I was just on a thread about having panic attacks and it just reminded me of one really bad one I had. I had smoked before I went to do some laundry and walked to my local giant store to get some breakfast. I felt fine until I get to the check-out. I was in line and then it started. It was so weird, I suddenly felt like I was on fire, I was sweating profusely but it felt like a cold sweat. I thought I was just getting paranoid. Then I started thinking that people thought I must look really ghetto right now; I don't know why but I started thinking this but I did. I thought people were looking at me and judging me. My heart rate started rising and then my vision started blacking out and that's when I just started losing my cool. I was breathing really heavy and leaning over my laundry cart for support, but no one asked me if I was okay (and someone was behind me.) When the person in front of me finished, I slugged my way to the self check-out machine. I tried my best to scan my orange and tea (that's all I had) but I couldn't really see, my hands were shaking like crazy and I felt like I was dying. I think I was crying in all this too (like my eyes were watering,) but the last thing I remember is waking up with my head on the self check-out thing after passing out for idk how long. It was terrible, I got my shit together, went home and cried. My fucking old manager was there, I trained at that giant and I remember at one point he saw me during all this. He didn't even help me. This was one of the worst experiences of my life because I had some extreme social anxiety. I try to be an overall positive and helpful person, but because of my anxiety I'm super afraid of being intimate with humans. I think they're cold, and even friends aren't actually looking out for you. I know it's not like that but it's a constant thought in my head; no one actually cares. It certainly doesn't help that a lot of events of betrayal in my life enforce that feeling, including this one.
hey there, i dont suffer from anxiety, but i have had paranoia before and iv had some bad trips. But i seems to me that you need to just back off from the weed. Either take less in one go, smoke some less strength stuff. Maybe dont smoke n get high during the day time, wait until you feel safe n relaxed ( at home). If weed did that to me.... i think i would do something about it, it might not be the drug for you? Have you had a break from it before? if so how did you feel. Sometimes drugs can just make worse .... stuff thats going on inside of you,.... take some time to sort yourself out, and go back to it, when your in a better place,,, when you feel more comfortable with who you are. You say you have some extreme social anxiety... and you mention... not being intimate with humans ... it sounds like your self image isnt the best. Your self esteem is low and the situations you put yourself in are not helping you
I've experienced this while stoned. Not quite so full blown but just panicking for no reason when there's too many people around like at the checkout or if I'm sitting face to face with a stranger on the bus. I'll get all conscious about where I'm looking and in my head I'll be like "what am I supposed to look at I can just keep looking around like an idiot and I can't just stare at one thing wtf", then I start to breathe heavier and I think everyone around me is staring at my chest and see how fast I'm breathing and I can't bring myself to look at other people. It's fucking stupid. I think I'm over it though hasn't happened in a while. It used to happen when my mind was a mess from poor diet and drug abuse. I swear to god if it ever happens again I'm just gonna squat down and take a shit on the floor and just leave .
@ LAfterL, your comment was automatically made invalid once you said " I refuse to read all this but..." but thanks for the input of some sort I suppose lol. @ whacker17 I've had social anxiety way before I started smoking. Also my self-esteem/image of myself is fine. I like myself, I just don't like other people.
That maybe be so.. but i don't think that getting really stoned and putting yourself into social situation ..that make you anxious... is helping? And i am sorry .. i don't know you at all... but .. IMO the world you see around you is a mirror of whats going on inside you. If all you see are cold, non caring people... I dont' mean to point the obvious out.. but it all stems from you.. and how you feel. i used to be an extremely angry, aggressive person.. and all i saw and attracted was angry aggressive people.
Hey OP, I care. The world is a garden full of snakes but inbetween you will find real people. Much Love & Peace.
I think you are over analyzing this a bit. I wasn't really stoned, I was just high and while I take into account that weed does affect my anxiety in different ways, I think you're making these assumptions that I have a problem with myself when I don't. @ CABNumber Thank you, it actually does help me to see kindness in people lol. It's strange, the reason I try to be an overall nice person is because of my anxiety. I know people aren't actually all assholes, It's just hard for me to not spot evil in people. But I know it's a personal problem I have to overcome.
