Hello, here is my story. I am 19 years old and have been smoking marijuana for a year. I have now taken a break from smoking weed for the past 2 weeks and a month ago I had a severe panic attack. I am still somewhat feeling the effects of depersonalisation but they were much more severe a few weeks ago and I have a doctors appointment on the 25th of April. I have never felt panic in my life but on Wednesday over a month ago. I have always felt great when I smoked weed but for some reason this time I felt awful. I had woke up on a March break morning around 11 am and I smoked this good weed that I had never tried before. I always smoke out of bongs and I had smoked right when I woke up so I probably was dehydrated and my blood sugar was low. I know weed lowers blood sugar and it was on an empty stomach. It took about ten minutes and eventually I had tunnel vision, I couldn't look at my tv because the screen was too bright, felt like a mini seizure, heart was racing, sweating, felt like I was choking and I was going to have a heart attack. I realize that you cannot die from a panic attack but it was very uncomfortable. The weird thing is that I have never felt panic at all after smoking weed. I smoked half a bowl of this good weed I had never tried and shortly after I smoked this good regular weed that I am used to. I went to ER and took some tests but I eventually left as I did not want to wait there all day. The first week back to school was frightening but now a month later, school is almost over and I am starting to feel somewhat normal. Do you think this will just take time for me to completely get over? I have been feeling depersonalisation because things didn't seem real and everything seemed like a dream. I would have to touch myself to see if I was real it seemed and I had bad anxiety ever since. I feel almost normal now but I am wondering if I just need to wait for the weed to get out of my system in order for me to feel normal again. I smoked weed about a week ago and ever since I think I should quit until I figure out my personal life. I have always felt depression even before I started smoking weed. Growing up as a child my mom was an alcoholic and she would give me suicide notes, my brother died when I was 13 and I was attacked by random people near my street a couple years ago which caused some paranoia and increased anxiety about walking outside at night. It's not like weed caused this, I think that it brought out the real me, it brought out my actual problems and I think the herb is just telling me to fix my issues that I have been having for so long. It's been just over a month and I am starting to feel much better. For the longest time my subconscious mind was paying attention to every breath which was hard and annoying to sleep. I still somewhat feel like this but I am starting to accept it and not care. I have a driving test in a couple weeks and I am scared to be honest. The weird thing is, I have always been scared to do new things like driving or getting a job. Even when I was a kid I was afraid to talk to girls, I know this may sound like I am crazy. I have gotten over the fears of talking to girls now though because I am 19 and not 14 any more. I am hoping to see a psychologist shortly after my doctors appointment which I am hoping to get some clarification and advice to fix my issues. I was also very bullied as a child during elementary school because I was overweight which I think is the reason why I lost a lot of weight and I am now working out daily, mainly running. But, I am very self concious about my body now, I always look in the mirror at my body because I still worry about looking fat and what others think of me. I have always cared about what others think of me which I hate. I think I am getting better at thinking positive now. Another thing is, even before I started smoking weed, I was a very stressed person from school and my personal life. I get in fights with my mom and it stresses me out. She is no longer an alcoholic but it really bothers me even if she has one drink. What I think is weed is not bad for you and cannot harm in very many ways. It can trigger certain things as it had happened to me, but it is physically impossible to die from marijuana. I have smoked weed after my attack and I was fine for the most part. All marijuana does is relax you and increase the serotonin in your brain. It gives you the ability to think more outside the box and it makes you focus on things more which can create a paranoia. Anxiety and depersonalization are in your head. If you think negatively you will react negatively. I want to become a psychologist and I am going to university next year so I know a lot about the mind. I am just wondering if I will get over it and most people say it takes time which I agree with. I will not permanently stop smoking weed but I will definitely cut back drastically. Sorry for the long message, I hope someone can help me!
