Panic attacks and pot

If you are having panic attacks only when smoking marijuana, then yes you should quit.

Panic attacks are mental, they are caused by your brain and it’s pretty much all in your head. If that is the only time it’s happening, then quit.

I can’t tell you “why” it happens…but I can tell you this…Feeling scared, paranoid, panic’d etc happens to a lot of people…people who used pot a lot, and then suddenly it doesn’t work the same as before…I’ve known some hard core pot heads in my life…who all eventually quit, JUST FOR THIS REASON…

Might as quit, it’s not fun anymore.

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Here is some of my insight, I hope it helps you.

Hello guys, I’m 17 years old and it has been well over 5 months now that I had my first problematic experience with weed. Before my problem, I had been smoking for almost two years, usually one doobie a weekend, on a Friday or Saturday, and I would simply chill, watch some movies, play some PS3, go for a walk, go out for the munchies, or simply pass out to the sweetness of my thoughts.

But one day on a trip with my friends, I smoked out and went to bed thinking that it would be another wonderful night, but suddenly I started freaking out, like many of you have previously described. I completely lost grasp of reality, I couldn’t distinguish if I was actually doing something or I was thinking that I was doing it. I didn’t know where I was and all my thoughts were coming to me so intensely that I really couldn’t make anything out of anything, and I got to a point in which I literally believed I was going crazy, and I pictured myself on a mental house, being tied up to a bed with my mom taking care of me. My thoughts seemed like a very intense hurricane, where everything was a mess, just flying around extremelyyy fast. Whenever I would be able to focus on a thought, it would be over something bad, and that bad thought would rush through my mind, taking me all the way down the road of that extremely bad thought, and when I thought that trip was done, my mind would go nuts again and I’d eventually find myself thinking about something horrible again, in what seemed like an endless cycle. Unfortunately my friends were not taking me seriously, so they were kinda mocking me, which only made things worse, as them telling me that I was just being stupid made me think I was even crazier for thinking that I was going crazy. Eventually they actually believed me, talked to me for a bit, so I was able to calm down, lay back in bed, and despite some bad thoughts that were still tormenting me, such as feeling like I was gonna die, I was able to relax and eventually fall a sleep and waking up perfectly normal the next day.

I tried smoking again about 2-3 months after that when I was out skating with these same friends (which I actually trust), but I found myself going into this same trip, so I immediately asked my friend to simply talk to me and tell me there was no such thing as a bad trip, everything was beautiful and I was just high, so he did it and talked me off the trip within less than a minute. Ever since, I stopped smoking and didn’t plan to get back to weed anytime soon.

But now, to my analysis of the situation. What I’ve come to realize after lots and lots of reflection over these months, is that the problem is not with the weed, but with me and my problems. Maybe some of you may have realized it before, and maybe for some of you its not the case, but let me outline this because it might help some of you, as it did to me when I realized it… Weed had never done me any bad before that, it had only made me happy and made my days even better than they were. I didn’t smoke because I needed or anything, just because it made me feel amazing, and even more relaxed than I was. It would amplify my thoughts, and my inner tranquility, which is one of my traits biggest traits. But just like weed amplified my tranquil thoughts, it turned out to amplify the problems that I had been facing at the time, which is what I’m quite sure caused my panic attack/bad trip.

I was extremely fed up of school (to the point of ACTUALLY considering dropping out, despite being a A,B student), I was having problems with my dad, and I was massively confused to whether if I actually loved my girlfriend and wanted to be with her in a relationship or if I just wanted enjoy my single life, with all the girls that I could come to hook up with. The fact that she was madly in love with me confused me even more, because I didn’t know if something was wrong with me because I didn’t feel for her nearly as much as she felt for me (telling me that she still wanted to be with me for many years to come). The degree of my problems might not seem as bad to you out there, but they were really fucking me up, really making me think and re-think and re-thinking over what I should do and how I hated that I had to bear those thoughts in my mind and I couldn’t simply find an answer for them to make them go away. I didn’t see a solution for them; I couldn’t find the right choice, I didn’t know what decision to take, as I didn’t know which would be the best one for me. Being sober, I would think and never find an answer for those questions, but since there was no external factor (weed) to amplify to my thoughts, I would easily stop thinking about it and move on. But as I smoked when I had all these problems in my head, for which I could not find a solution for, this sense of being lost in relation to what to do and not finding an answer for my problems became thousands of times worse and consumed me to the point that I was endlessly spinning in them, making me think I was going crazy, as all that I saw was the fact that I had no solution for my problems, making me not know what to do, how to get out of that cycle.

