Panic attacks and marijuana

This incident was my first major panic attack. I have smoked weed for about 10 years, so when I had this panic attack, it really shocked me. It was New Years Eve 2006/2007, my girlfriend and I went to the liquor store and I recall a feeling of unease, or tenseness. I don’t know why I felt like that. I just did.

We went to my friend's house around 9pm. We were drinking and watching TV. I took a few puffs from a joint and it got me really high. 10 minutes later I started to feel sick. I thought that I was having a bad reaction to the weed. I started to feel my heart racing uncontrollably and I experienced a surge of symptoms includeding hyperventilation, sweating, shortness of breath, nausea, a slight choking sensation, hot/cold flashes, shaking, faintness, and exhaustion. I was scared most when I had trouble breathing. I wanted them to drive me to the emergency room but I embarrassed that I was being an inconvenience. I thought I was having a heart attack.

The mental symptoms included a feeling of impending doom, fear of losing control, fear of death, fear that I was going crazy and fear that I had a serious illness. Also, a sense of "unrealness" or "unreality" which is known as derealization and a disconnection from my body, known as depersonalization.

This panic attack lasted over a period of 4 hours, gradually becoming less intense and shorter, with 10-15 minute intervals of feeling fine. It was most unsettling. During this time, I lay down and took deep breaths to relax (which helped a bit), even took a shower. Eventually I calmed down enough to be able to drive home. What a way to start the year.

I visited the doctor 2 days later and he gave me some anxiety pills which I was supposed to take when I feel anxious. Unfortunately, over the next month I had several more panic attacks. The worst ones were 2 that happened in public and one that happened during my sleep. I also began to feel anxious all the time, gradually getting scared to even go outside. I finally hit a breaking point a month and a half after the new years eve panic attack and went back to the doctor to get on some serious medication.

Doctor put me on Paxil (Paroxetine) and after getting over the first week of adjusting to the drug (lots of side effects) I began to feel better. Searching Paxil online and reading side effects kinda scared me, but I realized that even if you look up Tylenol, you'll get pages of side effects. I dont like the thought of being on an anti-anxiety drug but it has helped. Also am seeing a therapist at my University which helps a lot. I quit marijuana, cigarettes, caffeine, any type of stimulant. Finding something to focus on and take my mind off my problem is key.

I know that marijuana can induce a panic attack. I have read many scientific journals that suggest a strong link. I also know that panic attacks have many other different causes. The best thing you can do is educate yourself about panic attacks, stop taking stimulants, resume activities that you regularly engage in (exercise is a good one), and a combination of medication and therapy. Medication will re-balance the neurochemicals in your brain and therapy will teach you relaxation techniques and strategies to minimize or control the attacks.

The solution to this problem is 50/50. 50% you seeking help and 50% you fighting and taking a stand against it. Fortunately, most of you (myself included) live in places where help and resources are available. The earlier you intervene and begin to control this problem, the better your future. So long, farewell and good luck.

i recently experienced someting very similar to what you have described. my question is did you find out what made you start having these panic attacks out of nowhere? was it the pot? I have been a daily pot smoker for the past 4 years and out of nowhere my panic attacks started about a month ago. The thing is i love smoking and i don't want to quit and i'm trying to hold on to the idea that pot is not the cause of my anxiety and panic disorder. what do you think about this?

I have suffered from panic attacks from age 13 though i didnt know what they were back then. I am 19 now and have smoked weed since i was 14 and everyday since age 15. For me the weed keeps me calm and keeps me from having an attack. It also keeps me from undergoing mania or depression caused by bipolar disorder. I doubt it could be the weed causing your panic attacks. Have you been under stress, have u ate anything unusual? Ask yourself these ?'s.

