Is Cannabis Paranoia real?

[Guest niall]

Yep that sounds like psychosis...

[pipeman]

of course its real. cannabis definitely causes some people to become paranoid or anxious, to different degrees. anyone who has been around a lot of pot smokers would know this.

 

I remember one time I had the telstra guy at my front door. I knew he was the telstra guy, I had the appointment booked for him to hook up my cable so I was expecting him, yet I wouldn't answer the door as he sat there ringing the bell for about five minutes. I was paranoid out of my mind, and didn't feel like I could deal with him. I guess I had one too many pipes that morning.

 

I also notice the racing heart thing, but find its a separate symptom to paranoia. Sometimes they come together, and sometimes not. The couple of times I've seen people have severe panic attacks was when they ate one too many cookies, because as most of us know the stone can be much more intense when you ingest it rather than smoke it.

[Pam]

I belong to the group who have smoked nearly 30 years nearly daily and personally have not had any problems with paranoia (except about pigs and narcs)

 

my son smokes cones and does end up in hospital not just once now 5 times in 5 years

 

99.9% of my friends and family have no paranoia effects

 

I never said cannabis is dangerous anywhere

if I thought that I would not have ever smoked (I do not drink)

 

I have been trying to find how one person in a family of smokers can go this way and since we are a close genetic match (father-Son)

i am looking for a different way to help him as going to hospital has not helped and he still wants to smoke with us

Telling him he is not allowed to smoke is just dodging the issue e.g. treating the symptoms

I would like to help with a cure so he can smoke MJ when he wants like to rest of us.

 

by admitting there is a problem one can move to the next step and bloody well fix it

This is not a made up story I am asking for help with a real world problem.

Try asking DrDee in a PM. Of all of us he may know what to tell you. Good luck.

[eexpee]

Coffee causes anxiety, and alcohol, stupid behavior

 

[RobbieGanjaSeed]

paranoia? Why do you ask me?

 

Seriously but, I've copped a bit of paranoia over the years periodically. Nothing like what you say here, but tense and just kinda edgy, worried something's gonna go wrong kinda thing. I have anxiety to my nature as a general part of my personality though, and hate living in captivity (suburbia), which exaserbates the anxiety to no end.

 

If someone gets edgy when they're stoned, and wants to keep smoking, try keeping a few weak doses of valium around. Don't take them ad hock, 'cause a valium addiction just isn't worth talking about. But if you slip a 5 mg tablet under ya tounge, instead of swallowing it, it works real quick. So what I'd think of doing maybe, is just try using one when it happens, and see if it helps. Don't get into the habit of taking it before the smoke, just if the paranoia takes hold is all. And don't get trapped by going for stronger and stronger sedatives. Use them infequentlyand there's no need for anything powerful unless there's a real medical problem. IMO. You'd just have to weigh up how important it is to smoke if that happened I reckon.

 

Maybe over time the anxiety will go away? I know for my dad, who started smoking in the early 70s, he got worse, and evetually had to quit. HE had nothing like any dope induced paranoia for many years. I started smoking with him when I was about 14, and grew up very close to dad, smoked with him so much I know him inside out and back to front. The paranoia came on out of the blue, about 1994, 95 or so. Came and went, and eventually it happened that when he smoked, his personality changed dramatically, and it was clearly not the same persn any more.

 

HE had to have two stays in Richmond Clinic at Lismore, twice in a year or so. I felt responsible because I kept kinda slapping him on the back and stuffing more bags of grouse head his way telling him to just smoke more dope. He ended up pretty fucked and about 2 or 3 years ago now maybe just had to stop. He's mid 60s now. He's anxious by nature too though. His best mate is a psyc nurse, and we had pretty good treatment in the end. He and dad have smoked together from the outset and it was his opinion that in the end dad ought to pack it in. I mean spin out like that is frightening to everyone and when smoking grass is meant to be relaxing and enjoyable you just have to wonder what the motivation is if it freaks an individual out and they want to continue.. DAd's still cool, still a bent bloke by anyone's measure. Stopping smoking hasn't converted him into a pratt or anything.

 

 

good luck with everything.

rob

[DownUnderDoper]

I sometimes get 'I'm gonna get busted paranoia' if I'm out in public when under the influence, I would say that it's a sativa trait more than an indica trait, same thing with the elevated pulse rate, probably why some sativa strains are described as racy, sativa's can also keep me awake all night, whereas I find indicas are a sleeping tonic.

 

The only time I've had what could be called a real paranoid episode was from eating too many cookies, I took a valium and slept it off, again it was a sativa strain that did it, tho I've been very careful with all canna eating since then.

