Sudden onset of severe cannabis hangovers

Hi all, this is a long post so if your attention span is...err.. compromised you may want to bail now

Over the past 15 years (I'm now 37), I've smoked an average of 2 - 3x/week, never more than once per day, and almost always in moderate doses. One of the things I've most prized about cannabis is the complete lack of any negative aftereffects. This changed suddenly and drastically for me about two months ago. I now get a debilitating, day-long hangover from smoking even small quantities.

It's worth noting that about two months prior to the onset of these hangovers, I altered my smoking habits considerably. Instead of my normal one-hitter, I began smoking out a bong. With the one-hitter, I'd very roughly estimate that I typically smoked around 0.05 grams (1/20th of a gram). When I switched to the bong, I probably doubled or tripled this. I also started smoking more frequently, averaging perhaps 4x/week (though again, never more than once per day).

After about a month of this, I felt I might have started noticing some general sluggishness, both mental and physical, but it was subtle enough that I couldn't definitively state it was even present, let alone conclusively attribute it to my smoking.

But after another month, the effect suddenly became unmistakable. Literally overnight, I started getting these really incapacitating hangovers. I felt utterly exhausted the entire next day after smoking and my mind felt very foggy and unfocused. I'd never experienced anything like it, on any drug. There was a perfect correlation with my smoking: whenever I smoked, I had a hangover the next day, and whenever I didn't smoke, I felt fine the next day. The hangovers invariably lasted an entire day. I tried with different batches of herb but hangovers always occurred.

I therefore decided to put away the bong and revert to my previous smoking habits (0.05g via one-hitter) in terms of both method and quantity. To my surprise, I still got the hangovers, even though my regimen was the same one I'd had for 15 years with no hangovers. I then took an eight day break from any smoking, then tried the one-hitter again. The hangover was as bad as ever. I took a 10 day break, and once again tried the one-hitter, but this time at a very low dose, approximately half what I'd typically smoked (i.e. about 0.025 g). The hangover was as bad as ever. I then took a full month off, hoping that my body would "reset". But when I finally smoked (two days ago, probably 0.05g) the hangover was brutal.

I've searched both this and other forums extensively and really can't find anything quite like this. Certainly others report hangovers, but I can't find anyone who experienced such a sudden and dramatic onset. That's what particularly puzzles me about this: how quickly it came on. Obviously I'm not blind to the correlation between this onset and the change in my smoking habits, but it's odd that these hangovers would persist even after I've reverted to my old habits which never produced any hangover (and as noted, these hangovers now happen even at approximately half my old "normal" dose). The only explanation I can come up with is that there was some sort of build up of something (THC, some "toxin", who knows?) when I increased my intake, and that even now, when I've smoked only three times in the last month, all at very low doses, that build up still hasn't dissipated, and these relatively small doses somehow push me over the edge. That doesn't seem entirely plausible, so I'm hoping others can shed some light on this. Bottom line is I value cannabis for many reasons, and I really don't want to have to quit entirely.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I've unfortunately already tried all of them without any effect: typical hangover remedies (exercise, hydration, nutrition) have very little effect, and as I noted, I've tried different suppliers.

What's so bizarre to me is that this began literally overnight, that it began when my overall consumption increased (ergo, it's not a tolerance issue - if anything it would seem to be a reverse tolerance thing, if that's even possible) and that even after a prolonged break my physiology still hasn't reverted to its previous state where I never got hangovers. I simply can't conceive of any plausible explanation here.

 

Thanks and yeah, as I noted in the post (thought I can see why you might have missed it given the length haha) I've tried several different strains.

 

Can you elaborate here? As I noted, there is a perfect correlation between smoking and hangovers; they always happen when I smoke and never happen when I don't. So it clearly seems that the smoking is causing the hangovers. So saying there's a medical issue on the surface doesn't seem plausible to me, unless it's an issue that is somehow mediating the effects cannabis has on me. Is this what you're suggesting?

 

But then how do you explain the issue persisting even when I reverted to my earlier smoking habits? Even after a month break, smoking a tiny amount induces a devastating hangover now.

 

Thanks for the detailed reply Serenity, really appreciate it! I'm certainly not at the connoisseur level that some people here are, but I think my stuff is quite high quality. I believe the ash is white but I haven't paid much attention to it, I will try the test you suggest soon to verify.

 

OK, thought a TL;DR might be a good idea:

- I smoked cannabis for 15 years and never experienced a hangover
- Several months ago I increased my intake (both frequency and dose) and was fine for a couple of months but then overnight started getting brutal hangovers
- I've cut back to my old low dose/frequency smoking but now still got terrible hangovers from doses that previously never gave me a hangover

The oddest thing to me is the last point - the fact that I still get hangovers even though I've reverted to my old low dose/frequency smoking. I've taken a month off entirely hoping to "reset" my system to no avail. I've tried different strains to no avail.

Any thoughts or guidance much appreciated, thanks.

 

Thanks for the reply. No, I don't mean burnt out, I'm talking about a severe hangover.

As I noted in the post, I've taken several breaks ranging up to a month. The hangovers return as soon as I begin smoking again.

I don't think there is a "legit" answer - ie I'm highly skeptical that this sudden onset of hangovers is indicative of larger medical problems. It seems to be a very specific reaction related only to cannabis consumption.