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Yeah this pretty obvious to anyone with an anxiety disorder who tries pot as a solution. It gets recommended by users, who think it’s a cure because their anxi

Yeah this pretty obvious to anyone with an anxiety disorder who tries pot as a solution. It gets recommended by users, who think it’s a cure because their anxiety is due to THc withdrawals. But if you aren’t a user and try it it explodes your anxiety and is just the worst.

LordDragonfang 3y ago
Can anecdotally confirm that I know lots of nonsmokers (or at least, those who don't regularly smoke) who find their anxiety spiked when they tried weed. Some of that is just because being in an altered state for the first time is fairly anxiety-inducing itself.
- morkalork 3y ago
  I find that even with tons of experience, it's a matter of frequency and habituation. When I was smoking every day, there wasn't any anxiety but after a long break, the next time is like the very first time. Full of anxiety.
marcellus23 3y ago
Not sure why this is being downvoted, you're completely correct — anxiety and paranoia are well-known effects of being high on weed (depending on the strain ofc), and anxiety and depression are well-known withdrawal symptoms. And it's much worse if you're already prone to anxiety and depression.
huytersd 3y ago
I smoked a lot about a decade ago. Anecdotally, I can confirm this as well. I would feel great if I got high when life was stress free but it heightened my anxiety when I was already worried about something. It also generally made me anxious to be around other people.
Fauntleroy 3y ago
I wouldn't say it's this simple—there are lots of different strains out there with wildly different effects due to the cannabinoids they contain. Furthermore, every person's own endocannabinoid system is different, and reacts differently to cannabinoids. For one person, a strain might make them feel relaxed and happy—for another, the same strain might make them simply fall asleep (or extremely anxious, for instance). There's also the very common issue of people new to cannabis using far, far too much—which generally results in a feeling of intense anxiety. Anyone who hasn't had any cannabis before should be extremely careful and use as little as possible. Finally, regular users who have developed a tolerance for certain cannabinoids may find it difficult to relax without them. Anyone regularly using a substance like cannabis should be on the lookout for this, and change their behavior accordingly.
readthenotes1 3y ago
It's not obvious to my sibling. They won't confess they have anxiety even though it's hard to have a conversation with them without heading towards the apocalypse--a change concurrent with treating so e physical disorder with edibles and smokables.
netule 3y ago
That has also been my experience. I’ve had anxiety since I was a child and was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. Back in 2014 or so, I was at my wits end and wanted to try medical marijuana since it was touted as a solution to my anxiety. I went to see a doctor, who doubled down on this being a good thing to try. So, I got my card, and went to a dispensary where I bought whatever they recommended for anxiety. Two hours later, I was having my biggest panic attack in years. If I didn’t grow up having panic attacks all my life, I would probably have called 911 or got someone to drive me to the ER. If there’s an easy fix for anxiety out there, I’d love to know about it. I’ve been fighting this for decades and it doesn’t get better as I get older. What kind of helps in the meantime is therapy, slow exposure to stressors (being careful to prevent flooding), and mindfulness meditation. None of this fixes my anxiety, but it makes it a little bit more manageable.
- xanderlewis 3y ago
  > I’ve been fighting this for decades and it doesn’t get better as I get older. As someone younger than you quite possibly suffering with the same thing, that’s saddening to hear. Is there anything you did that you wish you’d done sooner? Have you tried any (pharmaceutical) medication?
  - thepasswordis 3y ago
    See here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39278214 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39278214
  - netule 3y ago
    I do take Clonazepam when I get severe panic attacks or right before something I know usually triggers a panic attack, but nothing on a day-to-day basis. Clonazepam does seem to help with my symptoms, though it just makes me feel euphoric (which, I guess, is better than feeling like I'm dying). I take a tiny dose, but it seems to help a lot. I have a few things I wish I'd done sooner if you'd indulge my ranty and highly personal list: * Moving out of the city and into the country. I know this one is not feasible for most people, but it helped me to get out of the hustle and bustle and back to an environment similar to where I grew up. * Reducing caffeine and increasing water intake. I limit myself to one cup of coffee in the morning and no caffeine afterward. * Quitting my high-stress job in favor of a job at a startup and taking more breaks. * Daily cardio exercise for at least 30 minutes. * Talking about how I'm feeling with my partner. It seems simple and silly, but this one is crucial for me. I tend to lock up when I'm feeling crappy and lash out. Overcoming that and talking about how I'm feeling has helped enormously. * Going to therapy. These are all helping me cope, so I still have panic attacks, but not as often as a decade or so ago.