I’m sorry for this massively long post, but I was trying to pass on to you what I figure out after thinking and analyzing over my experience several and several times. Sometimes we look at the situation the wrong way, and we misinterpret or miss out on what caused our problems/panics. But if we realize what caused the problem, then we might be able to find a way to solve it. So consider looking into your mental situation/position when you first had your panic attack. Think of abnormal and troubling things that were happening in your life that might have triggered the excessive thinking over a problem(s) which lead might have lead you into making that problem even bigger and making you think you were going crazy or anything.

Before I had this epiphany, I could promise myself that I would never ever ever smoke again, as I was just scared of facing this same problem when smoking weed. But now that I have thought and sorted it out, I believe that I want to try weed again with a plain and chill mind, to try to get over my fear of having another panic attack, as now I know what caused it. After all, problems and fears should be tackled, not run away from.

But keep in mind that the best solution for your problem might be not to smoke weed ever again.. Yes, I know :’(

MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL: TALK TO SOMEONE YOU REALLY TRUST ABOUT THIS, IT WILL MAKE YOU FEEL MUCH BETTER FOR GETTING IT OFF YOUR CHEST. AND IF YOU FEEL LIKE SMOKING AGAIN, DO IT WITH SOMEONE YOU COMPLETELY TRUST AND CAN RELLY ON, SO THEY CAN BRING YOU BACK TO REALITY IF YOU SLIP OFF.

Some info to consider:

Marijuana affects your brain. THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) affects the nerve cells in the part of the brain where memories are formed.

Marijuana affects your self-control. Marijuana can seriously affect your sense of time and your coordination, impacting things like driving. In 2002, nearly 120,000 people were admitted to emergency rooms suffering from marijuana-related problems, an increase of more than 139 percent since 1995.

Marijuana affects your lungs. There are more than 400 known chemicals in marijuana. A single joint contains four times as much cancer-causing tar as a filtered cigarette.

Marijuana affects other aspects of your health. Marijuana can limit your body’s ability to fight off infection. Long-term marijuana use can even increase the risk of developing certain mental illnesses.

Marijuana is not always what it seems. Marijuana can be laced with other dangerous drugs without your knowledge. “Blunts”–hollowed-out cigars filled with marijuana–sometimes have substances such as crack cocaine, PCP, or embalming fluid added.

Marijuana can be addictive. Not everyone who uses marijuana becomes addicted, but some users do develop signs of dependence. In 1999, more than 220,000 people entered drug treatment programs to kick their marijuana habit.

thant used to happen to me but it eventually stopped and I kept on so im not sure ?

YOU CAN ENJOY WEED AGAIN AFTER YOU PANIC. I love weed! I always have but one night on some really strong hydro I got too high for my comfort and freaked out all night. It was horrible! After that I couldn’t smoke weed without beer for a while because I would panic. If you smoke after you have had a few beers you can still enjoy the high and you don’t freak out because beer relaxes you. After you get high that way for a while try some regi without beer. It is all in your mind set. You can also calm yourself down if you do freak out by telling yourself everything will be ok you are just paranoid because you are high. It took time and patience but I can get really stoned again now and enjoy it like I use to. I still freak out on weed some times, but I know how to calm myself down and if I can’t I drink a beer or two to fix it. It all depends on how you go into it. If you are scared that you will have a panic attack don’t smoke without beer that day. Just start with one hit of regi and slowly build your way up. That is what I did. I still freak out if I get too high but I just tell myself to relax and wait 30 mins the freaking out part usually leaves by then because some of the high wears off. People who have never freaked out don’t understand. I still loved weed and wanted to go back to the highs I use to get before my first freak out. You can it just takes time and patience. It is sooooo worth it though.