Marijuana - permanent anxiety?

No, actually it doesn’t sound nuts at all. I have been paranoids as well when I was smoking marijuana and a lot later as well. I wasn’t having such strong panic attacks but I had anxieties when I wanted to get away from everybody, when I didn’t want to be with people because I was so anxious, I had that “conspiracy theory” in my head as if everyone knew what I was thinking and were doing things to make me look silly or made fun of me although that was not the truth.

I have been paranoid as well. I haven’t been smoking as much as you did but the effects are pretty similar and I am almost positive it is the drug. I managed to overcome the fears and problems when I got together with a really nice girl and when I started doing things other than smoking weed. Whenever I would have an attack, I would go through thinks sensibly and realize it is not real and that it is in my head. That helped a lot, bringing myself back into reality.

Don't worry! You aren't going nuts, it just sounds to like you're on a very harsh come down.
I know it's hard, but try your best not to worry about it. Don't smoke any more weed! The longer you abstain the more things will improve, even if it doesn't seem like it.
I am a recovering cannabis addict myself.
I was smoking probably about 8 joints per day. However, I was certainly making sure those joints were jam-packed full of weed! I smoked moderately and heavily for about 8 months, and lightly prior to that for about 3 months.
I quit smoking round about May this year. I decided to stop because I began feeling confused, forgetful, and like yourself, I was smoking late into the night just to wake up in the morning to have one for breakfast. I realised it was taking control of me, and i needed to end it there before it became worse.
After roughly one week of quitting I found it increasingly difficult to sleep. When I did eventually fall asleep, I would wake up after say, only three hours rest, to find myself sweating buckets. I can tell you now, I have never seen or felt so much sweat in my life, ever. My bed and pyjamas were drenched in sweat. It was horrible. I felt confused and prior to falling asleep I was having intensive dreams - this was very disturbing as I can distinctly remember being in a state of half-consciousness, having bizzare images race through my mind whilst starring in confusion at the ceiling. On top of this I loss my appetite, my stomach was sensitive and I felt nauseated, although I didn't actually vomit.

I know exactly what you mean! I was so anxious I wouldn't even go to the chip shop or newsagents! I didn't want to leave the house. I did when it was inevitable, but if possible stayed in. I even avoided friends I've known for over 10 years, and occasionally felt nervous around my family.
I kept on having wild mood swings. At one moment I felt okay, 5 minutes later I was having a panic attack. I was to put it bluntly, sh*t scared. And on top of the anxiety I could barely concentrate, especially when it came to reading and absorbing information, particularly new information. I felt restless and irritable. I didn't feel like the same person.
If you haven't told anyone yet, don't be affraid to talk to someone. Family is a good start. Also, don't be afraid to see the doctor if you are really worried. I did, and was told I was suffering acute anxiety because of the marijuana withdrawal. The doctor recommended exercise and keeping my mind occupied.
It took a while but it does help, and I do feel better. I don't feel 100%, but as they say, time is a great healer.
So stay off the weed, eat healthily, and get exercising. Like I said, if you're still afraid to leave the house, phone your GP and book an appointment. I'm sure he/she can give some good advice.
Hope you're feeling better soon! :D

Marijuana is a drug which relaxes the mechanism that governs brain signal paths. What this means is your brain signal (which is amplified and is occuring at an increased rate) will stray off the usual path. Sometimes it will take the right path but then not terminate as usual but advance to other paths.

Some smokers experience something that could be termed recursive thoughts: extremely annoying, unpleasant, repeating thoughts that come up once in a while (almost as strong as voices), lasting anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes, even as the subject is actively trying to terminate such thoughts.

These stray paths include neurons that are connected to neurons responsible for triggering anxiety and paranoid thought. Marijuana has great effect in the part of the brain responsible for audio/visual comprehension, which is also the area linked with schzophrenic behavior. This area is stimulated the most, hence the "stray" connections grow stronger.

When a stray connection is accessed enough, it stops being a stray one. As the marijuana usage accompanied with paranoid thought continues, the path grows strong and starts overpowering other paths. Paranoid thought and other schizophrenic tendencies increase.

When marijuana usage is stopped out of fear of this problem, the path remains strong. The problem is never resolved so it actually grows stronger as time progresses. If conscious intervention is not achieved some people may develop other, stronger schizophrenic tendencies.

The power of validation of brain signals seperates us from most animals.
Through self-realisational negative reinforcement one can invalidate certain paths by associating them with a negative higher conscious response (The higher consciousness is a layer over the rest of our brain. It has more power than many think.).

Schizophrenic tendencies such as paranoia and even hallucinations (visual/auditory) CAN be cured through meditation and LOGICAL REASONING about the problem. I know from experience. I still hallucinate when I smoke, when I close my eyes. But now it's nothing menacing. No anxiety either anymore.

