Smoking weed and having panic attacks...

(sorry for the spelling)

I've been smoking cannabis since 1999. I'm not an heavy smoker, I generally smoke 2 maybe 3 joins per week, sometimes less then that, sometimes more. Recently (2 months ago), I had a severe (well at least I think it was) panic attack. Chest pains, fear of dying, heart going crazy, shortbreath, name it... It lasted for 1-2 hours, I was so scarred that I tought I was doing an heart attack, I was so sure I was about to die that even called an ambulance... In the end, nothing happened beside the fact that I got scarred like hell and felt like I was dying. So, the following days I was scarred of smoking again, but eventually I did it. I realized that it had become different. Now, I always get racing heartbeats on the onsets and if I start to focus on it, I start to get scarred, then comes the chest pains and so on... But it's not that bad, it last only for a fews minutes and it generally goes away. Last week, I did another severe panic attack... I tried to smoke yesterday and even if I didn't get a panic attack, I got the racing heart beat, I was scarred a little bit and I didn't like it. It only lasted for 30 mins, the rest was fine but I'm starting to think that I probably should drop it.

Anyone is having the same problem? Any solution?

I'm trying to sleep more, doing more exercise, having some supplements like valerian, etc... Is there anything else?

 

actually it's weird that you posted this. I thought I was going crazy.. I've been smoking since I was 16.. I'm 22 now and I've smoked a hell of alot.. and all of a sudden a few months ago I started getting the same thing you are describing everytime I smoked.. so I only hit the bowl like 2 times now just to feel alittle high cuz I'm scared it will happen again.. wish I knew why it was happening and how to stop it cuz I love smoking.. it sucks..

 

I've gotten the racing-heart thing, too. What I've noticed is that if you focus on how loud/fast your heartbeat is, your thoughts will build on each other and pretty soon you'll have a full-blown panic attack, which sucks. I try to remember that it's just weed, nothing is wrong with me, and I'm not going to die from smoking a bowl. When i start to hear my heartbeat, I just take some deep breaths and chill out and usually it slows down or I put it out of my mind until it does slow down.

 

This happens to me sometimes. I did this too. It's just because your tolerence got screwed up. Just smoke a tiny bit, and remember to breathe, and weed can't hurt you. Listen to music to take your mind off it, get some water or munchies or whatever. Eventually it'll go away, just take it slow.

 

It happens. It is called anxiety, and in its extreme, it turns into panic attacks. You should begin to focus in your every day life (not just when you're high) on techniques to reduce anxiety. For a while I was having panic attacks on weed quite regularly, but I haven't had one in at least a year, because I learned that when it first starts to come on, it can be diffused with the right mental attitude. Just lie down, breathe, reassure yourself that your pot is not laced and that your body is not in any physical danger. Focus on some TV or some music, and within a minute or two things should be close to baseline. The more times you are able to overcome anxiety, the less scary it seems to be and the more likely you will be able to confidently disarm the panic attack in the future.

 

Its anxiety. Weed can make it worse for some people I guess. Sometimes Ill get it a little, but not that much.

 

wow I didn't know alot of people have this problem..

 

Yeah actually I'm having a lot of anxiety issue theses days... Work is stressful as hell, I don't sleep much and I always have tendency to put myself into stressful situation when I shouldn't... My 2nd extreme panic attack occured pretty much in the same context than the first one. I was really tired (didn't sleep more then 4-5 hours each night for a week), I was stressed as hell, I was alone in my house (gf was on a business trip) and andrenaline was at top level (Halo 3 just came out). When the racing heartbeat started I was scarred that I was going to have another severe panic attack. I couldn't control it, it was just stronger then my mind, there was nothing I could do about. The experience was awful (at least less then the first one), but I knew it wasn't gonna be lethal. I took some of my gf medication to ease up the crisis and it worked (some oxazepam, anti anxiety medication). I guess being tired and anxious a lot just didn't help at all. I totally understand what is a panic attack, it's is a cross between a psychological and physical problem. You brain reacts to stressful situations by releasing adrenaline in your system which gives you the heartbeat and stuff. The problem is, this type of reaction normally happend when there is a real danger. As for the panic attack, you body tries to fight something that isn't real in some ways. The more you are anxious and stress out, the more your body fight, the more you get painful thoughts and symptoms, the more you get anxious and stress out and so on... It's even worst when you are high.

