Does weed cause anxiety?

Unfortunately, all psychoactive substances are 'activating,' meaning they have a potential to trigger an underlying or latent mental illness.

However, it could just be a phenomenon that will go away with time. The first time I smoked marijuana, I felt like I was in a daze for three days and I'm not sure whether my thought patterns ever fully returned to normal or if I just adjusted to the weirdness.

I would see your doctor, explain what happened, and ask to see a psychiatrist or therapist.

Hi,

I suffer from dp/dr too.

I smoked weed casually in my first year at uni then towards end of first year hung around with new gf and her mate who was a dedicated pot head. Her bf also smoked and his mate brought round some skunk weed which cos of peer pressure (in my head, no one was forcing me to take it) I rolled up a strong spliff , didn't really know what I was doing and put no tobacco in it just the weed. I smoked it, later on had panic attacks and suffered depression gad after.

I had no idea what was happening to me and over weeks realised I didn't feel like me. The world I looked at, felt unreal, my thoughts just ruminated around 24/7 that I'd permanently damaged my brain and that I'd be stuck like this for ever. So depressing.

It's only recently that instead of focussing on the thought that I would never be same again which made me think what's point of living, I have realised through careful internet research that I had a traumatic event in my brain brought on by the weed, but I also already had an anxiety disorder so the weed was a trigger. The trauma changed my brain chemistry, thought patterns, thoughts.

I had social anxiety, because from young I'd lost the thought that I am a worthy person and although I am not confident in groups I always used to come back to the thought that I was a gud person and that somehow made me feel at least an ok person. This thought goes some way to making u feel confident as a human being, but never successfully tackled further my social anxiety, standing up for yourself in front of others.

So over the years I have told myself that when someone speaks to u instead of trying to be witty and answering back quickly, Take you time to listen without judging (which is another habit of mine, probably to make me feel better) make ur mind quiet, listen and be lean with ur words, if at all u want to reply back. It is hard cos when ur in a group I never wanted to be the shy one, so u kind of have a struggle going on.

But then realised that if I want to be quiet, I flipping well will be, but only cos I don't need to feel the need to talk all the time just so I don't look shy or quiet (honestly, this thought used to terrify me).

I guess it's making ur mind calm so it can respond more truthfully (to urself) and u don't say stuff u feel forced to say cos of peer pressure.

I've also realised what u say or respond to others is how u portray urself to others.

I'm sorry this is so long, but my road to recovery has been long and full of realisations which I lost to some extent cos of the anxiety.

I hope this makes sense and it helps.

Oh and also I'm the youngest of 4 and my older brother is one reason I had no confidence, as well as weak parenting.

😰

I'm in shock at how similar this experience was to mine. I've been smoking for two years now and that effect of being in a dream state always kicked in when I was high and I slowly started to realize that it has taken over my entire life and I'm constantly fading in and out of reality. I looked it up and it's called depersonalizition/derealization which happens when you feel anxious or afraid as an escape that tells you this isn't real so you don't have to deal with your emotions. That's just what the "professionals" say but I've honestly had some triply experiences that made me partially believe that maybe we could actually be living in a dream but that's besides the point. I went through a whole phase of missing my younger weed free self where I was very social and not anxious but them I became dependent on weed and it made me forget who I was and hate myself and constantly try to change things about myself. I've been weed free for a month and a half now and I feel like I've started coming back to myself and becoming less anxious when I speak to people. Weed may be good for some but if your getting derealization and anxiety like I was , then I would say definitely take a break or quit for a while because weed will only intensify the dream effect in your daily life and will most likely worsen your anxiety since your mind has become immune to the fact that weed has given you anxiety in the past. What your feeling is totally normal so just keep living your life with the knowledge that everybody is paying way too much attention to themselves to care what other people are doing and that usually helps me with anxiety. Also you could try seeing yourself as others do rather than focusing on flaws that only you see because your so used to your own look. Definitely take a break from weed it helped me and we definitely had a similar situation so it will most likely benefit you!

I really hoped this help

Yes. Many have their first panic attack from it. Predisposition. 

I know what you mean, about 2 mounths ago I smoked weed with friends but it wasn't the first time but this time I had a bad reaction and ended up in hospital. About 1 mounth later I went to a friends house and ate it in a cookie thinking i'll be okay but then 2 hours later I made me feel like the time before that and i freaked out and tryed calming myself down by drinking some water amd eating oranges and it helped. The next day I felt strange and I was getting these attacks and I didn't know what was going on then I called my and told what had happend and how I was felling she said to that I might have PTSD (post trumatic stress disorder) and I have no clue what that was so I research about it and read the symptoms and it was how I was feeling. I was having these attacks for a week, I would go to sleep worried something bad would happed, I would wake up shaking and not being able to controlle it, i wouldn't be eating enough and I hated it . my mum came and got me when I got home I felt normal and it felf strange

,the next morning I woke up it all came back and I was really scared, I went to my doctor, went and seen a theripist to try and get help and it seemed to be working and I wasn't getting them as much then it came to that time of the mounth yes my period and the attackts were getting really bad and it felt like I was in a dream and I was scared to eat because I thought that their would be drugs in it and my mum told me she went trough the same type of thing she had taken a sleeing tablet and it almost killed her. To this day i've been getting really bad anxiety attack and i'm only 13 and I want to be able to enjoy life but my anxiety seems to be stopping that from happening and I really just want to feel like my self again.

This is 100% how I feel and I completely am happy I’ve found a post like this. I had a weed induced panic attack and even since then my anxiety was unlocked. I had never once feared fear before the weed-induced panic attack and smoked frequently for a great experience but I think at one point the body just tells you you’ve had enough and that’s it. You can definitely recover from this trust me I’m going through this phase right now but I believe it’s really about how well you treat yourself and that you should believe that the only time your really not gonna exist is when you die lol. For now just enjoy life to the fullest and achieve your goals whilst having fun and chilling with your loved ones at at home inside/outside. 

Hey bro! May i know how do u feel now?

Just curious if u r feeling better now?  I am currently going through the same ordeal. Mine isn’t so much social interaction more so I feel sick. Tingling in hands and feet, panic attacks, very severe anxiety. It’s been about 1 1/2 months now n was just curious if u r feeling better and how long it took you?  

I’ve been to the hospital once and have had all kinds of tests run. Thought I was going to have a heart attack or stroke:-(.  Got tested for a number of ailments including , diabetes, peripheral neuropathy, etc..

Anyway, great article and if anyone has further insight for me it’d b greatly appreciated!!

Ok so I have a bit of a horror story with regard to smoking cannabis..

I smoked it without problem for around 8 years then it started giving me panic attacks. I didnt know what these were at the time, I just thought I was going to have a heart attack. Anyway the feeling would only last for a short time and then I could enjoy the rest of the evening. I carried on like this for quite a while but it started getting worse in my final year of university (I guess because of the extra stress).

Then, I was away on holiday in Ibiza in October 2013 and just had one drag on a cannabis oil spliff and my life has never been the same. After smoking the oils I had a two day anxiety attack which I think was my first nervous breakdown. Since then I have been put on medication and experienced several more breakdowns over the last few years. It really has been a desperate time and my quality of life has been drastically reduced. 

My advice would be to listen to your body, if you are having a negative reaction then stop it for your own sake. I ignored the signs and now I am paying for it. 

Im not sure how my story will end or if I will ever get better.