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Misc Anxiety Response To Majority Of Drugs - Please Help

Jayess

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Joined
Sep 7, 2015
Messages
22
I've been taking many different substances for almost a year and a half. Everything started fine but then problems started to happen after a panic attack induced by weed and ketamine, and since then I've not had the same fun with substances and things have become progressively worse:

- With weed now I become really anxious and paranoid. This has gotten significantly worse with stupid continued use. This is what I think is causing the damage
- With LSD I feel the same type of stress with minor paranoia, but it feels like I can still make intelligent judgements on situations and still partially enjoy my time
- With Mushrooms I either feel ill or as if I have a fever, but I still love the headspace, but the bad feeling almost ruins it
- With MDMA then there is strong anxiety but hardly any changes to thought, sometimes goes away but the rolls a lot feel shorter. My tolerance is much higher too
- With cocaine it is nothing but anxiety and physical stress, cocaine used to feel a lot different
- Ketamine feels quite normal in low doses, but K hole doses are very confusing and it feels as if I'm losing it

I wondered whether this may be a dopamine receptor issue from my substance misuse. The panic attack I had was from huge amounts of weed and ketamine at the same time and I was also seizuring and having major symptoms of psychosis; I believe that the issues i'm having now may be down to receptor issues (damage to dopamine receptors, excess dopamine/glutamate activity and inhibited GABA activity, can anyone give any more info?) I tried phenibut before and that so far has been a great help in terms of controlling some of the issues which I experienced, although I kind of felt the highs were dulled slightly.

What can I do to help my situation? Is the damage done reversible? And will time away + healthy eating/exercise/meditation do enough to make things normal again?
 
Take a break from all drugs. Go back to baseline for a bit.

If something was causing damage, you wouldn't find out in your case unless you stop usage of the drugs.
 
Weed makes you anxious and paranoid so you k hole do coke and lsd? If anything id say the issue is how little anxiety you having using such powerful drugs. Its like driving sometimes you might need it for a emergency to drive to help like ketamine for surgery or stimulants for dangerous drops in blood pressure and sometimes you might want to go for a joy ride with music playing. But if you felt no anxiety you could get yourself or someone else killed driving or staying home choosing to take some drug.
 
Take a break from all drugs. Go back to baseline for a bit.

If something was causing damage, you wouldn't find out in your case unless you stop usage of the drugs.

Thanks for your reply.

How much of a break, based off what I've been taking, should a reset to baseline usually require?
 
I don't know your history. In some cases you will figure out in days. If it's deeper then?. Stopping drugs or laying off the type of drugs you are using can be a quicker way to rule out the anxiety producing effects. You may just be doing too much and need a break.
 
Jayess said:
The panic attack I had was from huge amounts of weed and ketamine at the same time and I was also seizuring and having major symptoms of psychosis;
I'm sure you already know this but this is a very bad sign. Do you have any history of epilepsy, other seizure disorders or mental health issues? When you say "having major symptoms of psychosis", were you actually diagnosed with this or do you mean it just felt like psychosis?

Either way, yeah, the clear course of action is to take a break from all substances and then maybe in a few months very very carefully try to experiment with some of them again. You don't mention how often you've been doing these drugs but given you only started a year and a half ago, during which time you have done all these substances enough that the character of the experience has changed significantly, I would be willing to bet that you have probably been indulging too often.

During your time off, absolutely a good diet, exercise and meditation will help. If and when you choose to return, I would also be willing to bet that weed is the primary culprit in your anxiety issues. I feel like I'm saying this all the time on this forum but weed is for many people a highly and I think somewhat deceptively anxiogenic drug, and you're definitely not alone in continuing to use it despite it causing you increasing amounts of anxiety. It was probably the main cause of your panic attack I think as Ketamine on it's own usually does not induce anxiety (for most people anyway I think) and has subsequently probably ruined your appreciation of the psychedelic headspace as well as given you a baseline anxiety which is spoiling your experience of other substances as well. So in my opinion your best bet after taking a break is just to give up on weed because it obviously isn't working for you, perhaps in a few years you can smoke weed again but even then probably not often.
 
I'm sure you already know this but this is a very bad sign. Do you have any history of epilepsy, other seizure disorders or mental health issues? When you say "having major symptoms of psychosis", were you actually diagnosed with this or do you mean it just felt like psychosis?

Either way, yeah, the clear course of action is to take a break from all substances and then maybe in a few months very very carefully try to experiment with some of them again. You don't mention how often you've been doing these drugs but given you only started a year and a half ago, during which time you have done all these substances enough that the character of the experience has changed significantly, I would be willing to bet that you have probably been indulging too often.

During your time off, absolutely a good diet, exercise and meditation will help. If and when you choose to return, I would also be willing to bet that weed is the primary culprit in your anxiety issues. I feel like I'm saying this all the time on this forum but weed is for many people a highly and I think somewhat deceptively anxiogenic drug, and you're definitely not alone in continuing to use it despite it causing you increasing amounts of anxiety. It was probably the main cause of your panic attack I think as Ketamine on it's own usually does not induce anxiety (for most people anyway I think) and has subsequently probably ruined your appreciation of the psychedelic headspace as well as given you a baseline anxiety which is spoiling your experience of other substances as well. So in my opinion your best bet after taking a break is just to give up on weed because it obviously isn't working for you, perhaps in a few years you can smoke weed again but even then probably not often.

