Hello, first off I would like to thank you for taking the time to view this thread, even if you don't plan on posting anything. Any response I value as well, even if it is to tell me to stop.
I have searched far and wide on Google, and have found a situation or two that are similar to the one that I had. My search returned this forum, and so I've decided to post. This is going to be long, and once again I thank you for your time.
I have been a smoker of marijuana for a good year. It was all fun and games until one time..
I am 17 years old and weigh a good 170 pounds. I am around 5'10 and exercise regularly. I am also a regular smoker of cigarettes.
My "experience" started around a month and a half ago, one day after school, when a couple of my friends and I decided that hitting up the bong would be a great way of relaxing after that deadly test that we just had. (Which I aced, by the way. :P)
After picking up from my friend's dealer, we headed to his house and loaded up a bowl. Lighting it up, I was the first to take a hit. It was a larger hit than I should have done I admit, and I forget what made me take such a huge toke.
I almost immediately coughed out the smoke and it felt like my lungs were crushed; the pain was pretty bad and hardly bearable. I sat there for a while, approximately 15-20 minutes while I calmed down and my friends toked up.
The next feelings I got was an intense thirst and dryness of the eyes. Naturally, I asked for water, to which they denied. I kept asking for water, but in their laziness and high, they refused. Obviously they weren't feeling this dryness that I was.
The next thing I admit is not the smartest thing in the world that I have done. Since the bong which we were using was an ice-catcher, we had a tray of ice. I proceeded to stick a chunk of ice in my mouth after wetting my lips. I grabbed another one and rubbed both of my eyes, and immediately I felt better. What was disgusting though is that my friend owns a cat, and by this time I had cat hair all over my mouth and eyes. Gross!
We proceeded to his balcony for a smoke, with me still pretty thirsty and still deprived of water. I lit up a cigarette in hopes that it would calm my nerves. After the cigarette, I sat there, slightly calmed. Then it hit me.
The left side of my face was completely numb, and there was an intense twitching in my left eye. I could not control it, and started to panic. It only got worse. The main thing I remember is that it felt as though something like a blood vein popped in my eye, and then I literally went crazy. Clutching the left side of my face, my whole body went into a huge spasm. My arms and legs started shaking uncontrollably, like a seizure. I asked my friends to take me to the hospital, to which they denied. They assumed that I was just tripping out badly. When I looked into the mirror, the left side of my left eye (left side of the iris) was noticeably redder than the other side. On a side note, my eyes do get red with marijuana use, however the left side of my left eye was redder. At this point I was freaking out. Every time I tried to calm myself, I would lose control and start freaking out again. I really had to force myself before I could actually calm down. We went inside, and (finally!!) my friend got me a glass of water. His sister was also kind enough to give me a glass of apple juice, which I chugged gratefully. As we were leaving my friend's car, I felt like I had no control of my left eye whatsoever; it felt like my vision was bouncing around.
I met up with my friend a while later, and when walking to his car, it felt like I found it hard to balance while I was walking, much like the feeling of being intoxicated, except I was completely coherent.
I then noticed that most of my left body was numb, and when I mentioned this to my friend he told me that the left side of my face seemed to be drooping. I also had trouble keeping my left eyelid open. When I tried smiling only the right side of my lips curved up. Biting my tongue would only be felt on the left half of my tongue. When I focused on something, I had to give extra effort in "keeping" my left eye up, and eventually it would involuntarily look down, resulting in double vision.
I went to his girlfriend's house after deciding not to go to the hospital, because by this time it felt as though I was recovering. There, I was fed a massive amount of food which she kindly prepared for us, and played some video games with my friend. A slight headache followed, but it seemed negligible, so I ignored it. All seemed well and I returned home, safe and relatively sound.
I'd like to say the story ends there, but it doesn't. I apologize for the long post, but I feel that I must be complete when explaining my situation(s) if I am to expect a good answer. Thank you for bearing with me.
Where I live we are fortunate to have a 24-hour health line, which I called. I explained to the nurse over the phone the symptoms I had, and she advised me to just go home and sleep, and consult a doctor as soon as possible.
The next few days I went to my family doctor and explained to him my situation. He asked me if I have been using any drugs lately, to which I responded "no." I now regret making that decision. He suspected that it was a seizure, and recommended me for a CT scan of my head, along with a blood test and urine drug screen; apparently the drug screen is standard procedure. A few weeks later the CT scan returned and I was reported to have a "normal head," thank God.
I smoked up a few times after this incident, and the most discomfort I had was a slight throbbing of my left eye, never anything too serious. Even when I am sober now, my eye still throbs, but it never hurts. I just feel a slight pulsating feeling. I thought after a while the feeling would go away, but I was very wrong.
One night after an intense session of studying, I remembered that I had a very small amount of weed left in my drawer and so I proceeded to roll it up and smoke it. In total it was about half a joint to myself, 0.4 grams at maximum. I began to have a numbness in my face once again, and this time I was (sort of) prepared. I immediately lay down in my bed. When I rested my head upon my pillow, I felt pressure on my eyes, so I propped myself against the wall, hoping that it would lessen the pain, and it did. Once again my eyes started twitching and throbbing like I described before. I felt the same "popping" feeling in my eye again, and the whole thing went on replay. The seizure-like symptoms and double vision came again, with me praying to God that tonight wouldn't be my last. I Googled "symptoms of a seizure" and the symptoms that were described were exactly what I was experiencing. I freaked out. I called my friend and talked to him about my situation, and he was kind enough to stay on the phone with me even though I'd waken him up. I should mention that it was 4 am at the time. The symptoms died down, and I went to sleep. I woke up at around 7:30 am for school, and was still high. However, I proceeded through the rest of the day normally. This was approximately 4 weeks ago.
... And it goes on.
I kept smoking up after this incident, and felt fine. I even shared a huge joint of 4-5 grams between 5 people in a small sauna, without anything happening to me.
One night, my friend and I were smoking up outside, and had around 1.3 grams between the two of us. I got a ride home, and once I lay down I felt numbness in the left side of my face once again. I immediately called a friend, and chatted with him to take my mind off my seizure. I even put on an episode of Family Guy to calm my nerves. I must say, it was a much more pleasant experience this time, for lack of a better description. It still scares me in hindsight. I found myself subconsciously biting my tongue with a chewing motion, and jerking my left leg. Along with numbness of most of my left body, this was all I felt. There was no "popping" feeling this time. It ended as suddenly as it started, and after this I went to sleep. Once again I woke up feeling perfectly fine. This was just last weekend.
I haven't smoked up since last weekend, and ever since the first experience, I have constant discomforts in my left eye, a slight throbbing but never pain. Even now I feel a discomfort as I am typing this.
The negative results in my CT scan allow me to conclude that I do not have an aneurysm, multiple sclerosis, or anything of the type. However, an interesting fact is that I Googled the symptoms of aneurysms, multiple sclerosis, seizure, and stroke, and they all have the similar symptoms, similar as well to the ones that I received.
Finally, I would like to include some commonalities that I have noticed between all three incidents:
Complete coherence during these episodes
Lack of sleep (possibly, I don't quite remember)
Numbness on left side of body
Seizure-like jerkings of all limbs
Heightened heart pace
Quite a large amount of weed (for me, anyway, I'm quite lightweight. However the large joint that I shared with my friends without a problem dismisses this to be a factor)
Feelings of anxiety/paranoia during the "incidents."
The most I can conclude based on my own assumptions and research is that I have had panic/anxiety attacks, although I do not know all the symptoms.
Once again, I thank you for reading this, even if it is only a part. Kudos to anyone who read the whole thing. Any in sight at all will be greatly appreciated.
- C
