Cannabis and Panic

[mescalito]

The following is an account by a close friend to ascertain whether Cannabis induces panic by itself.

"Going back 6 years or so,I was one of those average everyday pot-smokers only a couple of bowls a day,usually after work with a few brews...life was great.

I knew I had a propensity for panic back then,but found the herb to help nip this in the 'bud' particularly well!

One breed in particular being Northern lights #5 was brilliant and was so workable that going out in public was easy,even sitting in a barbers getting a haircut ripped was an enjoyable experience.These things were hard to deal with straight even...

Then life started to place more pressures and stresses on the system,and no matter what variety was imbibed,the result was a thundering heart and delerium followed by a depressed state."

Based on experiences similar to this,I started pondering what the metabolites from adrenaline meeting up with the cannibis chemicals might be,and if these metabolites could induce a panic attack/state or amplify the tendencies?

Maybe the fine mix of chems indicative of the breed may be 'more' or 'less' panicky even??

Fire away guys!

[strangebrew]

Can't comment on the science of it. But I had a close friend who was a fairly heavy daily smoker for years and all of a sudden he went the same way. His swore his heart started racing really badly the minute he smoked any weed, scared the shit out of him. I kind of thought it was always in his head but he gave it up pronto!

[ 14. April 2004, 22:34: Message edited by: strangebrew ]

[Guest electro]

before my mate gave up on pot all together he was the same way too ...

smoked for a few years daily... stopped suddenly ..

left if for about 6 months - then had very similar symptoms every time therafter ...

pounding heart, anxiety, dry throat, unstoppable swallowing, tounge cramps (which are really fucking scary because they block your airflow and hurt like fucking buggery ,,, your whole tounge scrunches into a fucking ball in the back of your throat & spasms ) ...

eating pot however doesnt seem to have the same negative effects (or at least drasticly lessened)

smoking however, will produce these effects every time above 1/8th of a cone.(with them being noticable at 1/4 and getting stronger with dose)... i suspect it is an alergic reaction to the smoke (as antihistamines DO help somewhat, but do not fix it all together) ..

[ 30. March 2005, 13:24: Message edited by: electro ]

[theobromos]

Didn't Torsten recommend something for dope panic some time ago? A lot of my friends suffer.

[Guest electro]

ive read that vallium & other benzos help .. in combo with antihistamines they get rid of most ill symptoms experienced.

*shrug*

If one needs to get benzos to deal with pot they might aswell ditch the pot and just eat the benzos tho , just my 2 cents .

[ 30. March 2005, 13:25: Message edited by: electro ]

[gomaos]

For me, personally, benzoes are much worse than pot, but that's just me...

[Beaker]

I panic when I don't have any

[mescalito]

There's been a few threads on the benzo's here

[Dubius]

I have given up smoking pot for fear of panic; I don’t know which is the greater, the fear of flipping out, or flipping out!

I once loved smoking, and had no problems ever – it got me though University and I have many happy memories of being ripped of my nut. However, in my fourth year of study, I started getting scared; my heart pounded, I got clammy skin, cold sweats and the overwhelming fear of losing my mind.

Smoking wasn’t funny anymore.

I don’t smoke, instead I drink heavily; a bottle of Jack Daniels every day and I feel bad most of the time. That does not mean that I am not sympathetic to smokers – most of my friends still smoke, and they don’t understand why I don’t. Almost all of my smoking friends are ok – they lead lives that they find fulfilling - one is a Chiropractor, another an Industrial Chemist, and one owns a million dollar software solutions company - and Gomaos loves his garden...

It seems sometimes that I have nothing left to explore. When I drink I feel like I am 16 again, but I when I am sober I feel old and wasted. Stoned I feel fear. Religion is proven bullshit.

I NEED A NEW DRUG!

[Rev]

Forget alcohol and cannabis

Sounds like your bored with both your current selection of waking states and altered states and trying to escape your boredom

make a change

Take up an interest in Mushrooms and Ayahuasca

Theyll take you in a new direction if thats what you want and make you feel much better

They wont replace the need for an everyday drug like cannabis or alcohol, and this and other things means they are quite anti-addictive

Its been pointed out to me that the problem might be some kind of imbalance between serotonin,dopamine, nor-adrenaline ratios or the machinery in our heads (i always think i just broke something from flogging it too hard)

Youll trade in Stoning (and paranoia) for lucidity (and occasionally stark terror (aya)) but it is so much cleaner, more liberating and ultimately constructive. Both can be remarkably anti-depressant

If hadnt have had pretty much the same reaction as listed here i wouldnt have had the need to go out and explore alternatives in a detailed manner

Freeing yourself from cannabis can be quite liberating as its a strongly habituating drug just like booze. Both cloud the mind and i think are longe term detrimental to anyone not in retirement or livin' as a saddhu

[ 16. May 2004, 01:10: Message edited by: reville ]

[strangebrew]

Yeah, I concur.