Great advice. Thank you to everyone that's contributed to this thread also, I appreciate it.

I think with the seizures/psychosis symptoms it was overexcitation i think. Too much substance at once trying to influence behaviour.

I was coming up off a huge joint and was mid K hole when I had the panic attack. Still to this day I have no idea exactly what the cause was/is but the truth is I feel like I owe a huge part of my life to weed, which is the reason why I struggle so much to let it go for good. It resurrected me from such a broken and lost person and I will never forget how much it made me appreciate myself for the first time in my adult life. I write this now and rationally I know that it's for the best but it well and truly breaks my heart in two to have to let go permanently. So to weed I will always love you for how you've helped me to love me, but I understand that, in light of this situation now, my health must come first :)

Time away is definitely needed.
 
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This started happening to me about a 15 years ago. Drugs/alcohol just stopped working.

It was pretty depressing at first, like I lost a good friend. But it wasn't long before I got used to it. I realized that tho I prided myself on not getting addicted I hadn't gone a week for over a decade not drunk/high. Even when I thought I wasn't using heavily, once I really thought about it I hadn't stopped using something since I had started.

About 5 years in I had a mental breakdown after developing chronic pain. People do drugs recreatinally for all sorts of reasons but I think the main reason for me was self medication. I hadn't dealt with those issues when I got sober and it all came crashing down. I spent another 5 years being prescribed just about every psych med on the market. It was interesting and miserable at the same time.

I'm sharing this because you may need not just a time out from the chemicals but some time out to work through whatever mental health issues you might have. I had undiagnosed ptsd. I knew I had panic attacks but I was so used to living with anxiety (hyper-vigilance, dissociation) I didn't realize how bad it was, it was my normal.

Now I sometimes use my prescription pain meds to create a 'break', just enough to feel pleasant but not high and no more than a dr has prescribed to me at some point. It feels good with none of the downsides that came up when I'd get high. And, I can smoke weed without anxiety. In fact, it's more enjoyable now than it ever was. I don't know that I'm 'cured' of the ptsd but the symptoms aren't part of my everyday life and that may be why I seek the milder altered states I seek and enjoy them more.

I also had to fix my gut health (I did this just eating some plain yogurt daily, nothing fancy), take mega doses of B12 and magnesium (no mega doses, you'll never leave the bathroom!).

Anyway, glad you're taking a break. Wish you well!
 
I would also like to reinforce the ideas presented here about weed.

I used to love weed, but not anymore. It puts me in a terrible, nightmarish headspace. So I've had to, gradually and as easily as possible just let it go entirely.

Interestingly for me, Xanax is exactly the same. I use to abuse and use the hell out of zans but now and for a long time all it does is make me feel out of it, shitty and a super heavy and uncomfortable body load. Even small doses of zans does this.

The body and brain changes over time, and I think especially for us as users or addicts even moreso. The same shit that used to get us high just doesn't anymore, and substances begin having more and more paradoxical effects.

The body's chemistry changes and our reaction to certain drugs (especially those we loved the most) changes drastically. For all the years I've spent chasing a high that is the one constant I have observed. Nothing stays the same. A lot of times each and every substance just feels worse.

Thus, addiction.
 
I've always had extreme anxiety. But the older I get, the worse it gets. I've always had to be careful with certain drugs. When I was 17 I had my first extremely bad panic attack where I thought I was dying. I had taken ritalin, dxm, and ativan throughout the day, and then smoked weed with some people after work. When I was smoking, shit went south. Suddenly everything looked like "tunnel vision", my heart was racing out of my chest, my arms and legs went numb, I had chest pains. I still don't know if that was a legit physical problem or a panic attack. But I thought I was dying and at that age (17) I couldn't risk going to the hospital and having my mother find out and I was also much less afraid of death than I am now. So I sat outside until it stopped, which was probably a good hour or so.

After that, I had to be careful with weed or I would have the same thing happen again. I think it was an anxiety response to weed. I also had to be careful with my prescribed adderall and caffeine because too much of that would trigger the same thing. But it didn't stop me from using those things entirely.

I have to say, this anxiety response was never an issue when I was younger. As I got older and the worries from everyday life got to me more, the anxiety responses began and became worse with age.

Then when I was 21, I tried meth. I was fine for several hours, then I had a panic attack and ended up calling 911 because I thought I was dying. Ever since then, I've been unable to do stimulants, smoke weed, or do alot of things without living in fear of having a panic attack bad enough that I feel like I'm dying again. It has ruined alot of my life. I avoid situations where I fear having a panic attack. Sometimes they happen for no reason. The fear of dying from my heart racing has ruined alot of fun moments for me. I'm 27 now and I still live with this fear. I keep trying to force myself to get over it. I'm determined to heal. But sadly, it takes time. And therapy. And emergency benzos. And alcohol. For me anyway. YMMV. I mean shit, I can't even eat chocolate anymore because of the small amount of caffeine in that. Its pathetic. And its all in my head. And I need to beat this anxiety monster one way or another. Its all about training your mind to stop reacting that way.
 
Take a break, take a kit kat
Plur
Seriously though if the ? Outweighes?

Correct??
yo bob from Brighton, remember that section2.
Bobs a geez, there's always a geezer somewhere.
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