Well, I have a dilema. I'll try to make this story short... Smoking weed became apart of my life last winter. I just loved the feeling of being so relaxed and my mindset is totally different, I guess the best word for it is chill. Like most people I knew I became a daily smoker for a while at least. School began in the fall and the whole smoking weed everyday thing wasn't gonna workout. So naturally to better myself and my grades I slowed down my toking habits. Up until a few months ago (sometime in January if I recall correctly) I had a bad experience. It was just another normal day was heading out to my friends house to smoke some dank...I get there hit the bong a few times and I feel quite peculiar, so I say "I'm good on that". Minutes pass by and still feel really out of it, my heart rate elevated dramatically long story short I had a pretty bad panic attack (basically I had all the listed effects of a panic attack actually). So for a few weeks I was scared shitless to smoke again in fear of that happening again. I eventually give in and smoke again, I took heavy deep breathes and kept as calm as cool as possible. That feeling of anxiety was kicking in again but I kept telling myself I was gonna be okay and after 10-15 minutes of "this sucks", I got to enjoy my high. This seems to be the case regardless of how much I smoke. Recently I smoked a blunt with a few of my buddies, after probably 6-8 hits I felt discomforted so I once again said "I'm good on that". I was just hangin out we were talkin about god knows what and I feel my heart to beat very fast and very hard. It was like my heart was beating out of my chest. My initial reaction is I want to get up and move around because for some reason I didn't feel comfortable sitting. Anywho I stayed calm...after 15 discomforting minutes I got to enjoy my high (my heart rate went back to normal). That's basically it....not really short ha. So I've read a decent amount of other people stories and rebuttals to these stories and the most common thing I saw was "Relax its natural weed increases your heart rate 20-50 bpm". I know it's true but why do I get such discomfort and why is it all the sudden happening? Why did I not feel this discomfort when I first started smoking? Just doesn't make sense to me which is why I'm considering quitting for good unless I find the cause to this discomforting feeling. So I guess you could say I'm searching for an answer.
Take a nice tolerance break. Even if you dont need one, this can also help with you're panic attacks...
Stay away from the sativas man, only smoke that dark indica couchlock shit. Sativas give me all of the effects your pointing out (if I over do it) and panic attacks, but those knock you out retarded buds don't do that at all.
So obviously we've established that marijuana is giving you panic attacks. So I say.. 1)Once the weather gets nicer, try smoking in more open areas with plenty of fresh air like on a balcony or toke on a J at a park and chill there until you have established your high and made sure no panic attacks will show up. Also have some tunes. My dad started to panic when I got him high like a week ago and I had him focus on some good drumming and he calmed right the fuck down. 2)Quit I suppose. Marijuana is not for everyone. I don't think you mentioned this, but where both incidents with the same strain perhaps? At least where I'm from, its not uncommon to come across 2 dealers who have the exact same shit.
1) Is def. a possibility, the weather does suck haha.... 2) Different strains plus before these happenings I've smoked so much different weed it was almost never the same, so I can't even think of the strain factor being a possibility. It just doesn't make sense to me why this is happening to me all of the sudden. I remember near the start of the summer (was still a beginner toker) a friend and I smoked a blunt of jack the ripper I was no where near ready to experience what I actually did because that was the highest I've ever been. Maybe I should add that... I'm on Jack3d which is a pre-workout stimulant that I take regularly which does affect my heart-rate but I don't think I was taking that shit in January. Its like one big effing mystery to me and I'm just trying to put the pieces together to come to a sensible conclusion.
Eh, you had a bad day. Honestly it's probably the weed. It wasn't cured right, it's old or just a bad strain for you. Get a new source. I smoked for a long time and never had issues until I started using this one dealer. I had the worst anxiety in my life it literally was driving me insane. I switched sources and everything changed.
Erowid is a good source for unbiased information. IMO, a good rule of thumb is to know what you're putting inside your body before you start.
I know its not the weed though because I've smoked the same strains before time and time again mostly sativa, I just can't figure out why my body is reacting the way it is.