Anyway... Thanks for your help everyone, I'm glad to see that I'm not the only guy with this problem. I knew I wasn't alone because there is a lot of negative experience post posted on erowid.org about this matter. It's just that I didn't really know how to solve my problem. I guess that taking care of myself and solving my anxiety issues should do it.

 

Instead of smoking joints, smoke a bowl. You have a hell of a lot more control over how much weed you smoke, and you can pack a tiny bowl if your tolerance is really low.

 

I just read a study a while ago about how panic attacks can lead to a heart attack..

 

The way i see it is weed can be psychedelic in the sense that it can expose or amplify underlying thought processes. So if you have something going on, anything from a specific depression or anxiety to general stress, it can manifest itself in the high as anxiety when you become more consciously aware of all the internal conflict. Anxiety is a completely normal emotion in the human spectrum that we need to function, but its a double edged sword. Workable amounts of anxiety can be a nervous energy thats motivating and performance enhancing. too much anxiety begins to decrease performance and functionality, and can lead into panic.

Once I understood that our autonomic nervous system increases the firing rate of neurons and pumps adrenaline into our bloodstream, and that is what causes of the physical effects like racing heart, sweating, and shaking, i started to separate my actual cognitive thoughts from that. anxiety is normal and adaptive, its linked to the fight or flight response which we still need to survive sometimes.

when someone has a panic attack, its a terrifying experience because they feel out of control and have no idea what is going on. so the person becomes afraid of that experience, and begin to become hesitant to recreate the circumstances in which the attack took place. another element is anytime they begin to experience anxiety and physiological arousal, it cannot be easily ignored or disregarded, instead the person begins to fixate on the physiological symptoms and get trapped in counterproductive thought patterns. in my experience, when a person becomes aware or creates this separation of mind and body, you can address the issue and overcome it. by the way, this has nothing to do with strength or mental stability. its about perception and understanding.

 

Yeh i get panic attacks all the time... i pass it off now as just part of my high from weed. I smoke, i always go over my limit, i get real dizzy and time slows down, i go over the routine mind process in my head that calms me down (repeatedly reminding myself its just a drug etc), then the high becomes barable and i have a good time and a slow, chilled come down.

The first time i had a major panic attack my heart felt like it was going to explode.. but the more you think about it the more you exagerate the seriousness of it.. and the more worried you get. Whatever happens, wether you work yourself up or you try to ignore it.. the feeling will always pass, so as a whole there is no real danger.

 

& this is the reason i quit smoking.

the panic and anxeity attacks became so overwhelming that one night my mom had to take me to the emergency room. figure out a way to get through or around the panic attacks or do yourself a favor and don't risk smoking.

 

I have had some pretty severe anxiety in the past. It can get pretty bad at times. In fact I have tried medication several times but I usually cant get past the first 2-3 weeks. I cant say the only thing that has helped me was weed. I think what has helped me the most has been that I have been trying to look up instead of down every day, trying to focus on things getting better even though they have been pretty miserable at times.

I lived by myself for a while and smoked almost every day, now I'm rooming with my brother and even though he is a total buzz kill I think its getting me out more often, talking to people, and re-learning how to be social after 6 years off marriage. I still love to get stoned, but I think I like it now more for how horny I get. Back then, I smoked it mostly to just escape.

I guess what Im trying to say is, weed just increases you level of feelings. Both physical and mental, it makes you sensitive to the sometimes glaring holes in your personality. If you are having anxiety attacks while you are stoned, its probably because you have so much anxiety in other aspects of your life. For me, I think it was a sign that certain things in my life had to change.

