Anyone ever experienced a panic attack as a result of cannabis use?

[jd4083]

I had the first (and hopefully last) panic attack in my life last night, and because I didn't know what I was experiencing, I ended up in the ER thinking I was having a stroke.


WebMD says these are symptoms of a panic attack, and I had literally every single one of them (the feeling of impending death, in particular -- I honestly thought I was about to die)

Most people with panic attacks experience several of the following symptoms:
"Racing" heart.
Feeling weak, faint, or dizzy.
Tingling or numbness in the hands and fingers.
Sense of terror, or impending doom or death.
Feeling sweaty or having chills.
Chest pains.
Breathing difficulties.
Feeling a loss of control.

Let me set this up for you --

I wasn't doing anything stressful, sitting on the couch with the girlfriend watching a movie or maybe playing a video game, can't recall exactly. I had just rolled and taken about 5 puffs off of a joint filled with a strain that a friend in CO sent over, a cross of Arcata Trainwreck and the old school Durban Poison.

I sat the joint down and was talking to my girlfriend when I suddenly stopped and realized I had a tight feeling in my chest and felt like someone was sitting on my shoulders. When I felt that tight feeling and started having some difficulty swallowing and breathing normally, I began to become very concerned. For some back story, I have been noticing an increased allergic reaction to cannabis, both in living plant form and dried form as well. Perhaps as a result of this being on my mind, I immediately got extremely paranoid that I was having a severe allergic reaction and was experiencing anaphylaxis -- again, something I have not experienced before in my life.

My head started throbbing and my heart was beating extraordinarily fast...started getting clammy, then hot, cold sweats, then warm sweat. I was having difficulty breathing and my vision was fading and reappearing in time with the throbbing in my head. When my right side and face started going numb I decided it was time to stop messing around and I called an ambulance. We would have driven to the hospital ourselves but we have several inches of thick snow and ice at the moment and I live on a very steep driveway, so it would not have ended well.

So at the hospital they run a litany of tests, from EKGs to x-rays, and decide that aside from high blood pressure (a chronic condition I've tried to fix over the years with exercise and diet instead of medication) I am perfectly healthy. I should mention that I did not tell the folks that I had smoked directly before the reaction as I figured it would not help anything and was unnecessary information at that particular time. They did come back and mention that I had pot in my urine but in their words "that should relax you, so not really a big deal." They suggested that with my current schedule (40-50 hr work week, a full time 12 credit hour semester at the community college, and another 16 hours of continuing education for work every week -- 7 days a week, no days off) I was just pushing myself too hard and let the stress get the best of me. That very well may be true, but I think it's a little coincidental that I had just smoked that before this panic attack occurred.

At the moment I'm a little gun shy of pot in general, so I have not smoked since last night and don't intend to for a while. I know that it could very well have just been some paranoia from the joint, as both those strains can definitely be racy at times, but that was the single scariest moment of my life. I legitimately thought I was going to die in my living room. I should mention that I have been experiencing some very weird tightness on the right side of my chest (near my clavicle) over the last few days and just thought I was overdoing it on the oil front, as too many dabs a day has given me some issues in the past. I slowed down considerably and I think that joint was the only thing I smoked except for maybe one dab earlier in the day while I was cleaning the house. I'm a generally healthy guy (except for the blood pressure thing) and don't smoke or do any other drugs except for alcohol, probably too often at times.


So I guess my question is, have you guys ever experienced an episode as described above, and can you directly correlate it to your cannabis use if so?

I really, really don't want to have to stop smoking for the rest of my life over something like this, but if it's a choice between that and having another panic attack, it's an easy one to make. It does really suck that I've already got my tickets for the Cup in CO in April and plane tickets are already paid for, but I guess I can always just go for the networking aspect and get to meet some folks.

 

[mojave green]

Edibles do that to me.

 

[jd4083]

Edibles do that to me.

