Anxiety related to Cannabis - help?

Alptraum said:

Just smoked some today right after I ate, and I started having cramps in the left side of my chest and some slight/pain discomfort there too. I also got some discomfort in my left arm but I've managed to stay calm so far, I'm wondering does anyone know why this happen? Do I have some kind of rare condition that nobody has ever had before on weed? My heart is relatively good, when I was 16 I was told I had the heart of an athlete and the last few times I did check-ups they told me I should take vitamin C folicacid, other than that my heart was fine and looked pretty normal so I know it's not something with my heart. Could it be my stomach or lungs causing this? I've smoked cigarettes on and off since about 17 but I recently quit and switched to e-cigarette.

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nothing is actually physically "wrong" with you its just your anxiety. anxiety is a mental health disorder with physical symptoms. ( to add to this as another previous user you should still see a doctor to double check you are not having actual physical problems not related to anxiety )
in really basic nutshell terms, when your brain gets triggered by your trigger (in this case when you smoke) your fight or flight response turns on , and from there your body reacts to it.
its a different feeling for lots of people the most common being symptoms of heart attacks. they are basically "phantom" pains however some people end up in the hospital because they react to the "false" pain they have and cause themselves damage .

i know you said you dont want to see a therapist but honestly you should really seek one out that works for you, you have to want to go of course in order for them to be successful. i know you said you have had problems with other counsellors etc. but a therapist or psychiatrist cannot do anything to do you for smoking pot. even if its illegal they cant put you in jail or anything

honestly man, take care of yourself i would at this point just stop smoking weed and get things together before trying again. it will just get worse and more out of hand (the anxiety)
the last thing you want is your anxiety to get so bad it starts happening when youre sober, and when you leave the house, and go outside. etc.
anxiety conditions spiral out of control very fast. and they will consume and cripple your life if you dont get a handle on it.

just to add in addition to all this.
know that anxiety sufferers are more likely to become clinically depressed as well
and in addition to that they are more likely to self medicate with alcohol or other drugs in order to "help" themselves. and you can say all you want now "no that will never happen to me " but it happens and really quickly. and to alot of anxiety sufferers.
i think the number is close to 50% of anxiety sufferers will or have self medicate with other drugs or alcohol and because youre dependant on that self medication you will become addicted to whatever youre doing (most usually alcohol).

than youll have a dual diagnosis problem on your hands..

As long as I can be sure nothing's wrong with me I know that I can fight it. It just makes me a bit scared when my body starts aching and I get these signs of a heart attack, even though I know that no healthy 20 year old has ever gotten a heart attack. It is pretty annoying how many muscle spasms I have though, it's way more than usual. My muscle spams went away when I took a bath 2 days ago but I don't wanna take a bath every single time I smoke just to relieve the spasms.

Yeah, I know I probably should but believe me, I've went to about 5 different therapists, counselors, doctors etc and I've never come from one of those visits feeling better. I usually just felt really insecure and sad because I talked about old memories and such, but never got any help back. I'd rather stay as far away from therapists as I can, and while they can't put me in jail for it they can still give me the same old story about how "you can have fun without drugs" or something similar to that which I don't have any patience for.

It's good to know it's all psychological though. I've been reading about people who have had anxiety from weed like me, but the symptoms aren't the same. I get alot of pain in my body like in arms and in my head and such and I usually just believe I have a heart attack while most other people who get anxiety from weed start being super paranoid instead and can't even meet people without getting anxiety etc. I've never been like that, I just analyze my own body too much when high. I'm not sure what's causing the different experiences but I guess everyone has different anxiety symptons and causes of it.


Don't worry about me, I have first hand experience on people self medicating and the only thing I used to self medicate was with cannabis and I used it to help me sleep and get my mind off the really stressful things in life to make myself see clearer. My dad is a cannabis abuser and an alcoholic and I've seen what the alcohol does, I'm not a big drinker myself. I can barely smell alcohol without getting a gag reflex. This is why I don't want to use benzos to slow my bad trips down because I know I can get dependant on it and that could end badly.

EDIT: How do I like posts? I can't find any button for it lol.

