more anxiety after weed?

[niclas079]

I shared a joint (weed + tabac) with a few friends about 2/3 weeks ago (my first time), and I'm scared because my body just doesn't feel right ever since.

Becasue I do have OCD and anxiety problems, the immediete hours following the smoke I just couldnt relax and paranoia began to hit me. I had a bit of a panic attack, during which I was disturbed to notice these tiny flashes or floaters in my vision and a slight loss of concentration in 1 eye.

Anyway, panic and anxiety hit me BIG TIME the following week when I noticed this things were still in my field of vision ! I was absolutely terrified, an emotional wreck because I believed (still sort of do) that I had made a huge mistake and screwed up my vision and life for good. I started having periodic shooting eye pains as well which added to the anxiety. Anyway, I went to the opticians and was given the all clear and told I have healthy eyes. After this I told myself to relax and began to feel a bit better.....the pain in my eyes eased up.

BUT.....in the 2nd week more symptons started to follow. I became light headed and weak, periodic ear pain, changes in heart rate and had cold shakes many times during the day. I also began to experience chest pains and pressure on my head developed. It's been a horrible chain reaction, as the symptons intensified so did the anxiety and that led to me having horrible nightmares and difficulties getting a good nights sleep.

I can't believe I'm saying this but my body shape is also slightly out of line. The head and neck are titled slightly away from body. And thats not something im imaging, because my friends have said that when they look closely they can spot it too. When I do force my body to align itself properly, I feel discomfort in my chest.  The pressure on the head is still there, especially coming from the back. Sometimes when I bend down or I move my jaw when eating.....I don't know it's really difficult to explain but I experience pressure changes on my head and things just feel wrong.

I suppose my question is........is this sequence of symptons all to do with my stress/anxiety and my mind?.....Or has the marijuana created all or parts of this and messed up my body?

On a broader note.......should people with OCD/anxiety chemistry smoke marijuana. Are the risks greater for us?

[Daslicht]

I absolutely agree. I smoked pot the other day (first time) for my anxiety with a very close friend, who takes it for his anxiety. Overall it wasn't a bad experience. Although it DID NOT make me forget my horrible thoughts of fear etc. Anytime I had a pocket of clarity...the thoughts came flooding back. And the weed was actually pretty good quality, as my friend has been involved with narcotics for over a decade. It still really did nothing to calm me from my obsessive thoughts of death and fear. Right before it, we had some drinks at a bar, so I was plenty calm before the smoking part, and still no real improvement in my anxiety. The day after I woke late in the day with a horrible depression, I mean horrendous. My boyfriend had to call out of work because I just couldn't stop crying. So, as the above comment, if you have these kind of issues, doing a drug that intensifies whatever issues you have, probably isnt the best idea.

[Paxiled]

What we like about marijuana is that it allows us to focus in on our experience, intensifying it.  That's great when it's great, but if what you're feeling is loneliness, you'll feel lonelier, if you're depressed, you might feel more so, and if you suffer from anxiety, you'll feel more anxious.  It's what the drug does.  If you're an anxiety sufferer, most likely mj won't be fun, so why bother with what's not fun?

[M4Y0U]

Activating the CB1 receptor by smoking cannabis due to the psychoactive substance THC will cause a decreased level of GABA which can cause anxiety/panic attack. It can also be the trigger but when the day after would suggest you are not having anxiety anymore due to weed but to the the trigger of you anxiety caused by THC.

Low levels of GABA have been associated with anxiety/panic attack and benzodiazepines work exactly in a way to increase the GABA levels by agonizing the GABAa receptor.

M4

[Tangled]

This is just my opinion and I don't expect anyone to agree with me or disagree. It's just MY experience. I have severe OCD and have had it since early childhood and I am 37 now. Roughly 19 years ago after giving birth to my daughter I developed some medical problems and wound up in the emergency room where I was given a shot for pain. Immediately afterwards I had the WORST panic attack, along with other symptoms that I have ever experienced in my life. That shot changed my life. I became very sick and spent 2 weeks in bed feeling suicidal. My entire thought process changed and I freaked out. I paced the floor, couldn't sit still, developed severe aching in my entire body and all of my senses changed. I developed a pressure in my head, my vision went crazy, I could touch hot water but not be sure if it were hot or cold and I couldn't tolerate sounds or smells. This has NEVER ever gone away. My symptoms got better over time, only to return in times of stress or when I take certain medications, including the 2 times I tried smoking marijuana hoping it would help me relax. For some reason, certain drugs affect me badly and I completely wig out. Does it affect the brains chemicals? I am guessing so since people with OCD are chemically imbalanced to begin with. For me, pot just intensified the anxiety I am already feeling, it never helped. On the other hand, whenever I am given pain medication such as Vicodin, my anxiety level goes down GREATLY and I feel like a new person. Again, pain medications work by altering the way your brain senses pain. It just goes to show you how powerful drugs can be to the mind and body. For those of us with mental illnesses, it really can be like playing with fire when you take drugs. You never know what kinds of effects to expect. Stay away from the pot from now on! You don't want the next time to be even worse than the first since you already had a bad reaction to it.

Hang in there.

[radsurfer05]

Sounds like anxiety to me. People with anxiety usually have a higher since of awareness,  aches, pains and other things seem to be much worse than they really are.Marijuana just makes the anxiety worse and stay away from caffeinated drinks. Good luck