4 ms·

Cannabis use seemed to "unlock" a type of anxiety that I had never experienced before, and after using it, I could never "forget" this feeling. Absolute hell t

Cannabis use seemed to "unlock" a type of anxiety that I had never experienced before, and after using it, I could never "forget" this feeling. Absolute hell that now recurs. It seems absolutely insane to me that our pop culture pushes this stuff as at worse benign, but usually beneficial.

hooo 3y ago
Can you elaborate on what type of anxiety it unlocked?
- ushakov 3y ago
  They're probably talking about intense paranoia. I have a friend, who told me about the one time they were high and couldn't pee, because of the fear that their organs would flush down the toilet...
- thepasswordis 3y ago
  Sure, what's frustrating is that it isn't tied to any fear (if that makes sense). It's not the traditional "I'm gonna get caught!" thing you see in movies. The best I can describe is: pretend there's a murderer right outside of your window, he's coming to kill you and tapping on the glass. Your heart rate is spiked, your body is flooding you with adrenaline, fight or flight is in full kickoff mode; you need to either *run* away, or fight. But now imagine you get all of those physical sensations, but there is no killer outside and you know it. You feel the fight or flight, but you don't have any idea what it is in response to. Trying to slow down is difficult, and you can feel sortof uncoordinated when walking around (your body is screaming to run, so walking feels off somehow). Unfortunately it's hard to describe. It is definitely not psychological concern about something, though, and this is where some frustration when talking about it comes from. There's nothing to reassure yourself of or calm down from, because you're not having the psychological effects of anxiety, just the physical ones.
  - p1mrx 3y ago
    Sounds like you should get into running.
    - thepasswordis 3y ago
      haha
  - francisofascii 3y ago
    Sounds like when your sympathetic nervous system is turned on and stuck? This sounds similar to hyperadrenergic POTS or dysautonomia.
  - op00to 3y ago
    This is exactly what my diagnosed by a psychiatrist anxiety is like. It’s not specific to cannabis.
saiya-jin 3y ago
Because it is? The problem is, you and tons of folk like you didn't read the fine print, because... who knows, ignorance? Fok ya all attitude of young? Even though all info is few clicks away at most. It has been said 10 thousand times here and everywhere else, including quite a few posts by me - just don't do any mind altering drugs if you are not balanced +-happy person. There is no clear definition or dividing line, each of us is unique and should know how stable/unstable they are, if they have unresolved long term issues and so on. If folks can't be even honest in such things with themselves, well, life will be a tough walk in many aspects thats for sure. For all those folks, if you do such things, you take tremendous risk, you may end up off better despite issues, but that's your Russian roulette with your own mind, don't complain that you risked massively and lost a huge gamble. These cases are not reference, unless say 50% of US population is by default anxious.
- unethical_ban 3y ago
  You brought age into a discussion when it wasn't warranted, and you assume people with mental health issues all know it. Healthy people have heart attacks. Healthy people can mistake depression or budding mental issues as "work stress" or the pressures of life. You're essentially saying "yeah cannabis can cause issues but it's your fault for not knowing your in a 100% happy place" which is dismissive on several levels. I say this as someone who likes THC edibles and also can see how it causes anxiety for people prone to it. I also think age can be a factor, anecdotally. Alcohol was something easy for me to overconsume, and now my hangovers cause nebulous anxiety the next day which cannot be explained by any specific thing.
  - DANmode 3y ago
    > cannot be explained by any specific thing. Neurodegeneratives be neurodegenerating?
    - unethical_ban 3y ago
      I didn't know acute anxiety due to alcohol consumption was neurodegenerative disease.
yazaddaruvala 3y ago
You're not alone. After years of no issues and enjoying the intoxication, I had a really bad trip that caused an "anxiety attack" specifically existential anxiety. While intoxicated I would rarely but sometimes feel paranoid, however, this was my first ever time experiencing anxiety at this scale, and it persisted while I was sober. It was (and sometimes is) really bad!! It took 4+ months of therapy to get back to "manageable", and over 2 years later I felt back to normal and in control. I've now stopped any intoxicants (alcohol included) almost entirely. I sometimes will participate with a good group of friends, but I'm far more cautious of any intoxicant.
- coffeebeqn 3y ago
  This can be caused by many other things too - not saying cannabis’s didn’t do it in yours. I always had low background level anxiety through my life but a certain life event caused me to suddenly have panic attacks. I’ve been on meds ever since
honkycat 3y ago
I totally get it, the same thing happens to me. I get horrible anxiety when I overdo it. You are likely over-doing it. Even a puff of the "new" stuff is too much for me. I'll also point out that: 1. TONS of people have undiagnosed anxiety disorders, and blaming it on smoking a plant years go is neither scientific or productive. 2. If you are consistently experiencing anxiety, there are a TON of resources you can tap into. Even outside of medication, there is CBT and mindfulness that can keep you in the moment and prevent you from spinning out.
- cchance 3y ago
  THIS #1! Not saying cannabis can't be an issue, however i'd imagine a LOT of these reports of "cannabis made me anxious", are actually "i was anxious, tried cannabis, and now i'm just even more anxious", the fact is a lot of medical especially mental situations are under or NOT diagnosed and people attribute the feels to the last thing they did.
buffington 3y ago
I'm truly sorry this happened to you. I'll admit that I'm not as "plugged in" to what pop culture is pushing these days, so can't speak to that, but my own experience with cannabis puts it in a different light for me (which, given your experience, I bet you're not that eager to hear, but maybe others might be). For me, cannabis fits between opioids and over the counter pain killers - neither of which I can take for pain that I get from nerve damage from a pretty severe injury from a few years ago. Cannabis is very effective at taking the edge off that pain so I can sleep. It doesn't make it go away, it just makes it less intense. Cannabis is by no means benign - anything that can do what it does to my pain isn't "safe". I treat it with the same respect and responsibility I would with other medications. It's not perfect, and has its own risks, but in my case, it's beneficial. Again, I really am sorry for you. Not so much because you can't enjoy cannabis, but because of what you have to deal with now.

