Enter freakout land

[Dweii]

Security.

[celestia]

I tried to stop it, I tried talking to my friends. It would work for a few seconds, then I was back at square one again. All I could focus on was myself and everything that has ever gone wrong or will go wrong in my life. I told my friends and asked them to take care of me. They both hugged me but it didn't help. At all. They tried guiding me into more positive thought patterns. Didnt work. Nothing worked.

...

I don't know what to do. It's been 18 hours since I smoked. I'm probably just hungover and in shock. But what if it doesn't go away? Ever? Yesterday I was convinced it would never go away. I was sure that it would never stop. And it hasn't stopped completely.

Breathe, Helena...it WILL pass. I've been at that place so many times when I was using drugs, especially psychedelics...coming down....and weed IS a psychedelic, but it WILL pass. Trying busying yourself physically, or draw, watch a movie. Something to distract yourself from your paranoid thoughts. Sleep would be good.

But don't beat yourself up, you learned something. And you WILL feel *normal* again, soon. I promise!

Hugs,

S9

[GroovyGwen]

Man - either that weed was laced or you guys in Sweden have some SERIOUSLY tripped out weed!  THe only time I have ever had an experience like that was when I mistakenly smoked stuff that was laced with PSP.  I've never gotten that trippy with straight pot.  Glad you are feeling better.  Sucky thing about drugs vs. booze - with booze you can puke and feel a bit less drunk but with drugs you just have to wait it out.  I've found myself seriously manic while high, sometimes while not being able to move, which SUCKS.  Just my head spinning out of control. 

My instinct is to say watch out with the drug mixing.  Not sure if weed (or whatever the hell you were on if it was not just weed) interacts with anything, but you don't want to acidentally slip into a coma or something. 

Whew - thank god you are coming down.  That experience sounds terrifying!

[Sam]

When I was a kid I smoked pot occasionally, and always had a good time.

As an adult, I had a pothead boyfriend so I would occasionally try to get stoned with him just so I could ignore his complete stupidity, and all it did was make me paranoid as hell. I think the more bipolar I got, the more paranoid it made me. It was just totally miserable. I tried three or four times and finally decided to tune his idiotic thoughts out with alcohol!

Finally I just banned him when he was stoned. He chose the pot over me, so I dumped him. Evil stuff sometimes.

Uh, so my point was maybe it was either related to your meds or your dx. Or laced! So, pretty much what S9 and Gwen said. Heh. Useless post!

Sam

[Dweii]

Nah, not a useless post. It IS probably related to either my meds or my bipolar that's gotten worse. I've only smoked occasionally since my bipolar became a problem and none of those times have been really good.

Laced? Who knows, but somehow I doubt it. They claimed it was "purple haze" though. But I'll research it a bit.

Anyways, I feel completely "normal" today. (Who am I kidding, I won't ever be normal ). And I've learned my lesson, BELIEVE ME. I don't ever wanna go trough that again.

Thanks for the support guys!!

Edit: Ok, so I looked into PCP a little bit and it definately sounds a bit like what happened to me. But how am I ever going to find out?

[GroovyGwen]

But how am I ever going to find out?

You're not unless you ask the person whose stuff it was and they are honest.

[scatty]

The only kind of purple haze I know of was good acid back in the day.  I too am

wondering if your friends had similiar reactions.  That is really weird.  Sounds like

a bad trip or something (I have no experience w/PCP so...) 

Hope you're feeling better today. 

[blackbird]

Im glad you are feeling better Helena

your experience sounded very similar to what I went through with pot and it was a living nightmare.

Pass the Haldol! 

[Dweii]

None of them had a similar reaction, and lots of my friends smoked it. According to my friends (who I trust) it's just really really strong weed. I guess only the dealer knows. And I don't even know who that is.

Purple haze... Hm. The buds are actually a bit purple if you look at them closely.

It's all over now. Thank God. I think that was the worst night of my life.

[GroovyGwen]

Purple haze info

God I wish I could still smoke pot w/o losing my mind.  I love everything about it.  (sniff...)

[Velvet Elvis]

Since I live at home I always have some paranoia when I smoke when home alone. But  I usually just put on my alarm clock early and get up and clean and air out. But this time it was out of control. Every negative thought lead to another completely unrelated, new negative thought. I was sinking down into the bed and I could feel every emotion tearing my body apart.

I tried to stop it, I tried talking to my friends. It would work for a few seconds, then I was back at square one again. All I could focus on was myself and everything that has ever gone wrong or will go wrong in my life. I told my friends and asked them to take care of me. They both hugged me but it didn't help. At all. They tried guiding me into more positive thought patterns. Didn't work. Nothing worked.

I don't know what to do. It's been 18 hours since I smoked. I'm probably just hungover and in shock. But what if it doesn't go away? Ever? Yesterday I was convinced it would never go away. I was sure that it would never stop. And it hasn't stopped completely.

I was so close to calling 911 yesterday. But something stopped me. I figured, if it's not better by tomorrow night I'll go to the hospital.

I'm scared.

I'm already crazy enough.

*sigh*

Been there, done that.  It was LSD for me though I can't smoke weed anymore either.  When i smoke now it's a lot like you describe, with the thoughts leading to thoughts leading to thoughts.  It started for me when I was 23 or 24 I guess.  It was around the same time that my OCD started getting bad for the first time.  It always went away after a few hours though.

I'm not sure if these were panic attacks or not.  I know they were paralyzing. 

There have been studies linking marijuana use and schizophrenia, though they are heavily disputed.  If you have a predisposition to MI it's best not to tease your brain with anything psychedelic.

Common sense says that you should do whatever you have to do to get your head right as the longer you stay like this the greater the chance of permanent damage of some kind.  You need to bite the bullet, tell your parents what is going on and get an emergency pdoc appointment.  You may have to go inpatient for a while. 

