Anxiety, depression & panic attacks

Totally agree that LSD has some interesting medicinal potential...

...BUT...it's hard to function as a contributing member of society when you spend hours having a conversation with a giant talking carrot and the walls are melting around you all while a tiny green rooster is crowing (but only old Boston songs come out of his beak)!

 

Sea dub your funny but speak the truth. I remember smoking MJ when I was young, I got MUNCHIES! Now, a piece of fruit is enough and the high is different now than it was then.

 

Soooo true! I smoked when I was younger and just did it to get high! LOTS of munchies and playing guitar in a haze of MJ smoke! I stopped using MJ all together for YEARS! It wasn't until my wife got sick that I was provoked to look into MJ as medicine! LIFE CHANGING!

So great! I feel like I can genuinely appreciate it as a medicine and an awesome gift from God! Peace to you momma!

 

I was going to ramble about myself for like four or five paragraphs to give you my back story, but I decided it was a little excessive. (shit, after dumbing it down it still seems excessive. oh well)

I was originally diagnosed with social anxiety at age 13, and then panic disorder with agoraphobia by 17, some retarded psychiatrist said she thought I was bipolar and wanted me to start antipsychotics immediately (which I declined) then I had real comprehensive testing done by a neuropsychologist, and he diagnosed me with major depression, ADD (which was apparently missed by everyone else my entire life) and pretty much every anxiety disorder in the DSM-IV except Posttraumatic stress disorder. Then I had another doctor say she thought every anxiety disorder diagnosis was wrong and that I had Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. The therapist I saw most recently said she thought all those diagnoses were wrong and that I only had Major Depression and everything stemmed from that.

Psychiatrists starting from when I was 13 gave me a couple different variants of anti-depressant in every type (three different SSRIs when I was a kid, two SNRIs and wellbutrin when I was 18-20 (basically, a bigger kid.. we're adolescents with developing brains until we're 25). Shit, the neuropsychologist even thought all the drugs had something to do with my problems, but I've had panic attacks since I was a very small child.

I've also been an insomniac since I was 5 or 6.



But then I had an epiphany. When you diagnose someone with a condition in psychiatric medicine, you're supposed to diagnose them with something that covers every symptom, not 20 things that cover individual symptoms, basically the most eloquent/simple diagnosis.

And not being able to concentrate, motivate, focus, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia, they all stem from stress. A stressed adolescent can exhibit any of these symptoms. Look up the symptoms of stress in an adolescent and what stress can do to a kid.

The DSM-IV is vague enough that you can qualify as almost fucking anything. One of psychiatrists favorite phrases is "you're just wired differently" or "everyone is wired differently" and yet they still want to give you some pills for some reason.

We're all dealing with an immense amount of stress just living in our time and age, and every person under stress exhibits different symptoms, the same as any condition. That's what being "wired differently" is. Some stressed people hold it together their whole life and you would think they lived stress free lives from the outside, and then just wind up with cancer or other stress related illnesses and diseases that are eating people alive these days.

I really think all those disorders I've been diagnosed with are bullshit, and it's a very freeing thing. If you view yourself as burdened with 3 different anxiety disorders, how the hell are you ever going to get out from under that? Instead recognize that it might just be stress (and yes, that includes the stress from withdrawing from drugs, this is super stressful on your body)

That's why things traditionally related to relieving stress (exercise, meditation, nutrition) help so much with these supposed disorders. Drugs just block your sensations and leave you unable to learn new coping mechanisms and dull your sensations that allow you to know that you're stressed. That's why to this day I'm still having to learn how to work my way mentally through my own panic attacks. But I truly believe even simple deep breathing exercises are going to help you more with the root of your problem than the drugs ever will, and that does include marijuana (as much as I blatantly love weed)



TLDR; don't think of yourself as "disordered"; everyone's a little bit different. Free your mind from concepts invented by other people, especially ones that are literally invented by the DSM-IV committies (which by the way are mostly composed of a bunch of people connected to pharmaceutical companies that have interest in diagnosing as many mental illnesses as possible..) They would have you think everyone is mentally ill and needs a medication when in reality everyone is just stressed and exhibiting their stress in a variety of symptoms. Stress is much easier to work through than some supposed (fake and invented) disorder or disease.

