Marijuana & Anxiety

Im a daily smoker suffering from scattered episodes of panic attack. they seem to occur more infrequent than not. anyways, i am just curious about the effects of marijuana smoking related to anxiety/panic attacks. i have heard that marijuana has the propensity to increase, and lower anxiety. lately, if I feel that i will be in a situation that could produce an attack, i don't smoke or stop smoking several hours before. just wondering if anyone has some advice about marijuana and panic attacks.

a guy I once worked with was a regular smoker of marijuana. He developed panic attacks as well. After he stopped smoking marijuana the panic attacks disappeared.

I dont know much about weed but I have often heard that smoking weed does increase the tendency to develop panic attacks.

My suggestion is to simply cut out the weed unless you are using it for medicinal purposes.

Elaine said:

a guy I once worked with was a regular smoker of marijuana. He developed panic attacks as well. After he stopped smoking marijuana the panic attacks disappeared.

I dont know much about weed but I have often heard that smoking weed does increase the tendency to develop panic attacks.

My suggestion is to simply cut out the weed unless you are using it for medicinal purposes.

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thanks for the info. duely noted. the thing is, i have been smoking for about 6 yrs now and the panic attack episodes have begun within the last year or so.

Please keep in mind, the panic attacks only occur in social situations or in anticipation of such situations. at these times i am not high. also, i do not experience attacks when i am smoking @ home alone.

I smoke weed regularly, and i defo feel that it increases inhibitions even though i never had a panic attack, simple things like going to the shop for ciggarettes will become harder to do. I think people say too much that marijuana causes mental problems, i think that more people with mental problems already, smoke weed( a bit off point but there you go)

I used to smoke week pretty regularly and I never had any major problems. I did notice that if I was in a bad mood and then smoked-out, I felt even more depressed. Alcohol was better for making me happy, weed was better at relaxing me if I was already in a good mood (or at least content).

Drink is good for loosening up and interacting alright but what about those mornings after when you just wake up and cringe about youve done!!!

I'm actually beginning to think drinking with SA is a bad idea. I brought a 1L bottle of 'Canadian Club' whiskey back from the states(because its dirt cheap over there) and I've been home two nights and more then half of it is gone, I'm also craving alcohol more now then I ever have before.......sorry to go off topic.....but based on personal experience weed makes anxiety a lot worse.

Weed and Panic attacks

Marijuana never fails in peaking my anxiety and throwing me into a psychotic fit of panic. This happened though after years of drug and alcohol abuse, seemingly after my mental capacities were diminished by all of the chemicals taking their toll on me. If youre having panic attacks from marijuana, I propose that it isn't right for you. I figured that out myself, only after having panic attacks every time I would smoke with friends and such, and after trying to force them to stop because I wanted to be able to smoke with my friends. The severity of the constant panic attacks made me move to a new location, and to sever all ties with those people, because every time I would see them thereafter, I would be reminded of those episodes. Its a shitty thing for me to have done, but I can't really help it. I just say that weed brought me to a point at which I had to drop my life, quit my job, leave my home, my friends, and to move away to escape my fear. I'd hate to see that happen to someone else, and I wouldn't even wish it upon my worst enemy (dont have one, though ).

Basically, I dont think that people ever stop having panic attacks from weed. Mild anxiety is one thing, like fear of the cops or something trite and mundane. The panic attacks, I found in my experience, never stop, and are awful for you to have and they take an awful toll on your nmind and body, and I reccomend that if you can keep yourself from having them, then do so!

Re: Weed and Panic attacks

i get the same social panic attacks being around smoker friends ...
i very rarely smoke outdoors anyway...
i'd reckon it was more the social situation enhanced by the maryj...
i've been heavily stoned round a mates (because he pushed it on me, or im just week)
and i just started freaking out.. sweating, bit of trembling with the usual feeling of wetting myself. safe to say i got out of there fast as possible and it wasnt till i got a mile away that my heart slowed back down. soon after it was the usual excuses and alienation so i could run away as fast as possible.

im fine and dandy in my safearea while smoking... i just avoid social situations at all cost..
time for some disability checks, recooperation/healing and control of my life back. if i feel like going out after that, hurray i'm !"fixed"!..............

p.s.. im not stalking you Q, just seem to like the same topics

I was a heavy, daily smoker for more than 5 years and in the end i think it may have contributed quite heavily to my SA. In the end i only smoked by myself and couldn't do it around other people or i was majorly self-concious and paranoid. I finally quit totally a couple of years ago and i've tried it a couple of times since and hate it. I get the automatic paranoid and anxious feelings and just hate it now. In response to your query though, i think that now you (or your mind) associates these anxiety feelings to marijuana use it will not go away but only get worse. It happened to me and i had to quit or it would only get worse.