I don't necessarily want to stop smoking weed, but if thats where all this is going to lead, I know I will be happy with the decision.

 

I smoked a little bit tonight (1/3 of a joint) and I was very surprised to see that it was pretty enjoyable. I had 1 beer before doing so, some friends came to my house and I also had some valerian as well. Even if I was pretty stressed out and tired, I had no panic rush of any kind. I felt a bit of back and chest pain, but it was very mild and already there before smoking (I believe weed makes me more aware and focus about that.). In fact, I had this pain pretty much all day at work. So, the good new is that being in a good mood with good people helps a lot and the real problem (beside smoking itself, I can admit it) is really my anxiety. I was able to figure it out today. The message is perfectly clear, I'm tired, stressed, anxious and weed won't help at all, even has a temporary solution. Working on myself, doing more exercise (to get good fatigue), some natural supplement and time should do it. I should smoke less then normally until I'm feeling a lot better.

 

what is valerian?
and alcohol increases gaba levels which is an inhibitory neurotransmitter. meaning its going to inhibit motor output, or in other words reduce the physical symptoms that are contributing to the panic.
imo alcohol can be a great drug for anxiety, not much different than eating xanax which also increases gaba
if it makes you more comfortable, then smoke less but i dont think thats needed in all cases. sometimes the weed anxiety can be good to learn how to deal with that kind of stress better. like flooding therapy

 

I used to get them all the time. My heart would be beating so hard and fast that the person who was sitting next to me could hear it. I have since learned to control it.

Worrying about it only makes it worse. If you keep your mind occupied...it won't happen. Simple.

 

I founded an excellent article on the "Fight or Flight" concept on the web:


http://www.thebodysoulconnection.com/EducationCenter/fight.html

Very interesting, it explains a lot of things on anxiety consequences and how this whole process goes. The human body is really well made (tho sometimes it's hard to believe) and there is a reason to everything.

 

Update here: Yesterday I decided to try to relax even more and it was really a good idea. Right after work, I took my bike and I did an intense 40 mins ride. At the end I was pretty exhausted (I haven't been doing much physical things lately), I came back home and took a 30 min hot bat with 1 coors light and 2 valerian pills. Then I did supper and me and GF watched tv for 1 hour. I was really feeling great, both mentally and physically. Exercise litteraly killed my stress and anxiety, the text I readed yesterday was right, exercice is the natural answer to stress and anxiety because of endorphin release (you have to reach that point tho). So, feeling that great I decided to do a test again, I had 1/3 of a blunt again and the result was really really really enjoyable. I had absolutely no panic or anxious effect at all, even better, my mind was high and I even got some good laugh as well. I still think I'm very fragile tho because even if the whole thing was fine, I believe that having to do exercise, taking a bath and valerian pills just feel "right" isn't normal at all. That said, I'm glad that all the real problem is anxiety, not weed. Weed won't help that's for sure, but the bottom line is that it isn't the real problem. The real problem is definately anxiety above anything else.

So here is my receipe to get rid of my anxiety (or at least to bring it at an acceptable level) in about a week :

- 7-8 hours of sleep per days (at least)
- B-complex & C vitamins each morning (excellent for your brain and against stress)
- 5-HTP, 100mg 1 hour before sleeping and 50 mg (this is for a nice mood lift)
- At least 30 mins of exercice after work per day , walking a bit on you lunch hour is great.
- Valerian supplements can help, tho it's hard to see the difference honnestly.
- Some mediation can help a bit too, just sit down and breath deeply for 5 mins.

That's pretty much it... It may sounds a lot, but this IMO is an hardcore way to get rid of anxiety. The main problem I see with this approach is that it is too drastic in the sense that it can be hard to follow everyday and this can't be a permanent solution. Still, even if you can't do everything, it's better then nothing that's for sure.

I hope it can help anyone who have the same problem then me because it really sucks to do a panic attack, believe me it's really scarry and disturbing.

 

Oh yeah, it seems that cutting caffeine is excellent.
Omega 3 suppléments are also excellent.