Hi I am going tru the same at the moment it's been 3 months I feel like I have lost my old self. I used to smoke weed on and off but then I didn't smoke weed for about an year then on day my friend asked me to smoke so I did 1st day I was fine then 2nd day I was also fine but then the 3rd day I smoked abit more than what i was smoking for past two days I got a really bad panic attack and I thought I was going to die at first I didn't it was panic attack bcoz I never heard about it but the I read about it anyway the next when I woke up I was still feeling high dizzy light headed I was just constantly thinking about the incident happened with me and I wasn't feeling normal and now its been 3 months I am still the same I never felt normal since that day, my symptoms are, constant chest pain, dizziness , light headed , tingling sensation in my body specially my hands and feets I have done all the test and everything came out normal I went to the phsycatrist he prescribe me seroxat cr ( paroxtine ) I took it for 2 weeks then I stopped taking it bcoz that tablet was making too much numb I just want to know is there anyother way I can deal with this thing I desperately want to get better I have missed my semester bcoz of this plz help
I'm so sorry..I know Exactly what you're going through..and I thought it would come down to me killing myself too..but I'm getting better and better after 11 months since I did it..I think counseling would help..your body just feels scared right now but eventually it's going to know its ok and so will you..my therapist said I'd have lapses for a while when it would be bad and lapses when things would be good at then eventually they become so spread out that it won't be a problem anymore..but yes I understand you're pain and fear...it's worse than getting raped..I promise it will be ok..people probably wonder what's wrong with her? But they don't know how bad I've been ..I'm just soo great full and happy to be better 😊 you're going to get better too!
It will get better even though it feels like it won't..it will I've been there..i got better gradually but I got a lot better..my therapist says after lapses of being ok and not ok eventually they will get fewer and fewer ..for a while there maybe longer periods of bad will happen fallowed by longer good ones..but it will get so much better ..I was done with life..but now I love it again
i smoked once and had the same experience. Read my other comments below I think it wil help
this is so weird because the same thing happened & is happening to me again. I've been smoking weed for about 3 years & one time when I smoked weed, last year, I had the worse reaction. I was panicking really bad, I thought I was dying & it was terrible. I felt like everybody knew I was high & I felt like I was going to get in trouble. that night I woke up crying & had a real panic attack. my heart was racing & I had to call for my mom because I was scared. I thought I had schizophrenia or something but my friend looked up depersonalization & everything I was showing was signs of it. I wanted to see a doctor so we went to a mental hospital & they said I was pretty messed up. I left though because they wanted to keep me but my mom was like no, I was so scared. honestly I was still just high I think but that mood lasted for about a week, I felt like everything was a dream. I wanted to wake up & feel normal again. it slowly gone away but I've noticed since I started smoking, I've been very depressed. I'm an A student & I use to play sports & be very active but I've noticed since I started, nothing has been the same. I cry myself to sleep a lot now, I lost a bunch of friends, literally all of them & I haven't had motivation to do anything or have interest to do anything anymore. I need to quit & get my life back together. a friend of mine as well wants to quit so together were thinking about it & were gonna start working out & get out lives back together. I think the key to really changing is having support & someone who you can trust & get comfort from. weed has only made my life worse, I feel like sh*t mostly when I am high & realize how much it has changed me. I want to live my life to the fullest & be successful but weed has only slowed me down.
I think you could be quite supportive with another thread on here https://patient.info/forums/discuss/--336382
Dear Ihateweed89,
I think my previous post was moderated because I said a bad word so here I go again. It was a laborious message but I feel the need to reach out so...
In June of 2011, I ate a pot cookie, had the panic attack of a lifetime and woke up the next morning feeling like I was unable to "think a normal thought." I was frantic and terrified. I felt like I was on psychedelic drugs only I wasn't having hallucinations and didn't do any drugs other than the cookie which was supplied to me by a family friend. It was not "laced." I was hysterical. I rushed to the ER because I wasn't sure if I was going psychotic or something. I had never had any previous mental health issues other than occasional anxiety attacks. They gave me benzos and sent me on my way even though I was still freaking out really bad and was nowhere near okay. I was totally dysphoric, scared and I was convinced I was "losing my mind." I never broke with reality or lost my awareness. I felt like I was watching from the inside of my mind, these horrible thoughts and bizarre and horrific perceptual shifts happen to me.