 

You can say that friends recommended it to you an tell your doctor you have trouble swallowing pills and claim all your symptoms as listed in the post. Cuz really all they can say is no

 

Thank you for that fadeddd! I couldn't agree more with your "disorder" comment! If we "treated" all of these supposed "disorders" we would have dumb-ed down some of the greatest thinkers in our modern era! They say that Edison, Einstein, Franklin...all of these people demonstrated behavior that would have deemed them "impaired" and having some sort of disorder! If they would have been put on these mind-numbing poisons that Big Pharma is spewing...would we be sitting in a dark room lit only by candles right now???

My ADD is how my brain works! It certainly isn't a disorder; I've just had to learn and adapt to use it more efficiently! Adderall made it slow down and work unnaturally. MJ makes it work BETTER!

This is an EXCELLENT video (it's long BUT worth checking out!)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDlH9sV0lHU"]Making a Killing: The Untold Story of Psychotropic Drugging - Full Movie (Documentary) - YouTube[/ame]

Very interesting at the least...

 

dude you dont need MMJ for anxiety depression and panic attacks. MJ exacerbates all of those symptoms. you need to be sober and living healthy.

anti depressants may help. They work for some people and others they don't. You should consider trying it for a month and see how you feel. I would try getting your mind clear and your body healthy before you try getting fucking high or taking pills to feel better.

people on this website offer some dangerous and irresponsible advice when it comes to MMJ i think. It isnt a fucking cure all for all ills, and a person with a mental problem should not be getting stoned.

 

I haven't seen this one, looking forward to watching all of it. I've seen a couple similar documentaries in the past though.

It always makes me depressed to see all these mothers and sisters of young men who killed themselves after taking Lexapro. That pill made me understand what being suicidal really meant, I've never truly been suicidal except for the couple weeks I was on Lexapro. There's no working your way out of it, no silver lining on your thoughts. It's not like sadness or even what we perceive as depression where there's any reason, deep or at the surface. Your thoughts keep returning to "Why am I doing this again? My life is basically over... there's no hope...", as if that thought process you never had before just magically dropped into your head. It's almost indescribable, but as if the will to live has been siphoned out of you and the will to give life has been siphoned out of everything around you. I even remember people who knew me thought I was either going crazy or acting crazy just because of the look on my face while I was on the drug.

On a hunch that the only thing that had changed in my life to bring on such devastating depression was the new medication, I searched "lexapro suicide" on google and found millions of stories and never took the pill again, and eventually that "dark cloud" the woman in the documentary talks about lifted. Fuck Lexapro and fuck these assholes who prescribe it to children and teenagers and don't even warn you about the suicidal tendencies that seem to be REALLY COMMON. It's like selling a pill that induces suicidality in children, and telling them it's going to make them happier so they feel like if they stop taking their suicide pill they might actually do it. Only a really savvy critical thinker is going to realize what's going on, and America is short on savvy critical thinkers these days.

Fucking psychiatry...

 

SSRIs are not all bad. Some doctors give bad prescriptions though. It is up to the patients to communicate if the drug is working for them or not, and a lot of people do a shit job at it. You have to adjust your dosage and medication to find the sweet spot and the doctor cant do that by him/herself.

anti depressants got me out of the same funk that the OP is in (along with healthy living and keeping sober), and now I dont have to take them. Other people will have a bad reaction to them like any drug and shit happens. The patient has to be a part of the diagnosis and treatment process as well.

dont let sensational youtube videos scare you away from trying a treatment that helps a lot of people who are in the same situation as you OP.

I dont think many people in this thread have had these symptoms and over come them. I have. I see a lot of people posting in here saying the same shit I would have said when I was stupid and still stuck in that funk.

 

I don't think the video (I maybe shouldn't say this since I haven't watched it yet) is saying all SSRIs are bad by nature, but prescribing them without explaining the side effects, especially to children who innately trust the doctor and parents who are dealing with the bias of wanting the best for their kids and also trust the doctor, is really fucked up.

SSRIs and SNRIs and Wellbutrin and all that shit can definitely help you get out of an anxious/depressed cycle and on with your life. For many people they can then discontinue them and continue to live in the same pattern. That shows it was a behavioral problem, not a chemical problem, and that they were already capable of doing it themselves through another therapy. If they crash again, it can be related to the placebo effect of no longer having their happy pill. If you don't believe me...

