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YDoISmoke

I'm very disappointed and afraid at this point. I think I'm going to give up on pot. I'm disappointed because everyone else around me enjoys it to the fullest and I can't keep calm on it. This makes me feel like there's something wrong with me (even though I know I'm perfectly healthy). I'm afraid because I think I'll never be able to smoke again and for some reason I want to.

Does anyone have any other suggestions or should I quit? What about eating marijuana? Will it still cause me to twitch and feel frantic.

Any ideas are appreciated (including if you advise me to quit). Thanks.... -very unhappy smoker

::EDIT:: I forgot to add what happened to me a few nights ago. I was in a car with a few friends and took 2 medium sized hits from a VERY small bowl (one of those keychain pieces). I got very high and could not stop rapidly tapping my right leg. Also I felt very weird and not comfortable. This is further discouraging me from smoking.

 

CardBoardBox

Hello there. A number of years ago when I first began to smoke (chronicly, like every day) I would find myself twitching just like you. A muscle in my arm would twitch, then my side, then a couple in my leg. It would rivit through my whole body until my high was down and I chilled into a more mellowly stone. I think it might have just been because my body wasn't used to it quite yet. It also might have been a weired trip, because after another few weeks of smoking, it went away and I haven't had it since.
Now it could be a number of things. You could try eating marijuana, although make sure you don't eat too much because the high lasts quite a while longer than just smoking. The twitching might be from smoking as well, your body reacting to lack of oxygen. Try taking deep breaths of fresh air before and after each toke. You might want to try eating or drinking water or juice (not pop or coffee since they have cafine in it) to give your body something to do and digest, so you can relax. You could try listening to music if you want, but I don't really find this is helpful.
Do you smoke at all to yourself? I found that if I was alone and just relaxing with weed it was easier to have fun when I smoked up with other people. Mabye buy a joint or two and smoke before bed, and then stay up to yourself and relax... But don't smoke too much because having a bad trip by yourself is kind of bad.

I don't advise you quit just yet, unless you really feel it nessesary. Try different was of smoking-- Bong, bubbler, hotboxing. Tents are really good for hotboxing, if you can't do it inside of a house. Good-luck!

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cyranix

I'm glad to know I'm not the only person with this problem!

I'm an avid pot smoker... When I first started smoking, I used to get high as hell, and loved it from the first time... Somehow, after smoking for a while, I started having almost the exact same problem you describe: When I smoke pot, I get strange sensations throughout my body. Sometimes, I can't feel my heart beating, or when I'm in my car, my balance seems "off", and I think the nervous reaction to that feeling makes me start to "twitch"... Usually, its not so much of a twitch as much as a need to move or do something, I think, but the physical result can be like flicking my leg out, or I'll jump real fast or something... Its odd, kind of uncomfortable, but somehow, it hasn't stopped me from smoking...

I too, would really like to know what causes this sensation... A lot of times, I can smoke and it doesn't happen, or if it does, its a minor reaction, however, lately, the problem seems to be getting worse. I've also had a kind of "pinch" that I feel in my chest, not quite anywhere I can really put my finger on, except to say it feels like it is around my heart area... Even when I'm not stoned, sometimes just sitting, I feel either the pressure or the pinch (the best way I can describe the feeling is like a joint that needs to pop, except it doesn't pop... Usually I just move around a bit and it seems to disappear on its own...), and aside from the fact that I have no medical insurance, I'm awfully tempted to want to get a CT scan or something.

A friend of mine told me a rumor that the US government had put some "bad pot" into circulation which had been sprayed with an 'anabuse' like chemical designed to render the human body "incapable of getting high", or rather to make the sensation of getting high feel extremely uncomfortable... I haven't confirmed anything like that, but then today, a friend of mine who used to smoke with me, but who hasn't smoked in a long time decided to smoke with me, and after maybe 2 or 3 hits, he became so uncomfortable, he went outside, and clearly he looked rather pale, like his blood pressure was too low, and he claimed he was having 'cold sweats'.