Your brain has more power than you think.

This last post sounds reasonable. I have read up on schizophrenia, especially that which has been exasperated by use of cannabis.







I have also heard that schizophrenia can persist after cease smoking of cannabis, but despite this I would still steer clear of smoking it, quit permanently and never touch the stuff again.



Meditation is also mentioned in this last post - I've read from other cannabis users, some who have smoked it for 20 years, that yoga and/or tai-chi can be extremely beneficial for helping to clear and focus your mind, resulting in relaxation and inner contentment. One even said that meditation produces much better "high" than smoking weed ever did!

I'm not sure about the high hehe but meditation helps a lot. What is meditation? The realisation of self. Many people have many different ways to meditate, my best advice is to simply search your mind for the definition of YOU. Who YOU are and what makes YOU tick?

WHY do you exist? HOW does your consciousness even work? HOW are your thoughts being processed right now? WHY can't I have a greater degree of control over my impulses and reactions?

That last question is most important. If you discover WHY you can't do something, then you can discover HOW you can.

Also I have a friend that's a full-blown schizophrenic from marijuana and magic mushrooms. He is not very intelligent which allowed his mind to spiral out of control. I think he had slight schizophrenic tendencies before he started smoking, but I saw a complete transformation in him over the course of 3-4 years of heavy smoking.

[Edit] You also mentioned exercise. I can't believe I missed that. Exercise has changed my life in many ways, but I could never deny the mental health boost received from even just one good workout. A regular, intensive workout problem will go a long way to help with most mental health issues.

hahahaha! you're fine? well with that much grass why am i not surprised?!



besides, you wouldn't have time to think - it'd be joint after joint after joint after joint after joint after joint after joint after... what was i thinking about again? oh yeah!... joint after joint after joint...



problem is with weed and any other drug that is taken to excess, is that when you quit, the bubble of unreality that you have created bursts, and you may find it extremely difficult with the reality you are faced with.







Hmhm... don't be fooled into thinking that intelligence plays a role in schizophrenia, because it doesn't. The fact that your friend had mild symptoms of schizophrenia before taking drugs is a more likely explanation to the worsening of his condition post-taking drugs.



However, be careful. Although less likely, it is known that certain people who did not show signs of schizophrenia prior to cannabis have ended up with schizophrenia after taking cannabis.



Basically, this is due to a weakness in the brain in some individuals. That weakness can be exasperated by cannabis resulting in abnormal levels of dopamine being produced. For those of you who don't know, dopamine is known as one of the "happy" chemicals that the brain produces amongst other's such as serotonin.



Dopamine is known to be linked to with reward, particularly with visual and auditory stimuli. An example is sexual intercourse. It is said that at the point of orgasm, dopamine levels increase, and can be compared to having a small hit of heroin - that'd explain the nice feeling you get from it! ;-)



Anyway, schizophrenics are known to produce abnormally high levels of dopamine in their brains, and therefore this can result in visual/auditory hallucinations along with other unpleasant symptoms. There is, of course, more to it than this. But hey, I'm no expert.



Message to the topic starter; Like I said, stay off the weed. It is true that marijuana can alter the way you perceive things - that would explain why the world feels to have changed for you despite it actually being the same. But, if you continue to abstain, you brain will slowly but surely make the corrections it needs to. I've been clean for about 6 months. The anxiety still remains, and it can flare up again unexpectedly from time to time, but it's just a matter of dealing with it in a logical manner. I am much better and am getting on with life.



All the best!

i had a panic attack while smoking weed i was shaking rapidly and now it has ben 3 days since i had smoked it now i have numbness in my bone joints like my knucles,knees,feet and arms and it is hard to focus on bright objects

i have slight tummy pains as well and i have warm dizzyness in the back of my head

if any 1 can tell whats going on plz do so i am worried for my health

my email adress is

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I used to be an occasional smoker. Still, the effects of the drug were amazing. When I smoked lightly I experienced it like all my smoking buddies. When I smoked moderately I couldn't stop repeating everything I heard or said back over in my mind, like a broken record. I just kept anylizing everything to no end. I'd watch cartoons and everytime I laughed I'd stop almost immediately and try to figure out why it was funny and if I changed the accentuations on certain words it would imply something completely different. Weird stuff. Finally, when I used heavily I heard voices. 3 to be exacted. One that kept repeating everything, one that would tell the repeating one to shut up and one that would try to keep the other two calm. I was very sensitive to marijuana. One day, after coming home from working late I decided to smoke a bit before bed and watch some tv. About 15 mins. after smoking my heart started to race. I was awake until 8 o'clock the next morning until I finally passed out from exhuastion. I didn't know what had happened. I had alot of caffine that day and thought it was the problem.