Are Antidepressants a Scam? 5 Myths About How to Treat Depression | Personal Health | AlterNet

Failed to outperform a sugar pill? Meaning it made people more depressed on average? Fuck.


But an SNRI helped me get out of a rut (SSRIs just fucked me up every time I tried them), but the SNRIs are also stronger and give a more wide array of side effects, some of which can be permanent. I mean, it's been two years and my labido is just now turning back to normal. And the main side effect is just overall decrease in pleasure in everything. It's very flattening. But it worked to get me into a routine of going out places and spending time with people, so they can help in that respect, I do agree. I just wish doctors explained the risks a little more clearly instead of focusing on the benefits.

 

Wellbutrin really fucked me up. I was hallucinating and suicidal after a week on those things

I agree that sometimes these drugs can make you feel very neutral about everything, but that is good when you are stuck in a cycle of depression and anxiety

 

Zoloft is a bad one imo

the newer ones are a lot better from what i hear

 

Jdahms, I hear what you're saying, but I can tell you through not just anecdotal evidence and experience (extensive), but also through reputable medical reference that MJ CAN help depression, anxiety, and panic (references available). To be fair, it CAN exacerbate these symptoms as well.

Please excuse me if I come across a little over-zealous on this particular topic. In the last 7 years I've lost my father-in-law and a good friend to suicide do to their inability to get off the cocktail of mind-numbing poisons that their quacks had them on! In the last 18 months I've walked with my wife through a serious benzo addiction that started when her quack misdiagnosed her Hashimoto's for depression/panic disorder/bi polar. It took us over six months strictly following the Ashton Manual before she was able to get completely clean. If you were to tell her that MJ doesn't help those symptoms...well....let's just say that she'd disagree with you.

For the record: I consider myself to be VERY sober and living VERY healthy. it just so happens that I vape several times a day! I vape for health, I vape for stress relief, I vape to relax. AND...I'm healthier for it!

I'm sorry...this just seemed like a very ironic comment on a MJ Community forum! This isn't WebMD!

Peace to you my friend!

 

I understand that it may help some people, but the OP has already said he's is a daily smoker and has these symptoms. he "smokes through" the problems which will only make them worse. It's easy to see that his smoking habit has made his mental issues worse, as it does with a lot of people.

The OP tried anti depressants for 2 days and is just going to give up on them. You have to work with the doctor to find the right med and dosage, not just give up after 2 days because your first attempt had negative results.

People in this section will claim that MM is the cure for anything. A lot of the time anything negative about the effects of MM will be dismissed by the posters here. that is something that needs to be stopped. if you need to get stoned to deal with your mental issues then your problem clearly has not been resolved. Wouldnt you rather live without having to smoke weed every time you felt slightly depressed or anxious?

 

Well said, Sir. I think you're speaking directly to the difference between abusing a substance and using a substance therapeutically.

It's interesting; my wife had HORRIBLE hyperemesis with her current pregnancy and HATED (resented) that she HAD to vape just to be able to keep food down (even though she was a heavy, daily user)! It's like your relationship to the MJ can be altered simply because of the reason you're using.

 

Hey Wayne, I dunno if you saw my last post in the thread but it might help a little.

As far as panic attacks go, they have a tendency to snowball unless you catch them quickly and bring your thoughts back to where they should be. What are you thinking about/concerned about when the anxiety pops up? And what sensations are bothering you so much about the anxiety? Remember, everyone has anxiety, it's a natural reaction that keeps us from doing things like walking in front of moving vehicles and stuff. People like us just have a tendency to be intolerant towards the adrenaline or something.

Some "suicide hotlines" (a lot of them are more like mental health hotlines) are trained in talking to people who are having panic attacks. Maybe you can call one of them when it's really bad, just a thought.

As far as your stiff neck goes, my neck always gets stiff when I'm stressed. I don't know if I stay tense as I sleep or if it's just the stress and anxiety itself.

Lastly, the back of my head feels weird when I smoke sometimes too. Sometimes I get the sensation that there's more to the back of my head than there really is, like some sort of phantom sensation that the back of my head is sticking out further than it normally does. It's just the weed.