No kidding? I bet that's even scarier with the duration of an edible high.

 

[armedoldhippy]

thought I was having a heart attack after smoking some weed that they called "glass". rumor had it that it had meth on it. I threw the rest of it in the trash..

 

[stoned-trout]

no I can handle my drugs just fine

 

[BetaGrow]

Yeah, I get panic attacks when I don't smoke. Haha

 

[jd4083]

no I can handle my drugs just fine

yeah, so did I, until I didn't

 

[genedigger]

i was chillin at the ladies house one day a few years ago and i smoked some trainwreck with her and her roommate.her roommate took maybe 3 hits and then i gave her a cookie[dont do this if the person doesnt use pot].homegirl freaked out and thought she was dying.we had to rub her back and console her for hours so she woudnt go to the er.she ended up calling outta work for 3 days thats how long she was fucked up[my cookies are strong].so dont be embarrased it can happen.

 

[jd4083]

i was chillin at the ladies house one day a few years ago and i smoked some trainwreck with her and her roommate.her roommate took maybe 3 hits and then i gave her a cookie[dont do this if the person doesnt use pot].homegirl freaked out and thought she was dying.we had to rub her back and console her for hours so she woudnt go to the er.she ended up calling outta work for 3 days thats how long she was fucked up[my cookies are strong].so dont be embarrased it can happen.

I'm not embarrassed so much as concerned. I have a really high tolerance as a result of my concentrate usage so I really don't think that it was just a case of getting too high. I just think that the particular strain I was smoking made it easy for me to take an existing bit of paranoia about my becoming increasingly allergic to my favorite plant and turn that into a full blown panic attack. Just wondering if anybody else has any personal experience with the sudden onset -- after 10 years of not having a single issue.

 

[420somewhere]

I once got a racey heart..

I once got a racey heart..

I drank a whole shot OG Alcohol Tincture and I should have used an eye dropper.
I knew I had taken too much but I didn't have a panic attack. My heart was going wild.

 

[Stoner4Life]

I'd grown some Herijuana, it was spectacularly frosty AND potent, each kief bump from my bong made my head spin momentarily. my good friend Big Bob was over & I warned him of its potency; Bob is 6'4", black belt, in his 50s & a lifelong toker, he laughed at my warning.

a few minutes after doing a bump he said he wasn't feeling good, dizzy, queasy, and his heart was pounding; I told him it was the weed but he didn't believe me and said he was headed to the hospital. I was fairly certain by the time he'd left my place that I'd convinced him to go home instead.

When I called him at home 1/2 hour later (he lived 5 mins from my place) his wife answered the phone and told me that Bob had driven himself to the hospital, a 40 mile trip for him. of course they diagnosed it as a panic attack with his increased heart rate due to his smoking weed.

 

[LEF]

Reminds of the cop and his wife who called 911 after eating edibles and they we're saying they we're dying.

To contribute

Id say yes but at same time

I think there are a lot of variables/factors, some not very visible or rather hard to grasp

Set, setting
Where you are in life, how you are feeling/dealing
Where you are smoking and with who

I blame marijuana madness intensity on forces that be, that limit my freedom

But at same time, marijuana has this double sidedness to her, and i acknowledge that, this madness

But if we cannot live it out, in safety and dignity, this madness
Then we will have even more problems.

Mental health is a big problematic especially in western world.

When you got armed officers, and tactical squads breaking in your door for weed. Thats reason enough to be constantly on alert. In the us, i see you guys have k9 units all the time. Hurting people who want to feel good. For me this is conductive to mental illness/anxiety/depression in individuals. Drug consumption needs to be treated as a health issue and not a criminal issue.

Your medicine can become your poison also, this is the double sided ness to the plant. Like a lot of things you can abuse.

You warm yourself at first, then eventually you dry yourself out and burn yourself.

I read about mexican marijuana shamanism, and they talked about demons, but also being able to deal with the madness, to sort of conquer it.

