Marijuana and Anxiety

[Mahoganyjoint]

Hi, i dont know if anyone else can relate to me here but ill give it a shot.

I'm 21 years old (male) I've been developing some really irritating anxious thoughts over the last year, ive always been a person who talks to myself and sometimes can be in the clouds, but i tend to think so deeply into certain scenarios, I've recently started to think the worlds against me, it sounds crazy but sometimes i think my lives not real or like the truman show, people are watching me and judging me. i also suffer from social anxiety, not alot but it sometimes creeps up if its an out of the ordinary situation.

i few weeks ago i had to go to a training meeting for work and because i knew there would be new people around me, i worked myself up so much i had to make myself sick just to stop feeling nauseous.

anyway cut a long story short, ive been smoking Marijuana regularly for a year now (6 times a week in the evenings) and im slowly starting to convince myself that its the problem. I've read for some people that it cures they're anxiety and for some it makes it worse, whenever i have a night of no smoking my mind tends to wander and ill get worried about things in the distant future and i can never sleep well.

has anyone has any similar problems?

[miss_mac666]

hey there my name is Claire and i have struggled with anxiety for ten years now. i find that smoking weed helps me alot! but sadly for alot of people it makes it worse. i personally believe that weed is a god given medicine that is used for multiple things. it helps cancer patients with pain, nausea etc. helps people with chronic pain etc. people have differant views about it. like ok it is a fact that you cannot overdose on it, its not addicting, you cannot withdraw from it either. people grow dependent on it. i dont see it as a drug, or a gateway drug. people who are uneducated on it, say its a horrible drug and you can get addicted to it. its bullshit! my opinion i guess. honestly i do not think you have a problem with it at all. if it helps you, i advise you to use it. i know different strains are strictly for anxiety. if you want to know about them feel free to message me :)
I am very 4:20 friendly
Claire

[babylove123]

I use to smoke weed daily & had no anxiety when i was high.
But i quit a year ago bc my bf didnt completly agree w it but my anxiety is worse.
I miss it so bad!

[raggamuffin]

Hard to guage really. It affects people in different ways but every stoner will come to a point eventually where they realize the drug takes and never really provides anything beneficial. As with any drug (legal or illegal) it simply masks symptoms and doesn't address root causes. For some it helps with anxiety, with other's it makes it worse. I was a daily smoker for about 5 years. I gradually wound it down as it was causing no end of anxiety and overthinking and worry etc. Before I was a stoner I was depressed and a worrier but never had any anxiety symptoms other than feeling tired all the time (probably from feeling blue). Smoked weed socially and enjoyed it a lot. But it slips so easily into a daily routine. In the end I ended up just smoking alone (didn't want to share). Preferred hoarding my free time sat in my room getting baked and playing video games and watching TV shows.

Had a panic attack over a year ago and quit cold turkey for 6 months. Then started up again after giving in to smoking cravings. Overall it made my anxiety worse when I started up again. I've now quit (once again) and i'm at the 2 month point now. Still getting anxiety pains every day but I think it's nicer to try and tackle it with a clear head. Well....as clear as your over-thinking and worrying head can be when you have anxiety.

But weed is certainly a drug. You can't really deny that it is considering the chemical effects it has on the body. If you still enjoy it, then that's fine but just watch out that you don't wind up needing more and more joints or bongs a night to maintain a high which never really gets any better. It's hard being sober for the first few weeks but in time you realize it's nicer being clear headed and having energy and more drive to do things.

The occassional smoke would probably be better, and more potent. However if you lack control (as I always have) it soon turns into a relapse. Also the potency of getting stoned again after a long time sober really hits you hard. After my 6 months weed free my first joint actually didn't have such an awe inspiring high I was expecting (even though it was cheese). But then I started getting panicky and it wound up being an evening wishing to feel sober and normal again and feeling utterly digusted in myself for having caved in.

But like I said, everyone's different. Some people find it helps being social, others feel being stoned makes them stick out like a sore thumb. Same for anxiety, it might help, it might not. But in the end, whether you're a stoner for 10 months or 10 years, there will come a time when you feel fed up or robbed of the time you spent getting high and not really getting a great deal done in your life.

Ed

[babylove123]

Yea its def different for everyone.
I

[Mahoganyjoint]

Cheers for the replies, i think im just going to cut down a lot because doing it 6 times a week isn't great really. i need to get a grip on reality a bit.

[allyml]

I mean, some people really like weed. I know for me, it really exacerbated my anxiety.... I actually have a really bad reaction to it, where I hallucinate (and no, not laced, just pure)... One time I hallucinated myself falling down stairs repeatedly, it was terrible. I also know people in marijuana anonymous who told me about how they would have constant panic attacks and paranoid thoughts, and that at the end, they just ended up tweaked out in their apartments, isolating. Sooooo..... I think there's no harm in cutting down or stopping for a month trial period and seeing if you feel better, that way you could see if it really is affecting you.

[layne]

I've been wondering the same thing myself. I've been a pretty heavy smoker of weed and cigs since my teens, about 6 months ago I decided to give up cigarettes and caffeine, and drink a lot more water, I wanted too see just how much of an impact it had on my anxiety, however I didn't give up weed, because I knew it would be the hardest, not so much for addiction reasons, more for the creativity it lends and the calm feeling it gives.
So I've stopped, not smoking cigarette makes my lungs feel bigger and better, not drinking caffeine stops the morning being set on a anxious tone, which helps no end to be honest. Nothing I gbe up on had rid me of my anxiety, but it made it more dealable. So my next step was to stop smoking weed in the mornings, I never smoke before work and keep it to something I do at the end of the evening, this makes me feel better too. So whilst I hate to say it, because I do love a spliff or seven, I reckon everything we put in our body has a knock on affect. My next aim, weekends only. let me know how you get on :)

[Enduronman]

Weed=paranoia=worry=anxious thought in more people with a predetermined or underlying anxiety disorder..To some it is relaxing, to anxiety stricken people it heightens it. This is a drug that can produce entirely different effects in entirely different people..

E-Man.