I hoped it would go away by the next day. It didn't. I became more and more distressed as Monday was approaching and I had to go to work. I didn't know how I was going to be able to function in that condition. Normal things and activities that I would never have thought twice about suddenly became daunting tasks because of my condition. I went to work ( I walk dogs so I am alone a lot and I also do house calls as a veterinary technician) totally tripping. I was horrified and tried my hardest to hide from everyone how truly terrible I was feeling. If I had any other job, I would not have surived holding it together. I made an appointment with psychiatry. They tried me on a whole host of horrific drugs from anti-depressants to anti-convulsants "mood stabilizers" to low doses of anti-psychotics. All of which made me feel sick, slow and cognitively impaired on top of other weird side effects and what I was already experiencing. I ended up on klonopin to try to maintain the anxiety aspect of things. It hardly helped. I had horrible intrusive thoughts, I was so disconnected from my belongings that I was afraid of my art and books and the music I listened to scared me. All of the things I loved and contributed to the quality of my life seemed foreign to me. No longer mine. As a person who LOVED their solitude, suddenly I was afraid of being alone. I felt like I lost myself completely and my life felt over. I had the same thoughts of not wanting to die but not wanting to continue on feeling this way. I had everything going for me before this happened. I had two jobs that I loved, I had just moved into a new place, paid off my car and had started seeing someone I was falling in love with. I was learning Italian, saving for Italy and learning to play the accordion. My whole life was on the line. I suffered like this for a year and seven months. Day in and day out. Complete misery. I don't know how I got through the moments and it literally was surviving the days moment by moment. I forced myself to keep doing the things I would be doing if this were not happening to me. I was devasted. I felt dead already. I was so vital and confident and had dreams of traveling the world and having adventures and creating amazing life experiences. All of this started to look like a lost dream. I was in so much pain. I wouldn't see my friends because I was afraid they wouldn't understand or they would notice that I wasn't the person they knew me to be. It was all I could do to just work. I was isolated in my experiences. I cried and cried and cried. But persisted. I was fighting for my life.
Gradually, after almost two years, I started to feel a little bit better. Not completely myself but a long shot from where I was until my gynecologist suggested I try an anti-depressant for the severity of my periods. It had only been 9 months since I had started to feel a bit better. The day I took Celexa, I tripped out again. Had a massive panic attack and it threw me right back into the headspace I was in for a year and seven months. ALL OVER AGAIN. I was at work when the "medicine" "kicked in"!! Juggling six dogs on the trails. To say that I totally freaked out would be an understatement. I COULD NOT BELIEVE this was happening to me again. I didn't even know how I survived the first time around and was still terrified and licking my wounds when I got knocked down yet again. This time, all of the visual stuff you mentioned started up. Visual tracers, halos, burned images, after images as well as some other wonderful things that didn't happen the first time: medication resistant insomnia, night terros, panic attacks in my sleep (when I could sleep) that would fling me out of bed with my heart pounding and me thinking I was going insane, I stopped being able to eat- food felt physically weird in my mouth and ended up getting 5150'd after not sleeping for a week. I told the ER dr that I would rather be dead than go another day the way I was and that was it. My worst fear. They threw me in the hospital for five days. I could not show any emotion out of fear they would not release me, but it was a truly traumatic experience. On top of all the initial trauma. When I got out, I saw dr after dr. I saw neurologists, infectious disease specialists, psych drs, got therapy, read self help books, did online research. I saw had a spinal tap and several MRI's to rule anything out that may have been wrong with my brain. (In 2007, I almost died from bacterial spinal meningitis and I had no idea what that did to my brain. Usually people do not survive that disease.)
Here I am. Today. In the same boat. Day in and day out struggling to stay psychically vigilant. It is hard when something happens to you and you don't really get a solid answer as to why it happend. I am not schizophrenic. I am not psychotic. I am not bi-polar yet it feels like I have some sort of illness noone can really describe. Some dr's have suggested depersonalization/derealization and extreme anxiety with major depression. It seems like these are tame explanations for the grandiosity of my experiences. And as far as depression and anxiety goes- I don't know who wouldn't be anxious and depressed after suffering something like this for so long. I wasn't depressed before this happened that's for sure. There is so much suffering involved. I feel like my friends and family are living their lives as themselves and mine is just passing me by while I wait to hopefully get better. I still force myself out, but I don't have the same energy. I don't feel well. All of my experiences are tainted with the essence of whatever this is.
