Aa
feeling panicky and anxious after mixing weed and beer
hi all
so 2 days ago i went out and got fairly drunk followed by 8 tokes of weed (i stopped 7 years ago but decided to smoke some). i had hardly eaten much that day but after the 8th toke the weed really hit me, i started to panic so decided to go home. on way home my head started to spin and my heart was racing, thought i was going to die but got home and eventually went to sleep. woke up the next day feeling hungover and spaced out with dizziness and worry thinking ive damaged myself. its now been 2 days and im feeling panicky and anxious but can still get on with stuff. will this pass? not quite sure why it happened because i smoked heavily 7 years ago. it wasnt a full blown panic attack because i knew what i was doing and can remember the whle evening but now im just left feeling weird. i guess mixing beer and weed aint the same as it used to be.
so 2 days ago i went out and got fairly drunk followed by 8 tokes of weed (i stopped 7 years ago but decided to smoke some). i had hardly eaten much that day but after the 8th toke the weed really hit me, i started to panic so decided to go home. on way home my head started to spin and my heart was racing, thought i was going to die but got home and eventually went to sleep. woke up the next day feeling hungover and spaced out with dizziness and worry thinking ive damaged myself. its now been 2 days and im feeling panicky and anxious but can still get on with stuff. will this pass? not quite sure why it happened because i smoked heavily 7 years ago. it wasnt a full blown panic attack because i knew what i was doing and can remember the whle evening but now im just left feeling weird. i guess mixing beer and weed aint the same as it used to be.
It's possible your drinking/weed evening triggered some repressed anxiety/panic from the bad ecstasy trip 8 years ago. If that IS the case, it should ease up when enough time has passed, but I can't tell you for sure how much time that might take. If you are still dealing with anxious feelings a few weeks from now, I would suggest talking to your doctor about trying some CBT, (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) It sure beats the hell out of trying to deal with anxiety every day, which is exhausting and really messes with the quality of your life. Why put yourself through that when a few sessions with a therapist will probably end it for good! At least think about it, OK?
I am definitely old enough to be your mother, but the point is, I was a teen ager during the 60's. Yes, I AM an old hippie. Yes, I did one hell of a lot of drugs and smoked weed daily for years.
Skip ahead to 1972 when I thought it would be fun to move to NYC. The only person I knew there was a friend of a friend. That friend invited me to a party the 2nd night I was there. I'm not a shy person, but will admit to feeling a bit intimidated with what I assumed were all these totally sophisticated New Yorkers and I was the little milk maid from Seattle. There were a lot of joints being passed around and I thought I would sort of "bogart" one because weed always relaxed me and I def needed to relax.
To make this story much shorter, the joint I decided to hog had been "dusted" with PCP. I have no idea if you even know what that is or what it does to you. Google it. It's a very nasty, ugly drug. I ended up being taken to the hospital.
The point of that little confession is that that experience caused me to have a MASSIVE panic attack. Panic attacks don't come any bigger than the one I had that night. You really gotta trust me on that.
Remember.........this was 1972. From that night on, I have NEVER EVER been able to smoke weed again without having a panic attack. I even grew my own so I would KNOW it was clean, but that didn't work. I have tried many times over the years to smoke and the same things happens every single time. My mind associates the smell with that nightmare in NY and that's the end of the story. I think I once told you how powerful our minds were. I am a real case in point. A "bad" trip over 40 YEARS ago and look how my mind reacts. I have been reassured by many doctors and psychiatrists that no permanent damage was done to my brain by that ONE time use. But the mind is also like a steel trap. It lets nothing go no matter how far we think we've buried it.
Because I live in Washington State where both medicinal and recreational pot is legal, you can imagine that along with the smell of Starbucks coffee, the wafting odor of weed is EVERYWHERE! I think I am becoming desensitized as I am able to smell it now without those bad feelings hitting me..........but I DO move upwind of it! LOL
Sorry for the rant, but I just wanted to share my experience with you. Long before that experience, I had been diagnosed with severe panic disorder, so I was already at a much greater disadvantage than you are now. Which is why I want you to nip this in the bud before it does screw you up.
