Anxiety & Marijuana

I have bi polar disorder, which gives me panic attacks, I have many OCD's and post tramatic disorder. One other post mentioned how different kinds of pot give you different side effects. The S kind I don't care for because it is a, well just a high I don't like. However the indica, is wonderful I don't have to take xanax which has really made me do some stupid things, destroy relationships and over dose on a couple times. After a long day at work I put on my fave playlist, and smoke. I am calm, relaxed and not angry. I don't feel like I'm wrong in my own skin, can talk ( I forgot to mention I have social anxiety). I think that some people are just wired differently and they just can't smoke. My best friend has same problem she can't smoke she just freaks out. But I do think that the medical uses are worth it being legal, not every pill or other medication works the same one anyone why should this be treated any differently????

I am a 19 yr old college student that just got done with my first yr. i have always smoked weed and it never gave me real anxiety, maybe sometime a little but nothing i would remember. i smoked thro college a couple times everyday then i started fighting with my roomate and my confidence in myself went down overall and i wasnt as social. whenever i would smoke i get paranoid of what ppl think about me and i cant function, and therefore get embarraseed. when i am not high i am fine, but when i smoke weed its a terrifying experience, even tho b4 it used to mellow me and i could be just as social if i werent to be high. ALL of my friends smoke weed, so idk how i would quit, and id need a perscription i am fine socially, and not concerend abut what i am doing and have confidence in myself. i have not seen a doctor. answers?

i have felt the same way as everyone else that has suffered from anxiety attacks from marijuana, i find it embarrassing that i couldve let myself fall into such an obvious trap

wow this site is pretty cool, so honest made me feel better so now i will share...i smoked weed for ah few years never ah problem(during this time i was an avid bike rider 5 times ah week) then over the course of ah year i would get panic attacks only about 3 in a years time..then the last 3 months it really started to pick up(alot of crazy sh*t was happening in my life but i was never sad or mad about it) i knew right away to kick back on the weed thought that would make it better cause i would always get more amped up on weed talkitive wanted to dance more so naturally it made the panic attacks worse but i stopped smoking and i still had anxiety like all day.. i was over it so i went to the doctor told me it was all in my head and to relax and gave me an ekg that came out perfect..then over the next couple of week it melted away i never touched the xanax she gave me....but she gave me peace of mind and i started to talk to my friends about it and they consoled me..if they werent telling me about there own anxiety.. ive tried getting high again but it just makes it worse again...ive read up and it does seem likely that i may have something up with my amygdala.. which probably became affected from the weed after i stopped riding my bike 5 times ah week... i felt unstoppable then .....i can still smoke but i have to drink to do it and after all that is it really worth it...no yeah i miss it...but i can just have ah beer and smoke ah cig if i need it that bad.. but in the meantime im gonna go ride my bike makes my ass look good too lol... and since ive stopped smoking ive really started to notice in my circle of friends they act slow not all of them some act fine and come across more effectively smart when high...but looks like im now the friend who used to smoke and brings ah beer instead...im go ride my bike now like i used to italready in the past week has helped so much.....smoking weed doesnt make you stupid but not listening to you body does .... i was never sad or depressed... just high strung

read page 3 shaded has great things to say and ah couple of post below that the nutritionist is dead on...to smoke ah drug and not think it can affect you is wrong ...make sure ur mind is running at normal levels ..before you start playing with those levels................that explains why people who have smoked for years all of ah sudden develop problems.... look at whats really going on in yourlife you dont have to be sad or depressed but are you dealing with it at all is the question..or just smoking ah bowl real up on the hippo campus amygdala ...take ah break and work out deal with ur problems ... weed alcohol and rx drugs lets you go around ur emotional problems instead of threw them this is why people whom stick with those options never get 100 percent again ..... its ah different world with different things to deal with then what are parents went thru ,doesnt make us dumb we just have to combat it in different ways are minds were never meant to deal with prolong stress let alone the introduction of thc...so dont be surprised if things become outta wack at times...your brain controls heart rate speech ur inherent will to live..and it will control you if you let it remember psychosomatic ...you are not invincible things will have an effect on you after ah giving time period with or without weed..people get these feelings of anxiety ..it easy for us cause we have some thing to blame (a.k.a.......weed is a trigger) all that wholeistic zen Buddha visualization breathing excessive yoga painting arts and crafts while sober gymnastics volunteer giving back to your community BS that everyone else is on might just work try that before you think less weed might work..i did
:-D

