sideshow bob

Psychopathology
From Health Aspects of Cannabis by Leo E. Hollister

Higher Logic: It is important that you read this entire snippet before jumping to conclusions on what did or did not happen to you. This is an informative piece that sheds a lot of light on what happens and why it happens. The point is, you are not alone in your experience, and many others share in what you go through. Everyone experiences a "panic attack" differently, but with the common symptons listed below, as well as numbness, tingling, increased heart rate, the sensation that your heart is beating everywhere, etc., are also common. Most of the users who experience these kinds of attacks are in (1) high school or just out of high school, are (2) younger smokers, and are (3) inexperienced in the use of the drug.

Cannabis may produce directly an acute panic reaction, a toxic delirium, an acute paranoid state, or acute mania. Whether it can directly evoke depressive or schizophrenic states, or whether it can lead to sociopathy or even to "amotivational syndrome" is much less certain. The existence of specific cannabis psychosis, postulated for many years, is still not established. The fact that users of cannabis may have higher levels of various types of psychopathology does not infer a casual relationship. Indeed, the evidence rather suggests that virtually every diagnosable psychiatric illness among cannabis users began before the first use of the drug. Use of alcohol and tobacco, as well as sexual experience and "acting-out" behavior, usually antedated the use of cannabis. When the contributions of childhood misbehavior, school behavioral problems, and associated use of other illicit drugs were taken into account, it was difficult to make a case for a deleterious effect of regular cannabis use. Thus, it seems likely that psychopathology may predispose to cannabis use rather than the other way around.

1. Acute panic reaction. This adverse psychological consequence of cannabis use is probably the most frequent. About one in three users in one high school and one in five in another reported having anxiety, confusion, or other unpleasant effects from cannabis use. These unpleasant experiences were not always associated with unfamiliarity with the drug; some subjects experienced these adverse reactions after repeated use. The conventional wisdom, however, is that such acute panic reactions occur more commonly in relatively inexperienced users of cannabis, more commonly when the dose is larger than that to which users may have become accustomed, and more commonly in older users who may enter the drug state with a higher level of initial apprehension.

The acute panic reactions associated with cannabis are similar to those previously reported to be caused by hallucinogens. The subject is most concerned about losing control or even of losing his or her mind. Reactions are usually self-limited and may respond to reassurance or "talking down"; in the case of cannabis use, sedatives are rarely required as the inherent sedative effect of the drug, following initial stimulation, often is adequate. Occasionally one may see a dissociative reaction, but this complication is readily reversible. Depersonalization may be more long-lasting and recurrent, somewhat akin to "flashbacks" reported following hallucinogens; the electroencephalogram shows no abnormality.

2. Toxic delirium. Very high doses of cannabis may evoke a toxic delirium, manifested by marked memory impairment, confusion, and disorientation. This nonspecific adverse psychological effect is seen with many drugs, but the exact mechanism is not clear in the case of cannabis as it is in the case of Datra stramonium smoking, for instance, which produces potent anticholinergic actions. As high doses of any drug tend to prolong its action, delirium is self-limited and requires no specific treatment. Highly potent preparations of cannabis are not as readily available in North America as in other parts of the world, so these reactions are less commonly observed in the United States and Canada.

3. Acute paranoid states. It is difficult to gauge the frequency of these reactions. In a laboratory setting, they are frequently encountered. Quite possibly the experimental setting creates a paranoid frame of reference to begin with. That this reaction is not peculiar to the laboratory is evident from reports in which it has been experienced in social settings. The illegal status of the drug might contribute in such instances, for while intoxicated, one might be more fearful of the consequences of getting caught. Undoubtedly, the degree of paranoia of the individual is also an important determinant, so that this reaction may represent an interplay between both the setting in which the drug is taken as well as the personality traits of the user.

4. Psychoses. A variety of psychotic reactions have been ascribed to cannabis use. Many are difficult to fit into the usual diagnostic classifications. Two cases of manic reaction were reported in children who were repeatedly exposed to cannabis by elders. Both required treatment with antipsychotic drugs but ultimately showed a full recovery. Hypomania, with persecutory delusions, auditory hallucinations, withdrawal, and thought disorder, was observed in four Jamaican subjects who had increased their use of marijuana. Twenty psychotic patients admitted to a mental hospital with high urinary cannabinoid levels were compared with 20 such patients with no evidence of exposure to cannabis. The former group was more agitated and hypomanic but showed less affective flattening, auditory hallucinations, incoherence of speech, and hysteria than the 20 matched control patients. The cannabis patients improved considerably after a week, while the control patients were essentially unchanged. Thus, a self-limiting hypomanic-schizophrenic-like psychoses following marijuana has been documented.

5. Flashbacks. This curious phenomenon, in which events associated with drug use are suddenly thrust into consciousness in the nondrugged state, has never been satisfactorily explained. It is most common with LSD and other similar hallucinogens but has been reported fairly often with cannabis use. At first, it was thought that the phenomenon occurred only in subjects who had used LSD as well as cannabis, but more recent experience indicates that it occurs in those whose sole drug use is cannabis. One possibility is that flashbacks represent a kind of deja vu phenomenon. Another is that they are associated with recurrent paroxysmal seizure-like activity in the brain. The most unlikely possibility is that they are related to a persistent drug effect. They may occur many months removed from the last use of either LSD or cannabis, so that it is highly unlikely that any active drug could still be present in the body. Further, the interval between last drug use and the flashback is one in which the subject is perfectly lucid. For the most part, the reactions are mild and require no specific treatment.