2 days later I tried smoking again, same thing happened. So I did alot of research online. Anxiety seemed to match the best for the symptoms I experienced. I read that drug use can depleate B vitamins over time and a deficiency can cause high anxiety and increased blood pressure, this, in combination with my inactivity ( not getting ANY aerobic exercise for about 3 years ) seemed to be the main cause.

Since then I have had a few, very small, panic attacks. Mostly at night from a fear of falling asleep, don't know why I'm afraid to sleep. I have avoided anxiety medications and narcotics, as they seem to induce attacks. I also, for about 6 months, have been taking a multi-vitamin, amino accid suppliment, and getting 30 mins. of aerobic exercise a day. I feel much beeter. Also, I quit drinking caffine, and the attacks seemed to be my miracle cure for my nicotine addiction. No longer a smoker. I feel much better.

I still have odd, somtimes disturbing or violent thoughts run through my head. And at times I do feel a general disconnection with my world and those around me, but for the most part I feel better. Almost normal. I do miss the marijuana but feel more motivated with out it. I like to think of the sudden onset of the attacks as my mind and body telling me to quit smoking pot and get my **** together. :P I hope some of this helped.

i actually have the same problem as you an i actually went through the same thing as u an i decided to quit becuz of theese panic attacks...once i quit i felt better an i thought the panic attacks stopped an then it happened again but it wasnt as bad as before.an wenever i went out i wud be paronoid wondering if i was going to get a panic attack through out da day.i dont want to tell my friends becuz they will probably think im some sorta weirdo.but i got through the panic attacks by concentrating on a video game or t.v. so i wud forget about it eventually.an jus try telling urself its happend before an nothing happend...i feel happy now knowing that someone has the same problem as me an i actually feel alot better knowing im not the only one.DAMN MARIJUANA....im pretty sure this is the cause of my problem as well as urs...i wud like for u to reply bak...thank u very much..u made me feel alot better

I was in vacations in Amsterdam with my girlfriend that I haven't seen for the last 3 months. All we wanted was too have fun. Coffee shops selling joints are all over the place and smoking weed is commonplace and legal. All these factors made the consumption of cannabis very appealing to us. My girlfriend smokes pot regularly. I don't. Nevertheless, this fateful night I was ready for a good high. We ordered one the weeds shown on the menu and my girlfriend asked for a pure blunt. Being in a cheerful mood I didn't see any objections to that. We start smoking; I tried my best to inhale the maximum because I really wanted to get high. After a few minutes of laugh, things switched dramatically. I started to freak out. I lost consciousness of the background surrounding; all that I was left with was the voice of my girlfriend trying to be reassuring. The waiter came to me with a spoon of honey he put in my mouth. I have to mention here that at the time I didn't anything AT ALL about panic attacks, I barely knew it existed. At first things worsen quite rapidly. My girlfriend took me outside to breathe fresh air. I was unable to walk at that time so I sat down against the wall of the coffee shop. I started to fell paralyzed, especially my hands. It becomes very hard to move my fingers. I had the feeling that I had screwed my mind permanently. I work as the scientist which means that my brain is what I used for a living. Losing it, was the worst things that could happen to me. A recurring feeling during the attack was my incredibly fast and powerful heart beat. It was like having a hot spot in the chest ready to explode. Breathing was very chaotic. After a while, I was able to take a walk with my girlfriend in Amsterdam. Panic attacks were coming back and forth during several hours. My girlfriend who was high at the beginning sobered up pretty quickly and was desesperately trying to calm me down. I was alternating between relaxed and euphoric moments and very anxious crisis. Then came the depression. I cried a bunch of times feeling to much pressure on me. I was always asking why this happened to me, what was wrong me, why do I deserve that. I was convinced that I was going through the worst time of my life. Thoughts of suicide came through my mind a bunch of times. A lot of things around me, like the numerous canals of Amsterdam were seen as a means to kill myself or hurt myself. At same time I was finding it miraculous that I was to survive. My "calm" periods were lasting longer and longer but I was always relapsing eventually. Since I didn't know anything about panic attacks, I was hard for me to believe my girlfriend who was repeatedly saying that panic attack are quite common for inexperienced people smoking strong weed. I become sometimes irritable and mad at my girlfriend because she had got me into this. Another strange thing that I remember was that things seemed to repeat themselves. Same place, same words from my girlfriend, same sensation... and I had this eerie feeling that I knew beforehand what will come next, especially what my girlfriend was going to say. We walked for hours in Amsterdam. I had no notion of time at all. It just seemed to last forever.
It is not before we were able to go to bed that I was able to calm a little bit. Unfortunately we were not able to stay in bed late since we were staying at some friend's place and we had to leave with them in the morning at 8 o’clock. I should mention that we smoked around 11 pm the night before. After 9 hours I was still feeling very weird but I was a little bit soothed by our short sleep (which didn't really feel like sleeping). We went back to the city center to have breakfast. It didn't take long for things to go down again. I felt very depressed and was easily crying. I was still unable to make long sentences (I forgot to mention that during the night my talking was very basic and mostly unintelligible, it was like a two-year old repeating again and again the same thing like: 'I am screwed up', 'I am going to die', 'What happened'...). I was also sometimes speaking in French (my mother tongue) to my girlfriend who doesn't speak French.)
Back to the morning when I was still very anxious and prone to shed in tears. All I wanted was to stay in bed but we didn't have any place to stay. So we started to look for a hotel room. It took ages to find a room where I could finally lay down. I was really miserable, waiting for a room to be ready for us (it was before check-out time) and all the hotels were full. I now realize that I attracted the attention of a lot of people and this since it started but I couldn't care less. I am usually very shy and easily embarrassed but during the crisis this was the least of my worries. Having the room was the great relief. I spend the all day in bed half-sleeping or just staring at the wall. I was so glad that my girlfriend was with me. Without her I think I wouldn't have survive this experience or it would have been a lot more painful.
At the time of my writing almost for day have passed. I am still having anxiety attack in the night during my sleep. It wakes me up and keeps me tired. I feel dizzy all day and reality seems different to me. It's not as clear-cut as it used to be. It feels like my brain had slowed down and stimuli take more time to reach me. My environment (university, lab) seems a little bit more aggressive and threatening. It feels like I am floating around in a sad mood like a ghost. My hope is that one day I will be back to normal, that's I won't be afraid anymore to go sleep.
I would certainly appreciate any advice and (reassuring) comments about my experience. I try all the time to convince myself that this is only temporary. Things HAVE TO get back to normal otherwise I can not look at the future with a smile.