And the difference between smoking some weed and having a bit too much to drink is NOT the same as smoking an entire joint of weed laced with PCP on top of a lot of booze.
You will be fine, but stay on top of your anxious feelings. Your mind is powerful enough to stop those!
PEACE
RubyWitch
I am definitely old enough to be your mother, but the point is, I was a teen ager during the 60's. Yes, I AM an old hippie. Yes, I did one hell of a lot of drugs and smoked weed daily for years.
Skip ahead to 1972 when I thought it would be fun to move to NYC. The only person I knew there was a friend of a friend. That friend invited me to a party the 2nd night I was there. I'm not a shy person, but will admit to feeling a bit intimidated with what I assumed were all these totally sophisticated New Yorkers and I was the little milk maid from Seattle. There were a lot of joints being passed around and I thought I would sort of "bogart" one because weed always relaxed me and I def needed to relax.
To make this story much shorter, the joint I decided to hog had been "dusted" with PCP. I have no idea if you even know what that is or what it does to you. Google it. It's a very nasty, ugly drug. I ended up being taken to the hospital.
The point of that little confession is that that experience caused me to have a MASSIVE panic attack. Panic attacks don't come any bigger than the one I had that night. You really gotta trust me on that.
Remember.........this was 1972. From that night on, I have NEVER EVER been able to smoke weed again without having a panic attack. I even grew my own so I would KNOW it was clean, but that didn't work. I have tried many times over the years to smoke and the same things happens every single time. My mind associates the smell with that nightmare in NY and that's the end of the story. I think I once told you how powerful our minds were. I am a real case in point. A "bad" trip over 40 YEARS ago and look how my mind reacts. I have been reassured by many doctors and psychiatrists that no permanent damage was done to my brain by that ONE time use. But the mind is also like a steel trap. It lets nothing go no matter how far we think we've buried it.
Because I live in Washington State where both medicinal and recreational pot is legal, you can imagine that along with the smell of Starbucks coffee, the wafting odor of weed is EVERYWHERE! I think I am becoming desensitized as I am able to smell it now without those bad feelings hitting me..........but I DO move upwind of it! LOL
Sorry for the rant, but I just wanted to share my experience with you. Long before that experience, I had been diagnosed with severe panic disorder, so I was already at a much greater disadvantage than you are now. Which is why I want you to nip this in the bud before it does screw you up.
And the difference between smoking some weed and having a bit too much to drink is NOT the same as smoking an entire joint of weed laced with PCP on top of a lot of booze.
You will be fine, but stay on top of your anxious feelings. Your mind is powerful enough to stop those!
PEACE
RubyWitch
hi ruby. will defo take your advice. its the 7th day now and i had a really bad episode this morning. lasted a good 6 hours but okish now. going to eat better and generally take it easy. i can do things like go out, play xbox, chat on the phone read perfectly but there is a slight anxiousness still there. i had some really messed up dreams last night that made me wake up, like weird graphic violent dreams but i slept for like 7 hours which is good but i did eat a lot of crap comfort food yesterday. couldve been the cause. still feel really sleepy and have headaches. they feel like sinus headaches. i took a dodgy ectasy pill 8 years ago and i had a really bad trip from that and took me ages to recover. it just reminds me of that but it was just weed and beer. im hoping i feel fine tomorrow because i have a lot of work to do. can smoking weed with beer just once after a 7 year break really mess you up for good? i hope not because i used to drink heavily and be fine. so weird
Wouldn't go so far as to say I was "brilliant," but if you want to think so, please be my guest.
I still believe that this episode freaked you out........did indeed trigger "anxious thinking," since you've never stated that you had a problem with anxiety or panic BEFORE that evening. I think you're sitting there in your "flat" (I'm trying to speak the Queen's English here) and ruminating the hell out of this! STOP IT! You're getting up every morning and probably your first thought is "Am I STILLL feeling anxious about possibly becoming a schizophrenic from 8 hits of weed!?"