j4yav 3y ago
It’s interesting how on HN whenever a topic related to cannabis comes up so many people jump in to say they have anxiety, and that weed makes it worse, and that it must be the same for everyone. Does HN have a higher than normal percentage of highly anxious people? Or is it just the threads attract the kind of people who are likely to be anxious and jumpy around the topic? It’s a really interesting phenomenon. In real life, people may like it or not, may still use it or not, but the discussion seems way more casual and nowhere near as singularly anxiety fixated as when the topic comes up here. I’m not judging, I’ve been treated for anxiety myself. Just quite curious about how different the conversations are.
- thepasswordis 3y ago
  A thread about anxiety does seem like it would attract people with anxiety who want to talk about anxiety.
  - j4yav 3y ago
    Sure, but the phenomenon exists across all the threads about cannabis.
    - AlwaysRock 3y ago
      I think it's a recently developed pushback to the widespread love cannabis has received online for a long time. For a long time, it has been either heralded as a gateway drug or a magical cure all that could do no wrong. Now that it is much more widely available and many more people have actually tried it for extended periods of time, the narrative has shifted.
      - j4yav 3y ago
        How does saying you have anxiety when you smoke weed push back against people who were overly positive about it though?
        3y ago
calfuris 3y ago
I wouldn't read too much into this story, as any people who do benefit from THC probably wouldn't be visiting an emergency department for cannabis-related reasons. I'll also say, as someone with an anxiety disorder, that it certainly didn't make it worse. For me, it worked pretty much like Xanax: did wonders for my anxiety, but I couldn't manage to get anything done, so I had to switch back to my usual not-completely-effective meds.
maxbond 3y ago
It's definitely more than just conflating "treating" THC withdrawal with treating anxiety, at least for me personally. I'll quit for months, have an anxiety attack, and I'm able to interrupt it by using cannabis. It doesn't per say treat my anxiety but can be like a "rescue inhaler" to disrupt repetitive anxious thoughts and snap me out of an anxiety attack. Once they're disrupted, I have a fighting chance to confront my anxiety with other strategies (which are the real long term solutions). But it does make perfect sense to me that the effects of cannabis on someone who has been a longtime user are quite different and that it isn't great generic advice to tell people to try cannabis for their anxiety. I definitely think this current vogue of trying to apply cannabis to every problem is misguided and an artefact of the commercial environment around cannabis being increasingly legal, not our medical understanding of it.
- DANmode 3y ago
  I'm comfortable recommending broad-spectrum CBD with little or no THC as an anxiety aid. Not all cannabis has THC, high THC (the anxiety-inducing part, for most). Nor should it!
  - maxbond 3y ago
    I'm aware, but I personally wouldn't recommend any mind altering substance to anyone without a lot of context. When I was a young troublemaker my friends and I fancied ourselves as knowledgeable and made very casual recommendations to people about what substances they should try and what dosages would be appropriate. It became apparent to me that a dosage that has no discernable effect on one person can put another under the table, and I became very, very conservative about such things. Eg, I've seen people smoke large amounts of weed and concentrates and then go off and do something productive, and I've seen people take a single hit or gummy and have a panic attack. Someone I know tried a CBD product to see if it would help their anxiety (to be clear, they didn't consult with me on this, this was of their own volution). They somehow had gotten the impression that they wouldn't feel high, and were alarmed when they did. In that case, there wasn't any lasting harm, they simply didn't try it again. I know another person who would have a lot of anxiety on CBD gummies. Again, no lasting harm, they just stopped taking them. But I don't believe that there is no cause for caution with CBD products. I see CBD gummies advertised for just about everything, from helping you sleep to helping you feel awake and helping you feel aroused. These are all plausible effects for someone to experience, but I don't believe we have it down to such a science that these experiences can be bottled and productized. There's clearly a lot of snake oil out there. To be clear I think it's broadly good that cannabis is being slowly legalized in the US and that people have the opportunity to experiment and see if it's helpful to them. I've just had a respect for mind-altering substances ingrained in me, so I'm not uncomfortable with how casually people sometimes recommend these products.
honkycat 3y ago
> who think it’s a cure because their anxiety is due to THc withdrawals. You don't have any proof that this is true or not, yet you state it as fact. Lazy thinker.