Cheers

hesus38 and others thanks for your perfect explaination of mj and it's effects.. I have been a stoner for 2 years and have had reoccuring panic attacks and anxiety ever since I started using. I ignored these attacks hoping and believing MJ would provide me with something that deep down i know it would not. Now however, after an insane shroom trip and shroom flashback which almost cost me my sanity have I decided I need to quit weed, its not an option. Iv been a mess since but now believe I can and must take control over my mind and that I will be normal again. This is a vague explaination but the bottom line is your posts have helped me alot and will likely save my life.

I also feel like i have to vent some rage about our society and its stance on drugs. Society lied to me about MJ from the start so it was easy to deny its real dangers. I never would have done all of those shrooms if society didnt BS me about cannibus, betraying my trust.
- lol this post doesnt offer others much but take it as it is.

hesus38 and others thanks for your perfect explaination of mj and it's effects.. I have been a stoner for 2 years and have had reoccuring panic attacks and anxiety ever since I started using. I ignored these attacks hoping and believing MJ would provide me with something that deep down i know it would not. Now however, after an insane shroom trip and shroom flashback which almost cost me my sanity have I decided I need to quit weed, its not an option. Iv been a mess since but now believe I can and must take control over my mind and that I will be normal again. This is a vague explaination but the bottom line is your posts have helped me alot and will likely save my life.

I also feel like i have to vent some rage about our society and its stance on drugs. Society lied to me about MJ from the start so it was easy to deny its real dangers. I never would have done all of those shrooms if society didnt BS me about cannibus, betraying my trust.

- and i have 1 question.. will experiancing other things (such as gaming and school and such) override the bad pathways eventually? even if im not consciously trying to?
- lol this post doesnt offer others much but take it as it is.

hesus ty for that post i find it very useful and could save my life.. I just quit weed 4 days ago after a horribly terrible shroom flashback ( from a terribly intense shroom trip ) which I feel almost triggered schizophrenia. schizophrenia is prevalent in my family and if society didnt BS me about weed I never ever would have done shrooms, i had no idea it could trigger schizophrenia : (
hesus can I override these stray pathways unconsciously just by experiacing different things and moving on with life.. such as playiing video games and such?

hah are you high right now? you posted 3 variations of the same post. you HAVE to do other things and get involved in life if you want to beat schizophrenia, just to keep your mind off it. you should try not being alone a lot, but dont take that too muc hto heart as to not feel paranoid when youre alone, reinforcing schizophrenic tendencies.

just get busy, stay sober, drink alcohol that helps ive found (but dont start abusing it) and discard/disregard/dismiss any symptoms if they occur using the techniques mentioned previously. realise whats going on.

good luck