I have been smoking weed everyday, more then once a day since I was 13. I'm 20 now and in college. I have smoked cigarettes on and off since the same time, but when I came to college I continued smoking for 2 years straight. I quit about 2 weeks ago and 1 week into quitting (cigarettes) I got my first panic attack. usually I would smoke a cigarette after smoking weed (I really only smoke blunts) and this is when the panic sets in. Cant breath, shortness of breath, contricted feeling in my throat, sweating, leg shakes, nausea and senstivity to noise. I feel like I am going to die, cannot breath. I pray when it happens for God to release me from the feeling. Two days later I had another one (both were at night time, after smoking the same weed) but this time I was able to control it a bi more... since I was ready for the feelings I tried to block them out instead of laying down and sucumbing to them until they pass. i kept my eyes on the clock to see how long th feeling last, and the worst was over in about 35 minutes but even the next day I still feel very out of sorts, very tired, my legs ache and I still feel a tightness of breath. So, I dont know if its the weed, the lack of cigarettes, or I finally reached the age where they are most common to occur. My mother started getting severe panic attacks when she was the same age as me, and she says she quit smoking because she had to, but also sought the help of a holistic healer which helped her a lot.

I'm not sure if I'm ready to quit smoking weed and furthermore, I am really ambivalent about how I feel about being forced to quit smoking for fear of panic attacks. A part of me is somewhat glad that my body gave me a real reason to quit that I never had before, but the other part of me is incredibly upset that my own body is rejecting my favorite mode of relaxation and enjoyment. As a smoker, all my friends smoke, and of course my boyfriend is my all time smoking partner and I'm afraid to lose him and what we have since my not smoking will change things a lot.

I've tried to quit smoking weed before I came to college and it made me miserable. I was depressed gained like 30 lbs and just slept. I couldnt do school work and had little interest in doing anything a side from eating. I don't want that to happen again. If Im going to quit I just want to feel ready to do it and be able to move on in my life normally. But then again, I guess you don't ditch an addiction of 7 years and not feel somewhat dejected afterwards. I'm worried I will become a bitch, that my boyfriend will not be able to tolerate me, that I wont be able to tolerate him being high constantly. Maybe when (if?) I quit he will cut down too and we can do this together? Wow, I am so nervous.

So i basically i can super relate with the last post. Im 22 years old and have been smoking since i was 14. Me and my boyfriend have been together for about 5 years and we love smoking pot together when we chill at home or when we go on trips pretty much all the time. The second time i smoked i had the worst panic attack of my life and didnt know who i was or where i was. I also thought i was dying and was taking really tiny breaths of air thinking it would be my last. Something really wierd also happened to me since im a spiritual person and believe in God i felt as though he was saying it was time for me to die. I saw my life flash before my eyes literally pictures of myself when i was child were in my head. I didnt know my name when my friends were asking me. So then after about an hour or so i kinda came out of it and started to puke. Then i went home ate hella food and passed out and was fine the next day. Looking back on it i totally understand why that happened because i wasnt used to smoking weed. but recently i had another attack similar out of blue. I was chillin watching tv and i felt like i was dieing. I coulnt breathe my heart was pounding SO hard and fast i was freaking out. i wanted to go to the hospital. I felt as though i was in a cartoon and i was in between this life and the after life. I cant even explain how scared i was. The thing that worries me most is i have this lingering feeling of depersonalization. I woke up feeling still very wierd about my episode the night before. So i smoked a few hours ago almost like to test if this would happen again and i had like two hits and started to feel panicky again. This TOTALLY sucks . I love smoking . And my boyfriend is constantly smoking I dont wanna give it up but its giving me serious anxiety and god forbid i go through all that again!!

i have felt all these things, depersonalization, derealization, and the cartoon feeling and because of my sprirituality the feeling of "its my time to die'. At least I know I am not alone. I feel bad because I started asking God to make me like it again. But I am battling between if God really thinks it is bad. There are so many other bad things that can kill you and i want to like it again.