wow this site is pretty cool, so honest made me feel better so now i will share...i smoked weed for ah few years never ah problem(during this time i was an avid bike rider 5 times ah week) then over the course of ah year i would get panic attacks only about 3 in a years time..then the last 3 months it really started to pick up(alot of crazy sh*t was happening in my life but i was never sad or mad about it) i knew right away to kick back on the weed thought that would make it better cause i would always get more amped up on weed talkitive wanted to dance more so naturally it made the panic attacks worse but i stopped smoking and i still had anxiety like all day.. i was over it so i went to the doctor told me it was all in my head and to relax and gave me an ekg that came out perfect..then over the next couple of week it melted away i never touched the xanax she gave me....but she gave me peace of mind and i started to talk to my friends about it and they consoled me..if they werent telling me about there own anxiety.. ive tried getting high again but it just makes it worse again...ive read up and it does seem likely that i may have something up with my amygdala.. which probably became affected from the weed after i stopped riding my bike 5 times ah week... i felt unstoppable then .....i can still smoke but i have to drink to do it and after all that is it really worth it...no yeah i miss it...but i can just have ah beer and smoke ah cig if i need it that bad.. but in the meantime im gonna go ride my bike makes my ass look good too lol... and since ive stopped smoking ive really started to notice in my circle of friends they act slow not all of them some act fine and come across more effectively smart when high...but looks like im now the friend who used to smoke and brings ah beer instead...im go ride my bike now like i used to italready in the past week has helped so much.....smoking weed doesnt make you stupid but not listening to you body does .... i was never sad or depressed... just high strung ....the end

hey you guys, hopefully you can help me out. i have recently quit smoking marijuana and right away there were some bad effects. i first had a panic attack. and after that i have been feeling anxiety. this all started 2 weeks ago to be exact. ever since my panic attack the anxiety has been driving me crazy. out of no where i feel really nervous for no reason at all. i feel sometimes like i am going crazy. and sometimes things around me seem unreal for like a minute and then that feeling goes away. i am really scared im going to feel like this for a while. do you guys think this will last a while? or does it clear once your body flushes out the thc? i was smoking everyday for like 2 months. well hopefully someone out there can help me out. thanks!

I used to smoke everyday at least 2-3 times a day from ages 16-24 (I am 27 now). At about 19 or 20 I started getting anxiety while smoking. The older I got the worse it got. Also I the older I got the more I noticed I had anxiety while not smoking. I stopped smoking at 24 due to how bad the anxiety got while smoking. It seemed the minute I hit the bong my heart rate when up and I would just start thinking crazy insane thoughts. A few times I had pretty intense anxiety attacks after smoking. So I decided to stop totally. Even though it was really hard to stop because all of my close friends all smoked. And it was a big part of my social life.

Well about a year ago my cousin (who i live with) had some buddies come over. They had some pot cookies with them. They were eating them like candy and having a great time. They kept bugging me to eat one and I kept brushing them off. Finally the convinced me to eat one. BIG MISTAKE. I had about a 4 hour long panic attack. I thought I was going to die. My heart must have been beating 200+ beats per minute. I woke up the next morning feeling a little burnt but nothing to bad. But 2 days after I was driving on the freeway with my buddy and just had a anxiety attack out of no where.(first one while being sober) I almost blacked out on the freeway doing 65 mph (not good lol)..Ever since then I have had pretty bad anixety 24/7. But I have only had maybe 3 panic attacks. Somedays i feel great and others I just have extreme anxiety about nothing. I just feel extremely tense especially while driving. I am affraid to drive to far places because I am scared I am going to have another panic attack while driving. REALLY SUCKS...