Luckily, as research as provided, our brains still have neuroplasticity and can heal. If a stroke victim can heal, I can heal. It may take a long time, but nothing can stay the same forever. I just can't believe that. You said you experienced some relief when you took ssris right? All those drugs did was alter your neurochemical receptor activity. When your or my brain changes on its own, and it will, maybe it will heal and things will get better. I am still fighting. I cried myself to sleep last night because I saw an old photo of myself and I miss that person so much it is crushing. My heart is broken. My spirit feels dashed...but there is still fire in there pushing me to continue on and I hope you do too.
I am wondering if you were able to relate to my experiences or if you are still feeling unwell. I wish you the best. Nobody can possibly understand how really horrific something like this is until they experience it for themselves. It is real. This happens to people. I don't think either one of us are "crazy."
A few things that help me through the moments: trying to stay present no matter how weird I feel, not isolating, meditating when I can, exercising even when I feel too strange for words, reaching out to friends and not fearing their judgement, I get acupuncture and do yoga, I try to eat as healthy as possible, try to maintain positive self talk- it is not easy, I take high quality fish oil, magnesium chelate (easier on the stomach), and a good probiotic.
Please let me know how you are and if anything I said was helpful. You are not alone. You DO NOT SUFFER ALONE.
Alexis
Hi all, just wanted to provide an update on my condition.
I can proudly say that mentally, my depression and shock from the incident has pretty much subsided, not 100% but pretty darn close. I was on Prozac for a little while. While I can't say for sure that it helped or not, it's true that shortly after taking it that I have regained my "old self." I am no longer taking any psychiatric medicine either (I was also taking trazadone for sleeping but no longer need it). As an aside, my psychiatrist was convinced that I was in denial and that I have been depressed my whole life, so I made the concious decision to quit the medicine and stop seeing her (doctors have to make a living, too) because I thought the relationship over time became very toxic for me.
Just as every person is different, the way that I have "healed" from the effects of smoking weed is different (from the people posting before me and for those of you who have more recently joined this discussion). In my case, perhaps the prozac helped me in some way, but once I felt I got to a certain place I felt that I can fight the rest of this on my own power. My advice for you all is that if you feel you need to or have nowhere else to turn, go visit a doctor and get trust what they have to say. From there, the rest of up to you to follow the orders or to make your own judgements (I took an "extreme" decision in a short period of time, but it worked).
More than anything, what helped me through this ordeal was talking to the ones I cared about most. Before all of this, I have never cried in front of my mum and dad, much less open up my soul to anyone (since I'm a very private and independent person). But, they were there for me. For a long time, I never told my mom about my ordeal, either. But not telling her was killing me on the inside, and when I did tell her I was a mess of tears and snot, but over a period of several days I think it really made a difference. Obviously, don't tell just anyone; just the ones you care about the most. If there's a reason you fear telling someone about your own incident, ignore that fear and tell that if they are important to you. Keeping it inside will only make it worse.
The other thing is just give it time. It seems as though my period of suffering has been shorter than some of you other folks (e.g. a year or more), but it doesn't mean that my suffering has/had been any less at any point in time. There were points where I would look in the mirror and couldn't recognize myself. It was like looking at a walking corpse. With all the avenues in which I sought help, on a day to day basis I didn't notice much change. But, there came a point where I felt that I had come a long way since one month prior, and then the next and the next.
What has lingered are some physical oddities and not so much the mental aspect. Stiff jaw muscles, kinks in my back and shoulders I never had before. My own personal opinion is that my personal weed incident (which I had written about previously) probably caused my body to go on adrenal overdrive and then caused my system to crash and burn. Example: when you get an adrenaline rush, the "rush" stays with you for several hours before getting back to normal. In my case, the weed incident caused my body to be on overdrive for a period of days, causing my "recovery" to be much longer. But these things I can deal with, and am already seeing a chiropractor/muscle tightness specialist to help me get back in to prime shape. Also, I am sleeping normally again (I learned that sleep deprevation is a form of cruel torture...and probably contributed to my previous depression).