Anxious thoughts=anxiety=more anxious thoughts=worse anxiety=writing to MedHelp again=anxious thoughts=more questions=a nasty, vicious cycle you need to break!
It WAS only weed. No doubt VERY strong weed, some of which these days is damn near hallucinogenic! After not smoking any for 7 years, it doesn't surprise me you got yourself spooked.
Because you are anxious, you are probably smoking way more cigarettes than normal which is going to make you feel crappy and then your anxious thinking is going to take THAT feeling and combine it with your already over-anxious thinking and your crazy Merry Go Round will start spinning faster and faster, but YOU CAN get off it.
Be with as many friends as you can. If you're close to some of them, over even just one of them, talk to them about what you're going through. I'm betting someone will be very relieved to admit they had a similar experience. But even if you don't talk about it, which I think would be really good for you, being around a lot of people, talking and doing something fun and physical (where you can't sit and brood and smoke endless ciggies) and doing all that other stuff I recommended, the good diet, the fresh air, getting your mind as far from that evening as possible............I really think come Monday morning you will feel like your old self again.
And on the off chance you don't, see your doc. And be honest about why your feeling the way you are! You could just be stuck in a rut of anxiety and a wee jab of something to calm you down, to break the cycle, will be all you need.
It's Friday here so I'm guessing it's Saturday there, or am I going the wrong way? Anyway, grab some friends and go do something fun..........get the hell out of your head for the week-end.
Peace
RubyWitch
I still believe that this episode freaked you out........did indeed trigger "anxious thinking," since you've never stated that you had a problem with anxiety or panic BEFORE that evening. I think you're sitting there in your "flat" (I'm trying to speak the Queen's English here) and ruminating the hell out of this! STOP IT! You're getting up every morning and probably your first thought is "Am I STILLL feeling anxious about possibly becoming a schizophrenic from 8 hits of weed!?"
Anxious thoughts=anxiety=more anxious thoughts=worse anxiety=writing to MedHelp again=anxious thoughts=more questions=a nasty, vicious cycle you need to break!
It WAS only weed. No doubt VERY strong weed, some of which these days is damn near hallucinogenic! After not smoking any for 7 years, it doesn't surprise me you got yourself spooked.
Because you are anxious, you are probably smoking way more cigarettes than normal which is going to make you feel crappy and then your anxious thinking is going to take THAT feeling and combine it with your already over-anxious thinking and your crazy Merry Go Round will start spinning faster and faster, but YOU CAN get off it.
Be with as many friends as you can. If you're close to some of them, over even just one of them, talk to them about what you're going through. I'm betting someone will be very relieved to admit they had a similar experience. But even if you don't talk about it, which I think would be really good for you, being around a lot of people, talking and doing something fun and physical (where you can't sit and brood and smoke endless ciggies) and doing all that other stuff I recommended, the good diet, the fresh air, getting your mind as far from that evening as possible............I really think come Monday morning you will feel like your old self again.
And on the off chance you don't, see your doc. And be honest about why your feeling the way you are! You could just be stuck in a rut of anxiety and a wee jab of something to calm you down, to break the cycle, will be all you need.
It's Friday here so I'm guessing it's Saturday there, or am I going the wrong way? Anyway, grab some friends and go do something fun..........get the hell out of your head for the week-end.
Peace
RubyWitch
thanks ruby, you are brilliant. ill just try to relax. its only weed right. may have triggered some sort of anxiety but im sure it will go away. i also smoke cigs and everytime i have 1 it seems to make me feel worse but i cant stop smoking lol. ill try to cut back. thanks again
For those of us who are fighting anxiety, panic or depression, it can be fairly "normal" for us to wake up feeling somewhat anxious. But if you're asking if it's "normal" for John Doe, then I'd say the answer is no, unless, of course, there is a clearly defined reason for Mr. Doe to be anxious.