Most of my friends from HS that smoked with me have quit as well due to the anxiety while high. Its funny how once people get older they cant handle it anymore. I think a lot of it is because when we were younger we really didnt have much to worry about. But now that we are older life has a lot more things to stress about (bills etc.)

i smoked pot for about 4 years now. ever since i started i was a pretty heavy user smoking up a couple times a day. about a month and a half ago, my cat passed away, who i had grown up with, and i experienced my first really bad panic attack. anxiety runs in both sides of my family. my dad, his mom, my mom and her dad are all medicated for anxiety. and now i am. the night after my first panic attack, i smoked a bowl to help me sleep, i also have insomnia and have been smoking bowls before bed to help me sleep for years. i had a TERRIBLE panic attack and was rushed to the emergency room, where my heart rate was 150+ and i couldn't stop shaking. i went to the doctors and was prescribed ativan for when i start feeling panicky and celexa to take everyday. i haven't taken my ativan for a little while now, but now every time i smoke weed, i start having panic attacks. I can't figure out if this is because of the weed, or if it's just me being nervous and i'm causing it myself. my best friend is also on celexa for anxiety and she smokes pot even more than I ever did, and she's been fine, along with her mom. I don't know if it's the weed, if it's just me scaring myself, or if the mixture of my meds and the pot is just not good for me. Can anyone help??

Hello,

I have smoked weed everyday for the past 2 years. I love being high so much i wish i could just smoke the rest of my life. It has made me lazy beyond imagining for starters let alone the mental problems i have just recently begun to experience (note i have been a very mentally stable person up until now), i have had anxiety problems (I get paranoid wen i am high of course but wen i am not high i feel anxiety to a high degree). This i have only noticed in the past couple of months and as stated i have been smoking now consistantly for some time. I have come to the conclusion that the weed has caused this problem. I have decided to stop and have had two horrible nights trying to sleep - due to anxiety attacks(worrying). I am not telling people to stop smoking weed as i understand how it is so loveable. But im almost 100% sure that weed can cause anxiety (or wateva the f**k it is i have now anyway). Trust me it is not a pretty experience.

My words of wisdom to you all: smoke in moderation

well you need to stop you sound "uninteligent" think about your future take it from somebody that has anxiety from caused by weed dnt f**** throw your life away over the years you will get something bad out of smoking im pretty sure you know theres consequenses from it you think is all fun and games now but wach later do something about it stop smoking. ?

Everyone I am so glad to see I am not alone in my struggle. I had recently taken shrooms and had a not too great trip. I smoked when I took the shrooms and ever since that day when i smoke anxiety attacks follow. It could be anything i think about or nothing at all and the anxiety hits. My body feels the anxiety and then my conscious mind trys to find a reason for the anxiety. I went through a period of severe depression, had thoughts of suicide, experienced panic attacks, and broke up with my girlfriend. It has been weeks and i feel i am getting better because there are less negative thoughts. I still question breaking up with my girlfriend because i don't know if i stopped feeling my love toward her because i did or if it was this stage I have been going through recently. The anxiety happens high or sober but high it feels terribly worse. God help and bless you all.

this is my story. i am 26, was smoking for 8 years everyday, had two breaks one month each, accidently by the way, because i left overseas. felt good, enjoyed being lazy and stoned. throughout that time i found many things that are fun to do while i was high. everyday i was looking forward to getting high again and smoking with my friends. it was a truly a different dimention of my life that i was lacking so much, and made my life so interesting to experience. my life became enjoyable. saying all this i started to smoke when i was 18, and that is when my partying began. I've used other drugs in the next 5 years recreationally and got addicted to some, but was able to overcome that addiction because i was always thinking about goals, like everybody else i am sure who sets goals for themselves in life. but the herb stayed with me, and i truly see nothing harmful in experiencing the highs, but in the past couple of years i started noticing that my enjoyable experience with marijuana started changing and it stopped being fun to smoke it, i started getting anxiety from weed.