Just as some other bits, I also ate good, nutritious foods (see some of the posts earlier in this thread), and gradually try to get active physically. I recommend taking it with the approach of "I want to get in the best shape of my life" and it might help conquer or at least lessen overruling depression. I say all this, but I also know that I had come to learn how it feels when the depression is just so bad that you can't and don't want to do anything. To that, I say that you should seek help, whether it's just friends, or your doctor, just try not to be alone. Being alone will make it worse and you will be stuck in small little world of just you and your suffering. That will never help you, and that should be unacceptable, but getting there to such that frame of mind will take time. We're all different, so it will vary, but until such a time though, please hang in there. None of us deserved to go through these ordeals, but you deserve to have your life back. Believe it.
Hey everyone,
I know and feel exactly what you are all going through, because I'm going through it now and learning a whole lotta stuff about myself. My incident occurred when I moved from my childhood home, went to college, then transfered colleges. I showed up the first day at my new college ready to take on the world, I was in the best shape of my life, and ready to start new friendships and memories at my new college. My third or fourth day at school, I went to the gym and had a good workout, and went up to my friends apartment after to hangout. I had smoked weed in the past and had no problems with it, it never really did anything for me but I just did it because everyone else was doing it. My friends were smoking out of a launchbox vaporizer and I decided that I should smoke with them. I took three massive hits and said goodbye to my friends and went back to my dorm building(which was right around the corner. Everything was good and I started making dinner when all of the sudden I felt the high begin to creep in. At first I thought it was normal and then the panic set in. The most insane sensations and thoughts ran through my mind, thoughts of suicide, dying, not being able to get help and being stuck like this forever. I continued to make my eggs even though these sensations were becoming worse. I sat down and ate the eggs, trembling and not even being able to finish them. I then shakily walked into the bathroom and looked at myself and couldn't even tell who I was, it was truly horrifying. I took a shower and laid in my bed frozen in fear for the rest of the night, to scared to call my parents or to call anyone. It was truly the most traumatic thing I've ever gone through, and I am not a person who has suffered any abuse from parents or loved ones but this was different.
The next morning I felt different, my perception on things changed and I diffenetly noticed something was off. It only got worse as the days moved on, I continued my daily supplements and eating patterns, drinking coffee in the morning and taking weightlifting supplements, working out, running (because I played lacrosse for my old university and now play club at my new one) and I started to notice the supplements I was taking affected me differently, coffee, alcohol, and all stimulants caused my anxiety to sky rocket. It was, and still is puzzling to me. But it seems that this phenomenon affects people who are truly outgoing individuals and are sure of themselves, only to get slapped down by this intrusive force that seems to come out of nowhere.
I have done many things to help in recovery, some have worked some have not. I tried long distance running (because I thought maybe I had to sweat this out) acupuncture (which did help with relaxing me a little) Ayurvedic medicine/chiropractic work(which I still go to because my doctor helps me eat right and feel better) shiatsu body massage (which helps in relaxation and the production of feel good chemicals) yoga (which helps to socialize and become more flexible/ at peace and many other things.
I have just recently gone to therapists and psychiatrists just because I believe my brain and mind are looking for closure on what happened. I'm discovering that talking, the simple act of talking and becoming a good listener, are very beneficial and this helps break introspection. The psychiatrist diagnosed me with anxiety and depression and possible bi polar disorder (which I am finding hard to believe because so many other therapists and doctors have said I don't have any bi polar characteristics.) but the best thing all of you and myself can do is to continue to discover new ways to keep yourself occupied and out of negative thought and introspection. I am thinking of volunteering at my local animal shelter to just be with animals because I love animals and just get out of my own head. I know the sensations are confusing, scary, and it seems pretty hopeless at times but there is a reason why we are going through this and it will only make us stronger as people, and as human beings. I cannot stress enough how important talking about is, I was so scared to two anyone but after telling my parents and going to therapists it helps with unloading emotional, physical and any other discomfort this hell brings.
Just know that you are not alone, even though you think you're the only person out there who's feeling this, you are not. I went from a party, go hard lacrosse player, to a weak, timid, scardy cat, afraid of doing anything, but I believe we change for a specific reason and you have to accept it. Not 10% not 50% but the full 100%. We were put on this earth for a reason and we are struggling now because there is something so good in the future. If you ever want to talk about this rut we're going through please email me.
