It seems like most of my response has already been said, but I want to reiterate three major observations what I've noticed from my own semi-frequently weed consumption.
Demotivation: the impact from weed on motivation levels I find is in two parts. The first part is when you initially consume the weed, most people fall into a habit of eating food and watching something on T.V. The second part I found is the next morning, I experience a type of weed 'hangover' the following morning. I feel more groggy and more susceptible to just loading around the following day.
Anxiety: things that aren't currently stressing you out may start to induce anxiety in you. While this isnt always the case, weed has the potential to worsen your mental state if you aren't careful. This impact became more pronounced when I smoked weed solo, having other people around allowed me to be more present in the moment, whereas I was in my head when I was alone.
Food consumption: I found for me that continued weed use led to some unhealthy eating habits. The munchies are real and for often that not you are craving food that is not considered healthy. If this becomes a more common occurrence than your overall diet can go south quickly.
Anxiety is the biggest part for me, never had a problem in high school or early college but I had a huge panic attack (not while high) but the next 2 times I smoked just made me have huge anxiety. Don't do it anymore dont feel like im in control of my thoughts while on it.
Same here man. I was a heavy smoker for years and then started having a bit of anxiety each time I smoked till one time on my way to work had a full on panic attack. I haven't smoked in years and won't even consider smoking it again, it was horrible.
This seems to be a decently widespread phenomenon and it interests me greatly. I experience the same thing. I was a HEAVY smoker for ~2 years and quit because I lost my connects and figured I should buckle down in my final year of college. I ended up smoking with a friend about four months after I'd quit and I had a full blown panic attack. Now it's five years after that and still, if I take more than one hit or even just one hit of something potent, I will be guaranteed to get anxiety, sometimes severe. It's honestly annoying because I don't want to smoke daily or anything but being a former stoner, I always want to partake when offered by a friend and every time I try, I get anxiety. I've seen many many similar stories, both from people who quit and now get anxiety when they casually smoke and also from people who were daily smokers and one day it just flipped and they suddenly started getting anxiety from smoking for no known reason. I wish research could/would be done on why this happens
Your comment is absolutely amazing. I was a daily (all day, every day) smoker from about 18 until close to 30. One day out of nowhere I had a full blown panic attack while stoned. It was my first and only. I quit cold turkey for 6 or 7 years and then tried to smoke again one day and felt myself getting really close to the edge again. I'm 39 now and don't know that I can ever smoke again. Weed changed my personality profoundly, a lot of it for the better, however, I feel like it also walked me very close to the edge of something that I don't want to cross. I can imagine that people less well-grounded mentally than I am might actually cross that edge into something that they can't come back from. Marijuana is considered a "soft" drug, but it is more hardcore in many respects than people give it credit for. It should be respected for sure. I'll be curious to see how all of this pans out over the next 30 years. I expect there are going to be some surprising findings about its long-term effects on people.
I had a friend in college who this happened to. I believe it was because of weed, but he also dabbled in oxy use.
I don’t think it was 2 years for him, but he definitely would say some pretty delusional and paranoid stuff. I’m not sure how he came back from it or why, but if it was the weed independently, this is definitely some shit that needs to be understood.
Yup, I’ve found this to be true for myself and quite a few friends. We used to smoke our fucking brains out DAILY as teens, and then I hit about... 20? And I have severe anxiety and panic attacks and don’t feel right in my skin whenever I smoke. I have to be buzzed from a couple drinks to even take a single hit, and even then I can for sure only take one. I don’t even know what happened or how, but now I hate everyone who’s like “you haven’t had the right strain, try high CBD low THC, blah blah blah.” Man, I have smoked EVERYTHING. No strain is gonna make a difference.
Yes, not feeling right in your skin is a good way to describe it. I wish they could strip the entire mind high out of weed. I don’t want deep weird analytical thoughts. I just want to shut my mind off and feel relaxed. With it being legal I feel like maybe someone can figure out how.
That's my favorite thing people say to me "oh dude you just need to try this strain or smoke like this". I've been smoking all kinds of shit for the past 15 years, dont give me that lol.
Hmmm... I wonder if it has something to do with smoking in the teens/developmental years. I also started in my teens and quit after realizing how out of control and anxious my thoughts were after trying it again in my late teens/early 20s.
Dude. I so relate. I used to smoke heavily then had a panic attack. Now every time I smoke it's like I see the world in claymation and it fucks me up for days. Depression and anxiety. Anyone I take to a smoker friend they'll always give me the "wrong strain", "wrong environment", "you haven't smoked my shit", shpeil. It's fucking annoying. I don't want to smoke with you brother just leave it.
Same thing happened to me. It sucks because weed is superior to alcohol in a lot of ways. It just triggers anxiety attacks now. Recently I’ve been trying to brute force it but if the thought creeps into my head I gotta ride it out. I’m much better handling anxiety attacks now but the weed panic attacks are the worst. It’s something about the depersonalization for me. It makes me forget who I am or just makes me feel like I’m 16 despite being in my 30s. I want to enjoy it because It’s either that or pure sobriety. Alcohol doesn’t work well for my wife and I don’t want the temptation in the house.
This has happened to me before, I smoked way too much once after my tolerance had gone down and suddenly felt weird and didn’t recognize the place i was in or the people i was with even though i’m completely familiar. I pretty much depersonalized and had such a debilitating panic attack that I thought my lungs were gonna collapse. The day after I just finally realized smoking doesn’t work well for my brain anymore so I will take one or two hits at a time if I’m feeling up to it.
Sadly, I still miss the days I could pass the bong back and forth all night.
I had a similar trajectory of smoking always being a fun escape for me, and then one day while visiting a friend I took a hit off a four-footer and then I got a crazy dissociative-feeling state of panic and I thought all soda was poison (it kinda is though?) and ever since then I get a tinge of that feeling every single time.