LordDragonfang 3y ago

Can anecdotally confirm that I know lots of nonsmokers (or at least, those who don't regularly smoke) who find their anxiety spiked when they tried weed. Some of that is just because being in an altered state for the first time is fairly anxiety-inducing itself.

morkalork 3y ago
I find that even with tons of experience, it's a matter of frequency and habituation. When I was smoking every day, there wasn't any anxiety but after a long break, the next time is like the very first time. Full of anxiety.

marcellus23 3y ago

Not sure why this is being downvoted, you're completely correct — anxiety and paranoia are well-known effects of being high on weed (depending on the strain ofc), and anxiety and depression are well-known withdrawal symptoms. And it's much worse if you're already prone to anxiety and depression.

huytersd 3y ago

I smoked a lot about a decade ago. Anecdotally, I can confirm this as well. I would feel great if I got high when life was stress free but it heightened my anxiety when I was already worried about something. It also generally made me anxious to be around other people.

Fauntleroy 3y ago

I wouldn't say it's this simple—there are lots of different strains out there with wildly different effects due to the cannabinoids they contain. Furthermore, every person's own endocannabinoid system is different, and reacts differently to cannabinoids. For one person, a strain might make them feel relaxed and happy—for another, the same strain might make them simply fall asleep (or extremely anxious, for instance). There's also the very common issue of people new to cannabis using far, far too much—which generally results in a feeling of intense anxiety. Anyone who hasn't had any cannabis before should be extremely careful and use as little as possible. Finally, regular users who have developed a tolerance for certain cannabinoids may find it difficult to relax without them. Anyone regularly using a substance like cannabis should be on the lookout for this, and change their behavior accordingly.

readthenotes1 3y ago

It's not obvious to my sibling. They won't confess they have anxiety even though it's hard to have a conversation with them without heading towards the apocalypse--a change concurrent with treating so e physical disorder with edibles and smokables.

netule 3y ago

That has also been my experience. I’ve had anxiety since I was a child and was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. Back in 2014 or so, I was at my wits end and wanted to try medical marijuana since it was touted as a solution to my anxiety. I went to see a doctor, who doubled down on this being a good thing to try. So, I got my card, and went to a dispensary where I bought whatever they recommended for anxiety. Two hours later, I was having my biggest panic attack in years. If I didn’t grow up having panic attacks all my life, I would probably have called 911 or got someone to drive me to the ER. If there’s an easy fix for anxiety out there, I’d love to know about it. I’ve been fighting this for decades and it doesn’t get better as I get older. What kind of helps in the meantime is therapy, slow exposure to stressors (being careful to prevent flooding), and mindfulness meditation. None of this fixes my anxiety, but it makes it a little bit more manageable.

xanderlewis 3y ago
> I’ve been fighting this for decades and it doesn’t get better as I get older. As someone younger than you quite possibly suffering with the same thing, that’s saddening to hear. Is there anything you did that you wish you’d done sooner? Have you tried any (pharmaceutical) medication?
- thepasswordis 3y ago
  See here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39278214 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39278214
- netule 3y ago
  I do take Clonazepam when I get severe panic attacks or right before something I know usually triggers a panic attack, but nothing on a day-to-day basis. Clonazepam does seem to help with my symptoms, though it just makes me feel euphoric (which, I guess, is better than feeling like I'm dying). I take a tiny dose, but it seems to help a lot. I have a few things I wish I'd done sooner if you'd indulge my ranty and highly personal list: * Moving out of the city and into the country. I know this one is not feasible for most people, but it helped me to get out of the hustle and bustle and back to an environment similar to where I grew up. * Reducing caffeine and increasing water intake. I limit myself to one cup of coffee in the morning and no caffeine afterward. * Quitting my high-stress job in favor of a job at a startup and taking more breaks. * Daily cardio exercise for at least 30 minutes. * Talking about how I'm feeling with my partner. It seems simple and silly, but this one is crucial for me. I tend to lock up when I'm feeling crappy and lash out. Overcoming that and talking about how I'm feeling has helped enormously. * Going to therapy. These are all helping me cope, so I still have panic attacks, but not as often as a decade or so ago.