Best wishes to everyone, and think strong, and you will stay strong. God bless
Emis Moderator comment: I have removed the email address as we do not publish these in the forums. If users wish to exchange contact details please use the Private Message service .
http://patient.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/398331-private-messages
Hi I have an accidental pot edible overdose. I say accidental because I have no knowledge what it can do me. I just ate that stupid cookies like a normal cookies. It was terrible for a month I suffered anxiety and paranoia which I don't have in the first place. I am suffering after that happened and I still am. My early symptoms was panic attacks, anxiety, shaking brain, once a day your brain will see the world as dark, you look at things but you cannot feel them it's like you can't connect with them, you can see but it feels like your blind, palpitations, sesitive to food and supplements, your brain is itchy inside, extreme dizziness, feeling fainting but you don't faint, weird head sensation such as crawling pain but not a headache, cannot process all the thing you see, brain fog, sensitive to noise and light, sleepy eyes, eyes and face turns yellow once a day. It's the worst feeling in my life and I have never felt thsee things before. It's been almost 3 months since it happened now I have physical symptoms like my back, neck and head hurts, my head hurts more I have headache, inside brain itchiness, feeling faint, dizziness, pounding brain, once a while my face and eyes still turns yellow and would make my eyes sleepy, fatigue, stabbing quick needle pain throughout the body. It feels terrible and I wanna get back to normal. To all the people that is feeling like this I hope we are all going to get better. God bless to us!
Hi I wanna know if you ever got back to normal life, a healthy worry free life. I have the same symptoms with you and just like you I have no trace of anxiety before I tried to messed with that subtance. Now I feel like my life is in danger all the time. I am having these weird symptoms and physical pain that I have never experienced ever before. I hope you got better because I so hope I'll get better as well 
Wow, this is an incredibly one-sided discussion so far and am wondering if the replies are being moderated to only show this one anti-cannabis perspective, or if I am really the only person who has ever written to this thread from another point of view! I have been a long term cannabis user, on and off, for many years and never experienced a single disturbing episode of any kind whatsoever and have never experienced flashbacks of being stoned months later. As a drug law reformer, medical marijuana advocate and supporter of recreational use as well, cannabis and its properties are subjects I have researched a lot.
What many people are ignorant of, is the fact that there are different strains which feature different combinations of psychoactives. THC is the intoxicant everyone has heard of, but the lesser known CBDs are also very important. There are also two main types of psychoactive cannabis which have differing properties, Sativa and Indica. And there are also hybrids of Sativa and Indica, sometimes erroneously referred to as "skunk". It is a common cliche for people to say, as at least one commenter here has already, that "today's marijuana is stronger than in the past". The truth is, this is kind of a meaningless statement because there are literally thousands of different varieties and sub-varieties, some of which have a very high concentration of THC, which would not be found "in nature" and some of which are deliberately cultivated so as to be mild. Believe me, there is still plenty of weak marijuana around!
The point I am trying to make is that "marijuana" is not a single defined thing, it is not a glass of Heineken each one of which will always and forever be identical. The joint that guy is smoking and the one I am smoking do not necessarily resemble one another in strength, potency, strain, aroma, properties, THC content, CBDs.... you get the picture? So when people have, what is actually a very, very, rare experience such as having a psychotic break of some kind after a few puffs of a joint, there are a lot of different possibilities to consider and it is unfair to blame "marijuana", that shapeless entity, for the whole thing.
One possibility is that there was something else in the joint. Unless you or your friends grew it, or you got it at a licensed cannabis store where those are legal, you don't know. I have at least one friend who thought he was taking a hit on an ordinary joint, only to discover the hard way that it was most likely laced with PCP, an extremely dangerous drug, unlike "marijuana".
But much more common than that is the likelihood that a) the person who freaked out had underlying and undiagnosed psychiatric disorders connected to brain chemistry and b) the particular strain smoked, lacked the ideal ratio of THC to CBDs, which happen to have anti-psychotic properties.
Although I love and am healed by this beautiful plant, I know that it is not for everyone and although rare, yes I have myself witnessed a few people over the years whose reactions to smoking it in my presence, suggest to me that they should probably stay away from it.