Personally, I am inclined to wonder if it might just be dietary habits that are responsible for the feeling. I can't really explain my logic to this, as even when my dietary habits are normal (e.g. 3 normal meals a day, as opposed to my current habits, which usually just consist of eating when I get the munchies), I still feel kind of strange sometimes, but I can definately say that the feeling seems to get much worse when I haven't had anything to eat...

Either way, I wonder what is causing this, and why a few of us experience it, and the rest of us don't.

cyranix

Just a quick update -- Further searching pointed me to http://www.diagnose-me.com/cond/C254143.html where I think I just caught an idea: I really don't know how my mineral intake is, but considering my consistant diet of mostly fast food, pizza, and gas station food (don't laugh, I'm single, can't cook, and infact, am a serious safety hazard in the kitchen), I'm sure that my mineral levels like potassium and calcium are probably not quite what they should be... I might try getting some kind of supplement to increase those levels in my body and see how that helps...

I'd be interested in hearing your position on the matter, whether or not you think your diet contains enough of those... I do know that a lack of minerals can cause neurons to misfire, and with the combination of a drug like THC, it might explain the twitching that occurs... I also mention that I do smoke cigarettes, and I consume massive amounts of caffeine... If you fall into those categories, maybe we can start looking at what effect those habits might have on our high. Most all of my friends smoke cigarettes, so I'm pretty sure thats not the problem, however, it could still be a factor which combined with another habit that is the problem.

Liberty4All

Muscle twitching, or motor tics, could be the result of your dopamine levels being too high, similar to Tourette's syndrome. This used to happen to me when I got really stoned when I was a teenager. For some reason it went away when I got into my 20s. You could try taking Vitamin B1 - this seems to have a slight calming effect on the nervous system. Another thing you could try is exercising before you smoke - this might help lower your dopamine levels. I believe that the amino acid Taurine also has a calming effect on the nervous system and could reduce the twitching.

 

CardBoardBox

Dopamine is natural happiness, right? xD The neurotransmitters or something react to it and you feel happy, calm, relaxed, ect. When I'm 'high' I'm usually very tence and on the occasion very paranoid. And then when I'm stoned I mellow out and feel realy relaxed... But I woulden't call it happy or calm. O_o; What exactly is dopamine and how does it effect the brain?

Hashishi

that is one damn fine analogy...i hadn't thought of it like that. i guess its all down to pressure changes in your head and such.

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cyranix

Dopamine is a chemical naturally produced in the body. In the brain, dopamine functions as a neurotransmitter, activating dopamine receptors. Dopamine is also a neurohormone released by the hypothalamus. Its main function as a hormone is to inhibit the release of prolactin from the anterior lobe of the pituitary.

Dopamine can be supplied as a drug which acts on the sympathetic nervous system, producing effects such as increased heart rate and blood pressure. However, since dopamine cannot cross the blood-brain barrier, dopamine given as a drug does not directly affect the central nervous system. To increase the amount of dopamine in the brain of patients with diseases such as Parkinson's disease, a synthetic precursor to dopamine such as L-DOPA can be given, since this will cross the blood-brain barrier.

Dopamine has the chemical formula (C6H3(OH)2-CH2-CH2-NH2). Its chemical name is 4-(2-aminoethyl)benzene-1,2-diol and it is abbreviated "DA."

As a member of the catecholamine family, dopamine is a precursor to epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline) in the biosynthetic pathways for these neurotransmitters. Arvid Carlsson won a share of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for showing that dopamine is not just a precursor to these, but is a neurotransmitter as well.

Dopamine is synthesized in the body (mainly by nervous tissue and adrenal glands) by the decarboxylation of DOPA by aromatic-L-amino-acid decarboxylase. In neurons, dopamine is packaged after synthesis into vesicles, which are then released in response to the presynaptic action potential. The inactivation mechanism of neurotransmission are 1) uptake via a specific transporter; 2) enzymatic breakdown; and 3) diffusion. Uptake back to the presynaptic neuron via the dopamine transporter is the major role in the inactivation of dopamine neurotransmission. The recycled dopamine will face either breakdown by an enzyme or be re-package into vesicles and reused.