I have an experience of depression aswell from when I was using concerta (ADD medication, it's like adderall) which made me lose all apetite and become depressed so I decided to stop using it. In the past when I smoked sativa I started feeling this same feeling of just being in a completely neutral mood all the time, neither happy nor sad but that went away now that I smoked indica again and I feel happy and start laughing and I enjoy where I'm at in life.

youre too new of a member to like posts yet. youll get it eventually

i obviously cant make you go to a therapist, but you should really find one suitable to you.

otherwise youre fighting a battle with no idea how to fight said battle. maybe its because my day job is social work but , youre more likely to become dependant on drugs and alcohol than fixing this issue yourself. not to sound discouraging but you dont know what youre doing to try to fight it.
you dont have the research or 10 years of education to know how to actually do the therpist or psychologist job description like the CBT therapy methods all while having an anxiety attack its pretty much just stacked against you to fail
and i dont mean to come off rude saying that so dont take it that way.

everyones anxiety symptoms are different youre unlikely to find someone who has the exact same issues to you, and thats because everyone has different triggers. in addition to that everyone speaks differently not everyone knows how to articulate their symptoms in a way that you know what to look for.
not everyone gets paranoid while high, when most users describe paranoia while high what they are actually trying to say is that they are nervous or anxious which is just anxiety of course.

your different experience is from your recent trauma, your brain is recognizing and understanding that when you get high, its time to tense up from your past trauma.
its called the flight or fight response. people who suffer from anxiety take "flight" its not actually flight of course.

say as an example
suzie has a panic attack on the bus to work one morning out of blue she suffers from anxiety all her life but something triggered her panic on the bus to work.
well now everytime or almost everytime suzie gets on the bus her brain remembers that panic attack on the bus in the morning to work, and so now her brain sees the bus and when she gets on and says FLIGHT FLIGHT and it triggers another panic attack.
so than naturally suzie becomes more anxious everytime she has to take the bus because now shes had TWO panic attacks and what if it happens again? because those are terrible! so now the brain is saying
bus = DANGER DANGER.
and the cycle is vicious and will continue and every time she takes the bus to work in the morning she will than have a panic attack

make a little more sense?

When I first started getting bad anxiety it scared the shit out of me, I thought I was dying of a heart condition when I had my first panic attack. I'm like you, I think, in that I think too much and if I smoke weed when I'm not the right way out then my thoughts go into overdrive. Anxiety is a physical thing as much as mental. I think CBT might be helpful for you. I'm a drugs worker and we use mainly SMART recovery in my groups, which is mostly CBT and REBT tools adapted for addicts, it's basically putting you in charge of changing the way you think and cope, and we have a lot of success with it as it's very empowering being in charge of your own state of mind. Also look into mindfulness. If you fancy it there are loads of free resources online, try get.gg or smartrecovery.org/resources/toolchest for some helpful tools. A lot of it will probably make you cringe, I have to rewrite a lot of it otherwise I wouldn't be able to deliver it in group with a straight face but it's the concept that's important and those tools work if you work them. Most people tend to find that one or two tools really click with them, there's loads of them to choose from and when you find the ones you identify with and use them properly they can be life changing.
I do smoke a lot of weed as I have a condition which causes chronic pain. I also treat people who are in recovery from cannabis. This may make me sound like a hypocrite but the way I see it is there are lots of people who can go to the pub on a weekend or enjoy a glass of wine to unwind on a night. This doesn't make them alcoholics. I think it's the same with weed. Everything in moderation, it's all about balance. If you're not in the right headspace then any substance can fuck you up. If you use any substance to the point where it is your priority or you're using it so you don't have to deal with your life then it becomes an issue. I wouldn't advise anybody to be smoking weed when they're having issues with anxiety, if my anxiety ever becomes an issue again then I'll stop smoking until I'm well again. I now know what I have to do to keep myself well now but it's been a long journey putting it all together and learning what I need to do to look after myself since I was 14 years old. Nowadays they call it a personal wellness plan lol but all it really means is knowing what keeps you sane and together and having a plan in place to keep you on top of it. Sorry this turned into an essay, I just really feel for you. Without going into details, I've been in a very similar situation. I blocked it out though and went off the rails instead of facing it head on, so it took me a long time to come to terms with what happened. At least you aren't doing that. You seem very self aware though, if you came to my group I'd have high hopes for you because you're capable of looking at yourself and your thought processes analytically, you'd be amazed how many people aren't. Give yourself the time to recover so that weed can become again for you what it is supposed to be, a way to chill out and relax.

ah yea support groups thats a good one forgot about those. durp (havent had my coffee this morning)

sunni said:

nothing is actually physically "wrong" with you its just your anxiety. anxiety is a mental health disorder with physical symptoms.....

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We may be going a little too far now. Nobody but a specialist should tell someone who is reporting chest and left arm pain that they have no physical issues. There is plenty science out there documenting the fact that cannabis does indeed have a direct effect on the heart, mainly by elevating pulse rate and blood pressure. If OP had said he jogged up a flight of stairs, then experienced chest and left arm pain, nobody in their right mind would try to assure him he has no physical issues.