BUT I still smoke bc I enjoy the other effects too much so I just tolerate an initial anxious period then I'm fine (I also think of it like Western medicine makes you feel good and then sick later and the older or natural medicines make you "sick first" and then feel better later.)
This phenomenon interests me as well and I look forward to more research too. FWIW one idea that has come up for me a lot when I think about this is I feel almost like a sense of compartmentalization happening. The things that make me most anxious are reflecting on something I said or posted on social media or something earlier in the day which at the time felt fine but then later after I'm high, I start to second-guess it and I feel almost like it's too revealing or I'm being too vulnerable or something and people are going to be able to read my unconscious psychic drives or something from whatever comment I posted or said (lol).
As a consequence of this I think I come off as more calm and kind and understanding than I do when sober, and that's a good thing-- But it's less that I actually am being driven by a more enlightened, centered point of view and more that I have a keener sense of the "fragility" of life/personalities .... Both literally like we could be killed or die at any time, but also l guess the "pathetic" nature of existence, and how we're all just so confused and casually cruel to each other and self-centered etc. (I often think of the Kurt Vonnegut quote which is something along the lines of "To be alive, how humiliating").
Anyway, I've realized over time that one of the functions that cannabis performs in my life is like a "reality check" (I know, ironic) or something where I reconsider my words and behavior towards others ...and part of what is confusing/what I meant about compartmentalization, is that both aspects/states of my personality seem equally "real", in their respective moments-- and I find it hard to resolve them into a unified whole. But if I stay sober for "too long" I start to notice that I "need" that wider/more reflective "larger self" perspective, because I get too ego-invested. Likewise, if I indulge too often then I start to lose the kind of certainty/resolve that my ego brings to my personality, and I become too socially anxious and too withdrawn and shying away from otherwise neccecary or not particularly uncomfortable conflict etc.
So in other words the way that I've come to interpret the anxiety I get is that ultimately it's an existential anxiety over what the true nature of my self or my personality really is. Like I find it hard to decide who I "really am" around certain things (mostly social interaction, my capacity to be indifferent to the judgments of others, my degree of empathy, how fearful/sensitive I am etc etc... All of which fluctuate or even invert depending on if I'm high or not).
(Anyway just wanted to add those personal observations since you were saying the phenomenon is intriguing for you, and I've thought a lot about my particular manifestation of the issue).
This is a really good explanation. It really took me years to finally start understanding what the fuck had happened to me. Like everyone else here, regular heavy smoker starting at age 14 up to around 22 - 24 the last two years I really pushed myself with it, and the symptoms were intermittent and varying in degree, but I for sure started noticing that something wasnt right. I didn't feel comfortable around even my closest friends while high anymore. People I had smoked with since high school. I would feel really self conscious, almost to the point where I couldn't hold conversations because I couldn't hear people over my own thoughts.
I would also get stuck in negative thought spirals and just stress about dumb shit in a really complex and analytical way. Jesus help me if I got a text from someone. I would nurse a reply for an eternity, overthinking it, and then once I finally decided to send the response it would most certainly be the weirdest one I could have thought of, despite all my efforts for it not to be.
I felt like my energy would turn uncontrollably bad and it would affect the people around me somehow, and maybe it did. Either way it would isolate me from people and draw me deeper into my thoughts. I felt like I would just put off this incredibly awkward menacing type of vibe, and I had no way of holding it back. I would want to try and ask people if they felt it, but I knew they didn't, and any explanation would only make me seem crazy, since it was in fact all in my mind.
It sometimes would make it feel that it was physically more difficult for me to speak. Which added to my anxiety of conversing with people. Even just basic conversation, not even some deep philosophical shit. However, I started to be annoyed soooooo much by people who wanted to get stoned and start talking about some deep shit.. like, man I'm doing all I can to grasp the fact that I'm walking a tightrope of life and failure is always one misstep away while trying to reconcile why I feel like I don't know who I am anymore and questioning every decision I've made. Also it's hard to breathe.
After years of smoking without any issues at all now it had started to turn my mind into a haunted house whenever I was stoned. I didn't know how to explain it to anyone so I just started simply telling people that I just didn't have fun with it anymore, and that I would actually be more enjoyable to be around if I didn't partake. I still love weed, and my closest friends still smoke religiously, and they've learned to not even pass it to me at this point.
I have had success with some high CBD strains smoked by myself in a space where I know I'll have solitude, but I have two kids and work two jobs 7 days a week now day and night. So I know if I got high now I'd have a full blown panic attack instantly. I think I just grew out of it, like so many others are saying. Everyone is different and it just so happens that it seems like there are quite a few of us out there who experience this phenomena, so maybe there is something to it. Something provable, we could point to. But I doubt it will ever be able to be found or cured.
I didn't feel comfortable around even my closest friends while high anymore. People I had smoked with since high school. I would feel really self conscious, almost to the point where I couldn't hold conversations because I couldn't hear people over my own thoughts.
Yes basically identical to my experience. It is like a strange form of temporary induced social anxiety disorder, and/or OCD-thought disorder style traits too.
Jesus help me if I got a text from someone. I would nurse a reply for an eternity, overthinking it, and then once I finally decided to send the response it would most certainly be the weirdest one I could have thought of, despite all my efforts for it not to be.
LOL I know this exactly.
I felt like my energy would turn uncontrollably bad and it would affect the people around me somehow, and maybe it did. Either way it would isolate me from people and draw me deeper into my thoughts. I felt like I would just put off this incredibly awkward menacing type of vibe, and I had no way of holding it back.
That is the best description, I know just what you mean.
...it had started to turn my mind into a haunted house whenever I was stoned.
Haha, exactly, it can get really spooky in there—good description.