It really sucks that MI ruins so many of the things that we used to for fun and thought nothing about.

Edit: I didn't read all the way down the thread before responding.  You should still talk to your pdoc about this the next time you see him. 

[MooCowing]

My thing about 'laced' anything is that why would someone put another valuable drug into something else and  sell it at the price of only the 1. Doesnt make sense. I have known many people who dont smoke often that have bad experiences like this. and when I very started I did too. I think it has to do with your tolerance - you hadnt smoked in a while and it was good. I dont think people realize how intense a drug pot can really be. Now bunk stuff sure... but I wouldn't be giving away any pcp for free anytime soon.

[zsandoz]

i know a lot of people have problems with marijuana triggering "psychosis"-like symptoms.  personally i endorse a sort of "harm-reduction" method where i smoke reefer occasionally to avoid harder drugs (including alcohol).  much less of a chance of triggering a seizure and virtually no chance of picking up a physical addiction, compared with alcohol or opiates.  doing drugs is never a good thing to recommend a population of MI folks, but everyone's mileage varies.  now heroin, thats a bad drug. 

[Dweii]

This is what I'm thinking right now:

• I will avoid all drugs. I'm crazy enough already. I can live without them. I might drink some coffee if I really wanna get fucked up. I'll try to avoid alcohol (evil drug).
  
• I won't tell parents or pdoc since I think that would do more harm than good.
  
• I don't think it was laced with anything, just really good weed.
  
• It's over now and I won't beat myself up over it.
  

[Guest erik]

This is what I'm thinking right now:

[*]I don't think it was laced with anything, just really good weed.

To clear things up, aforementioned substance [and batch] bio-assayed by me personally. Product is extremely potent, though not more so, or deviating from normal potent marijuana.

Said product is of the c. sativa variant (differing from well-known strains such as skunk, which is of the indica). To put it in laymans terms, the indica produces a body-centric high (one makes hashish from indica, for instance) and produces a high yielding a more mellowed-out, relaxed feeling, while the sativa is a high producing more mind intoxicating effects, with rampant thought trains, and following logically, more likely to spiral the user into a state of paranoia and discomfort thereof. Noting posters dx of ADHD, this could play in, though even without, can put even the veteran smoker in a state of alarm.

During bio-assay it was made clear this batch is sativa-heavy, possibly a pure-strain.

THC (active substance in cannabis, regardless of strain) is fat-soluble and therefor will reside in brain-fat for up to ten weeks, though generally not for more than 14-21 days, so feeling after affects of a particularly potent batch is very common, particularly in the user who hasn't been in contact with the substance for some time. These effects will gradually taper off, most likely with no noticable effects 7-10 days after use.

As a disclaimer I would like to emphasise that the substance never would have been handed over to the Posters' friend if the knowledge that it would come in contact with her personally was there beforehand.

One may choose to brush up on some litterature correlating to cannabis use in those with "mental illness" (forgive me for my poor wording), namely;

Cannabis use in adolescence and risk for adult psychosis: longitudinal prospective study, by: Louise Arseneault, Mary Cannon, Richie Poulton, Robin Murray, Avshalom Caspi, Terrie E Moffitt, BMJ (British Medical Journal), 23 November, 2002.

Cannabis and Schizophrenia: A Longitudinal Study of Swedish Conscripts, by S. Andreasson et al, The Lancet, 1987. Vol. 2, 1483-1486

Symptoms of schizotypy precede cannabis use, by J. Schiffman et al, Psychiatry Research, Vol 134, No. 1, 30 March 2005.

Causal association between cannabis and psychosis: examination of the evidence, by: L. Arseneault et al., The British Journal of Psychiatry (2004) 184: 110-117

Study Finds Cannabis Triggers Transient Schizophrenia-Like Symptoms, by: J. Weaver. Yale News Release, June 14, 2004

Decreased depression in marijuana users, by: T.F. Denson; M. Earleywine, Addictive Behaviors, June 20, 2005

Cannabis use and mental health in young people: cohort study, by G C Patton, Carolyn Coffey, J B Carlin, Louisa Degenhardt, Micheal Lynskey and Wayne Hall, British Medical Journal, 2005, Volume 325: 1195

Prospective cohort study of cannabis use, predisposition for psychosis, and psychotic symptoms in young people, by C

[GroovyGwen]

Holy shit Erik - that may be the most elaborate & eloquent explanation ever on this board!

[scatty]

This is what I'm thinking right now:

• I will avoid all drugs. I'm crazy enough already. I can live without them. I might drink some coffee if I really wanna get fucked up. I'll try to avoid alcohol (evil drug).
  
  
• I won't tell parents or pdoc since I think that would do more harm than good.
  
  
• I don't think it was laced with anything, just really good weed.
  
  
• It's over now and I won't beat myself up over it.
  

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sounds like a good plan Helena.  Take care.

[lost]

I get all these bad effects when I smoke, just in a little more moderation i.e. I can cope with life, just about. I think I use it to relieve boredom - there must be some good reason cos it's not the ideal thing right now.. 4 nights in a row and now work is depressing me so much that I have a website about barbiturate suicide in my favorites. Great.

I've met loads of people who don't smoke weed because they tried it a few times and it freaked them out. And I lot of long-term stoners I know are cutting down or giving up because the stuff just isn't enjoyable anymore. Bad trips on weed are so common and I don't think it has to be sativa or whatever (Isn't the definition of skunk buds from the female sativa plant? And surely you can make hash from both varieties?). The stuff is psychedelic and I think you have to be a particular kind of person to find psychedelics out-n-out "fun".

However if someone wants to send me some genuine Manali Cream I'll have no qualms. Now that is good hash - no paranoia, very soothing..