Pot stopped doing it for me when hydro started taking over the scene, it was turning my brain to mush. I was a Sativa head. I really miss the old days when every late winter hash and thai-budda would be imported. Ahh, those beautiful little brown buds.

Dubius,

That drinking routine is going to ruin you physically, soon you won't just be FEELING old and wasted, you actually will be. Do everything in your power to give it up. I think the government sanctioned drugs are by far the worst for you.(not saying anything new here!)

Natural psychedelics stimulate rather than dull, make you feel good the next day rather than worse(certainly in comparison to an alcohol hang-over ) and there is no strong desire to repeat the experience soon.

[Chemical Shaman]

I used to find that some types of weed would make me hella fucken panicky over other types of weed. Maybe change your brand?

[Waz]

Supplement with what the cannabis takes out. Works for me, I dont get intense anxiety anymore.

[gomaos]

I had stages with cannabis when it freaked me out, panick attacks, depressions etc.

However all this is in the past and these days I don't have any problems with it whatsoever.

I would even question Rev's argument that cannabis clouds the mind...

I really don't think so...

Cannabis puts the mind into a more natural state of relaxation and enjoyment.

[Dubius]

Ahh, the suppliment! I think only alcohol can perform in the role of supplment; both suspending my self judgement and lack of comfort. Unfortunatly it makes me sick.

[Dubius]

I think that most of fear/panic when smoking is actually tied to my basic psychology.

My mother suffered chronic schizophrenia most of her life was consumed by her condition. When I used to smoke I found myself acting like my mother - I heard voices, I felt strangers (aliens) drilling into my scull, attacking my brain, and stealing my essence - that scared the living shit out of me!

The 'smoking era' in my life seemed a terrifying journey into my mother's mind; I learned about what it was like to be her.

Now I drink heavily - like my Father. My father died when I was seven, so I can only compare my childish my memories of him with what my family tell me of him. He was a busy, intelligent man who made his fortune early - but he lived a highly stressful life. He was raised by the German ethic of hard work, so he was never home, and when he was, he drank heavily. He, and his brothers, were all big men with alcohol problems - and all of them (except the one who does not drink and who raised me) died of massive heart attacks. My father died when he was 39 on the 20/5/79.

When I turned 32 on the 18/5/04, weighing135 kg, wealthy and drinking heavily - I reflect that it is fortunate that I’ve no children – no family to leave behind. My father has been gone for 25 years and as I write, I drink Jack Daniels (I earn well, as my father did, so I drink one bottle a night). Tomorrow, I take a day of work (the first day off in 18 months and that includes Public holidays - I work them all; Christmas, Easter - you name it!) to sprinkle my Mother and Father's ashes in the rainforests of Lamington National Park in QLD.

I have no family left, no time left for friends and even the drugs I once enjoyed fail me. I work, I get wealth and I feel myself slide toward the fate of my parents

My religious friends are full of shit.

I have good hope my scientific friends are accurate when they speak of the multiverse and the 'fact' that nothing is destroyed only paralleled.

If any of you have advice, I need it.

[mescalito]

Dubious, I'm glad this thread took off 'cause I have some theory's about consciousness and the 'gateway' drugs myself,let-alone the rant on government sanctioned 'soft' drugs coated in who knows what.

But my partner is climbing over me to write a response,so I'll let her go....

I hope you don't mind me responding to this but your post made me shudder with empathy, I know personally how hard it is to escape your genetically imprinted punch-cards, which, I believe dictate so many different facets of our lives.

I don't believe in advice so maybe if I share some of the things I have done and the techniques I have used it may help you, well at least I hope with all my heart it does.

I had to keep it simple, I decided that I needed to break my ties with my past and all the negative influences which that held. Some examples of these patterns are; low self-worth, (due to never being good enough at anything, never worthy of being loved etc) actions which endangered my very being such as smoking, drinking,dangerous relationships etc due to the need to elicit either emotional responses in myself or others as once again the self-esteem is so low that you feel unworthy just by yourself you always need to be more.

The only way I am coping each day is by being 100% honest with myself and those around me, even if it is uncomfortable. Doing things for others, it is liberating and enlightening to help others worse than yourself, it puts things in perspective. I am on a pension so monetary help was out of the question but I have found other ways of helping which are rich and rewarding.

Have a spiritual goal. Mine is to wean off cipramil this year, (after 5 years) and get to explore the ayahusca one day. I guess basically you have to learn to like yourself, I know it's hard but remember a thousand mile journey starts with just one step. Take care and keep well...