Dopamine is critical to the way the brain controls our movements and is a crucial part of the basal ganglia motor loop. Shortage of dopamine, particularly the death of dopamine neurons in the nigrostriatal pathway, causes Parkinson's disease, in which a person loses the ability to execute smooth, controlled movements.

In the frontal lobes, dopamine controls the flow of information from other areas of the brain. Dopamine disorders in this region of the brain can cause a decline in neurocognitive function, particularly those linked to memory, attention and problem solving. This function is particularly related to the mesocortical dopamine pathway.

Dopamine is commonly associated with the 'pleasure system' of the brain, providing feelings of enjoyment and reinforcement to motivate us to do, or continue doing, certain activities. Certainly dopamine is released (particularly in areas such as the nucleus accumbens and striatum) by naturally rewarding experiences such as food, sex, use of certain drugs and neutral stimuli that become associated with them. This theory is often discussed in terms of drugs (such as cocaine and amphetamines) which seem to be directly or indirectly related to the increase of dopamine in these areas, and in relation to neurobiological theories of addiction, which argue that these dopamine pathways are pathologically altered in addicted persons. The mechanisms of cocaine and amphetamine are different, however. Cocaine acts as a dopamine transporter blocker, competively inhibiting dopamine uptake to increase the lifetime of dopamine. On the other hand, amphetamines act as dopamine transporter substrates to competitively inhibit dopamine uptake and increase the dopamine efflux via a dopamine transporter.

However, the idea that dopamine is the 'reward chemical' of the brain, a view held by many during early stages of its research, seems too simple as more evidence has been gathered. Dopamine is known to be released when unpleasant or aversive stimuli are encountered, suggesting that it is not only associated with 'rewards' or pleasure. Also, the firing of dopamine neurons occurs when a pleasurable activity is expected, regardless of whether it actually happens or not. This suggests that dopamine may be involved in desire rather than pleasure. Drugs that are known to reduce dopamine activity (e.g. antipsychotics) have been shown to reduce people's desire for pleasurable stimuli, despite the fact that they will rate them as just as pleasurable when they actually encounter or consume them. It seems that these drugs reduce the 'wanting' but not the 'liking', providing more evidence for the desire theory.

Other theories suggest that the crucial role of dopamine may be in predicting pleasurable activity. Related theories argue that dopamine function may be involved in the salience ('noticeableness') of perceived objects and events, with potentially important stimuli (including rewarding things, but also things which may be dangerous or a threat) appearing more noticeable or more important. This theory argues that dopamine's role is to assist decision making by influencing the priority of such stimuli to the person concerned.

Disruption to the dopamine system has also been strongly linked to psychosis and schizophrenia. Dopamine neurons in the mesolimbic pathway are particularly associated with these conditions. This is partly due to the discovery of a class of drugs called the phenothiazines (which block D2 dopamine receptors) that can reduce psychotic symptoms, and partly due to the finding that drugs such as amphetamine and cocaine (which are known to greatly increase dopamine levels) can cause psychosis. Because of this, most modern antipsychotic medication is designed to block dopamine function to varying degrees. Blocking the D2 dopamine receptor is known to cause relapse in patients that have achieved remission from depression, and such blocking also counteracts the effectiveness of SSRI medication.

Gotta love wikipedia!

509monster

ok so I too suffer from the same twitching problem and this part really makes sense to me because when i first started smoking I really liked it and it was fun and then after a while it would give me an adrenaline rush but lately its like that adrenaline rush has been too much and i just get really really twitchey and jitery and of course getting up and walking around always helps a lot for me too but I can't dance around the room every time i smoke the only thing I found that helped was just smoking less pot i dont get as high as i used too and that kinda sux and i miss it but still at least i can deal with it and i dont get nearly as uncomfortable
I would like to know more about this though cause my friends keep telling me that it will go away and that i just need to smoke more and build up more of a tollerence to THC and then I'll be fine again. It did seem to be working though the whole building up tollerence to it i just smoked more often in lesser amounts instead of smoking a whole bunch all at once.

c_horbay

i twitch when i blaze, but i believe that it just because i gte real hyper when i get high, for me its like swinging my legs or shaking my hands i do it merely from being excited

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