Advice needed on strange reaction to weed

[mrgoodcat]

There are lots of variables and unknowns to pin this down accurately.

 

As other people have said, there could be all sorts of man made chemicals on whatever you are smoking, but I thought to add to the convo by adding something else.

 

When people experience a "high" form any kind of drug, the high will change depending on how you take it eg the same amount of alcohol when ingested as shots of vodka on an empty stomach is very different to the high youd get if you had it as beer, because it gets into your body/brain at a different rate.

 

When people smoke weed, they will absorb between 20% and 60% of the cannabinoids depending on their personal draw technique/how they hold it in their lungs. This is a huge variation, meaning that the same batch of weed smoked by the same person in the same joint may produce very different effects puff to puff.

 

Then, there is the distribution of cannabinoids in the weed itself. Different parts of the flower have different amounts and types of cannabinoids - so when you get a bag of weed and roll, say, 10 joints, each of them is different also eg the last joint you roll might be full of kif from the bottom of the bag, or some particularly loaded piece of bud.

 

So even if you tested from the same bag, your outcomes would be all over the place, because each joint is unique, and each puff you take is different.

 

Another contaminant may be a fungus. Fungii are notorious for producing psychoactive compounds. If, during the curing process, or even in storage, a fungus got onto the bud and started producing a chemical, then smoking that particular fungi infested bud might be the culprit.

 

Lastly (most important) the human body is a complicated thing, especially the brain. Lots of people think that ingesting drug X produces outcome Y, the same way that pressing a key on your keyboard produces the same letter to appear on your screen every single time. This isn't true.

 

What happens in the human brain and body is that taking a drug is like flicking a domino in your brain, that hits another domino, then another and another etc until you finally get a reaction. Your brain/body changes from minute to minute, hour to hour, day to day. The peopel who know about this most are people who take stuff like LSD, where your mood/environment where you take it will affect the trip. The same person in a nice quiet room surrounded by friends taking the same drug might have a great experience, but if they took it at a loud outdoor festival they might have an awful trip.

 

Your brain affects your body, and like someone mentioned above, your use of weed might have triggered something similar to a panic attack. So while your heart pounding is a physical effect, and most people think "the weed went to the heart and made it pound hard" it is far more likely that the weed went to the brain, flicked a domino that hit another domino etc until your nervous system was stimulated in such a way as to send a signal to your heart to say "pound hard" (along with a lot of other anxiety symptoms).

 

Also, the human body changes over time. People who never had a problem with, say, aspirin, become allergic to it in their 50s. People who could drink coffee all day as young people end up staying up all night from a single coffee in the morning. It could be that your body is changing towards something that isn't reacting well to weed.

 

If I had to take a guess (and it would be a guess, not a diagnosis) I would say that what is happening to you is a combination of the last two. Your body/emotional state/brain etc, at this point in time, are not reacting well to that strain of weed, and maybe all strains of weed from now on. The logical thing for you to do, therefore, would be to consider stopping, at least for a while, and if you do decide to start again, to lean towards strains that are associated with less anxiety type effects.

 

Of course I know that this is hard when you don't know what plant it came from, and hard to stop altogether after such a long habit. I hope that this info will at least calm you down when you're in the middle of another attack (hopefully you never get another attack anyway) because the worst thing about these sorts of things is that the not knowing what it is creates a panic attack all by itself, and makes whatever is happening much worse. Try to tell yourself that it is temporary, it is not dangerous, and it will pass soon, a bit like people who meditate do so as to stop their throughts from spiralling out of control.

[MrTrimbole]

To me it sounds like a classic case of anxiety. My wife cannot smoke at all due to the same effects, even a small drag of a joint sets her off. She used to a massive smoker but went through a period of change in her life which meant her body and her state of mind changed and not adapting well to the changes.

 

And what was written in the post above this one was spot on.

[hashwizard]

Your welcome ChrisD

 I've learnt so much here & other forums. At first I didn't have a clue. There are so many strains to choose. But if you study the 'form guide' [seed adverts & descriptions] others experience & recommendations, you start to get an idea of what you may like.

It's common for one person to adore a particular strain [mine at the moment is Great White Shark & WW x Amnesia] while others don't. My mate & fellow grower finds the GWS & WW x A too strong, too racy & loves the Black Sugar which is much tamer.

If your not sure what you want then contact the seed co or breeder, tell them your requirements & they'll be happy to recommend a strain to suit. 

