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Is anyone bipolar and smokes?

Middleway

Middleway

Ex-Bluelighter
Joined
Apr 10, 2007
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I have gievn up weed for wquite a few years now due to the terriblle destabilizing of my mood it caused. Flash forwar 5 years and doctors are telling me I am bipolar and are about to put me on an antidepressant, a mood stabilizer, and an antipsychotic.
I am a psych nurse, I know full well what these drugs do, to be honest, I hate them, but my life has ceased to funtion.
I am wondering if the stability pharmaceticals gives you might let you have a smoke now and then and be ok.
All I do now is the occassional trip and if it wasn;t for that refresher now and then I think I would totally lose the plot.
Now I am faced with the situation of taking phams that block off all the hope I have for a metal holiday. Feeling, very very down and the throught of being stuck in the prison of reality for the rest of my life
 
Middleway, I personally have no experience with being Bipolar and smoking, but I have many friends and aquintances who are and who DO smoke. Afterwards it is noticably that something has clicked or changed, some behave oddly. For this reason, I think it would be logical to assume that smoking if you are bipolar could produce some negative mental effects (I have done no research on this, simply from passive observational experience).

From a personal standpoint, I have been on SSRIs and smoked. I'm not sure I could honestly tell you if I could notice a difference, but that part of my life is mostly a blur. I wish I could be of more help, but the best person to ask is your doctor.
 
Middleway,

I am bipolar and smoke marijuana every day. Like you, I am taking an antidepressant, a mood stabilizer and an antipsychotic. I haven't noticed any interactions between the marijuana and the drugs I am prescribed; I do believe, in part, that this is due to the stability the pharmaceuticals have given me. According to several of my doctors, however, there is a potential for marijuana to destabilize my mood and/or trigger a manic or depressive episode. Personally, I find that marijuana actually helps stabilize my mood.

While on these three medicines, I have also used other recreational drugs, including cocaine, oxycodone, salvia, morphine, LSD, adderall, temazepam and several others. I do believe that these drugs might have interacted negatively with my medicines. If not, I know that they at least have destabilized my mood numerous times. For example, I believe that stimulant abuse has caused two of my manic episode.

But as far as marijuana goes, the key is moderation; even if you smoke every day, don't smoke all day.

I hope that helps. :)
 
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I had bipolar friend who smoked weed regularly. She was on medication (not sure what meds) and said that marijuana "centered" her.
 
Meditation and a calm, rewarding hobby/focus. A focus which you are not a perfectionist at, as that can help contribute to feelings of inadequacy if you do not finish projects when you think they should be done. Everything happens just when it should, just as it should. That is one of my daily mantras. I have several friends who are bipolar and just over half of them, 6 our of 9, say that marijuana to varying dosages, helps keep them in a positive frame of mind along with their stability medications. 3 of the 9 friends have been able to take themselves fully off their stability medications with lifestyle changes (implementing yoga, ceasing consumption of alcohol (a depressant), ceasing consumptions of pain medications (to often, or of high intensity, IF your situation allows for it of course), and eating a healthy diet. A diet with a high glycemic index, and/or one that is deficient in one or more vitamins and/or minerals also contributes to nervousness, restlessness, and general anxiety so talking with a nutritional specialist and tweaking your diet may also assist with your mood stability greatly.
 
I used to smoke pot, and it did make me feel masivly centred and connected and know my place in the world.....for a short time. Then it made me paranoid, memory loss, anxiety attacks. I am hoping that if I have to use these shit drugs there is one nice thing that might come out of it....namely that I can enjoy a joint now and then
 
I can tell you for a fact that I'm moderately bipolar and weed if anything helps me. I don't smoke if I'm attending anything that requires mental functioning such as family related occurences or daily routines such as buying something at a store, driving and thing of that sort. This is due to the fact that marijuana incompacitates me mentally and physically. I don't smoke 24/7. Only once during the night a few hours before I go to bed.

I have found myself more able to deal with stupid day to day shit than without smoking weed and doing the same day to day shit. I've never gone to a doctor for "bipolar" issues due to the fact that I just don't want to go through the process.

And if this has anything to do with it, I trade stocks full time because I got fed up with the type of bullshit that goes on in a office/work environment. Weed helps me cope with the bullshit I saw at different work places but ultimately I am in a better place now smoking regularly at night. I deal with day to day shit a lot better now and weed I feel has had a lot to do with it.
 
JJ03 said:
I've never gone to a doctor for "bipolar" issues due to the fact that I just don't want to go through the process.
Click to expand...

it's usually worth it if you want to live a more stable life emotionally
 
IIRC, some research suggests that cannabis tends to be better tolerated by individuals with bipolar than those with unipolar depression.
 
It might have been my first drug at 13 or coke, not sure which. Who knows if that aggravated any instability? Either way, when I've taken it during suicidal thoughts, it provides relief faster and more guaranteed than hard drugs ever would. Taking it manic would bring me down though I'd trip out simultaneously. I have a much greater inclination toward sativa over indica. It does center me in standard doses but I am the type to take absolutely massive doses out of gravity bongs when I can, I try my hardest to just simply FUCK me up. That does not center me. Makes me isolated, depressed afterward. Smoking every day is not an option I simply get too withdrawn, isolated, and anxious though I never noticed mood destabilization at all. Just typical effects that a "normal" person would get essentially.
 
I'm bipolar type 1 , unfortunately ive been a statistic for weed and manic related occurrences , it does trigger me but only without my medication over time.

The key to avoiding falling ill would be common sense with moderation, keep a cool mind frame, have plenty of rest and take your meds :p.

<3
 
I'm bipolar. I smoke weed. I have a hard time being as normal as other people when I smoke though so it's a struggle. I generally just fight the urge to blather on and on and that works, but I'm pretty sure weed produces more anxiety for me than others as well. However, it lets me fall asleep when I'm feeling wired and I've been on and off meds for a while and been doing pretty good smoking weed moderately (i.e.- after work and not before anything else important).

Peace,
PL
 
I'm bipolar, and smoking just makes all my feeling meld into one big warm and happy feeling. I take all my meds as prescribed, and my mood is kind of stabilized until night when I take my second dose of my antipsychotics, then it's contained, and then I usually smoke at night. I would not like to try smoking while in my manic stage, but it helps with my depression and keeps me out of mixed states. I don't want to mess around with my mood when I know it is not fully contained, but I love smoking weed!
 
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