I used to be a BIG weed head. I know it is mental because one day i drank a little before I did it and i was at least able to finish the whole blunt with my cousin. i just need help taking me back to where i used to be, in love with weed! now i also take 2-3 puffs and feel anxiety. sometimes I feel it right before I attempt to smoke, right before the blunt hits my lips. Is there anyone out there who can help us? I actually started to feel the derealization even when i wasn't high. I don't like these feelings I don't even smoke like that anymore, maybe 1 x a month and i only hit it 2-4 times.

There has to be a cure or a fix, my panic also lasted about 30 min then I would be fine, but i had a really bad one a couple of weeks ago, i was in the middle of having sex with my husband and I told him to get off me and ran to the bathroom to calm down, i had to talk to myself and tell myself it was going to be over soon. i started taking St. Johns Wort, that seems to help in my everyday life and it helps when I smoke, but i ran out, if anyone has any other cures let me know but so far, taking ST John's 2-3x a day ( the kind from Vitamin World) helps me get back to normal. I never want to be on those perscribed meds, I don't want to get addicted or become a zombie. Please, if anyone has any solutions, don't hesitate to write them here!

listen, im gonna tell u what I think. I really hope u read it... cause I understand ur problem... been going through it a lot.. and this is what i know.
When u smoke pot... u are someone else... defenitely, something in u changes... whether it's feeling more relaxed, or in the worst of cases, more anxious... u are someone else. But why more anxious. Let me go back to what I said about being someone else when smoking weed. I started smoking weed years ago. I'm a 22 year old male, and I first smoked @ 16 years. ever since... I did it very regulary for a couple of months until i reached the everyday train... I smoked pot everyday for years... I began to BE someone else.. someone who was high all the time... and not in real life. Pot was always great.. even when i started college at 19... it still gave me a little paranoia in social situations... but it was never this intense as now.. AT THIS MOMENT... because yes.. im writing in this stage of panic attack right now. which is when i most understand it. So yeah... pot was doing fine; it wasn't interfering with my life.. i was responsible with my classes, did my workout... went to parties... weed didn't get in the way.. it was not until i was caught with weed and sent back home for 1 year to "CLEAN UP".. that the real panic attack started. I began realizing the differences between the days i didn't smoke and the days that i did smoke.... I ALWAYS KNEW SOMETHING WAS WRONG WHEN I SMOKED... THE SECOND I DID IT... SECONDS BEFORE THE JOINT HIT MY MOUTH.. SOMETHING WAS UP...I KNEW THAT!! I JUST NEVER PAID ATTENTION TO IT UP CLOSE...it all started as a weird social phobia that i could barely control.. but i did.. i did control it from time to time...I WAS STRUCK BY THE IDEA THAT... EVERYONE SEEMED TO ENJOY THEMSELVES BY SMOKING WEED... AND THAT I WAS HAVING THE WORST TIME OF MY LIFE... ITS VERY LOW.. TO ADMIT THAT