HL: End of file. Now on to the first poster's comments. Thanks!

Ok..this happened to me twice and im wondering if anyone else experienced such a
thing after toking.

my heart started racing so fast (this is not an unusual thing but it was really severe
this time) that i had to lie down because i thought id pass out..i also started shivering
and had to get under my bed covers...what was the weirdest was that i couldnt feel
my skin, my whole body fell numb..kind of that feeling when your arm is asleep.
when i was lying down i had my arms on my chest and i couldnt feel where my hands
were touching my body...all i could feel was myself breathing.

I think both of these panic attacks , i guess you can call em that happened when i was
eating....i was really stoned and im sitting here chewing my food for a long time..and it
feels so weird, like i cant feel my tongue or inside of my mouth, its like my whole head
is a shell and the food is just suspended somewhere in my head, its hard to explain.
after that i started panicking because i though i lost my sense of taste and feeling.
this is the reason i dont eat now when im stoned, i wait till ive come down a little.

i dont think it was the weed either because ive smoked the same weed other times
and nothign liek this happened

Panama

To the Chemical and Physiological forum.

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Jax Armani

sounds like you got some laced weed cause thats a pretty acurate description of what cocaine does to you. maybe you got crackweed.

Bonanza

i just think it was a weed bad trip... can't kill you can't harm you, just say to yourself that it's all normal. that what i did when I saw the Devil at the tv...

auntmary

man, i am all too familiar with panic attacks, once you are think you are having one it just loops in your head and its bad news. i got over them by smoking as often as i could. go out and get a sack of weed and try and stay at a comfortable high for as long as you can.

if you get them everytime you smoke, do this... if its just an occasional thing, i wouldnt have a clue

HillBilly

Howdy!!!

There's been many posts and many experienced reported.. The same thing that's happened to you has happened to many a pot smoker. Sideshow Bob, believe it or not, what you described is about as violent a reaction that marijuana smokers have.. Pot is a drug, and with all drugs, including cough syurps, cold remedies, even antiacids.. there's side effects.

From the time we smoke until about 30 minuted after ingestion, our cardiovascular tree does many strange, yet expected things. Including acceleration of heart rate, a brief increase followed by a gradual decrease of blood pressure, and an occassional thunping in the throat. Duroing this time, blood flow can me temporarily altered, thus the shaking and numbness / tingling.

You're gonna be just fine!!!

~~hb

eat me

i have only recently started experimenting with marijuana. i've done it 4 times. the first time doesn't count(i didn't get high), but the last 3 times have been some of the most frightening experiences of my life.

instead of the happy, giggly feeling that my friends get when they smoke it, i freak out. it's hard to explain, but i become convinced everything around me is a dream, and then when i slip back into reality momentarily, i'm so afraid of everything around me, because i'm not sure it IS real. it sounds ridiculous, i know, but it's honestly one of the scariest feelings i've ever gotten. i'm not sure of ANYTHING. and everything frightens the **** out of me, basically. usually i end up clutching to someone's leg while i roll up in a ball on the floor, shaking and mumbling, until it wears off and i can fall asleep. it's NOT a good feeling. at all. in fact, it's a horrible, scary feeling.

so yeah. i figured this is a good place to start to find out why this happens to me. PLEASE help?

eat me

oh yeah, and in case anyone was wondering, i didn't smoke excessive amounts when this happened to me.

the 1st time - a whole joint to myself(that was the worst experience of course)
the 2nd time - half a joint
the 3rd time - 1/3 of a joint

and i know it's not laced because when i smoked up with my friends, i was the only one that this happened to.

ahhhhhhhhhh, it's not ****ing fair. heh.

Bailey1138

I think the short answer is you were just freaking out. The next time you smoke, make sure you are in a relaxed environment, no chances of getting caught, with only some really good friends. Have some music on, whatever you're into, but preferably the kind of stuff that'll put a smile on your face no matter what mood you're in. Try to make sure you have a good mindset, if you have some problem or something that's been stressing you out, it might not be a good idea to smoke.

Try some different strains too, if you've been smoking the same type of weed every time, try a different type, it might produce a different high for you. It could be that you just will always have an adverse affect to marijuana. Honestly, I've never seen the herb affect anyone like that, but it has a tendency to act as a sort of mood enhancer, whatever you're feeling, it will enhance that. If you start freaking out a little, you're only gonna freak out more, so try to relax and keep yourself calm. Hope this helps.

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DrugLawReform

When I first started smoking pot, I had hallucinations the first couple times. I was sure the weed was laced.
In hindsight, I kinda liked it. Otherwise I wouldn't have continued to use it, right?

I don't know the pharmacolgy asspects, but I know it affects people differently. Intense paranoia can cause physical symtoms...ie. shaking uncontrolably?

I know lots of people that have tried pot and didn't like it. I even know a girl that is highly allergic to pot smoke. If she's around it she gets big hives and here eyes swell shut.

Having tried it several times, and not enjoying it, I probably wouldn't do it anymore. Just a thought.