Dont worry I never felt like I was being stalked :lol:

You guys need to read my Medical Marijuana Treats Anxiety thread. Its in the introductions section, because I was introducing the forum to the reality of marijuana and panic attacks. Everything you need to know is there, provided you bother to read the links I provided and the discussion that drew about 5000 views.

There is no doubt that marijuana can cause panic in some people. However, most of the time, it's because the smoker is simply uneducated about the fact that there is an extensive amount of different strains available, which are better at treating certain ailments and potentially bad for other ailments. The main thing you need to know is that there are two main varieties of marijuana, indica and sativa, and each variety contains hundreds of different strains. There are now hybrid strains which mix both, and some of them work for people like us and some of them don't.

For anxiolytic purposes, indica strains work the best by far, as they are sedating and relaxing. When it comes to sativas, they can actually make anxiety worse because they can cause an almost stimulating head buzz that can make inexperienced users feel almost out of control.

What I'm trying to say is, people who experience panic attacks while smoking marijuana probably got into a very heady stash of a sativa variety. You need to figure out a way to know what kind of weed you smoke. That is one of the benefits of living in a the medical marijuana state of California or in the netherlands, because they know 100% what they are selling. You can also grow your own plants in california if you qualify for a doctors recommendation to use medicinal cannabis.

Again, take a look at the Medical Marijuana Treats Anxiety thread in the introductions forum. Everything you need is there.


Peace

Please don't bother reading his thread. I'm sure most of us would simply regard it as Silent propaganda and remind ourselves what a recalcitrant he is. Look how he completely disregards the previous posts (stories). Like, Mr Sillent has all the answers. Dope will cause you to struggle to cope..........Dope makes you lose all hope. Then like most you can,t cope.

Propoganda? I'm just trying to right the wrongs and the brainwashing that has been done to so many minds about this plant that, if used properly, can help so many. If you want to trash talk, do it privately. I didn't disregard experiences. You disregarded mine. And you continue to attack me for it Johno. Who is in the wrong here?


Peace

Your right. I apologize for being personal. Let me explain it this way. This substance that we all discuss so freely happened to cause me great harm, and when I hear it being talked about in a positive sense it just doesn't sit right with me and several others I know. Marijuana (no bullshit here) has triggered psychosis in some individuals and their lives have never been the same. If you have any predisposition to mental issues, do me a favour a stay away from marijuana. Just sensible advice here.

Any case of psychsosis resulted fro irresponsible recreational use. I advocate medical use only.


Peace

If you regard about four smokes of a pipe as recreational use then your right. That poor bloke was never the same. Kinda normal when I first met him. Perhaps this substance is not for everyone. This is the point isn't it. However I tend to think it is illegal in most countries because they realise the possible negative outcomes of this substance far out way the small benefits as discussed in you forum.

Well,

I'll admit that I'm not a pot connoisseur, but I do know that it's a mild hallucinogen and that, as so, it has the ability to induce panic or anxiety.

Everyone reacts to drugs differently; as I've mentioned before, there is no panacea for anxiety or depression. I used to smoke pot regularly (3-4 times/day), while in High School, but stopped smoking because it was making me increasingly insecure. Now, it seems, I have epic panic attacks when I smoke. When the bowl is finished, while everyone else is slumping into their chairs or stuffing their faces, I'm running around, like a basketcase, trying to find focus and some sense of meaningful occupation -I doubt that people like to get high with me as I can be kind of a buzz kill...

I've frequently used alcohol to cope with anxiety, but it's truly a bad idea, for me, as hangovers make me anxiety-prone.

Opiates are my favorite coping tool.

You just have to be careful that you use whichever drug you choose as temporary solution -although this is difficult, considering most drug solutions are addictive substances...

sorry im lost is this social phobia world or the getting stoned forum??

It's been scientifically proven that marijuana increases not only anxiety, but paranoia, & depression. The longer it's used, the more those side effects will occur.