Is this a possible result of occasional drug use?

[hazmatz]

Hey all,

I only started doing drugs about a year and a half ago, that's when I started smoking weed. I did that a lot for a few weeks and then got really into MDMA. That kinda led me to explore other drugs like psychedelics so I started doing those as well.

I've been trying more and more things and at this point I'd call myself a pretty experienced drug user...but I don't do them compulsively. Id say maybe once a month do I do any 'hard' drugs, not including weed.

But lately I feel like I have been..."stupider" in a way. I feel much more absent minded and airheaded now when I'm sober in comparison to before my drug use when I was a pretty smart and knowledgable guy, always ontop of my game.

Has anyone else ever felt this way? Is this a possible result of being brain damaged by drugs? I don't do them very often like I said so I'd be surprised if that's what it was. Have drugs turned me into an idiot?

 

[RTrain]

How often do you smoke marijuana? Certain drugs may be considered "harder" but they do not effect how quickly we process thoughts like marijuana. You might just becoming a burn-out.

Also have you had any really hard or a 'bad' trip on 'shrooms, LSD or some other hallucinogen?

 

[pasha]

You're not an idiot. Feeling mental fog is a byproduct of your drug use. The longer you abstain, the more clarity you gain until you eventually reach baseline.

 

[tiflizeli]

I'd be surprised if you were feeling this way from occasional drug use. BUT considering you are a fairly new user, I guess it's possible that you are recognizing the fact that you are burning brain cells. Acid, when I used to use it back in the day, always made me feel slower the few days after. It really depends on what your using. If it's bothering you, my advice is to exercise you mind...

 

[hazmatz]

Also have you had any really hard or a 'bad' trip on 'shrooms, LSD or some other hallucinogen?

Actually yes, within the past two months I've had two remarkably bad trips.

I'm glad to see that this is a common kind of thing. I think I may try taking a break from smoking weed to see if that clears up my head at all.

 

[T. Calderone]

Acid, when I used to use it back in the day, always made me feel slower the few days after.

I was just about to say acid too! It happened to me after using acid in high school but not while high, like the next day.
I would go to a classroom during the wrong period and realize the mistake after unfamiliar kids walked in. (really embarrassing)
Also forgot my locker combination a few times. I needed to write it down on a notebook I always carried. I thought it was just me.

 

[RTrain]

That is probably a good idea, to judge how you are feeling without smoking weed for a bit. I think if you are smoking everyday even if only at night, it will have its effects on you in the day. I can't say for sure about what tripping might do to you. I've had some experiences that were less than favorable, only 1 I'd call a bad trip. Sometimes I wonder if I messed with my brain permanently from tripping. I mean I wasn't tripping that much when I was into it, maybe every other weekend for a year. More likely it was the marijauna, I smoked daily for 9 or so years, with some lapses in between. It definitely makes you lazy and its not that you are stupid, you just don't want to think. It demotivates you. And the longer I smoked the more anxiety I got from it, go figure, you think you get use to it but I started to freak out like a beginner after years of smoking.

 

[alovesupreme]

if you've been doing a lot of psychedelics, like, hitting them every weekend for a month or two, you are going to start to feel a little faded, take a few weeks off and you'll be fine. smoking pot and doing psychedelics doesn't make you stupider nor does it cause brain damage, i've probably tripped over a hundred times on all kinds of substances and i've been smoking pot every day for over a decade and i'm a high functioning professional with BS from a top school in my field. just look around this board, you'll find grad students, Ph.Ds, doctors, nurses...

 

[hazmatz]

...And the longer I smoked the more anxiety I got from it, go figure, you think you get use to it but I started to freak out like a beginner after years of smoking.

Same exact thing has been happening to me recently. I get very anxious from smoking. Glad to hear that things may improve for me after quitting. I'll do that for sure then.

 

[mrflowers00]

cannabis will cause you to temporarily lose your mental faculties but if you stopped for a month or two you should be close to back to where you were before using drugs