personal life is in disarray or out of balance then even a small medicinal dose can adversely affect a user.

There are multiple reasons for anxiety. It's more about the user and their personal history than the substance.

Cannabis use in any amount or ROA or setting is contraindicated for some folks IMO.
 
Perhaps I can help give some perspective on pot. Always lived in Texas and so my pot has always come from Mexico. It was great in the 60's, 70's, and 80's, but in the 90's it became different and not just price. We paid $5 for a lid in the 60s and 70s, $10 in the 80s, but in the 90's it changed in taste and substance as well as my reaction. It was by then $20+ and that mellow feeling never hit me. Instead I would get extremely active like I had snorted crystal: I'd voraciously begin cleaning the house for no apparent reason, or move furniture around and change the room around. Then I'd take some Valium and then my Placidyl (Green 750's) to sleep. I stopped smoking daily in 2000, but since then if I smoke and, I very seldom do, the manic-like energy would return. Now I just pop a 5 or 10 mg. Marinol gel after supper, and it acts like the old euphoric pot did in the 60's and 70's without smoking. Nobody smokes anything anywhere anymore--I can't even smoke on my patio!!!
 
Reports vary, but seem to be greater with people who haven't developed tolerance, although people who have a tolerance commonly experience WD anxiety, or anxiety when not high relating to cravings or urges to get high.
 
My heart starts racing when I smoke it and then I get anxious when I realize my heart is so fast. The anxiety is quite bad. I get a gripping feeling in my chest and just can't stand or sit still. I take very deep slow breaths or distract myself, and it passes. Not pleasant at all. Makes me not wanna smoke
 
I understand that this is a very old thread but I would like to put in my thoughts.
 
I understand that this is a very old thread but I would like to put in my thoughts. About a month ago everything was fine, laying in bed and out of nowhere, my heart skips a beat, heart rate starts to get elevated to about 120 and I get really hot. Now every day since then, constant heart palpitations non stop along with a slew of digestive issues including hemmorhagic colitis and black stools. This came after NOT doing a dab for one week after taking 10+ dabs a day for a month or two. Now every time I smoke my heart rate increases even if its just one or two hits off of a bowl pack. I'm currently 18 and have been an everyday smoker since about 13, so my tolerance was pretty high especially after the dabs. Being at such a young age, these symptoms are very abnormal and have been dismissed by doctors as anxiety which I was prescribed alprozolam for. It's now been about a month since all this started and i've been referred to a cardiologist because of how frequent these heart palpitations are. Not saying this is 100% due to cannabis use, but Im having the exact same symptoms as OP so I thought it was worth sharing.
 
I used to get really nervous when I would smoke. I just stopped eating like shit and sitting around doin nothing taking opiods and alcohol to fix the problems I had constructed for myself. (namely that i hated my job and school and relationship and living situation)

I worked 4 full time jobs that I quit on impulse in a pretty short period of 3 or so years and spent most of that time trying to cover up with drugs that I hated working at these places. Once I was hones with myself and started trying to spend my valuable time on this earth actually LIVING I entirely stopped worrying or feeling profoundly nervous for the most part even on staggering doses of cannabis and LSD.
 
My experience with weed went on for years in the 70s & 80s without a problem. But in the 90s I got into a strain that was very potent. I had anxiety attacks that bordered on paranoia.

I met the medicinal chemist who had developed the CP-47,497 family of synthetic cannabinoids when he worked at Pfizer. He told me that these molecules can produce dysphoria (depression, anxiety, panic attacks) just as easily as they can produce euphoria. Here is the definition of dysphoria: Definition of dysphoria

: a state of feeling very unhappy, uneasy, or dissatisfied

I gave up smoking weed as it was really starting to bother me.
 
I think it depends on what is stressing you out at the moment. Sometimes I can get panic attacks, this is quite common in fact. The herb can amplify stress, but it can reduce stress as well. If you have a low tolerance I'd def watch how much potent stuff you smoke too if you are prone to this. Over the years I have had varying degrees of anxiety depending on my state of mind. My anxiety is extreme nowadays but I am still enjoying that herb, I took a long break from it (3 years)... it sucked in hindsight. Never quitting again.

I think that joints are less prone to this than bong as they don't hit you as quickly. I love blunts and joints, if I were rich I'd smoke them but for now I gotta stick to fiending my lil bong tokes. Gotta love smokin that green or may as well not smoke it.

An example: over a month ago I relapsed on oxycodone, didn't care about my tolerance I wanted to get wrecked and took two 80's, maybe enough to make me feel normal for a morning before. I was found by family, apparently slouched over in my chair semi-responsive for 8 hours. I have no recollection of anything except someone very close to me asking me what the fuck drugs I was fucked out of my mind on. For about 10 seconds, as I tried but failed to lift my head up. In short, I am very lucky but there were repercussions as my habit was a secret and many people will not stand for it.

Ever since, I have had to keep my smoking low key "now that it's not just weed anymore" so it adds to the paranoia. I rush outside to smoke, use essential oils and stuff... feels like I'm 15 again but nearly twice the age lol. So I cut back a lot but still have hardcore stoner days a few times a week. It's so stupid because all I did was tell my GP that I stopped going to pain clinics and quit my oxy script and I was referred to medical pot and it helps keep me clean. Fucking drug laws have led to people fucking with my journey through life. Covert smoking is an addiction in itself. I love having a job, although I don't presently, and being stoned for every minute of it with nobody having a clue. It was a lot easier to do that with heroin for the first few years of that habit from hell. Was really functional until I wasn't.

I am extremely stressed financially at the moment as opiates are quite expensive so that is making my pot highs a little less chill or cheerful sometimes. But then I remember, that I never give up. The herb imparts wisdom upon those willing to pay attention.
 
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