Hi there! I suffer from a sort-of anxiety, and I've had alopecia (loss of hair) @ the age of 18 yrs, and I've smoked weed regularly, for almost 2 years, which made me recover the area of my head where I had lost hair. My advice is to never smoke without food in your system, because your blood pressure can be low. Also, I usually don't smoke in the day time, and in places of higher movement / high risk of exposure. I like to feel that I'm not gonna be jujed by people who don't understand cannabis. -BluntDewd
I've had a couple of panic attacks over time. It hasn't happened in years but by now you probably realize it's all in your head. Just keep in mind that no one else knows what's going on in your head and everyone else is as self-conscious as you are. As far as the cynical delusion that nobody cares and everyone is just out for themselves, who cares? It isn't true, but even if it were, it shouldn't affect you and make you anxious.
Hey Digu, Yes you are right i did make that assumption. Because anxiety IMO... isnt a natural state for humans, and i presumed you were asking for help to elevate your feelings. ... but it seems you are not. My GF suffers from panic attacks... and she doesnt want to. But hey ... each to there own in life,,, Peace
One of my old friends, has really bad social anxiety mixed with other disorders... He'd never leave his house, he'd make me, or his old roommate grocery shop for him, run errands etc. he would sweat buckets! (mostly from withdrawals of his medication), it's quite sad really, he turned for the worse... The way he thinks isn't too rational and he thinks he knows everything Basically whenever we were having fun, he'd find some way too ruin it. He even turned off the power when someone took a hit of an unmentionable for their first time, and was about too 'blast off'. Pretty mean.
Last night going to get some cookout off campus, i got robbed at gunpoint for four dollars. Thats why I'm scared of people They will hold a loaded gun to your 18 year old chest for four fucking dollars. C.R.E.A.M mothafuggas, C.R.E.A.M.
I really can't comment on your anxiety, since I've never experienced anything that extreme. Because of that, this may not even apply or relate to you, but these are my experiences: I used to believe all people are cold and only interested in themselves. That's how I perceived people. However, over a long period of time, I realized that I was partially (or even entirely) at fault for that believe. Certainly some people are that way, but I believe many anti-social people have this mindset because we unconsciously provoke these actions in others. Again, this may be completely irrelevant for your situation, but I wanted to share my experiences. When I had the belief that others were all selfish and cold, I unconsciously separated myself from them. It wasn't a conscious decision, but I wouldn't open up to people because I felt that they wouldn't open up to me. I put the blame on them, but really, I was at fault. I realized this by putting myself in other people's shoes. Nobody else knows how I feel if I don't express those thoughts. And the way we become close and attached to other people is through connected to them. So by being overly reluctant in sharing my personal life, others had a very difficult time creating an attachment to me. I was basically an inanimate object. Imagine walking in a grocery store. How many people do you pass, yet feel know real connection to? Probably most of the people you encounter (unless they're old friends or something). That's because you've had no interaction with them; you don't know anything about them and thus have no real connection to them asides from them being part of the same species. Yet if you treat ALL people like this, even coworkers and friends, they'll end up essentially treating you just like a stranger. Bah, I'm rambling now and probably haven't formatting this post in a coherent way, but I've got to go to work.
I know the feeling you are talking about, and I get it from time to time but never to the point where I black out lol, even under the influence of any substance. Must be social anxiety, like a poster above said your diet plays a big role in how bad an episode can be, that and substance abuse can make it much worse. So make sure to keep those in check.
It's called being human. @ 8ight I understand what you mean. My own actions sometimes contribute to my social anxiety (I also have some emotional withdrawal issues that stem from this.) I try to always put myself in check nowadays though, and lately I haven't felt as anti-social. @ Shayla Tell me about it. That bastard can kiss my ass now for all I care. @ CaressaRosee Damn he sounds like a downer. I definitely don't want my anxiety to start affecting my that negatively. @ whacker17 Yeah you're right, I just love having these attacks cuz that's how I roll...