When we were talking about someone feeling anxious, opinions were fine, but best to leave actual diagnoses to those who are qualified. Sunni could very well be correct, and likely is, but let's stay within our boundaries here.

Bacala said:

We may be going a little too far now. Nobody but a specialist should tell someone who is reporting chest and left arm pain that they have no physical issues. There is plenty science out there documenting the fact that cannabis does indeed have a direct effect on the heart, mainly by elevating pulse rate and blood pressure. If OP had said he jogged up a flight of stairs, then experienced chest and left arm pain, nobody in their right mind would try to assure him he has no physical issues.

When we were talking about someone feeling anxious, opinions were fine, but best to leave actual diagnoses to those who are qualified. Sunni could very well be correct, and likely is, but let's stay within our boundaries here.

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your right i contemplated adding in a " still go see a doctor" added note. but was quickly writing first thing in the morning
i will add that now
but as an opinion its most likely his anxiety causing it not a physical problems. thats neither here nor there you are correct i wrote in haste shouldve added to go to a doctor.

Bacala said:

We may be going a little too far now. Nobody but a specialist should tell someone who is reporting chest and left arm pain that they have no physical issues. There is plenty science out there documenting the fact that cannabis does indeed have a direct effect on the heart, mainly by elevating pulse rate and blood pressure. If OP had said he jogged up a flight of stairs, then experienced chest and left arm pain, nobody in their right mind would try to assure him he has no physical issues.

When we were talking about someone feeling anxious, opinions were fine, but best to leave actual diagnoses to those who are qualified. Sunni could very well be correct, and likely is, but let's stay within our boundaries here.

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I believe it though. I never experience these pains when I'm outside taking a walk, just when I'm at home sitting still in my chair going potatomode on indica. It's just my muscles getting all tense for some reason. I get these cramps all over my body, in my legs, feet, biceps, and the sides of my torso so it's nothing cardial. The doctors have told me I have a good heart, so it's probably just overthinking mixed with tense muscles mixed with heightened senses on cannabis.

Today I was at the ER because I thought one of my arteries were getting clogged, because that's exactly what it felt like. I waited for 3-4 hours with this pain and then the doctor came and did an EKG and checked my lunges and pulse and basically told me that everything with my body is more than fine, and still this pain persist. I'm gonna guess that my body has been in some sort of trauma related to my panic attacks and that's why I feel like I feel. I get heart paliptations and "heart pain" but it's all in my head. To all you out there struggling with this, the first step to getting rid of your pain is realizing and accepting that it's stress and anxiety related. That was my biggest problem. Whenever I feel this pain I just relax in my body and it lets up and goes away pretty quickly. Just take a deep breath and relax as much as you can. If that doesn't make it better, it's probably not imaginary pain.

Just make the intake smaller be it pipe or spliffs just put less in till you get back to your old self ,I use oil for anxiety so I know how you feel,or try chocolate if you feel anxiety, after a smoke that helps.

I'm gonna take a much needed break for cannabis, I'm thinking maybe a month or more, then just take super small hits and see how I feel after. Thanks for the advice though.

I don't think I could add to what has been said (such great advice all around). But yeah, I had a similar PTSD trauma. I feel for you. I'm 100% better now, even though I was once 100% sure I wouldnt be. So take comfort in knowing it will get better even though you may feel like it won't. Sending love

Alptraum said:

I'm gonna take a much needed break for cannabis, I'm thinking maybe a month or more, then just take super small hits and see how I feel after. Thanks for the advice though.

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That may be best, certainly if it seems to be a trigger for your issues. Truthfully, cannabis just isnt for everyone.
Same can be said for any medicine though.

Yeah man. Lay off the weed and get your mind right. Sounds like you have severe anxiety.

Thanks for the support. I always thought weed was the miracle cure, the one drug which could never be bad and I always refused to listen to my mom when I was younger lol. Now I see she was right

Alptraum said:

I'm gonna take a much needed break for cannabis, I'm thinking maybe a month or more, then just take super small hits and see how I feel after. Thanks for the advice though.

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Why bother using it at all? Listen to mommy, its all bad

Made me feel amazing and love life more than I had ever before. Made me feel at peace with life, but then it went all bad.

tyke1973 said:

Just make the intake smaller be it pipe or spliffs just put less in till you get back to your old self ,I use oil for anxiety so I know how you feel,or try chocolate if you feel anxiety, after a smoke that helps.

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I have anxiety for the first 10 mins every time I burn, I'll DEF try this out...chocolate?! I hear black peppercorn works too... Must have to do with endorphins then. Usually I just eat a Valium...Am thinking of just making my own hash from the pink kush I've been tokin lately...Thanks for the tip, peace!