[DrDee]

Hi Group,

 

Amarkrieder, I think it's obvious that your son shouldn't smoke. Paranoia when there's a true distortion of thought to where everything becomes a web of conspiracy which is out to get you...that's a serious thing and usually is a part of schizophrenia. It's called Paranoid Schizophrenia and is fairly common with people who are schizophrenic. Medical treatment is usually needed. I'm not diagnosing him but someone probably should.

 

His consistant and rapid response from smoking pot is puzzling though. It almost sounds like he's having some biochemical response like an allergic reaction to one of the many chemicals within pot. Especially since it stops in about three weeks which is apporoximately how long it takes for marijuana to completely clear the body. Does this happen with every strain he smokes?

 

In either case, he shouldn't be dabbling with something that causes such a profound and dangerous affect. Do your part and discourage him from smoking.

 

I've enjoyed reading some of the viewpoints in this thread. My feeing is that certain people tend to be nervous types and overly worried about things. You know the type. I've got a friend like that. And whenever he smokes...perhaps only twice a month, he gets all worried about the police and starts peeking out his windows and gets worried that his grow room smells are getting out to the sidewalk.

 

Some people are just the opposite. I have another friend who doesn't have a paranoid bone in his body. He'll fire up a joint on the sidewalk with a cop a block away. Never worried. They're both smart guys but just different personality make-up. And they drive each other crazy too!

 

I'm somewhere in the middle. I don't normally worry but when I'm really ripped, I get worried that someone will come to the door and it will be so obvious that I'm stoned because I probably wouldn't be able to talk!

 

Cheers,

Dee

[amarkrieder]

Thanks DrDee

After the last episode it was decided by all of us (his family and friends) that we could not continue to support him smoking until something was sorted out, after us talking with him he agreed that it was better for him and his own family if he stopped and he has for the last 6 months. The problem is that he still wants to smoke and he says that when he does not have kids he will start smoking again straight away. I would love to be able to get him to try different different fractional distillation components to find out what component in cannabis is causing the issue as the strain tends to make little difference, but this puts him at futher risk and that I cannot do. I have already lost one son to drowning when he was 18 Not again.

any and all suggestions help as we work towards the time he begins to smoke again.

Thank you all

[iamnotacop]

Hi Mark, I know of someone who is kind of like your son. She was having the same kind of symptoms, mainly getting paranoid and it lasting for weeks after the stone. Also she had a different view on life - she thought she could read minds, thought people were watching her, thought her loving partner was cheating on her, thinking her house was bugged, and basically everyone including her family were conspiring against her for some reason.

 

She was in her late teens when the problems started and the Dr's diagnosed her with cannabis psycosis and paranoid schitsophrenic. The problem is that with the different doctors, they always asked her if she had been diagnosed before and when she told them they just agreed and did not do any further diagnostics. I have seen her on some pretty fucked up drugs and not one of them helped. She went through hell and the system that was meant to help her used her as a guinea pig, and did not help. Those hospitals are horrible, horrible places, I don't know how anyone could actually get better in that type of environment.

 

It is true that Cannabis played a part in it, but that was only a factor. She had been drinking since early teens and in grade 8-10 she was abusing datura. After she left school she was abusing prescription medications, alcohol and Cannabis. She always said that hydro was worse than bush grown, and she believes her symptoms became worse, after hydro became the norm.

 

When she was about 26 she stopped smoking Cannabis and all other drugs. She got better, even though she still has some minor problems, she can live with them now.

 

 

My main point about posting is to offer you encouragement. I have seen first hand the effects of someone with a mental illness and the strain that it puts on all of their relationships. Unfortunately the closest people to them seem to suffer the most. It must be hard to watch your son suffer, and it must be one of the hardest things to deal with, for you personally. I have three young sons and I could not imagine the pain that you must be going through.

What you have to do is get support for yourself as well as your son. There are support groups out there that can help. It is easier talking to people who have gone through the same thing as you are going through.

 

I know that you are after information to help your son, and I have nothing much to offer, sorry. My advice to him would be to quit smoking Cannabis, because the mental anguish is simply not worth it. But on the same note, if someone told me to stop smoking I would tell them to get fucked and mind their own business. You are stuck between a rock and a hard place, my friend. All you can do is be there for him and support him as much as you can.