hooo 3y ago

Can you elaborate on what type of anxiety it unlocked?

ushakov 3y ago
They're probably talking about intense paranoia. I have a friend, who told me about the one time they were high and couldn't pee, because of the fear that their organs would flush down the toilet...
thepasswordis 3y ago
Sure, what's frustrating is that it isn't tied to any fear (if that makes sense). It's not the traditional "I'm gonna get caught!" thing you see in movies. The best I can describe is: pretend there's a murderer right outside of your window, he's coming to kill you and tapping on the glass. Your heart rate is spiked, your body is flooding you with adrenaline, fight or flight is in full kickoff mode; you need to either *run* away, or fight. But now imagine you get all of those physical sensations, but there is no killer outside and you know it. You feel the fight or flight, but you don't have any idea what it is in response to. Trying to slow down is difficult, and you can feel sortof uncoordinated when walking around (your body is screaming to run, so walking feels off somehow). Unfortunately it's hard to describe. It is definitely not psychological concern about something, though, and this is where some frustration when talking about it comes from. There's nothing to reassure yourself of or calm down from, because you're not having the psychological effects of anxiety, just the physical ones.
- p1mrx 3y ago
  Sounds like you should get into running.
  - thepasswordis 3y ago
    haha
- francisofascii 3y ago
  Sounds like when your sympathetic nervous system is turned on and stuck? This sounds similar to hyperadrenergic POTS or dysautonomia.
- op00to 3y ago
  This is exactly what my diagnosed by a psychiatrist anxiety is like. It’s not specific to cannabis.

