Harm Reduction Weed and the Heart

[blight12]

Quick one. I have a friend who smokes weed often and takes stims with me every now and then. He has never had issues with panic attacks or anxiety and is one of those people that enjoys weed and doesnt paro out (unlike myself)

Recently he has said he is getting anxiety and bad heart sensations after smoking.
This weekend he smoked on a coke comedown and was struggling with checking his heart the whole time.
He could smoke before on stims without issue.

I told him that weed causes Tachycardia and is not good for use on stims but that it was ok and not anything to worry about. I just wanted to check if this was correct and also why he is starting to experience this symptom now when he smokes and never before.

If you could assist with the details of this and what he could do, or if he must not worry about etc. Just need to let him know
Thanks.

PS: The upside is that he finally said that now after his first panick attack created from the above, he can finally understand and relate to my anxiety issues and why its not as simple as not panicking or logicing out of it. Hopefully now he will stop that demon weed and stick to the stims lol.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

Cocaine is highly anxiogenic.

 

[casualuser]

Cannabis doesn't necessarily cause tachycardia, not to say that it can't but the only certain cardiac affects(as far as I'm aware of) are an increased heart rate and slightly lower blood pressure. Both stims and cannabis can increase anxiety but by how much depends a lot on the type and amount of each as well as the individual.
There's quite a few possibilities as to why your friend started having that problem; recently increasing his stim or bud use, using more than he normally does on the occasions he's had anxiety, getting a new strain of bud(strong sativa's especially medical grade are the most notorious for causing anxiety)...ect.
Using any drug that increases heart rate usually always increases the chances of a cardiac problem so using two would increase it more. That being said as long as an individual is relatively healthy, doesn't have any risk factors for cardiac problems, and isn't using a copious amount of stims the risk increase is minor and nothing to worry about.
I've been on ritilan for two years and have smoked cannabis with it many times and im still kickin. I do get anxious about my heart especially when using both but I'm pretty prone to anxiety in general even when not using any drugs. My advice would be cut back on one or both and see if the problem persists as well as getting a good indica strain of bud if he has access to it.

 

[blight12]

^^ Thanks bud, i just remember there was specific info here on why you shouldnt use weed for stim comedowns because it adds to the problem causing something specific with the heart. Just cant find it.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

I smoked one time to come down off vyvanse and all it did was speed up my heart to what was obviously an unhealthy level.

 

[DoctorJC]

Well an increased heart rate is normal when smoking anything, weed included. You body is compensating for the temporary drop of oxygen levels by either pumping the heart harder or more frequently, usually more frequently. In addition, weed is well known to raise anxiety levels because it causes a reduction in GABA levels in the brain. Following that, a common symptom of anxiety is an increased heart rate. I remember reading a good article on that, I'll link it if I can. Additionally, your friend isn't helping his cause with a healthy diet of stimulants which I don't think I need to state the reasons why. And I agree with not smoking during a stim comedown, a lot of people swear by it, but I've had the experience of taking some nasty rolls before, smoking a good amount to try and comedown and only having it increase my anxiety. I think the truth is a lot of people may deny, but weed is definitely harmful in it's own ways. While it's not physically addicting or damaging besides effects on heart and lungs from smoke inhalation, it can produce a wide variety of psychological issues.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

In addition, weed is well known to raise anxiety levels

...maybe for people who are super sensitive to cannabis, or for people who are living in a state where it is an illegal drug. For me, I find cannabis reduces my anxiety very effectively.

 

[Somberlain]

...maybe for people who are super sensitive to cannabis, or for people who are living in a state where it is an illegal drug. For me, I find cannabis reduces my anxiety very effectively.

I disagree. It has nothing to do with being "super sensitive" to weed or having fear because of doing something illegal. There's research regarding this topic, so if you don't believe me do a quick search. But even if you just look into the countless user reports, it should become pretty obvious that the effect of weed on anxiety levels varies between individuals and even in one individual over time. For some, weed causes horrible anxiety issues. Others get heavenly relief from everything anxiety related when they smoke it. And the next group doesn't notice a change regarding anxiety at all, and in addition, there are also the people who smoke it all their life without a problem and some day, suddenly "over night" develop anxiety issues that appear when they light up.

A psychiatrist & neurologist (who wasn't the kind of doctor that talks negatively about drug use in general... he just emphasized possible risks but always founded it on reason and not only on blind opposition to recreational drug use) once said to me, that i could keep using drugs if i needed to, but that i just had to stay away from cannabis, because even if it may be the safest of the commonly used recreational drugs in general, it can be the worst choice for people that develop anxiety from it.

I think it's important not to draw general conclusions from your own experience (regarding this matter & in general).

(Sorry, i don't want to make this thread go off topic or something like that. Just wanted to answer to this, because statements like "you're too sensitive if it gives you anxiety" and stuff like that makes me feel the urge to reply, because they're just wrong.)

Regarding the topic:

My time as a cannabis-user was long ago, but i experienced those issues related to the heart rate as well. It was strange because i never noticed an increase in heart rate or anything the first few years of smoking weed, but at some point, i got this effect and experienced it as quite intense/uncomfortable. But my theory is, that it always increased my heart rate and i just never noticed it before (don't have any "proof" for this, it's just a theory, but it made sense for me and i talked with other people who also said they only notice the increased heart rate if they give it any attention). And then, once i noticed it (maybe in a situation where it was intensified by other circumstances, other drugs, stress... don't know), i couldn't forget about it and always felt the increase in heart rate when smoking weed and it got annoying. That said, in my experience/opinion, this effect is nothing to worry about and should not ruin the experience when smoking weed on its own - but when combining weed with other stuff, like stimulants or especially some antidepressants, it can get quite intense and uncomfortable.

edit: I want to add, that if your friend somehow rules out other factors (stims, stress, etc.) and still gets anxiety issues from cannabis, he should seriously consider taking a break. They could get much worse if he continues smoking when already getting anxiety from it, but that's just a possibility and doesn't have to happen.