j4yav 3y ago

It’s interesting how on HN whenever a topic related to cannabis comes up so many people jump in to say they have anxiety, and that weed makes it worse, and that it must be the same for everyone. Does HN have a higher than normal percentage of highly anxious people? Or is it just the threads attract the kind of people who are likely to be anxious and jumpy around the topic? It’s a really interesting phenomenon. In real life, people may like it or not, may still use it or not, but the discussion seems way more casual and nowhere near as singularly anxiety fixated as when the topic comes up here. I’m not judging, I’ve been treated for anxiety myself. Just quite curious about how different the conversations are.

thepasswordis 3y ago
A thread about anxiety does seem like it would attract people with anxiety who want to talk about anxiety.
- j4yav 3y ago
  Sure, but the phenomenon exists across all the threads about cannabis.
  - AlwaysRock 3y ago
    I think it's a recently developed pushback to the widespread love cannabis has received online for a long time. For a long time, it has been either heralded as a gateway drug or a magical cure all that could do no wrong. Now that it is much more widely available and many more people have actually tried it for extended periods of time, the narrative has shifted.
    - j4yav 3y ago
      How does saying you have anxiety when you smoke weed push back against people who were overly positive about it though?
      - 3y ago

calfuris 3y ago

I wouldn't read too much into this story, as any people who do benefit from THC probably wouldn't be visiting an emergency department for cannabis-related reasons. I'll also say, as someone with an anxiety disorder, that it certainly didn't make it worse. For me, it worked pretty much like Xanax: did wonders for my anxiety, but I couldn't manage to get anything done, so I had to switch back to my usual not-completely-effective meds.

maxbond 3y ago

It's definitely more than just conflating "treating" THC withdrawal with treating anxiety, at least for me personally. I'll quit for months, have an anxiety attack, and I'm able to interrupt it by using cannabis. It doesn't per say treat my anxiety but can be like a "rescue inhaler" to disrupt repetitive anxious thoughts and snap me out of an anxiety attack. Once they're disrupted, I have a fighting chance to confront my anxiety with other strategies (which are the real long term solutions). But it does make perfect sense to me that the effects of cannabis on someone who has been a longtime user are quite different and that it isn't great generic advice to tell people to try cannabis for their anxiety. I definitely think this current vogue of trying to apply cannabis to every problem is misguided and an artefact of the commercial environment around cannabis being increasingly legal, not our medical understanding of it.

DANmode 3y ago
I'm comfortable recommending broad-spectrum CBD with little or no THC as an anxiety aid. Not all cannabis has THC, high THC (the anxiety-inducing part, for most). Nor should it!
- maxbond 3y ago
  I'm aware, but I personally wouldn't recommend any mind altering substance to anyone without a lot of context. When I was a young troublemaker my friends and I fancied ourselves as knowledgeable and made very casual recommendations to people about what substances they should try and what dosages would be appropriate. It became apparent to me that a dosage that has no discernable effect on one person can put another under the table, and I became very, very conservative about such things. Eg, I've seen people smoke large amounts of weed and concentrates and then go off and do something productive, and I've seen people take a single hit or gummy and have a panic attack. Someone I know tried a CBD product to see if it would help their anxiety (to be clear, they didn't consult with me on this, this was of their own volution). They somehow had gotten the impression that they wouldn't feel high, and were alarmed when they did. In that case, there wasn't any lasting harm, they simply didn't try it again. I know another person who would have a lot of anxiety on CBD gummies. Again, no lasting harm, they just stopped taking them. But I don't believe that there is no cause for caution with CBD products. I see CBD gummies advertised for just about everything, from helping you sleep to helping you feel awake and helping you feel aroused. These are all plausible effects for someone to experience, but I don't believe we have it down to such a science that these experiences can be bottled and productized. There's clearly a lot of snake oil out there. To be clear I think it's broadly good that cannabis is being slowly legalized in the US and that people have the opportunity to experiment and see if it's helpful to them. I've just had a respect for mind-altering substances ingrained in me, so I'm not uncomfortable with how casually people sometimes recommend these products.

honkycat 3y ago

> who think it’s a cure because their anxiety is due to THc withdrawals. You don't have any proof that this is true or not, yet you state it as fact. Lazy thinker.