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  1. #1

    Cannabis as medication for anxiety?

    Hello members of AnxietyForum!

    I hope that everyone is doing well today.

    I am conducting some research about how cannabis interacts with levels of anxiety. I would love to talk to y'all about it!
    Basically I am here to ask if anyone has any experience with using cannabis as a treatment for anxiety in the past, and if it has worked or not.
    I would also love to hear some stories from non-cannabis users about their perceptions of how cannabis can be used as a treatment.

    Honesty guys, ANY feedback would be greatly appreciated. I just want to hear some anecdotes about cannabis use and anxiety levels.
    Thanks in advanced!
    Last edited by RandomStudent873; 05-26-2015 at 01:38 PM.

  2. #2
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    When my friend smoke cannabis either for the first or second time, she had a really awful experience. She felt like she was in hell and I was on the phone to her and she kept saying she thought she was going to die. She also self-harmed whilst being 'high'. From what I could tell, it was petrifying for her, she said she felt like she was spiralling down into nowhere.

    I thought cannabis was a stress reliever and that's why she smoked it because I told her as she had a lot of stress going on and I have a history of drugs that I don't want to talk about. I guess you have to be in the right frame of mind to relax when smoking cannabis.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by RandomStudent873 View Post
    Hello members of AnxietyForum!

    I hope that everyone is doing well today.

    I am conducting some research about how cannabis interacts with levels of anxiety. I would love to talk to y'all about it!
    Basically I am here to ask if anyone has any experience with using cannabis as a treatment for anxiety in the past, and if it has worked or not.
    I would also love to hear some stories from non-cannabis users about their perceptions of how cannabis can be used as a treatment.

    Honesty guys, ANY feedback would be greatly appreciated. I just want to hear some anecdotes about cannabis use and anxiety levels.
    Thanks in advanced!
    Cannabis makes my existing anxiety skyrocket, as in the immediate effects of it. My brother was the same, so it seems like a certain brain chemistry. I've had it many a time because I've hung out with smokers half my life but I never liked it at all. So I wouldn't consider it a very good "treatment" for anxiety.

    "You're the worst thing that ever happened to me." --Marla Singer

  4. #4
    It depends on the strain. If you live in a state where it's legal, and you get an indica, it will work for you, but sativa dominant strains give you a head high and should be avoided. The problem is that no one knows if their strains are indica or sativa if they get them form a street dealer, plus they could be laced, which makes things really dangerous.

  5. #5
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    I've taken hemp oil via a vaporizor pen and it worked wonders. Unfortunately, the only way to get it is by ordering it online and when you add in the shipping costs, it was not [and still is not] feasible for me to continue vaping hemp oil indefinitely. CBD is the part of the plant that helped relieve me of panic attacks and anixety attacks. Just a few good rips and I'd be good to go. The hemp oil I used is very low in THC, so it's not going to get you high-- it's strictly for the medicinal benefits of the CBD.

  6. #6
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    The only times I took cannabis it made me unbelievably paranoid and I was sweating profusely. That was a long time ago, though. I was wondering if a tincture from a medical dispensary would be different, but I am scared to try it because of my previous experience.

  7. #7
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    Indica-based strains work best for anxiety. Sativas may contribute to it. I occasionally smoke cannabis and I find that indica-dominant hybrids and pure indicas work great for calming anxious minds but I'm always paranoid that it might heighten the anxiety instead of calming it.

  8. #8
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    For short term, may be YES!

    For long term, certainly NOT!

    It's better to stay away from it and stick to your prescription medicines.

  9. #9
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    As stated by LK89 above. Short term you might find it helpful. I did - I smoked it for 7 years daily. But towards the end the laziness, the paranoia and anxiety was mounting. Then I had my first ever panic attack. A year later my second (which lasted 1 hour). From then on it was 24/7 symptoms, aches and pains all over my body every moment of every day. That lasted 5 years. Trust me, it's not worth it. Since then i've quit smoking weed and tobacco. Took several cold turkey attempts but I finally nailed it.

    Unless a drug is needed to physically keep you alive, my thought is that any drug - whether legal or illegal won't really solve your issues - they might bury them, but they can't heal or cure them. You can overcome anxiety or depression or many other health issues through self improvement, willpower, determination, knowledge. i know these sound cliched, but I can guarantee to you they're true.

    I went from chronic pain, fear and worry to maybe 1 or 2 aches a day that last a handful of minutes at most. Anxiety is a tool - prompting you to CHANGE as a person. It'll actually empower you once you realize and dig deep into why it's here. Many of us think anxiety comes along overnight and look for a quick fix or cure. I'm afraid the journey is longer than that.

    I spent years convinced my aches and pains were diseases and imminent death. It took 3 or 4 years before I could accept these aches and pains were because of stress and anxiety. Later I realized some core beliefs i'd been holding onto from a long time ago and set about changing that. Anxiety feeds off fears and worries. If you convince yourself you're always in danger or ill your fight or flight response works over time. Causing inflammation and stress to the body - hence the symptoms and aches and pains.

    A good step is cutting junk and processed foods from your diet. Get exercising, this is hard at first. I had many excurions on my bike or simple walking where I was scared to be away from home, terrified of the aches and pains I qwas getting and sometimes having full blown panic attacks. When you're so amped up and paranoid over every little ache or pain your body may associate the symptoms of exercise - raised heartrate, breathlessness, aches etc as an anxiety attack or "disease".

    Building a strong foundation of knowledge is the basis to overcoming anxiety. Many become hypochondriacs with all the Googling of symptoms. That can be destructive - it was for me. But you can always take a good from a bad. After years of Googling symptoms and disease and endless GP and hospital visits I realized the symptoms I had were anxiety. Again, it's all about knowledge.

    Once you understand anxiety you can then piece symptoms and issues back to anxiety. Then you dig to see what situations make you anxious, what you FEEL in such situations. Not the false beliefs and paranoia. Dig to the core beliefs and address them.

    It's also good to get out of your comfort zone slowly but surely. I used to hate leaving the house. Anything from driving to going to the shops or waiting in a queue would provoke serious symptoms - chest tightness, palps, dizziness, sweats. I hated it. But I started going out more and more and more. What started as 9 times out of 10 getting symptoms has gone down to 1 out of 10 times. But symptoms aren't as intense and I can RATIONALIZE the symptoms and not respond with false beliefs of disease or fly into a panic.

    Anyway that's my 2 cents.

    Ed
    How strong, how costly, the urge to fight our fate and turn back time. But life is meant to be consumed, not preserved to ward off doom. One can surely die from fear, before the end is ever near.

  10. #10
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    Hello

    I just joined this forum but your thread caught my eye.

    Cannabis is actually one of the things that caused my anxiety to get to the level it is now. I always had anxiety growing up, problems with being sociable etc. But when I was 18/19 I started smoking weed, it was fine for a while, and I must admit, it did chill me out and actually took away my anxiety for a long long time, but as I got more and more hooked on it, it did the opposite and caused me to have some of the worst panic attacks I've had. Obviously it was enough to make me quit all together, but I'm sad to say I've never been the same since.
    I know a lot of people who have smoked it in the hopes it will help with their anxiety, but most of the time it seems to just enhance it, I think if you're in a good place, mentally, it can be fine, but I've seen a lot of friends really struggle.
    That being said, my mum and her boyfriend both suffer with it, and they smoke a lot, and it really helps them!
    I think it really depends on the state of your mind, but overall, I'd say it's not helpful

 

 

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