chest pains and blackouts when not using cannabis

i have been smoking roughly a halve oz a week for the past 3 years and was a light smoker for 2 years prior to that, and for the past 2 years or so if i go for more than 10 hours or so with out smoking any MJ i get the worst pain i have ever felt. its almost like someone is driving a long thin burning hot knife into the back of my heart and twisting it around, its so bad that all i can see is white and i cant hear anything but a roaring, like the sea but a thousand times louder. all i can do when this happens is try to breath verrrrry slowly and gently and take deeper breaths over a few minutes. i've asked my doctor about this and he didn't have a clue what it could be.
so um does anyone know what this could be???

does it resolve immediately if you smoke? any history of psychiatric illness yourself or immediate family? on any other medications?

^ Yeah, as mu-lover points out, we need more information to help you. Do you take other medications? Where in your back do you feel the pain, on your upper back where your lungs are? Usually we don't have these sort of threads in CD, but what you're going through sounds horrible, so please give us more information so hopefully we can help you out here (then I may try your thread in the Healthy Living forum to see if you get some more answers there.)


Also, we aren't doctors, so we can't do more than speculate what could be wrong with you...but I'm sure even a few speculations may give you some peace of mind, OP. Do you use benzodiazepines? This sounds like it could be anxiety related to me, honestly.

... you asked your doctor and he dismissed it with a "well gosh I have no idea!" ?

Time to get a new doctor.

PC, I was thinking anxiety, but the fact that it only comes up when he is sober is a bit of a game-changer. Generally I would assume that anxiety would be pretty prevelent all the time, not just while sober.

OP, does this mean that when you go to sleep, you wake up with this pain?

That definently sounds anxiety related. Like the other posters pointed out, go see a new Dr. and get a second opinion.

Chainer said:

PC, I was thinking anxiety, but the fact that it only comes up when he is sober is a bit of a game-changer. Generally I would assume that anxiety would be pretty prevelent all the time, not just while sober.

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I disagree with this...for some people, drugs relieve anxiety, so when they aren't high they get more anxious.

hydrochron said:

That definently sounds anxiety related. Like the other posters pointed out, go see a new Dr. and get a second opinion.

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I agree with this completely. I don't see this getting too many responses in here, and the OP hasn't come back to give us more information either...so I think I'm going to try moving this over to Healthy Living. Also, all of us that replied gave the same response, which is probably the best one, but maybe it'll get a wider range of folks elsewhere.

CD ---> HL, mods feel free to do what you see fit when it gets there.



Also, I changed the title a bit so it makes more sense in here, since HL isn't directly related to cannabis.

Go to another doctor.

Yes it could be very bad anxiety but it could be other issues as well.

I know people who had/have such bad anxiety or panic attacks that for them it was as though they were having a seizure but they went to a credible doctor who knows what he/she is doing and the doctor asked them questions or had them get tests or bloodwork done before they figured out that it was an anxiety or panic issue.

OP, you need to go see another doctor. Maybe schedule the appointment at a time when you know you won't have smoked for 10 hours or so, in an attempt to bring on whatever is causing the pain.

I know when I smoked a lot of pot, my lungs would hurt when I didn't smoke--The pain would typically radiate from the lower part of the front of my ribcage. It wasn't a debilitating pain, but it was certainly enough to difficult to ignore.

From what I've read, this pain is from your lungs trying to clean themselves. Not sure if this is what is going on with you, but when this pain happens, do you ever cough up black gunk?

annnd im back, if any ones still reading this no im not on any other meds, and i usually find some green within a few hours after an attack and that makes everything fine again , but if i dont il get shorter attacks more frequently. umm ive never coughed up black stuff, and the pain starts inn the back of my left lung and stops at the front of my heart.
and please not im not looking for a diagnosis here just wondering if anyones had similar problems??

Idk man I HAD something like that and wrote it off to Anxiety..It was a sharp ass pain right where my heart is...
Its gone now tho, that was bout 3 or so months ago, And i too, am an everyday smoker(most days anway, but im broke alot)