breathing problems

I've been smoking daily for about the past 2 years. Over about the past six months I've been having increasing problems with breathing, wheezing, and just feeling like my throat is tight. At first I thought I was having allergy problems like hay fever.. I also have pet rats.. but I now know it is the weed. I quit for about a month and all my sypmtoms subsided. The past couple of weeks it has been getting worse. I wake up sometimes in the middle of the night almost gasping to get a decent breath. I know I need to quit, and I have in the meantime... but, does anyone else have problems like this? Before it was limited to only in the mornings, and now I'm having slight attacks during the day. I love my weed. I don't want to quit.. other than quitting and getting an inhaler, does anybody have any tips or advice? I'm currently looking into getting a vaporizer. It's frustrating to have friends that have smoked weed and cigarettes for years and have no problems at all. I don't even smoke cigarettes. This really sucks .. Please help me

Lindsey

Welcome to the boards Lasmoho

I'm a little confused. Have you completely stopped smoking pot, or did you quit and then start again?

If only smoking pot has done this, then you should stop smoking it. As you said, a vaporizer would be a good idea. Also, you could try using pot orally, such as baking it into foods, some sort of a drink, or a tincture.

You don't have to stop using marijuana. You just have to find a different way of using it.

Are you absolutely sure it's because of the marijuana?

Cannabis is actually a bronchial dialator, which means it makes your breathing easier while smoking. It has also been shown that one hit of cannabis can actually stop an asthma attack from occuring (as an asthma sufferer, I can personally say my asthma has not been a problem since i started toking -- but that is not to say that the marijuana made it better); asthma is a problem with the constricting of the bronchial tubes, and thus cannabis' medicinal usage for dialating them shines through again

This is why i'm wondering if it's really the marijuana causing it.. because the breathing problems you are telling of sound very similar to asthma's problems (ie. "feeling like my throat is tight").

>I'm a little confused. Have you completely stopped smoking pot, or did you quit and then start again?<

I quit for a month about 2 months ago. I was looking for a new job, but gave up. So in the meantime I started smoking again. The month that I stopped, I felt much better. Since I've started smoking again, I smoke more now than I ever have... Guess I'm makin up for lost time... I just decided today that I better quit again until I go to the doctor and find out what the hell is wrong with me.

>Cannabis is actually a bronchial dialator, which means it makes your breathing easier while smoking. ...... <

As far as all that goes, I don't have problems when I smoke, just in the morning. There is a definite correlation between how much I smoke in a day and how I feel the next morning (how much I wheeze). I am really worried about developing asthma or emphysema or some other respiratory disorder. I already have problems with allergies and dust, so I'm not too surprised that I'm having these kinds of problems.

And now that I think about it, the past few times I've been sick I haven't exactly laid off. It hurt my lungs and throat like hell, but I kept smoking. I wonder how much damage that might have caused?....

I was just curious if others had any similar problems. Well, if anyone has reccomendations for a good vaporizer or other means of getting high feel free to e-mail them to me.. and I guess in the meantime I'll be searching the boards for info. Thanks.

Lindsey

Marijuana smoke does not act like tobacco smoke on the small airways, so marijuana smoke does not seem to cause emphysema or chronic bronchitis. That's really, really, really, really good news because the damage done by emphysema is irreversible. Scientists run experiments where marijuana smokers and non-smokers exhale as much air as they can, and they measure it. They found out that people who smoked 2-3 joints a day for 15 years didn't differ significantly from the non-smokers.

As for asthma, I was looking that up, and I kept seeing "Scientists are not sure what causes asthma..." so I'm guessing that smoking marijuana (or even tobacco for this matter) doesn't actually cause asthma, but it could possibly aggravate it in those who are quite sensitive to it.

I've been smoking regularly for many years. Breathing problems are not related to pot. Actually, you're increasing your lung capacity by breathing deeply, and holding your breath (it's good for relaxing also, without pot). I recently took a breathing test, and have 120% normal lung capacity (I do a lot of snorkling).

Any smoke irritates the throat, so your best bet is using a vaporizer or cooking it in food. A good bong could do the trick too, or you could always just take really small hits.

I know: 7 years since OP.

@Lasmoho: I had the same problem, so switched to a Vapir One, but then the problem came back.

My solution was to keep the vape as clean as possible.

I only use clear whips and change them out often. Some whips can be cleaned, with varying effort depending on the whip. In my case, the whip is simply a length of clear food grade tubing, so cleaning would be easy. You should still change out the whip every so often, though.