1) I agree with the tunes, but Idk about a park. That'd make me panic more, lol. And smoking outside definatly gives you a different high. I actually toked and rode my dirtbike pretty much all day. It was great 2) Idk aboout quitting 100%. Tolerance breaks do wonders for some people. It helps alot.
Dude it's the sativa that shits like crack for me. Stick with indicas I guarantee you won't have this problem anymore. And yes, this changed over time for me also, when I first started smoking I could hit the sativa fine. Not anymore... All that I know is that sativa's give me panic attacks, anxiety, and doom feelings if I take more then 2-3 hits. But any type of weed that makes me tired, lazy, STONED, with that couch lockish feeling (indicas...) don't give me this problem. I believe indicas work more-so on the CB2 receptors, while sativas work more on the CB1 receptors, so maybe the CB1 receptors are more prone to cause those side effects and anxiety/paranoia, I dunno.
Well you could be right if your talking from experience I guess I'll give a different strain a shot, I probs got terrible availability of that strain in my area though.
When you say tolerance break you mean just smoking small amounts of bud? Or taking a break from weed in general.
Sometimes it can be association... Here is my tale Been smoking since I was 13, 38 now. Back when I was 26 years old or so I needed surgery for a back injury. I have always been petrified of surgery and I was reading about what they wanted to do to me on the net, baked out of my gourd at the time. Now I had a full blown panic attack, not from the herb really, but from reading about the surgery. BUT because I was high at the time of the panic attack, my mind associated being high with this same anxiety. For years after and even to this day I sometimes have small anxiety attacks when baked. Some of my observations in my case. I am MUCH more likely to have a anxiety attack when smoking with others. I have never had an anxiety attack smoking alone, except for that first time when I was reading about the surgery. I never had an issue before that first attack, and I was, and am, a daily smoker. In a nutshell, it could be association, think what what was going on around you that first time. For me something external was the catalyst, but the herb made me more susceptible, and the association follows me to this day... Endeavor to Persevere - I am baked out of my gourd right now -
I mean taking a break form it completely. Id say take a break from it for about 2-3 weeks, and smoke again. I used to get panic attacks when I first started smoking daily. I took a 2 week "tolerance break" and when I started smoking daily again, everything was fine. Been smoking on and off for 2 years now. Havent had a panic attack since
This is also a possibility. --------------------------- OP, if you follow all of the advice in this thread, I'm positive at least one these suggestions will solve your problem. No need to quit the ganj because of a little anxiety.
This is so weird to me. I wonder if we'll ever figure out why stuff like this happens. Is the THC causing different synapses to fire than normal? I don't have any solutions, and I think you've gotten some sound advice from the other blades here. I hope you find a solution to your problem, I'd hate for anyone to have to quit for such a crappy reason.
I feel the same way. I think a big deal of it has to do with genetics... Idk, it just makes sence to me.
Well the first time it happened it was nothing out of the ordinary I was at my friends house like I said took a few bong rips felt weird so I stopped smoking. We were just hangin out and watchin rap videos on her 52" tv, so I really have no idea how this feeling of anxiety came about. Generally when I get high the first thing I look at is rap videos so I really don't know. I could describe more in depth of the panic attack I had first heart rate elevated, shortness of breath, starting sweating, body started shaking. At one point during this event I'm pretty sure my eyes were open but I couldn't see anything (this one beats the shit outta me ha). Then my entire body went numb it was pretty nuts, thats the only time I experienced anything like that. All the other times after this experience it was just elevated heart rate which resulted in discomfort. Nothing as serious as what happened the first time. I think whats going on is ever since I had that experience even though I say its not gonna happen, what happened that day is always in the back of my head when I go to smoke, honestly I really can't think of anything else causing this.
Its most likely this. IF you want to continue smoking, either stop the Jack3d, or lower the amount of it you take. Marijuana DOES increase your heart rate, and if your taking shit that can fuck with your BPM, then shit CAN AND WILL get ugly.
This happens to me sometimes. Its usualy only on the come up. Like you said after a while you are chill. Its just your body adjusting to that initial THC input. Taking a break will only make this stronger when you start again. Try Indicas/middies