In your third post, you stated that you were still feeling anxious and panicky..........do you think your question could be related to that evening of "over-indulgence?"
For many of us, as we get older, we can't bounce back from a night on the town like we used when we were kids. I wonder if this is not at least part of your problem. The other part being that you're over-thinking this whole thing since you also stated you were concerned that you had "damaged" yourself. It can sometimes be very easy to talk ourselves into anxious thinking.
Do your best to put that episode out of your mind over the week-end. Get together with friends, do something you really enjoy, avoid too much alcohol and definitely skip the weed.........eat well and get lots of rest. Come Monday if you are still waking up feeling anxious, I would suggest talking with your doctor. I think that would go a long way at putting your mind at rest.
Please keep me posted, OK?
RubyWitch
In your third post, you stated that you were still feeling anxious and panicky..........do you think your question could be related to that evening of "over-indulgence?"
For many of us, as we get older, we can't bounce back from a night on the town like we used when we were kids. I wonder if this is not at least part of your problem. The other part being that you're over-thinking this whole thing since you also stated you were concerned that you had "damaged" yourself. It can sometimes be very easy to talk ourselves into anxious thinking.
Do your best to put that episode out of your mind over the week-end. Get together with friends, do something you really enjoy, avoid too much alcohol and definitely skip the weed.........eat well and get lots of rest. Come Monday if you are still waking up feeling anxious, I would suggest talking with your doctor. I think that would go a long way at putting your mind at rest.
Please keep me posted, OK?
RubyWitch
uve made me feel much better ruby, thanks. just 1 more thing. is it normal to keep waking up anxious? feel most anxious first thing in the morning
There is a good probability that those 8 hits you took contained enough THC to still be in your system for about a week, possibly longer depending on your body type and rate of metabolism.
I believe your "bad trip" experience 8 years ago is what triggered the panic attack the night you smoked and that is what's keeping you on the edge now.
Our minds are very powerful......as are some memories.
Sometimes when the genie is let out of the bottle, it's hell getting them back in!
I agree with your friend and believe that once all the THC is out of your system, you'll be fine.
If, for some reason, your feelings of anxiety continue after a week or so, you should talk with your doctor..........NOT because you've "damaged" yourself, but to help you break the cycle of anxiety.
You're going to be fine!
RubyWitch
I believe your "bad trip" experience 8 years ago is what triggered the panic attack the night you smoked and that is what's keeping you on the edge now.
Our minds are very powerful......as are some memories.
Sometimes when the genie is let out of the bottle, it's hell getting them back in!
I agree with your friend and believe that once all the THC is out of your system, you'll be fine.
If, for some reason, your feelings of anxiety continue after a week or so, you should talk with your doctor..........NOT because you've "damaged" yourself, but to help you break the cycle of anxiety.
You're going to be fine!
RubyWitch
thanks ruby. still 3 days after and feeling anxious and panicky. im assuming thats normal. my friend said it will take a week or so until i come back to normal. the only thing is it reminds me of a really bad trip of a pill i took 8 years ago but thats just the anxiety talking i suppose
I think you've pretty much answered your own question. After a 7 year break from the weed, then taking 8 tokes of the incredibly strong pot that's out there these days, a panic attack doesn't surprise me at all.
You said you were "fairly drunk," so your description of your day after doesn't surprise me either.
I think you're dealing with a hang over, a weed over and anxiety. Give your body and mind a break from the beer and weed and stop over thinking this. You have NOT damaged yourself. You are also not 18 any more!
RELAX!!!!
RubyWitch
You said you were "fairly drunk," so your description of your day after doesn't surprise me either.
I think you're dealing with a hang over, a weed over and anxiety. Give your body and mind a break from the beer and weed and stop over thinking this. You have NOT damaged yourself. You are also not 18 any more!
RELAX!!!!
RubyWitch
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