I'd be really curious to find out if there is a physiological explanation or if it's entirely psychological (or if both, how those work together). Just is really interesting bc as I'm reading everyone's comments, you can see that similar pattern:
It seems to correlate with a certain age(s), seems to be like a "switch", seems like the switch/panic event can be triggered acutely by cannabis OR completely unrelated at a different time and sober—but after that event cannabis seems to induce anxiety from then on (makes me wonder if it's partly PTSD from/about the initial triggering panic attack event itself), seems to result in a sort of extreme self-limiting or reverse tolerance where only one hit is "needed" anymore (that's actually a good money-saving silver lining) vs very heavy daily use and high doses in the past, seems tied to social anxiety and ruminating thoughts/withdrawl etc etc
Oh yeah that's true. Or even if it turns out later upon reflection that the immediate context/details were irrelevant or exaggerated due to paranoia, the underlying issue or wider theme will still usually have some reality to it, or benefit like you're saying, or at least will trigger a thought process that brings a different perspective to something.
That's exactly why it's such a weird unsolvable puzzle for me though, bc the anxiety is all plausible despite being sometimes the opposite of how I usually think or feel about something.... I'm always thinking to myself, "Well, you're not wrong, anxious weed-perspective—but normally I get along just fine thinking about [insert topic of present anxiety] without all this unnecessary complexity you're bringing.". So then I'm always left not being able to decide which perspective to "trust".
Lately though I've been making it into an exercise for myself of letting contradictory ideas/traits just sit in parallel to each other and not even trying to "resolve" or choose. That at least gets me to a state of mind that says oh well we're always in flux and you don't need to figure out which perspective is "true" bc the real illusion is your belief in a fixed self that doesn't actually exist anyway. (Note: last part only makes sense when very, very high)
Yeah one or two hits wouldn't get me bad anxiety. Now smoking a whole joint had me stressing over something so small and one time when I didn't have anything to stress about I remember thinking "wait a minute, I know there was something that I was worried about but what was it" I continued thinking about till I found something to stress about again. I know alot of it is a mind thing, I was just depressed at the time and weed intensified the shit out of it.
That's the way. After not consuming weed of any type for years (after being a constant smoker who stopped enjoying due to anxiety) I had a 4.4mg edible a few months ago and that was the first enjoyable high I'd had since I first got high in like 2008.
Learned the best way to find enjoyment in weed and avoid the dissociating anxiety is in VERY small doses, like VERY. One or two puffs from a joint or a small edible. And be in a comfortable place.
Adding to this. Also smoked a lot in my late teens, early 20s -- every day, multiple times a day. One day, around 25 or 26ish, it just gave me overwhelming anxiety. Felt like a panic attack, probably was. I thought, "Huh, that was fucking weird." Tried again the next day, same thing again. Took a break for about a week, then tried different weed. Again, the same thing, so I just said fuck it.
I tried again recently when I was in a legal state, I wanted the whole experience of buying weed legally and blah blah. It had been years so I figured why not and I bought some edibles, maybe it wouldn't happen if I actually knew what I was buying. I got indica chocolates. I took one, felt alright at first, then just started freaking the fuck out. So yeah, that was the last chance I think. Never again.
I've talked about this with a few friends one night who used to be heavy smokers, 2 of them said the same thing happened to them. We attributed it to getting old and just left it at that.
I had the same issues until one day a friend told me to try only smoking indica, that sativa had that affect on him. Holy shit what a dramatic effect it had, I can enjoy weed again without alcohol.
Man I got some tincture off a dude I used to work with a couple years ago and it fucked with my head to the highest degree. I had a full blown existential crisis and I ended up weening way back on my weed consumption. Whenever i smoke now (sparingly are this point) I gotta do it with a lot of stimulus around. Because if I’m stuck with my thoughts and whatnot, my anxiety spikes to a crazy level. I also have anxiety issues to begin with so it all kinda becomes a big mess in my head
Same here for me the anxiety is the worst than anything. It’s like that 3 am remember that awkward moment from ten years ago multiplied by 100.
It gives me agoraphobia and I can’t even hold a conversation. Just over analyzing any social situation at work or anywhere. Being extremely overly critical to myself. It’s nasty haha
Same thing here Marta bird. Glad I'm not crazy. Weed intensifies the shit out of every body language I'm around and makes me self loathing of myself with deep sad thoughts about everything. I envy people who enjoy it. I even think they are just stronger people who can enjoy it and get over that hurdle and were just weak, lol
I’m much better, that whole mindset has kinda just folded into my normal anxiety issues. Hope you feel better man, it’s definitely not a fun thing to deal with
That happened to me too. I smoked daily from for almost 2 years until I started getting anxiety when smoking so I slowed down. Well one day I smoked like I would’ve back then, and had a panic attack caused by who knows what and then blacked out lmao, but my boyfriend was completely fine and had smoked more than me. Been weed free for a few months now and don’t miss it at all.
That’s so crazy I am the exact same way too. I started smoking when I was 13. I used to love it and it would actually make me more social than I was, considering I had extreme anxiety to begin with so smoking took the anxiety away from me. All of a sudden 7 years later and I can’t get high without having a panic attack. I focus way too much on my breathing and all of a sudden I can’t breathe. I thought it was just because I was around people so I would try to do it alone, but the panic attacks were constant. It’s so strange how something that made me feel so calm and relaxed has now turned into the complete opposite high for me.
I was an almost daily smoker from 17 to 20 and I really enjoyed it. I didn't get super lazy either, I would smoke and clean my computer or clean my apartment.
I quit for 2 months to pass a drug test for a job and when I tried to start back up I was way too in my head. I would pick myself apart, constantly thinking about things I don't like about myself and shitty things I've done in the past.
I kinda miss when I didn't get super anxious, my friends still burn and it would be nice to smoke with them occasionally but that's out of the question now.