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Going through the same thing. Don't worry, you aren't crazy. Someone from a forum named Bugzby or something said something similar like this. When you are high, it causes you to focus or OVER-THINK on a situation. If you AREN'T thinking about anything, or aren't OCCUPYING yourself to take your mind off of something, you will freak out. You will start focusing on your heart, your breathing and your whole body. This is why we have entertainment like TV's, video games, music, food.. If you don't focus on those, then there's nothing to focus on except being paranoid. When you're high, and you start getting paranoid (Racing POUNDING heart, feeling like you can't breathe) it's because you aren't focusing on something else, instead you FEED the FEAR, and the FEAR gets worst. Relaxation techniques for anxiety help too. When you FEED FEAR, what happens? You start FEARING FEAR, then FEARING THE FEAR OF FEARING, so on and so on, does that make sense? Have you had a racing heart, feeling like you can't breathe, then you keep thinking, what if I'm dying? Then you start feeling worst, head throbbing, tunnel vision? THEN you think, "even though people say you can't die from weed or panic attacks, WHAT IF I'm the first one to die from it!?!" If YES, you're just feeding the fear? Don't you get it? Don't FEED fear. EMBRACE FEAR Yes, you have to ACCEPT the fear. When you get a racing pounding heart, when you feel you can't breathe, EMBRACE the feeling. Just tell yourself, who f*****g cares, OH WELL. Find something else to do, turn on music, play a game, watch TV, READ.... I find reading to stop the panic attacks because your focusing on the story of someone else instead of yourself. If you EMBRACE and ACCEPT the panic attack, the panic attack will slowly fade away because you aren't FEEDING it anything anymore. Now as it goes away, remember, DON'T FEED FEAR, or the FEAR will start feeding on you. Hope it helps.
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Thanks for your reply! This makes perfect sense, I already knew it was all a mental mind game and about feeding fear but you gave me some good in depth information about what I am feeling. I guess I had my attack because when I was stoned, I did not know what was wrong with me and I started fearing my heartbeat and what not. I gave myself a very severe panic attack because at the time I had never experienced anything like this and I thought I was dying which triggered everything, which was a month ago. I just want to keep getting stoned like I used to but I think that I should just smoke a little at a time and ease into it. I just want to feel great again while getting high. I have been getting better with my sleeping because I am learning to accept my breathing anxiety which is helping but I still feel it a bit. I think eating some pizza and hanging with friends and smoking weed will help tomorrow night haha. Thanks for your help!
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Bro as much as all pro-pot enthusiasts will tell you nothing is wrong with smoking pot, I want you to seriously consider how it affects you. And what you must realize is that the mental effect is the result of a physical chemical changing chemicals in your brain. Sure, might not be life-threatening in the sense that we haven't yet seen any serious "physical toxicity", but it does change something in your brain which will cause you to feel, think, and act differently; which could be dangerous. I'm not anti-weed BTW. It's just that for me personally I actually get tons of bad effects from weed. I'm also familiar with drug addiction and how it works. just quit weed for like 3 months dude. Trust me on this one. You aren't going to die without it.
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Bro as much as all pro-pot enthusiasts will tell you nothing is wrong with smoking pot, I want you to seriously consider how it affects you. And what you must realize is that the mental effect is the result of a physical chemical changing chemicals in your brain. Sure, might not be life-threatening in the sense that we haven't yet seen any serious "physical toxicity", but it does change something in your brain which will cause you to feel, think, and act differently; which could be dangerous. I'm not anti-weed BTW. It's just that for me personally I actually get tons of bad effects from weed. I'm also familiar with drug addiction and how it works. just quit weed for like 3 months dude. Trust me on this one. You aren't going to die without it.
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Yeah I agree with you, I have now quit for 3 weeks almost and I am now getting better. The thing is, I have been feeling depressed recently and I don't know why. Also, lately I have been eating a lot of unhealthy food and when I was smoking weed, I was eating really healthy.
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You are feeling depressed because marijuana raises your seratonin levels, when it begins to leave your system, your seratonin levels off and gives you that melancholy feeling that you're experiencing. I have the same problem as you, one good day after smoking for years, I was about your age and freaked out like you, even taught someone how to drive my stickshift all the way to the hospital for me lol I still have freak outs once in a while, if I take too big of a hit. Rule of thumb man.... Don't choke, if you cough, forget about it, pour yourself a shot or two and ride it out lol
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I am starting to feel normal again, its almost been 3 months since my traumatic experience and I haven't smoked in weed in 3 weeks. I still have a slight anxiety and feeling of going crazy. I also get intrusive thoughts which are really messed up lol. I'm thinking that it will only take time for me to feel normal again. The only thing that really bothers me is that I have this stupid constant worry about my breathing which really annoys me and creates a rush of anxiety.
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Well, I decided to smoke for the first time in a month, it feels pretty good, I didn't really have any anxiety but I had a little. I think the best way to cure my anxiety is to face my fears and keep smoking.
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All of you are right, in what you're saying...
this is how i did it, first of all get in a good sleeping routine, If you have a dog walk it ect., have a bath before you smoke, keep the environment you are smoking in tidy, Keep a light on (not coz ur afraid of the dark, but the dark is depressing), work or looking for work always must come first (no morning smokes) no matter how cool meth and red man make it look, oh and focus on whats happening on that T.v. screen and remember to keep monitoring ur breathing deep breaths in long breaths out, don't associate anything on that screen with your own life, Only ever have friends who tell you, that you can and cheer you on anybody that jokes about you or tries winding you up get rid of them I only noticed this recently after I stopped smoking, I had anxiety problems dumped 1 friend and I feel alot better about myself...
