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Using a throwaway due to subject matter, but I also learned the hard way that cannabis just doesn't agree with me the way it did in my younger years. I had wha
by tossaway4567 8y ago
Using a throwaway due to subject matter, but I also learned the hard way that cannabis just doesn't agree with me the way it did in my younger years. I had what I now know to be panic attacks a few times after smoking a bit of weed and it's not worth the risk for me anymore. It's a bummer because I used to occasionally smoke when I was in my 20s with no issue other than maybe feeling a bit groggy in the morning but now it's a tossup whether it will mellow me out or leave me a wreck off a few puffs.
Had a couple of panic attacks unrelated to any sort of mind-altering drug as well and I actually did drive myself to the ER because I didn't know what was going on. I thought I was having a heart attack or a stroke or something (which of course doesn't help the panic attack). Heart wouldn't stop racing, blood pressure through the roof, dizzy, trouble speaking, etc.
I kept the rest of the handful of Xanax I was prescribed in case I have another one someday. No desire to pick up a benzo habit but the few times I thought I felt something similar coming on in subsequent years, half a tablet (whether through placebo or drug effectiveness) made it fizzle out before ramping up into a full panic attack.
It's weird because I had thought knowing it's a panic attack and not a heart attack/stroke/whatever would "disarm" the process but it doesn't seem to matter. Still interested in figuring out what can cause that to happen seemingly out of nowhere.
Feels like a feedback loop where normally mild anxiety comes and goes in the course of daily life but in rare cases, instead of "turning the mic off" it stays on and the feedback builds to a point that is overwhelming.
- thecatspaw 8y ago> Using a throwaway due to subject matter Exactly due to the subject matter, I choose to use my regular account. Mental health issues are not pretty, just like physical illness can be ugly. But we do not shy away from the people who have terminal cancer, we help them out the best they can. For mental illness helping can mean admitting that you have issues too. Displaying that they are not alone, that these issues are not as uncommon as everyone makes out to be.
- nickdandakis 8y agoI think they meant the weed and xanax.
- tossaway4567 8y agoDing ding ding!! Not so much the drugs I was prescribed, but cannabis is still not legal for recreational use where I live and either way, there's a stigma. My usual username is easily traceable to me (at least by people who know me) and I don't necessarily want family or employers searching out a known username and running across tales of weed and panic attacks.
- wolco 8y agoCertain strains are better for younger people. When I was young things seem boring or slow and sativa would make things fun/exciting. Now that I'm older I'm never bored I usually need more time. Indica works better. Hybrid strains are even too much.
- merinowool 8y agoDepending on cannabinoid profile, intake, strength it can help with or potentiate panic attacks (which sometimes start with omg I comitted a crime. What if someone finds out? Or by the unfamiliarity of the feeling - was my drug laced with something?) For the exact reason it should be legal, so people know what they take. As a sufferer of panic attacks I can attest that cannabis had been a life saver at times, although I don't medicate (with cannabis nor prescription drugs) at all now.
- ghostbrainalpha 8y agoI've had the same experience with Cannabis. I'm convinced I have a mild allergic reaction to it. I think people don't realize that can happen.
- mindgam3 8y agoConsider looking into CBD. It has the anti-anxiety benefits of cannabis without the psychoactive effects of THC which can amplify a panic attack. And none of the awful poison of benzos which will kill you if you take enough of them for long enough.
- tossaway4567 8y agoAs I said, I was prescribed maybe 10 alprazolam pills for their intended use as an emergency treatment for panic attacks. This was a couple of years ago and I still have most of them. No desire for a benzo addiction here. And trust me, I tried CBD (no noticeable effect) as well as strains of cannabis leaning more toward that side of the spectrum. For better or worse, I just lost my tolerance for the stuff. Even small amounts have the potential to make me feel uncomfortable so rather than keep trying to like something that doesn't agree with me, I just tend to decline offers these days. No big deal. I've no problem with people enjoying what they enjoy. It's just not pleasant for me anymore.