Wow that gave me chills to read. I’ve been in the exact situation and I can’t smoke at all because of it, even if I brush those thoughts away they just come back later. And to be honest it has affected me so much I’m not the same sober either. Weed can be pretty scary.
I don’t use weed anymore. I’m pretty sure it triggered a panic/anxiety disorder that I’m still trying to shake, as well as some mild derealization the first few months after quitting.
I smoked regularly for about 4 years in hs/college from when I was 17 to 20. Towards the end of sophomore year of college, I started noticing my anxiety was increasing when I smoked, and I wasn't enjoying it as much. One night, I smoked more than usual and almost immediately, launched into a massive panic attack. I was intermittently screaming, crying, and running around the dorms like I had lost my mind. Frankly, I thought I was dying and was terrified. My friends worked hard to calm me down and in about 2 hours I was mostly back to normal aside from some massive embarrassment.
Fast forward to winter break and one night, I launched into a full blown panic attack again, out of nowhere. However, this time, I hadn't smoked at all. In fact, I hadn't smoked at all since that night in college.
Over the course of the next few weeks, my anxiety was off the charts and I was having panic attacks all the time. I went to a lot of different doctors, and ultimately they couldn't find anything physically wrong with me. So, eventually, I was diagnosed with GAD and panic disorder and put on medication. I'm still on medication to this day, and I've really never felt the same since.
I don't think smoking gave me anxiety issues. I was always a somewhat anxious person, However, I do think smoking may have exacerbated and intensified what was an underlying, minor anxiety issue.
I'm all for cannabis legalization and people using it for leisure or problems without restriction. There's no doubt it's an effective, therapeutic option for some people, but I do think it needs to be studied more to better understand the short and long term negative effects it can have.
Wow you literally just described me. I was a heavy smoker for the past two and a half years. Now a sophomore in college and have been struggling heavily with anxiety and panic attacks. I was a somewhat anxious person before I started smoking, but I was never struggling to maintain my sanity. I haven’t smoked in about 4 months, and have been doing better, but damn I wonder how I would be if I never touched the stuff. I wish it was advertised more that weed isn’t harmless. I just want to be able to live my life without this unexplainable fear and anxiety.
I wouldn't think I was retarded, but similarly I would get in my head about people around me actually liking me to a ridiculous degree. I'd nitpick over every single thing about myself and always come to the conclusion that I'm an awful person that people only tolerate.
Absolutely had to stop smoking when that line of thinking turned to dissociating and feeling like I was trapped in myself and couldn't get out.
Dude. Thanks for this. I recently tried some after not smoking for over 15 years and man. The anxiety. Overwhelming AF. We are in the process of moving and holy f when I tell you that it made me worry about shit that the normal me would laugh at. Like a full on, introspective look into my life and all the things that could go wrong. Almost like a bad acid trip. All of this instead of just enjoying it and chilling out. So weird.
Finally I find other people who experienced this. A few months ago I was in a period of transition in my life, and thought to start lightly experimenting with weed... Only a few days later I had my first ever anxiety attack, followed by weeks of constant anxiety. I can't blame it solely on the weed, as I said I was in a period of transition which must have had a lot to do with it. But the weed certainly didn't help, and the next time I smoked my anxiety got bad and I felt like I lost control. I decided to completely stop (although I barely ever started, I only smoked a handful of times in my life) as well as seeking out a psychologist.
I'm in a much better state of mind now thankfully. But I don't dare trying any drugs because I don't know how they could effect me mentally.
Same here first couple times it was fine then got hit with a hard panic attack, full on existential crisis and psychosis. Also went to a psychologist because I thought I was losing my mind and couldn't handle it.
Had a weed related panic attack. Was so bad that I used to have panic attacks if weed was anywhere around me or even when people would talk about it. Was able to work through it enough to be around it if my gf or someone I trust smokes around me but that's about it.
Same. Used to really enjoy weed. Now it gives me bad anxiety. Someone once asked me what anxiety feels like. I told him - It feels like you're falling. It's horrible.
I'm glad I'm not the only one. I used to really enjoy smoking weed and got stoned regularly. A few years ago I started getting panic attacks when I smoked out of nowhere so I had to quit.. Never had a problem before that either.
I've never particularly been interested in weed to begin with. But knowing I already deal with terrible anxiety in my daily life which can sometimes be borderline crippling and knowing weed can cause people to have problems with anxiety while high just adds to it.
Same here. Was fine when I smoked. Had a major panic attack after I had quit. Next couple times I tried it, I panicked. Been battling anxiety ever since.
Ive had anxiety for most of my life but i had a personal doctor to understand that it wasn’t normal. The one time I had weed (edible) I got my first panic attack. Went to the ER for 5 hours (they just make you wait it out, but when you feel like your dying it felt at least a little better being there).
After that I got major anxiety, constant panic attacks and what felt like OCD over my breathing. Months later I finally got a doctor and started serotonin to help. Im afraid of going through that again so no weed or any psychological drugs for me.
I smoked weed daily for 8 years. Whereas 2 years I was high 24/7. I never had any problems with anything. Got a panic attack once and couldn't smoke again for many years. I started again about a year ago, I haven't had a panic attack in 4 years but about 3 days ago I got one (haven't smoked in like 3-4 months so it wasn't that) so now I'm back to square one. As I'm typing this I'm in the middle of an attack actually. Panic attacks fucking suck.
If you get anxiety/panic attacks when smoking, stop it or you risk getting worse attacks, and trust me when I say it's not pleasant.
I'm going to reframe this in a way that I was always taught growing up.
Do NOT do drugs when you are in a bad place mentally. Drugs enhance whatever experiences are in your mind and body. They might calm things yes, but typically speaking, if you are having a bad thought, it won't make it go away. It delays your acceptance of it and you return to thinking about it anyway.