 

[jd4083]

^Sounds a lot like my attitude. Too potent? HA! learned my lesson there I suppose...

my sister is a medical professional and explained to me that the difference between an anxiety attack and a full blown panic attack is essentially that you can "talk yourself out of" an anxiety attack, but a panic attack can only be mitigated until it has run its course. She gave me some pointers to help it be less intense in the event it happens again but said that the major thing is to avoid having anxiety about the possibility of another one, as that can cause one in and of itself.

 

[Mikell]

I was also thinking to blame the Durban. Or at least, it aggravated pre-existing triggers of a panic attack (stress/high blood pressure). I've had similar reactions from dabs or dry sift of racy landrace, Congo in particular. Psyching yourself out over smoking is going to contribute to the problem.

Not much advice to give, other than ride it like a strong dose of acid. Focusing on maintaining an even rate of breathing helps distract your mind and calm down. The only people that take is seriously are those that have had one, other wise they respond with nonsense like above.

 

[jd4083]

I was also thinking to blame the Durban. Or at least, it aggravated pre-existing triggers of a panic attack (stress/high blood pressure). I've had similar reactions from dabs or dry sift of racy landrace, Congo in particular. Psyching yourself out over smoking is going to contribute to the problem.

Not much advice to give, other than ride it like a strong dose of acid. Focusing on maintaining an even rate of breathing helps distract your mind and calm down. The only people that take is seriously are those that have had one, other wise they respond with nonsense like above.

I'm confident that if I had known it was a panic attack and that I was not in any immediate physical danger I would have been able to ride it out. Having never experienced even everyday anxiety, I had no frame of reference for what a panic attack felt like. I always dismissed people who said they had them as being drama queens and assumed it wasn't that big of a deal. Now I know how wrong I was and how terrifying it can be.

 

[D. B. Doober]

Hey man sounds like you just got really high and geeked out Sativa's like Durban Poison can do that. Did they give you Ativan to take home?

 

[jd4083]

Hey man sounds like you just got really high and geeked out Sativa's like Durban Poison can do that. Did they give you Ativan to take home?

I asked not to get any medication, I don't do well with the "fun" pills. I have some non-narcotic anxiety meds that are fast-acting here at the house just in case I need them.

 

[genedigger]

did you try eating?i get a nervous racy feeling sometimes if i havent vaped in a day or 2 and take some rips.eating helps me but if your were having the chest thing going on maybe its hard to eat.

 

[Green Squall]

I feel like almost everyone has at least one panic attack in there lifetime. I wouldn't stress too much about it. And good for you for avoiding the benzo medication. People don't realize how dangerous that stuff can be and the docs hand them out like candy.

 

[Bmac1]

I remember hearing Joe Rogan talk about people who claim that pot makes them lazy. He believes (and I agree with him) that pot doesnt make you do anything, it just makes you more of what you are. If you are a lazy bum, smoking a bunch of weed is going to make you more of a lazy bum. If you are creative and free spirited, it will make you moreso and so on.

In regards to the anxiety, after hearing your schedule, coupled with the high blood pressure, its possible this stress/anxiety had been starting to build in you regardless of your recognition or lack thereof. Smoking made you more of it. Then the snowball starts with the one thought of "does my chest feel tight?" then the heart starts racing and you are building symptom after symptom of your own impending doom.

Its no fun, I know. I had an episode or two in my teens but nothing too noteworthy. Then almost 2 years ago I had my world come crumbling down in front of me. Lost my mom and a slew of other things all at the same time but no need to get into that. I started having some real trouble with anxiety. The docs are quick to throw any pills you want around but I wasnt willing. I started talking to a counselor and getting my diet in order and getting back in the gym and it has been a tremendous help.

Hopefully you have not made that mental connection with the pot and the panic attack because you could talk yourself into another episode. Some strains are good for it and some are not but the mind is a powerful thing as well, regardless of the strain.