In a past year, i started getting real bad panick attacks, i wanted to close my eyes and not see the world. I started to feel dissy, the ground that i was standing on felt like it was slipping from under my feet. (this was an illusion)

I could not drive, i had to stop, when before i was just fine. (this was an illusion)

I started to feel like my mind became clouded with thoughts that i never used to have before when i smoked weed. I though that people looked at me differently, and friends thought weird things about me. (this was a lie to myself, though its true when people see you are stoned, they simply don't like that fact)

I started to think too much about my breathing and that my breath is just not enough to keep my body oxygenated (this is not true, because your body can be at least 1 minute without breath like underwater, eventually i tested myself, when i was stoned, and started to get anxiety of breathing, i held my breath and proved myself that i am ok)

this is the basis of my story about marijuana. now, going through this experience i stopped smoking weed everyday, but i still like it very much, the smell of it and the occasional relaxing high that i get from it which is still pretty much like in the old days. how did i get to it? i smoke it when i want and can relax, at times of my life when i don't have much stress. sometimes i create my own stress but thats the way i am, and i used to smoke weed and forget about problems, that was when i could actually forget about them, now i can't. i have to deal with problems and move on like a real man does.
i believe that all of our problems with weed comes with your age, your position in life, and the way we respect marijuana.

right now i have a family of my own, a 5 month old son, a house and a good-fast paced job, in process of organizing my own company. how do you think in hell can i smoke weed everyday?!!! of coarse i need a clear mind and i will get anxiety everytime i smoke it, because i have so much on my mind. i recently stopped smoking it and i have anxieties even without smoking it, but thats because i feel the world around me more now, i am sensitive about my own feelings.

my friends, when we were young and could take upon this world as easy as we could in our teenage-adolescence our mind could afford to be stoned all the time, but when the responsibility reaches the point when you become a real man, it is the time to stop being a kid, and face the consequences of the real world around you. some people never grow out of being kids, and they can do drugs and smoke all they want and not get anxious, but they still do sometimes, its just that they are more careless than us. Some people grow into real men when they are 16, it depends on your upbringiing. people still can do great things while stoned, have successful businesses, fight battles or play sports. but they will never be better than me in these things, who thinks fast and even so fast when i am stoned that i get anxiety.

those people who are going somewhere in life, and want to get there, want to achieve things that we want, and are impatient about it by nature will get anxiety when stoned.
THIS IS WHY YOUR MIND IS FULL OF SO MANY THOUGHTS AT TIMES OF HIGH THAT YOU GET OVERWHELMED WITH THE IDEA OF SO MUCH TO THINK ABOUT AT THAT MOMENT OF HIGH, AND YOU GET THROWN INTO ANXIETY, NOT EVEN KNOWING WHERE IT CAME FROM.

so, do i have this figured out? i believe i am on the way to do so. i also believe now that there is a special time for this powerful herb, and i respect it much more than before.

reading through the posts, i hear people go through life changing experiences, and then get anxiety from weed. it is perfectly normal. you have to figure out your world and organize your thoughts in the sober world first before going back into the high again. I think marijuana speeds up the process of thinking in your mind, and if there is many things to think about, and you are uneasy about life before going into that high, you will not relax, but you will dive into the overdrive to figure things out, which will fire back at you because you need time to think. the firing back at you chanels itself through your bodily functions to protect the mind and speeds up your metabolism(heart racing), and all physical body signs that come out you create yourself!

from one point of view, all of this is an illusion that you create for yourself, and anxiety is just a protection mechanism of your psyche not to get into this trouble again, but if you set your mind to be powerful again, and get out of this loophole of your thoughts you can and will enjoy marijuana high again. In order to make your mind powerful you have to brake a habit of needing to smoke weed, once you do it, your mind will gain strength, which is only done through the sober state of mind. this was the way for me. it was VERY HARD, and i mean i thought almost impossible to get out of smoking-anxiety-smoking-anxiety everyday loophole. it took me just three days of non smoking to realize that i could do it, and since then my life became less stressful=less anxiety.

as to cases where people simply have anxiety even without smoking weed, i think there are no better medication that your mind itself. learn to chanel your thoughts.

right now i am learning to chanel myself out of two anxieties. this might sound very strange, but i hope people understand that anxiety is simply a feeling that one gets and gets worried about it, it might be a new feeling or a feeling that a person forgot and rediscovered again.