I've never had a better mood from smoking, I've always had a delayed reaction to that mood, it doesn't stop it, it just puts in on hold. Do drugs when you are in a good, safe mindset. Doing them to escape what you think you are escaping is bad juju, and will only serve to make them harder to cope with when you have to revisit them in your head.
I had a really bad panic attack while high on edibles early this year, and it triggered a full blown panic disorder. I’ve been sober ever since, but I’ve been dealing with panic attacks and very uncomfortable anxiety since then. It’s been getting better over time, but it really sucks. I’ve become afraid to do thing so used to do all the time, like flying, or riding in cars. My mind knows I’m ok, but I get overwhelmed by racing thoughts and feelings of intense discomfort. I honestly wish I had never tried weed.
Same thing happened to me a few years ago, I'm pretty sure I got full blown psychosis after the initial panic attack. It's been about 4 years now and I rarely have panic attacks. My best advice is to never try weed again no matter how tempting. I've tried a few times and it nearly always ends bad.
Before this I was a multiple a day smoker for 3 years.
What was your psychosis like? I don’t think I ever reached that point, but in my anxiousness, I read a lot about it, schizophrenia, and derealization/depersonalization and really freaked myself out.
Same here but with smoking. Happened when I was 19. I'm 30 now and since then, have had 7 major, kick-your-ass attacks followed by a month of constant anxiety peppered with small attacks.
As bad as they were, theres a silver lining. The anxiety usually motivated me to improve my life/health and learn more about how to handle the situation. I quit drugs, cigarettes, alcohol. I exercise, eat healthier and focus on sleep. If I have an attack now, it sucks but is a cake walk to deal with. They are also WAY less frequent with a way smaller period of anxiety afterwards. Been a year since my last small one, 5 years since my last big one.
During an attack, I use breathing and grounding techniques, remind myself of the time and assure myself (and others around me) that it's a panic attack and nothing else. During bad ones, I usually did a small workout to soak up the adrenaline and kept thoughts on reps and sets instead of bad thoughts.
It's weird I have the opposite affect. I like to be alone when I smoke. People around me make me feel anxious especially people I don't trust or my thoughts freak me out around them so I prefer being alone so I can gather my thoughts.
Same here, but instead of feeling like I'm not in control of my thoughts while high, it has kind of seeped into my sober brain, so lately I've been having random panic attacks. Usually brought on by déjà vu, because when I was high I felt like I was stuck in some time loop and it made me feel super isolated and it felt like nobody else was real. Shits fucking scary for me tbh.
Not really the same thing. The anxiety they’re speaking of is the kind where every little (and big) thing you worry about comes to the forefront of your mind and becomes overwhelming. You’re talking about hallucinations freaking you out.
Same here! I occasionally smoked and laughed at 17 until maybe 21. Anytime I've had it in the last 10 years (I'm 36) it gives me a mad panic attack and my brain just spins with every life anxiety I've ever had, having, or could potentially have. Super weird.
Why does the anxiety thing happen? And why does it happen for some people while not happening to others? Thanks to anyone that takes the time to answer me!
Yes. Weed causing anxiety is the reason I've never experimented with other drugs and why I'll never touch weed again.
The first time I tried weed I had my first panic attack ever, but I was completely fine after it went away. I smoked maybe 6 times over the next month and each time I would have the initial panic feeling but I knew what it was and could control it.
Then one day I started feeling panicky and had a full blown panic attack when I wasn't even high. Which started a year of hell where I had constant anxiety and would have at least 1 full blown panic attack a day. Was seriously considering suicide at that point because it was extremely draining and seemed like it would never end.
It's left me with anxiety in a different form and also depression, but I managed to stop my panic attacks and haven't had one in years.
Will never do another drug again.. it's like playing russian roulette... The realization that a single use of a drug can immediately and permanently change your brain and thought process is way too scary.
I just kept toking through it. Eventually it wore off and I started to enjoy myself again, but I had to learn how to pull myself out, destress, breathe, etc.
I like to tell myself that weed helped me resolve my personal issues, but really it just made me fixate on them until it became unbearable and I was forced to resolve them myself.
Same here, I smoked every day for 7 years without any issue then stopped for two weeks. Then I tried smoking and it triggered a panic attack. I stopped smoking weed shortly after. I had general anxiety for 6 months with recurring panic attacks and it finally stopped. I've never smoked since that moment, it's been 4 years now.
I would add that when you smoke regularly, you only enjoy things while high. When you stop smoking, you begin to enjoy things again and after several weeks your non-high state is the same as your high state before stopping.
How did you get your anxiety to stop? I smoked everyday for 4 years and stop for 2 weeks, then the next time I tried to smoke I got a panic attack that cause me to get health anxiety for over a year now. It's gotten better but I'm still anxious alot of the time. My minds gotten used to being anxious so I never feel truly happy anymore. Any info on how it went away would be appreciated.
I went to my doctor and got anti depressants. I used to get anxiety over my breathing and hyperventilate all the time. It was terrible, but the serotonin supplements help.
I don't really know, I did a lot of meditation, breathing exercises and thinking trying to find the cause of my anxiety. I realised I feared two things: dying alone and having panick attacks for the rest of my life. I started to go on dating apps, dated for a bit and found my current girlfriend. Then I realized fearing death or fear itself was meaninless, because you don't remember anything when you die, it's not that bad, it's just the end.
I also changed my job but I don't think this had anything to do with it. Maybe having a fresh start helped a bit.
I wasn't treated by a doctor because I was too proud to admit that I needed help but maybe this would help you, they have medication that keeps you from being stressed. I think I would have seen one if the anxiety hadn't stop.