saiya-jin 3y ago

Because it is? The problem is, you and tons of folk like you didn't read the fine print, because... who knows, ignorance? Fok ya all attitude of young? Even though all info is few clicks away at most. It has been said 10 thousand times here and everywhere else, including quite a few posts by me - just don't do any mind altering drugs if you are not balanced +-happy person. There is no clear definition or dividing line, each of us is unique and should know how stable/unstable they are, if they have unresolved long term issues and so on. If folks can't be even honest in such things with themselves, well, life will be a tough walk in many aspects thats for sure. For all those folks, if you do such things, you take tremendous risk, you may end up off better despite issues, but that's your Russian roulette with your own mind, don't complain that you risked massively and lost a huge gamble. These cases are not reference, unless say 50% of US population is by default anxious.

unethical_ban 3y ago
You brought age into a discussion when it wasn't warranted, and you assume people with mental health issues all know it. Healthy people have heart attacks. Healthy people can mistake depression or budding mental issues as "work stress" or the pressures of life. You're essentially saying "yeah cannabis can cause issues but it's your fault for not knowing your in a 100% happy place" which is dismissive on several levels. I say this as someone who likes THC edibles and also can see how it causes anxiety for people prone to it. I also think age can be a factor, anecdotally. Alcohol was something easy for me to overconsume, and now my hangovers cause nebulous anxiety the next day which cannot be explained by any specific thing.
- DANmode 3y ago
  > cannot be explained by any specific thing. Neurodegeneratives be neurodegenerating?
  - unethical_ban 3y ago
    I didn't know acute anxiety due to alcohol consumption was neurodegenerative disease.

yazaddaruvala 3y ago

You're not alone. After years of no issues and enjoying the intoxication, I had a really bad trip that caused an "anxiety attack" specifically existential anxiety. While intoxicated I would rarely but sometimes feel paranoid, however, this was my first ever time experiencing anxiety at this scale, and it persisted while I was sober. It was (and sometimes is) really bad!! It took 4+ months of therapy to get back to "manageable", and over 2 years later I felt back to normal and in control. I've now stopped any intoxicants (alcohol included) almost entirely. I sometimes will participate with a good group of friends, but I'm far more cautious of any intoxicant.

coffeebeqn 3y ago
This can be caused by many other things too - not saying cannabis’s didn’t do it in yours. I always had low background level anxiety through my life but a certain life event caused me to suddenly have panic attacks. I’ve been on meds ever since

honkycat 3y ago

I totally get it, the same thing happens to me. I get horrible anxiety when I overdo it. You are likely over-doing it. Even a puff of the "new" stuff is too much for me. I'll also point out that: 1. TONS of people have undiagnosed anxiety disorders, and blaming it on smoking a plant years go is neither scientific or productive. 2. If you are consistently experiencing anxiety, there are a TON of resources you can tap into. Even outside of medication, there is CBT and mindfulness that can keep you in the moment and prevent you from spinning out.

cchance 3y ago
THIS #1! Not saying cannabis can't be an issue, however i'd imagine a LOT of these reports of "cannabis made me anxious", are actually "i was anxious, tried cannabis, and now i'm just even more anxious", the fact is a lot of medical especially mental situations are under or NOT diagnosed and people attribute the feels to the last thing they did.

buffington 3y ago

I'm truly sorry this happened to you. I'll admit that I'm not as "plugged in" to what pop culture is pushing these days, so can't speak to that, but my own experience with cannabis puts it in a different light for me (which, given your experience, I bet you're not that eager to hear, but maybe others might be). For me, cannabis fits between opioids and over the counter pain killers - neither of which I can take for pain that I get from nerve damage from a pretty severe injury from a few years ago. Cannabis is very effective at taking the edge off that pain so I can sleep. It doesn't make it go away, it just makes it less intense. Cannabis is by no means benign - anything that can do what it does to my pain isn't "safe". I treat it with the same respect and responsibility I would with other medications. It's not perfect, and has its own risks, but in my case, it's beneficial. Again, I really am sorry for you. Not so much because you can't enjoy cannabis, but because of what you have to deal with now.