 

 

Two other things that did help my friend, that may or may not help you and your son. The first thing is that bush buds seemed to be better for her. The second thing was, if she was drinking alcohol and then had some cones, she still got paranoid but it only lasted for as long as the stone, she wasn't "tripping" for weeks after it. I don't know if your boy might want to experiment with bush buds and if that didnt work, maybe try having a little alcohol before the Cannabis. Either way, he is going to do what he thinks he wants to do. So all you can do is be there for him, and look after yourself and any other family members.

 

Good luck!

[RobbieGanjaSeed]

Sorry about the disjointed reply last night, thought I would add after reading the doctor's report that my father was in fact diagnoses as Paranoid Schizophrenia and it was horrible. I have to mention too that my father's "raipd and constant" response is exactly the same. The first times it happened to him I lived a couple hndred miles from him and only had my mother's phone calls to go by. But when I arrived it was freaky to see. He'd be plain ol dad, then a few tokes later, a wild eye lunatic. He even hid on the floor of my car while we drove around one day, convinced someone was "onto us". It was so intense my young son cried in fear of what he was doing. It now happens almost instantly and each and every time he lights up. I've never, ever seen anything like it. He responds always completely opposite to how you'd normaly expect a person to.

He would onlyhave to spark a few tokes and an entirely different bloke would appear before us. He has always been gentle, mild, peacefull, helpfull..all to the point of pain. But after many years of smoking, it all went wrong.

 

He'd get hyper, smart arsed, cocky and manipulative in the end. He started to emitted a dangerous kinf of atmosphere, and that was why he needed to be put in a clinic on a couple times. Just a few tokes and dad would be gone for a week solid, a couple weeks in and out of intensity, then depressed because no-one would score for him.

 

He was very bummed out for a few years when he started to find grass hard ro score (given I was his main source by then and I visited every contact he had and warned them against it), I wouldn't score for him, because no matter how much he appealed to my heart, I knew it sent mum's world into the toilet until he would run out, and then slowly change back. I also didn't see the reason it was worth getting him stoned, when his ride seemed so fucked up and troublesome, which is why I said it has to be questioned why a person wants to continue to smoke if they aren't enjoying the stone. Dad was simply compulsive after 30 odd years of daily stone. Like I said, he's smoked since the 70s, so it was a long long habit to break.He's still very sensitive about it and I'd never smoke around him and be kind pissed off at anyone that did.

 

This isn't a "sativa/Indica" thing, it's a totall clinical fuck up. Like I said I know him inside out and back to front and believe I know him better than anyone on earth, and am sure the problem has been dormant my whole life at least, and listening to family stories, would believe it goes back to the begining of his life aswell. I'm no doctor, but know pot finished him off when he could have made it all easier on himself. The myth that smoking can't hurt people was what we went with as we'd been so much persuaded by this for so many years.

Don't believe it. I'd say smoking can't create a mental disorder, but can definately rise the tide on a few people who have suffered quietly their whole lives. Then I'm no doctor and so that's just based on experience. I certainly don't hold to the new myth of "pot sends everyone like my dad" either.

 

Be careful with him, your son I mean. I'm still kicking myself for conspiring with him, smuggling him gear even into the clinic, he just went further and further into his sickness.

Dad's on all kinds of meds now, even though he doesn't smoke anymore. Maybe he would be if he hadn't smoked so hard after it all went to shit? No-one will ever know but. he's the good old wonderful dad now, no "mr. hyde" scarey bloke at all. Just solidly depressed and bummed out.

 

I think most of the depression is naturally his too, but the whole ordeal has left him a shaddow of himself, and I suppose after years and years of constant partying, he just plain misses it all, the scene if you know what I mean. As much as the high itself. But he's learning that counter-culture continues without the pot, like I isaid before, he's just as bent as ever in the way he takes life. Ask your son if he wants to continue to smoke so he can feel firmly planted in the counter social scene maybe? If he does, re-assure him plenty of peeps live the scene and don't toke.

 

I sincerely hope all works out the best for you.

 

rob

 

PS. If, in fact your son has anything like the terrible problem my father has, forget the notion of different pot may help. The B.S. that hydro "superweed" causes this is an anethema too. Dad started and experienced his worste trip outs while smoking the stuff in my little picture on the side here. NAtural grown plant on a sunny hillside for 9 months or so. I was so concerned he needed a different dope, I spent a few years growing in and out of hydro, indica dominat, even 100% inidca plants especially for him, it was all exactly the same outcome. No doubt some people benifit from staying away from Sativa if they're anxious paranoid type stoners. But Sativa is what we smoked almost exclusively here in the past and like I said it never caused dad any strife. But when things went south, sativa, inidca, strong weed, weak weed, hydro or bush...it all sends him directly out of his head now, for ages.