I bought plenty of extra screen cans, and again I keep them clean. When the herb disc gets too hard to maintain, I switch it out.

Recently I bought the Vapir One stand. Makes the vape much easier to use with multiple guests.

So far, only good things. The wheezing, shortness of breath when lying down, and coughing up congestion has subsided.

Sometimes I use the Vapir One Water Tool, but it is hard to deal with since it does not have a stand. I am going to try hooking the vape into my regular size water bong.

I think it was simply a matter of keeping things clean.

Anyway, I hope that the above helps someone.

Yea I've noticed the same. At college we did a physiology laboratory experiment where we measured lung capacity. A normal adult should have between 4 - 6 liters of total lung capacity, but mine is pretty close to 8 liters. This is all from breathing in enormous bong hits.

I've read that exact same thing in multiple studies, so that's all completely true as far as I know. THC is a potent bronchodilator, and plenty of asthma sufferers use it to alleviate their symptoms, and from what I hear, most get pretty effective results. Unless you have an allergy of some sort, cannabis should not cause the airways to restrict in any way, in fact it should do the complete opposite.

A study from Pubmed:
"Ten volunteer inpatient asthmatics in a steady state were given a single inhalation of an aerosol (63 mul) delivered in random order, on each of three consecutive days, in the laboratory of a respiratory unit. Before, and for one hour after treatment the pulse, blood pressure (lying and standing), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), peak flow rate (PFR), and self-rating mood scales (SRMS) were recorded. Treatments were placebo-ethanol only; delta1-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) 200 mug in ethanol; or salbutamol 100 mug (Ventolin inhaler), administered double blind. Salbutamol and THC significantly improved ventilatory function. Maximal bronchodilatation was achieved more rapidly with salbutamol, but at 1 hour both drugs were equally effective. No cardiovascular or mood disturbance was detected, and plasma total cannabinoids at 15 minutes were undectable by radioimmunoassay. The mode of action of THC differs from that of sympathomimetic drugs, and it or a derivative may make a suitable adjuvant in the treatment of selected asthmatics."

I'd like to see more studies done with actual cannabis though, because cannabis is obviously not just pure THC, so there could be slightly different results.

A meta-analysis found similar results:

"Eleven of 12 challenge studies found an association between short-term marijuana administration and bronchodilation (eg, increases of 0.15-0.25 L in forced expiratory volume in 1 second). No consistent association was found between long-term marijuana smoking and airflow obstruction measures. All 14 studies that assessed long-term marijuana smoking and respiratory complications noted an association with increased respiratory symptoms, including cough, phlegm, and wheeze (eg, odds ratio, 2.00; 95% confidence interval, 1.32-3.01, for the association between marijuana smoking and cough). Studies were variable in their overall quality (eg, controlling for confounders, including tobacco smoking)."

So it seems that cannabis can make you cough, wheeze, and have a bit of extra phlegm, but not much else really. There's no evidence so suggest that cannabis, whether smoked or vaporized, can damage you airways or lungs in any ways. And remember, no matter how much weed you smoke, cannabis does not cause emphysema.

Even when smoking daily I haven't experienced any breathing impairments.

To OP: Vaporizing would be a good idea if you're worried, but really I don't see much to be worried about at all. It is possible that you are having some sort of allergic reaction to cannabis, so it would be interesting to see if vaporizing will help alleviate your problems. If a vaporizer doesn't alleviate your symptoms then that would suggest that you are having an adverse reaction to the chemicals themselves, so that would further demonstrate that it may just be an allergic reaction.

Also, are you physically fit? Do you exercise often? Are you overweight? Do you eat healthy? Have your rats caused you any respiratory problems in the past? Do you buy your weed from a reliable source? Is your house/bedroom dusty? Do you get much fresh air?

There are many lifestyle factors that affect cardiovascular health, so there may very well be an underlying cause for what you are experiencing, other than cannabis.

Marijuana and Breathing Problems

I would encourage you to stop smoking anything. It's not good for your whole body. About a month ago, my 20-year-old son smoked a lot of marijuana on January 9. He had a major panic attack the following day. He has had serious trouble breathing for a month now. The doctor gave him anxiety medication, but it has bad side effects. He's in a Psych Hospital now trying to figure it out. We've been to lots of doctors and the Emergency Room, and they say they can 't find anything wrong with him. It is not worth taking the chance of the nightmare my son and our family have been through the last month. I've had to stay up with him because he's afraid to go to sleep because he's afraid he'll stop breathing. It has been very difficult for him to breathe. Don't forget your life is not just about you. It also affects your family and all of your friends. I hope this helps.