[planthelper]

i go with cs, some pot specialy if harvested to late is a downer, so don't smoke pot which does not lift u up.

cannabis is an amplifier, it only produces panic, if you are in panic, observe your set & setting!!.

i had pot once, that everytime i used it got me very sad, changing grower and brand fixed that from one moment to the other...

if you have some mental condition yes,

cannabis use can worsen it,

but don't blame the pot for your screwed up mind!

for example i knew this person,

her parents allways told her horror storys about pot and that's what she got from it.

you people suddenly not happy with dope,

most certainly must have changed your attidude towards this herb!

i experienced one time a full blown panic attack.

i had been digging out syd funnel web spider's (live spider's are needed to manufacture the anti venom) and some how thought one had bitten me.

just weeks before, the lady at the reptile park, where i used to deliver the live spiders to, told me about the last person to die of this spider,

a young boy from wamberal. this victim reminded me of my own son! basicly the attack lasted for hours, and when it culminated, i was sure i would die,

my skin was blue all over my body and i could not get any oxygen into my system...

collapsed i lay at the floor of the erina fair shopping centre and a big crowd of people just stared at me. it took me hours to get my normal breathing back, thank god i never had this happening again to me.

meditative skills and drug use, showed me my subconcious fears, this understanding helped me to avoid this from happening again.

i had one little attack not too long ago,

just because i had to deal with a person that physicly reminded me of the bully that allmost killed me when i was at primary school.

ah, one more thing i remember, my first anxiety attack a mild one, was brought on by stopping tabaco!

-----------------------------------------------

no worrys, hemp will save the world!

[ 21. May 2004, 12:14: Message edited by: planthelper ]

[gomaos]

Jeex I'm happy I don't get these attacks, I don't want them either...

planthelper, you're really sure you didn't get bitten then?

I go with planthelper:

Cannabis only amplifies things:

If you tend to be paranoid, you'll get more paranoid...

If you feel happy, you'll be more happy

and if you're going to war and have a smoke before like the warriors in Afghanistan and pakistan etc, you'll kill better and more...

(in "chef" voice:)

and if you're making sweet luvin, this will become better tooo...

oh yeah!

[ 22. May 2004, 00:28: Message edited by: gomaos ]

[planthelper]

i am sure i did not get bitten (it's said to be extreemly painful), but i could have got venom somehow on my skin! i mean anxiety attacks don't last for 12h or so...

[ 22. May 2004, 19:13: Message edited by: planthelper ]

[spiders]

Ive had some interesting experiences with pot and how it affects a heightened nervous system/adrenal circuit.

Ive never had problems with pot causing anything other than ridiculous giggles when i first started and then slight social withdrawl when i was smoking way to heavily for a year or so, then i started to get my head filled with strange thoughts and i did occassioanlly get spaced out and feel physically sick.

But the weirdest thing was that i developed something that no one else i knew who smoked had - a completely new level of tolerance - i could smoke four bongs and feel fundamentally the same - a slight stoned feeling, but none of the feelings i used to enjoy.

Then my thyroid blew up and i stopped completly.

About four months into that one night i thought id see how it worked and i smoked a small cone. It brought on this complete space out and panic attack - my heart was racing and i felt really anxious. With a thyroid problem, you often feel anxious as a symptom, and the pot brought this right out.

Ive had a few drags of a joint or two, but that's it - mushrooms made me anxious as well, so ive avoided them pretty much - the words hard to even type, whereas mdma - the one thing i thought would be really bad for me - in small doses is quite pleasant and reassuring.

[theobromos]

Anxiety attacks can last until treatment, twelve hours would be possible.

[Thelema]

I had a bad batch of pot that gave me horror anxiety. I agree that some is good, some bad, its not JUST the mindset. Anyhow, I persisted with this every night for about 3 weeks, every night induced anxiety, no fun at all really ...........BUT

the things i realized in my anxiety really helped to change my life around for the better! So it wasn't so bad in the "big picture" of things. That being said, unless youre a crazy fuck like me, I dont recommend you deliberately induce anxiety attacks in yourself at any time.

[gerbil]

Alot of pure sativas are said to induce strong anxiety for many folks, have read of many people talking about quite full on visuals with them also.

And seeing some of the hybrids being bred these days, seems like some can scare the pants off nearly anyone.

Can't remember exactly, but people recommended that if you suffer from anxiety, stay away from anything with high influence of haze in the cross.(or strong pure sativas)

Giggly, mellow, yet quite thought provoking flowers are great imo. The really trippy stuff can just be too full on, good at times, but definately doesn't sit well having too much over extended periods.

Although i've never experienced to that degree what some are mentioning in this thread.

[gomaos]

The really trippy stuff

a while ago, like 4 years ago, I had this "hydro" that was like tripping everytime you had a smoke... jeez it was great... haven't come across anything like it for a long time...