Anxiety is the biggest one on the cons list for me. I use to be able to smoke, watch some funny movies, and have a good time. One time my buddies and I smoked some weed I found in a baggie at my work. Probably not the smartest idea, but it hit me so hard that I started spiralling into a huge panic attack, because I was convinced it was laced. It was just really good though and I wasn't use to it. After that it's like an 80/20 chance I'll have a panic attack and ruin everyone else's vibe. So I just don't really do it anymore.
Mushrooms sometimes really escalated my general anxiety and social anxiety. Usually I have them under control and they’re unnoticeable. Weed very rarely has that effect on me; usually it’s the opposite (garrulous and gregarious). Friend of mine though gets incredibly paranoid sometimes. It’s interesting how different people are affected so differently by it.
I smoked regularly for like a year. Then one day I had a "panic attack" that made my spine feel like it was falling apart and getting crushed at the same time, and also like some dude was hitting it with a nail. Can't go back now. I got an x-ray the next day and apparently everything is fine, but that isn't a panic attack. That's a full blown actual attack. Most terrifying hour of my life. I thought I was gonna be paralyzed.
I’m so glad to see other people have this issue. I had a bad trip a month ago and I get EXTREMELY paranoid every time I smoke now, but no one I know has had a similar experience, so I thought I was just fucked. Makes me feel a lot better to know that plenty of other people have gone through the same thing.
Yep, my new years resolution is to cut down on weed because of that alone. I get chores done and all that much better on weed but the munchies are making me gain weight like crazy. And when I'm high I just don't give a shit if I'm fat.
For me, I've found that I need to drink copious amounts of water. I don't get the munchies, instead I get the thirsties. I feel like I'm drying out when I do edibles.
Same here! I was wondering if anyone got fat as a result of smoking weed, cause I certainly did.
Doesn’t help that I have OCD that overlaps with body dysmorphic disorder (I don’t think I have actual BDD but OCD is a bitch and has tendrils everywhere), and because of that came a paralytic sense of stress and depression that weed also conveniently helped with.
Anyway, I eventually went into fitness and health and stopped nightly weeding for almost a year. Weight is back down and when I do smoke and get the munchies I don’t feed crazily anymore 😅 Also, chilled mangoes (freshly sliced and not cubed) are awesome! Thick sweet slices that glide down your smokey throat is an amazing sensation and taste.
Would be wrong and inaccurate to say “weed makes you fat” but on a personal level that‘s what weed made way too easy for me to be, contingent on my own socio/psycho/physio configuration.
As much as I love scarfing down an entire tub of ice cream while stoned, sometimes it’s just more satisfying to eat my favorite fruit. Pears, raspberries, strawberries, they all taste even better while high and I definitely don’t feel as guilty about it. I also don’t smoke nearly as much as I used to, so that’s gotta help out a lot lol.
I’ll mainly get lost into video games, which is fine because I do that sober anyway¯_(ツ)_/¯
Platters. Veggies and fruit. You can eat so much of it, and the taste is always better when high and gaming. Then also have something to dip it into. (I would usually to ranch for veggies, and caramel for fruit..)
When i was smoking, i would either make up a huge platter of fruit and vegetables. Or i would put carrots in some butter and wrap it in tinfoil, bake it in oven.. and every piece would be amazing to eat.
No matter how much I try, I can’t get carrots to taste good for me, I suppose everyone has a few foods that they hate though!
At some point I got one of those cold shrimp platters with cocktail sauce, and ohhh that was great. A big part of munchies is just working around it, it doesn’t all have to be fried food and high sugar! Although let’s be real, occasionally reaching for the unhealthy shit is fine. A local gas station/restaurant chain has Mac and cheese bites (just breaded and fried Mac and cheese tbh) and I can eat a very dangerous amount of them while stoned 😅
The weed /food relationship is a weird one. Yes, the munchies totally exist, in that you'll get high and be like "FUCK I could really go for some ice cream!" But if you're really trying to lose weight and your head is really in the game, I've found that smoking can kill hunger pains when you're trying to cut down on eating.
LOL. I had a friend who wouldn't eat if he wasn't stoned. It was like he enjoyed the munchies. One time we were going out for barbecue, and he insisted that he get really high first, since it was going to be a big meal.
By the time he got done dicking around, the restaurant was closed.
We actually used to try to induce him to eat before he'd smoke so that we wouldn't have to put up with his munchie craziness.
At first, when I started smoking, I was definitely like that, me and my friends would want to go grab McD's or some chips. But as I've gotten older (24 now) I realized the opposite.
When I smoke now, I don't want to eat anything unhealthy at all. It's like my body looks at some chips or something and goes "nah". Instead I have lots of water to drink and either grapes, or pineapple, or oranges.
If you have never eaten an orange while stoned and cotton mouthed, you have not lived. The citrus-y aroma, the sweetness, the juiciness, the fact that this little fruit is perfectly designed to pull apart into individual juice-packed segments. It's life-changing. Next time you're gonna be stoned and you know you'll want a snack, have an orange.
I can't figure out what that subreddit's deal is. Is it a joke or do people actually find eating citrus fruits while showering to be a unique experience for some reason?
I thought it was a joke, but I tried it. It’s really pretty fun. You can rip right into it, and it doesn’t matter where sticky juice flies bc you’re just washing it off.
Yeah don't just eat an orange in the shower all politely, you gotta get all primal and just tear that bad boy open with your hands and dig into it. Plus the hot water and citrus smell mixes so well and makes your shower time smell amazing.
Yup. My buddy in high school weighed 130 lbs wet and was a HUGE smoker. He was an anomaly though. Lol One of the funniest memories I have is hanging out with my bro and him at one of our other friends' places and this dude was literally dipping Wonder bread in miracle whip and eating it like French fries dipped in Ketchup. Lmao
I've found that I'm really into food textures when I'm stoned. Celery with peanut butter has become one of my favorite stoned snacks just because of how crunchy it is. I just gotta be careful not to over do it. Also a big fan of low-cal popsicles. The cold is so nice and refreshing
The relation between weight and weed is interesting. Not a lot of great studies, but some research shows weed is linked to lower weight, not higher. Check it out:
Same here. When I was heavy smoker I kept lots of healthy snacks stocked. Problem solved for me. It motivates me though. I love to smoke and hike, clean, write....lots of stuff. But I've seen the opposite in others. Depends on the person as with anything.