one anxiety is my heartbeat. thoughout years i did not listen to my heart, but recently i started to do so, right before i go to sleep. and it sounds so loud that i couldnot concentrate on anything else but my heartbeat and it drove me insane, until the moment i decided to be happy with it. so its good i have a strong heart, thanks to my years of athletic training.

the other one is taking vitamins. i like to be healthy, so i take vitamins, but i feel that my body is so sensitive that it reacts to vitamins soon after i take them, and when i get a rush i become anxious. well, this feeling is real, so i shopped around, found vitamins that are more suitable for me. these vitamins are organic based, not chemically produced, weaker form, but more quality, i still get little anxiety (more just a rush than anxiety) from them, but i get to live with it, and its ok. i truly know i need vitamins for my athletic and life performance. this is my choice. maybe because i recently stopped smoking weed i feel my body more now, this could also be the reason.

sometimes. anxiety happens when you have too much energy in your body, so get yourself tired, play some sports.

so to conclude my long speech about anxiety in general and anxiety and marijuana,

i would like to say that there isn't one anxiety that you cannot solve. i believe we have to always remember, that anxiety is just a confusion about connection of our body and mind, which is a trick that the consciousness plays on us, and more we become smarter as humans and civilization, the more we will get it and have to learn the art for dealing with it. I won't be surprized if some days it will be taught in schools, or maybe universities as a mandatory course.

substances and things that happen to us in life definately change us, all we have to do is agree to it, and understand that whatever happens, happens for good, and only for good. whatever is in the past is fate, that teaches us about our existance. it makes us stronger, so that we can pass on the knowledge to our children.

and marijuana is a herb, that can empower you or make you weak if you abuse it long enough, you can get lost in it.

i hope i helped some people to relax and think of anxiety as just a small word that not even supposed to be in our lives, its all the media that makes things sound big. so the next time you get overwhelmed with stress, just smile, take a run on the street or just hit a wall with your hand and feel that you are human and alive! stop stressing, drink some camomile tea, and watch a comedy everday of your life!!!

I am 18 and I've been smoking marijuana on a daily basis for about 2 years now. I first started smoking here and there when I was about 13. In the past year what I've come to realize is that if I smoke more than once a day I am more suseptable to anxious feelings. About a year ago when I moved from tennessee to new jersey I started feeling anxiety while smoking weed, but all of this was all in my head. For me, it was LSD that help me realize that I could overcome my own axiety while high. For others it could be as easy as simply reminding yourself that its the weed and not you that's making you think this way. I strongly believe in mind over matter and all you have to do is focus yourself to realize that you are in complete control of your thoughts. That being said LSD is completely different, I would not recommend you try and control your thoughts and try to bring yourselft to reality because that can bring on paranoia which is the worst feeling while on LSD.

Granted you won't become the zen master overnight, I still have some anxiety sometimes while smoking weed in new environments, but it takes practice. I would recomment smoking weed by yourself and practice focusing your thoughts before going to a party and smoking with people you've never met before.

Hope this helps.

Now go practice your shamanism!

-Jake

Hey guys when I was 13 I started smokin and I loved it. It was my life. I blazed up every day for 3 yes and never got tired of it. Some of my best moments were stoned with friends stuck laughing. And I did bars and valiums and prescription cough syrup and other drugs that arnt that bad. I was a typicall party guy who loeved to get screwed up and I was 14! But one day I got ecstasy. A green running man. And for the first time ever I had a massive anxiety attack for 7 hours and the next day. But I just thought I was gonna die. Rollin on x is so crazy so I just prayed and waited to die. In a couple days I tried to recover and I smoked 2 blunts. And then my heart was racing and I went numb and had the same feeling only this time instead of on x on weed. It was almost as bad as before but only like 10 mins. But a long scary 10 mins. And I went to the er a couple times when I had panic attacks sober. I soon stopped having them when I told myself that I'm not gonna die it's just adrenaline. But if I smoke more than like 10 hits I have an attack. So I smoke like twice a week and take no more than 8 hits in one session. So ecstasy started my anxiety and ruined weed for me. Don't do x! And if weed does that to u and I know how it feels! It's a wired feeling that your heart and brain r going to stop and you can feel it in ur body. If u get this from weed then don't smoke enough to be stoned just take a couple hits to feel alright.