Make sure to ask for an easy to grow strain with a short/ish flowering time.

 

Something else to consider - hash/oil   I've turned leaf, trim, crappy bud & mouldy bud into hash. I've turned 'chemical' bud that no-one wanted to smoke into oil & it smoked as well as the other batches with no ill effect. BHO is so cheap & easy to make. Fairly safe with a little common sense. My end product is brilliant considering I use material that you wouldn't smoke. Excellent for insomnia & pain. When you grow you can collect leaf to make hash oil. You'll be smoking hash for many weeks before your buds ready. Nothing from my grow goes to waste.

 

When you grow, keep it as simple as possible.

Edited November 21, 2013 by hashwizard

[MrTrimbole]

When you grow you learn to keep everything thus you can make it into an edible or hash! It makes growing just that much better! Love it!

 

I went to a friends on the weekend and he had some shit he bought of a random dealer, i had a look at it and it was dry no trics and when we smoked it it was cough inducing. You really start to realise that all the years you bought from a "street" dealer or your regular source was avg crap. I feel for those that don't grow and are missing out on all the wonderful strains. I am low atm so i can't give to my mates but when i do they get really fucked up haha.

Edited November 21, 2013 by MrTrimbole

[hashwizard]

Did I forget to mention edibles Bob? It's just a different high [& medicinal effect of course] to smoking, I love it.  Ate some of my home made oil recently, I was so spaced out & relaxed.

 

I love sharing [showing off] my grow but sadly have learnt to keep it to myself except amongst close mates. People either suspect I'm growing because you just don't see my quality on the street, or, they think I'm a prick when I refuse to sell them some [because that would be wrong & against the law officer ] 

There's more to stealth & security than eliminating light & smell from the grow room. All it takes is one dickhead friend of a friend with a big mouth who puts two plus two together to jeopardise  your grow.  Doesn't hurt to be extra cautious.

[ChrisD]

mrgoodcat .. thanks for the post, all are definitate possibilities, I am also leaning towards a change in my body and that the weed has bought on anxiety, im in my mid 40's so going thru emotional changes as a woman    i spoke to my doctor about it and he said as you did, that sometimes after a lifetime of smoking your body can just start rejecting and it can bring on anxiety, he said he's encountered it before.  For now, once i finish whats left of my stash i'll stop for awhile, have been given one script of valium but very wary of benzo's so it will be a one time thing to get me through the initial detox, will then look at growing a couple of little plants so at least I know what Im smoking..

 

Thanks hashwizard for the edu on strains, this is something i do really need to look into when i go to buy seeds, i will need a mellow strain for sure.

Edited November 22, 2013 by ChrisD

[Sir PsychoHashy]

The way your body processes and reacts to weed can change over time for a variety of reasons, and only you can figure out what changes you can make that work for you.  For me it was a bad dose of glandular fever that changed many things in my life including the effects of smoking.  Finding agreeable strains can be make a big difference, as can having clean, well grown and flushed buds, but these things won't necessarily mean that you can simply continue on smoking the same amounts in the same ways with no negative effects.  I hope for your sake that you can find something that works for you, and if you do don't let social pressures push you off that track, it's your body and your health so do what you need to do for your own good. 

 

Some breeders will specify certain strains as being good for dealing with anxiety, probably also good to look for high CBD strains, and probably indica dominant.

 

Best of luck

Edited November 22, 2013 by Sir PsychoHashy

[hashwizard]

I forgot to mention. I was taught as a young fella that womens hormones react differently to cannabinoids than male hormones. I'm not sure if this was just another urban myth because I heard it several times, but it would explain what your going through ChrisD [that time of life?] & why many women seem to need fewer cones than their male counterpart [yes, I've also known some girls over the years who can smoke most blokes under the table but they're the exception to the rule]

 

ChrisD, if you eat a serve of sweet potato every day [which is a healthy habit for all] you will find an alleviation of symptoms like hot flushes. Sweet potato contains natural [bugger, I forget the word, estrogen?] good stuff that the female body needs to help create hormonal balance [as well as a bucket load of nutrients] Fermented soy products are also good.

Also take a Mega B vitamin daily, excellent for settling nerves [those with nervous conditions; 2 - 3 a day.]

Both natural remedies work much better than anything a Dr would prescribe. Just look at the 'hormone replacement therapy' fiasco for instance.