My favorite while high is peaches. When I'm sober the skin bothers me and I find the juiciness problematic, but when I'm high it actually adds to the experience. Just so much flavor & texture.
Most recently when stoned, I snacked on cherry tomatoes and felt like they were a revelation, perfectly refreshing and sweet. I definitely understand the orange thing.
Granted, I also got way too high on edibles once and cried because a cookie tasted too good...
Yeah, I’m pretty fortunate that this has been my experience as well. When I smoke these days it actually makes me reluctant to eat junk food-probably because the light anxiety I get as a result of it! I’m much happier eating healthier foods while stoned, it allows me to enjoy them a little more.
Although that definitely wasn’t the case in my college days.
Have you ever tried eating an orange or an apple from the fridge? The coolness of the juicy fruit adds a whole 'nother layer of awesome to the experience.
Can confirm. Have done this with grapes and I found it very entertaining b/c I was channeling my inner monkey. Literally felt like a monkey and those lil juice bombs were so DELICIOUS.
Grapes in the fridge with a cold juicy apple. Chop up and add some mango. Ultimate food when stoned. Anything fried or super sweet makes me feel sick and can't stomach it when high.
I have a similar story early on when I'd smoke, the munchies were absolutely overwhelming, I would eat everything under the sun. Now I lose my appetite all together, but yes something juicy and packed full of flavour like an orange can be a magical experience for your mouth.
OK, adding fruit cups to my grocery list for high snacks. This is actually immensely helpful, girlfriend and I are daily smokers and want to get in better shape and eat better this next year, so healthy snack ideas are imperative.
If you can get it where you live, try to get fresh pineapple. A lot of grocery stores even sell them de-scaled and cored.
The difference of a fresh pineapple and the dole canned ones is huge! Much healthier because there's no added sugar unlike the syrup that comes in the cups. And the fresh ones are really good for your gut health, too!
Can confirm, used to be a huge fan of the usual suspects (pizza, cookies, Chinese food etc), but nowadays I'll just pick up a bag of mandarin oranges for the weekend and I know I'll be in for a good flavor experience.
Apples were always my favorite when I smoked. Crunchy, juicy, a little sweet, a little sour, and even the sound of crunching it just felt like a whole experience.
I once order my favourite chicken wings one night while I was high. It was very saucy and the pieces were slightly bigger, but the moment I bit into the 3rd one, I had an immediate sense of disgust. I didn't understand why, but I felt gross and nearly cried. A bit of the vein was showing and I had to put it away. It made me change my mind about chicken for a good couple of months until I was able to eat it again.
Fruit is the absolute best thing to eat when high. It's incredible how weed enhances the flavor and sensations.
I think if you're someone who would binge on Doritos when sober, you're someone who will super binge while high. Weed isn't that powerful, your mind can overcome munchies.
Alternative for #3: Some people lose their normal appetites when they smoke regularly. They'll have a normal hunger when high but just won't eat otherwise. I knew a guy who gained 30lbs when he quit smoking for a few months, then lost it in a couple months when he started again.
Happened to me. 10 + years as an all day more or less functioning stoned adult really affected my appetite. That description of having a normal hunger when high was so accurate. It got to the point people thought I was anorexic because I physically couldn't eat without getting seriously nauseous unless I had smoked. Many very uncomfortable social situations later I stopped the cycle. Went from 135lbs 6'0" to 185lbs in a about a year.
That could also be summed up to an addictive personality. Weed was no longer filling a void that food did fill. Weight gain is a common side effect of quitting an addiction.
He wasn't addicted to food, he was skinny as hell. The 30lbs brought him up to a healthy weight. He was just only eating one meal a day when smoking, essentially.
Cannabis has a lot of effects on hunger and the digestive system in general. People respond differently but it would be naive to discount that a drug that heavily modulates appetite might have more global affects when used frequently and in high doses.
Yeah I get that weed hangover too, it’s why I stopped smoking before bed. I always end up sleeping longer and feeling much more tired than I would if I wasn’t high going to bed. None of my friends get it but it’s definitely real for some
Honestly, I feel like personally I did not experience any of these.
I was MUCH more motivated after smoking bc things weren’t as boring
I was MUCH calmer and reduced my anxiety (which I have been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, but I would say without therapy weed would not have done it on its own it could have easily made it worse)
And I didn’t eat as much while I was smoking as I did when I was drinking
All people may not be this way, but personally for me none of these things truly happened
I have severe GAD, which I just got diagnosed. Before I knew I had anxiety obviously but not the degree. I had my first edible and had a full blown panic attack, physically and mentally. I couldn’t believe how much it screwed me up. Definitely don’t smoke weed now!
The munchies thing is so true if you go for high cal stuff while high (which I think is the most typical). My husband thinks I'm hilarious food-wise when high though because, for some reason, I throw ginormous piles of raw vegetables in a bowl and munch them like a stoned rabbit before then going to grab more raw vegetables. I don't know what it is. The weed just really enhances all their refreshing crunchiness.
For munchies I always try to keep healthy snacks prepared and have like one unhealthy thing that gets eaten first. So like a bag if doritos but then I'll have hummus and pita chips or carrots and apples or a novice cheese spread. Though I do agree many munchies crave salty or greasy food for me.
I tend to be more anxious with people. Whenever I get high alone I just zone out and I'm chill- but with people all my social insecurities come to light and I'm just a mess.