MAYBE IN THE DEEPIST OF ALL SENSES... U SMOKE WEED TO FEEL IN... AND THAT IT'S UR BODY'S WAY (WHICH WE HAVE TO UNDERSTAND ITS VERY POWERFULL) TO TELL UR MIND THAT UR DOING SOMETHING WRONG... THAT IN REALITY... THATS NOT WHO U WANT TO BE... LISTEN PEOPLE... WE NEED TO LET GO OF THE SENSE THAT POT IS THE "GREEN PLANT"... THE "PEACE PLANT".. AND WHATEVER SLANG TERM U WANT TO USE... REASEARCH IS JUST STARTING TO SHOW EVER MORE AND MORE ARTICLES RELATING MARIHUANA AND PANIC ATTACKS... IF U FEEL BAD DOING IT.. STOP DOING IT... UR BODY AND MIND ARE WISE... SOMETIMES I EVEN SMOKED POT RIGHT BEFORE GOING TO BED WITH MY GIRLFRIEND... I SMOKED A BOWL (SHE DIDN'T APPROVE OF ME SMOKING) AND WHEN I GOT TO BED AND THE WEED STARTED TO KICK IN... A TERRIBLE PANIC ATTACK... AS IF I WAS GOING TO DIE... KICKED IN... ERECTION FAILS (DUE TO BODY'S NATURAL RESPONSE) WHEN U ARE FACED WITH A LIFE THREATENING SITUATION... AND AS WEIRD AS IT MAY SOUND... THE PANIC ATTACKS DUE TO SMOKING WEED WERE THAT STRONG... MY ERECTION WAS IMPOSIBLE AND I STARTED SHAKING...AT FIRST I THOUGHT THAT I HAD SEXUAL PERFORMANCE ANXIETY... AND THAT THE WEED JUST TRIGGERED A DEEPER PROBLEM... BUT THE TRUTH IS THAT WEED CAUSES THE SAME STRONG PANIC ATTACK WHEN IM NOT INVOLVED SEXUALLY.... AND SOMETIMES... DAYS GO BY THAT I WALK AROUND WITH THAT PANIC IN MIND AND HEART... BECAUSE THE CHEST.. THATS WHERE U FEEL IT THE MOST... RACING LIKE A MILLION RABBITS... SHORTNESS OF BREATH.. BLURRY EYES... DEPERSONALIZATION!!!!!!! COMPLETELY OUT OF URSELF AND INTO SOME OTHER "BEING".... MAYBE THATS THE WORST... BECAUSE ITS THE ONE THAT HITS IDENTITY DIRECTLY... AND THATS BAD NEWS... WE CAN LOSE OURSELVES WITH WEED... WE BEGIN THINKING THAT ITS NORMAL TO FEEL THAT.. THAT EVERYBODY FEELS IT.. AND THATS MISTAKE NUMBER 1... WEED WORKS FOR SOME... AND FOR SOME IT DOESNT
... MAYBE PANIC ATTACKS JUST SHOW US EARLIER THAT WEED IS NOT GOOD FOR US.. AND THAT THOSE THAT DON'T EXPERIENCE IT... MAY JUST BE CREATING SOME OTHER SERIOUS ISSUE IN THEIR BODIES, THAT THEY THEMSELVES ARE NOT AWARE OF... WHO KNOWS?... THE ONLY THING I CAN TELL U IS THAT PANIC ATTACKS BECAUSE OF POT ARE REAL... IN THE SENSE THAT THEY HAPPEN AND THEY ARE RELATED!!!... BUT UNREAL IN THE SENSE OF WHAT U BECOME... NEVER BELIEVE THOSE WHO TELL U THAT WEED JUST BRINGS OUT THE REAL U...IF U UNDERSTAND BY URSELF... THAT U LOSE PERSONALITY... U FEEL DEPERSONALIZED.... THEN THERE IS A REASON WHY U FEEL IT... PAY ATTENTION TO UR BODY AND MIND... THEY ARE WISE.. AND BOTTOM LINE.. STOP SMOKING POT AND LOOK FOR A HIGHER POWER (RULE NUMBER 1 FOR ANY ADDICT)... BECAUSE OUR LIVES BECOME OUT OF HAND... AND WE MUST ACCEPT A HIGHER POWER, WHICHEVER U UNDERSTAND IT TO BE, FOR HIM TO HELP US IN FINDING OUR TRUTH...FREE OF STIMULANTS... JUST BEING ABLE TO ENJOY... I JUST HOPE TO STOP SMOKING POT AND GET RID OF THESE PANIC ATTACS...LEAVE THE WEED... I JUST HEARD SOME GUY SAY TONIGHT THAT THERE IS A REASON FOR THE PLANT TO EXIST.. I SAY SOME PLANTS ARE ALSO TOXIC... HELL THERE ARE EVEN SOME PLANTS THAT U EAT AND DIE... SO WHY CAN'T MARIHUANA BE ONE OF THOSE? ONLY ITS KILLING U LITTLE BY LITTLE... JUST BECAUSE AT SOME POINT U FELT RELAXED WHEN USING IT? I DON'T THINK SO.... GIVE IT A THOUGHT. PEACE.