But that is about them, not the plant. In other words, don't blame weed for your problems. You already had them and the weed only brought it to the surface. Be thankful that you found out now and can receive other types of treatment. I wish you well.
Meanwhile, it is only because of the current prohibition that ignorance like this is perpetuated. In a decriminalized and regulated world, people would not be buying some random stuff off the street, they would be able to precisely select the herb most likely to help their medical condition, if they had one, and be able to be screened for the likelihood of psychotic reactions and in that case steered towards the cannabis with the highest anti-psychotic properties.
There are indeed numerous strains that work excellently for anxiety disorders, indeed that is the condition for which I received my medical marijuana card back in 2002.
Hi Diana,
We do not moderate comments or delete them just because of view points. Comments are each user's opinion so as long as they comply with T&Cs they will be allowed. We will however delete comments actively encouraging others to use cannabis, selling products, promoting websites, campaigning etc. If you are posting a general opinion or information as above this is fine.
Regards,
Alan
If it seems one sided its because peoples experiences or opinions are simply that way. Doesn't make them invalid. Also it is illegal in many places,so that really should be all there is to it to be honest. Personal choice is another, what someone chooses to do is up to them if they take the risks and illegality on board
Hi Diana I think this is really supposed to be a one sided discussion. We are not here to bash MJ, we're here to share experiences about a bad trip as a stoner may call it. I don't care how many kind of MJ in the world we're not discussing about it. We are discussing about how we feel after we got bad trip, I'm pretty sure mine wasn't lace, it's just so potent for a zero drug tolerance like me. I am not against MJ as well as I know it can do good to others. We are here to seek understanding and to make us feel better that there is someone out there have the same experiences and will give us hope that these suffering will end someday.
There are plenty of forums where people get to discuss cbd and the beneficial qualities of marijuana use. To discredit someone else's terrifying experiences because it has not hapened to you is not helpful at all. I smoked/ate pot for 16 years before I had the experience I did and my cookie was not laced. It is great you have had no issues.I wish I could still smoke as it helped me with bad pms, migraines, nausea etc..but unfortunately, after what happened to me, pot is no longer a tool for me.I thought i would smoke pot until the day I died...I was overjoyed when I found this thread because there is next to nothing online describing the horrors of my experience like the comments here. It helped me to know I was not alone. The last thing people who have suffered from this need to hear is a lecture about the benefits of marijuana who has never gone through something like this. Enjoy your weed. I wish I could...really I just wish I could feel like myself again more than anything.
I wish and pray that you will get one horrible panic attack from MJ so then you would be able to understand what this one sided conversation is for. We all are here to share our bad experiences which caused by MJ, plz copy your comment which contain almost 100 thousand words lol and paste it to some other forum where the discussion would be about cannibas quality , this is not the right forum
Thanks for that clarification Ennis - actually I realized after I sent that that there was a whole other page of comments and I did indeed find a few that seemed to represent a more positive experience of cannabis and that several other aspects of my point of view had been raised and discussed.
it is good to know that this is a truly open forum. All the best.
Sorry to have offended you but I think my post is a valuable contribution to this discussion. How you got the impression that it was "about cannabis quality" is a little hard to understand. I thought it was fairly obvious that my reason for going into a bit of detail about psychopharmacology of cannabis is precisely because of the potentially massive difference in effects, particularly on individuals with latent conditions, with my opinion being that this is grossly misunderstood and overlooked when trying to determine why a particular person has had a psychotic reaction. The moderator, see above, does not have a problem with including my comment in this forum and so I'm afraid you're overruled there buddy. Have a nice, weed-free, day! ;-)
Diana,
Going on some long winded diatribe about different strains, decriminalization, and quality of marijuana types has little to do with the horrendous experiences I have had or like many others here have had. It does nothing but attempt to further alienate people who have already been alienated by traumatising, LIFE CHANGING, PERSISTENT and terrifying experiences that someone couldn't understand unless they've been through it themselves. This thread is to support those who have had said experiences and it makes no sense for you to drop in and try to trivialize or discredit very real and horrifying experiences that have caused people like myself so much pain and grief. My situation didn't happen to me because I was "ignorant." I hope nothing like what has happened to me ever happens to you.