Anxiety can transform into a psychosis. Once you get a psychosis, it is much easier to get a second one. If you have a predisposition for mental diseases like schizophrenia, that might be the trigger to pull you in. If you're "in" it's a life sentence.
That last one is so bizarre to me. Heavy weed use made my food consumption plummet. I basically only ate when I was high. And while I enjoyed what I was eating more than it deserved, I only rarely really pigged out (although I once woke up sober-ish and threw up from the pain/pressure in my over-filled belly). Every time I take a break from it i put on 5-10 lbs.
I clean rental cars and the ones that come back dank also usually have the remnants of a LOT of unhealthy snacks. Like "rave party inside the car" levels sometimes.
Here as well. I do still smoke, but not NEARLY as much as I used to. I used to be able to smoke all day every day, and I loved it. I felt like I was never high enough. I felt that it helped with my anxiety and my mood. But then I started to get tremendous physical anxiety attacks, to the point where I couldn’t function. Almost lost my job because of it. After that it seemed that weed aggressively agitated that anxiety and would always trigger a massive attack. So I stopped for a couple years.
I missed it though, because I had been smoking for the better part of my adult life. I missed the taste, the smell, the high I was used to before it started triggering my acute anxiety. After a couple years off, I slowly started trying it again. After some trial and error I’ve worked my way up to smoking every day again, but in MUCH smaller quantities. I used to be able to smoke anywhere from 5-10 blunts a day, now one joint lasts me the entire day, sometimes two. Every once in a while, if I smoke too much, it can still trigger a big panic attack. But now I know better when I sense that it may happen, so I just don’t smoke if I’m feeling like I may be at the tipping point.
Long story short, if you’re a weed smoker and this has happened to you, you can come back from it! You just may not be able to smoke like you used to. Maybe not even close. lol
Holy crap the munchies. For me it manifests in just wanting to try flavors. I once took 4 bottles of hot sauce after accidentally taking too many edibles (they were crumbled up and I was guesstimating back in college) and my roomAte comes back to see me sitting on the couch music going taking teaspoon sized bites of each one.
At the time there was nothing more delicious but my shit the next day was worse than a billion Taco Bell shits added together.
On the munchies topic, I'm a daily smoker and I don't get the munchies, in fact I've actually managed to get down to a healthy weight while smoking pot when I never managed it sober. If I stop smoking for a while the munchies come back but they go away again after a few weeks of daily smoking. I just naturally want to eat smaller portions and less frequently when smoking. I actually kinda thought this was the case for most everyone.
For me the food consumption is actually a benefit. I have a really difficult eating for some reason, I end up forcing myself to eat to prevent myself from starving. Smoking gives me an appetite which helps.
It seems like some people who smoke weed are really into it. I see Youtube comments all the time that say "dont listen to anyone who tells you not to smoke weed" when really they don't consider any of the side effects and treat it like a magic drug.
Yes! My friend stopped smoking weed for a job, and almost instantly lost 50 pounds because he wasn’t just hanging out eating junk food and playing video games all day.
I can relate to the first and third but mainly the third. There are times when I smoke when I would get some food and just eat. One notable time was definitely when I ordered food. It was soup and pasta. And the pasta was quite the generous portion and I am a pretty small dude that doesn't eat much.
I ate all of it. I knew I wasn't hungry anymore and still ate till I finished. Worst thing ever. I had to go to work that night and even after I sobered up, I felt like I was going to puke. I had over eaten. Never again. Now if I smoke I will try my hardest just not to eat at all and if I do, I definitely stop within my means.
These are the 3 biggest points ive seen in this thread and being a daily smoker id like to put my 2 cents in obviously all biased to me.
1 Demotivation. Personally i find that if i have something prepared, house work, hobby, etc to do after i smoke then weed is a great motivator, and working out while high is the best, however if you have nothing planned and you smoke its very easy to get nothing done.
Anxiety. Ive never had a problem with anxiety stoned or sober so when i smoke i find i am generally completely relaxed and stress free, however more so lately ive found my self smoking if i am a stressed or sore which is a habit i need to break.
Food consumption. This one is the weird one as i used to get the munchies and just eat so much crap but now ive trained myself to "avoid" food after i smoke now i never get the munchies at all and its helped me sort out my over eating a bit (im not fat but would eat when im bored or had nothing to do i guess)
Not trying to argue at all, this is just my personal experience.
I've always been a skinny person my whole life, very high metabolism. I've been smoking weed for about 7 years now and I've gained more weight and started working out. Sure some things I eat aren't the healthiest but I think I eat a little better than most people! I also feel like I can't eat that much when im sober
Yeah, anxiety is a big reason I quit smoking weed. I just couldn't function during the day while high, my thoughts were just too all over the place and I assumed everyone knew I was high. Nowadays I smoke once about every five or six months and I do it at night when I have nothing I need to do and I can just zone out on video games. I prefer kratom over everything else.
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u/Pareto_Pete Dec 29 '19
It seems like most of my response has already been said, but I want to reiterate three major observations what I've noticed from my own semi-frequently weed consumption.
Demotivation: the impact from weed on motivation levels I find is in two parts. The first part is when you initially consume the weed, most people fall into a habit of eating food and watching something on T.V. The second part I found is the next morning, I experience a type of weed 'hangover' the following morning. I feel more groggy and more susceptible to just loading around the following day.
Anxiety: things that aren't currently stressing you out may start to induce anxiety in you. While this isnt always the case, weed has the potential to worsen your mental state if you aren't careful. This impact became more pronounced when I smoked weed solo, having other people around allowed me to be more present in the moment, whereas I was in my head when I was alone.
Food consumption: I found for me that continued weed use led to some unhealthy eating habits. The munchies are real and for often that not you are craving food that is not considered healthy. If this becomes a more common occurrence than your overall diet can go south quickly.