Smoked for 19 years. Was really buzzing and bam. A full blown panic attack. I also had the same rationalization that it was simply my time to die. I remember thinking I should call 911, but didn't. I stood outside for awhile, did some deep breathing techniques from yoga and got my act together. I think it lasted an hour, but it seemed like a lifetime. Considering I smoked 1000+ times and never had a panic attack, it's hard to believe its related to smoking. Yet I find it nearly impossible to get stoned for 6 months now. I also get anxiety if i am about to smoke. I think I am just associating anything with the panic attack with the panic attack. I cant dissociate smoking from it because i smoked when it happened. I rationalize myself this, but there's nothing I can do to get past this and get stoned again. Any help out there????

right now is day 21 or 23 (not to sure if I quit between the 3rd or the 5th but I know it was that weekend) and I still dont feel the same
its not as bad as it was on day 9 to 11 but its all still unreal
a blurr in the sense
I still want to smoke pot, but Im not sure if thats me wanting to smoke pot for myself, or being able to smoke pot as a sociel thing (not to fit in cuz I dont care) but when I was smoking I loved meeting other stoners, and just not even knowing them that well but having one interest that could make us good friends off that bat. This is tuff learning how it is to function, and start conversations without pot being number one in it, because usually that is how I made friends, or met people, and or got along with some.

@ 16 I WAS TAKING X AND I DID IT TILL I WAS 18 THEN I MOVED OUT OF MY PARENTS HOUSE AND STARTING SMOKING WEED HERE AND THERE AND WHEN I DID I WOULD FREAK OUT THINK I WAS GOING TO DIE AND THEN I WOULD CALM DOWN AND GO TO SLEEP AND THEN I STOPPED SMOKING FOR A YEAR AND I SMOKED CIGARETTS AND I WOULD ALWAYS START GETTING LITTLE PANIC ATTACKS ALL THE SUDDEN WHEN I WAS IN THE MALL OR WALMART LIKE I WANTED TO GET OUT OF THE STORE REAL FAST ... AND COULDNT THINK......THEN ONE DAY I HAD THE WORST PANIC ATTACK I WENT CRAZY IT WAS SNOWING OUT AN I GOT MY FRIENDS KEYS TO THERE CAR AND TOOK OFF AND WENT DOWN COUNTRY ROADS DIDNT KNOW WHAT I WAS DOING OR WERE I WAS GOING JUST WANTED TO GO THEN I STOPPED THE CAR AND COULDNT BREATHE AND STARTED SPITTING UP AND DRY VOMITING.....THEN START DRIVING AGAIN SO I WENT AND GOT CHECKED OUT AFTER THAT THEY SAID I WAS FINE NO FEVER NO COLD JUST SEVER PANIC AND TO GO RELAX AND TAKE SOME XANAX AT FIRST I DIDNT LIKE THEM I DIDNT REALLY FEEL ANY RELAXATION SO I KEPT HAVING THEM BAD I WOULD JUMP IN SHOWER 5 TIMES A DAY AND GO CRAZY SO I MOVED OUT TO COLORADO OUT OF NO WHERE AND STARTED SMOKING WEED WITH PEOPLE AND KEPT DOING IT AFTER I WHILE I GOT HOOKED ON HOW IT MADE ME FEEL.. NOW I GET PANIC ATTACKS FROM SMOKING WEED AND I CANT SIT DOWN AND I WANNA STOP SO BAD ...... I DO LIKE HOW XANAX MAKES ME FEEL NOW THESE DAYS I THINK MY BRAIN HAS JUST CHANGED .. I MEAN I WENT FROM NOT LIKING WEED TO SMOKING IT ALL DAY EVERYDAY AND THEN NOW I DONT LIKE IT AGAIN .....BUT I KNOW IF IM SOBER ILL GET A PANIC ATTACK TO ........IV BEEN TO DOCTORS THEY THINK I HAVE ----- Narcissism