Another thing I noticed is i went 6 months without buying 1 bag, only smoked after I went to the club with friends once or twice but passed out, I had my first couple of spliffs by myself and masturbated after the 3rd spliff and it was the best feeling I have had in 6 months, very close to real sex, I have been bustin the smallest nutts for 6 months lol, so now I'm craving weed, masturbation seem'd like a chore for a few months, but you gotta keep your masturbation habits in check, make a once a night rule or once every other night, as soon as you associate weed with your sexual need thats when you'll start losing control of yourself...
if you are having a panic attack just splash your face with freezing cold water, that will limit the chemicals you have released in your brain that you'll have to deal with the next day, keep them at a minimum and them memories that worked you up will fade in time...
this is how i did it, first of all get in a good sleeping routine, If you have a dog walk it ect., have a bath before you smoke, keep the environment you are smoking in tidy, Keep a light on (not coz ur afraid of the dark, but the dark is depressing), work or looking for work always must come first (no morning smokes) no matter how cool meth and red man make it look, oh and focus on whats happening on that T.v. screen and remember to keep monitoring ur breathing deep breaths in long breaths out, don't associate anything on that screen with your own life, Only ever have friends who tell you, that you can and cheer you on anybody that jokes about you or tries winding you up get rid of them I only noticed this recently after I stopped smoking, I had anxiety problems dumped 1 friend and I feel alot better about myself...
Another thing I noticed is i went 6 months without buying 1 bag, only smoked after I went to the club with friends once or twice but passed out, I had my first couple of spliffs by myself and masturbated after the 3rd spliff and it was the best feeling I have had in 6 months, very close to real sex, I have been bustin the smallest nutts for 6 months lol, so now I'm craving weed, masturbation seem'd like a chore for a few months, but you gotta keep your masturbation habits in check, make a once a night rule or once every other night, as soon as you associate weed with your sexual need thats when you'll start losing control of yourself...
if you are having a panic attack just splash your face with freezing cold water, that will limit the chemicals you have released in your brain that you'll have to deal with the next day, keep them at a minimum and them memories that worked you up will fade in time...
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Thank you for your reply. I have been smoking a lot of weed lately to face my fears and its working. I still feel panicked, but every time I feel like panicking, I do something else. You are right about associating weed with masturbation. It's funny you say that because I now order a ton of pizza since I don't smoke weed like I used to. When I was on that month break, I was eating a lot of pizza lol. It seems like I replaced weed with pizza! Not a good thing! I am a healthy person, I like to run and eat healthy and I recently started living healthy again. When I was smoking weed I was a pretty healthy guy, I was smoking daily and still running and eating healthy. I order more food now, than I ever did. Also, I feel like I am masturbating more than I ever did. My main issue currently, is that I always feel shortness of breath, like I can't take a full breath. Any ideas? Thanks!
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Yes the shortness of breath is in your thinking, be patient with the joint don't chung it down, keep your mind focused and make the effort to breath deep breaths, don't listen to music, unless it's like a reggae beat and they are talkin about how soothing it is to be high, also you have to be well rested the night before or you.
smoke outside and leave a window open an hour before you smoke so it is fresh air you're breathing in once you're back inside..
smoke outside and leave a window open an hour before you smoke so it is fresh air you're breathing in once you're back inside..
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I smoked weed again today and felt pretty good, I think me smoking weed often again is making me used to it like before and its helping me feel a lot happier again.
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just remember to take tolerance breaks, Also what is important, is to stop and grieve if someone/something dies, if you break up with ur GF (short or long term) ect., otherwise all them problems will stack up and you'll end up depersonalized, which is when you can't put ur finger on what is up and you go crazy...
Take it easy on cigarettes also, the craving for cigarettes is just anxiety, maybe give them up all together and smoke bongs or buy a volcano ..
Take it easy on cigarettes also, the craving for cigarettes is just anxiety, maybe give them up all together and smoke bongs or buy a volcano ..
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I have never smoked a cigarette in my life and I hardly ever drink, I have no girlfriend at the moment and I always smoke bongs or pipes. I think that I will see a psychiatrist because I have this weird feeling in my mind that I know I am real but it seems like I've convinced myself I have de-realisation. I honestly think that it is fading away though because it only seems that I have short of breath now and that is basically it. It feels like I am going crazy sometimes and I feel very stressed. I am wondering if I just need to talk to someone about it.
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