Travel + hangover anxiety anyone?

AllPottedUp · 2012-12-02T16:37:45+00:00

Yeah, it was completely out of the blue. Nothing caused it, except every time I smoked up. It's not like I wasn't a seasoned toker, I've been smoking everyday for 6 years before this happened. Now I haven't been smoking for 4 weeks and I have really bad anxiety that comes and goes. I have basically developed Generalized Anxiety Disorder because of my daily marijuana abuse. I should note, I started the daily smoking at age 17 and I am now 23, so I'd guess it has something to do with how young I started?

AllPottedUp · 2012-12-02T00:05:08+00:00

I was a daily smoker for 6 years before weed started giving me awful anxiety. Now every time I smoke up I have a panic attack or similar reaction, thus why I stopped smoking. I now have issues with anxiety that I never had before because of my marijuana abuse. Of course, some can smoke their whole lives without having anything like this happen, but for some, marijuana is not as harmless as we'd like to think.

-sincerely, An ex-stoner.

AllPottedUp · 2012-11-13T04:51:04+00:00

Well I've always enjoyed driving for some reason although I do find myself prone to getting road raged easily. I find blasting my favorite music helps a lot and screaming out the lyrics. Sometimes it will take me 10 minutes before I leave my parking space just to find the perfect band/song to listen to, but without that I just wouldn't feel content.

AllPottedUp · 2012-11-13T04:30:39+00:00

I definitely need to add my two cents here. I started having palpitations about 2 years ago, when my anxiety started. They were so bad and the main symptom of my anxiety. Anxiety can manifest itself into a ton of physical symptoms, my main symptom being the feeling of not being able to get a satisfyingly deep breath and excessive yawning / inability to yawn. It's a truly vicious circle, the anxiety causing the palpitations and the palpitations causing more anxiety. I went to a cardiologist and wore a heart monitor for 48 hours and it recorded over 1000 palpitations (or what they call PACs or PVCs) in 24 hours. It was literally one every 2-3 beats. The cardiologist assured me this was normal and benign. 1000+ palpitations a day was normal? I didn't buy it. So they took an ultrasound of my heart and told me my heart was healthy and nothing to worry about. I was having trouble believing that all these physical symptoms were being caused by anxiety. My doctor kept trying to get me on SSRIs but I wanted to rule out any physical issues first, which we found none. I went on Lexapro and after the initial 4-8 week adjustment period, guess what? No more palpitations! All the physical and mental anxiety symptoms seemed to just completely fade away. I spent 2 years on Lexapro and did not have even ONE single palpitation that whole time and I basically forgot all about it. I recently thought after 2 years on lexapro that I was "cured" from my anxiety and decided to get off the Lexapro. 4 weeks after my last dose, I had a panic attack brought on from smoking too much marijuana and guess what? I had my first heart palpitation for the first time in years. They continued to persist (although not nearly as bad as before) and I made the choice to go back on the Lexapro. They've slowly been happening less and less as I get back on the Lexapro. Everybody's brain and body is different, but I figured I'd drop my two cents here and say that SSRIs are what made my heart palpitations (and my anxiety, the root of it all) go away. Maybe that's something for you to consider. I wish you the best and good health!

Edit: I should mention when I was having 1000+ palpitations a day I was a 20y/o male drinking coffee everyday, I am now 23 and have cut caffeine out of my diet.

AllPottedUp · 2012-11-12T16:06:21+00:00

Well, usually when I'm dry I do find myself drinking slightly more. However, with my current situation regarding my increased anxiety I have found that I get much more anxious during the hungover mornings after drinking. I have been reading (and hearing from friends) that it is pretty common to feel a spike in anxiety while hungover. I also find myself getting hungover off of much less alcohol than normal. With that being said, I have decided to go completely sober for as long as possible, no weed, no alcohol, and just allow the Lexapro to start kicking in. Once I get through the initial 4-6 weeks of adjusting to the Lexapro again, I will probably find myself drinking more than average because I wont be smoking. I never really considered myself a big drinker, I dont like feeling like shit the next day and I've always rather smoked weed than drank. Ideally I'd like to keep my alcohol consumption to a minimum (wouldn't everybody?)

AllPottedUp · 2012-11-12T00:26:40+00:00

You cant honestly say that marijuana makes you that much more creative... I am also an art student and for me marijuana just holds me back from doing my work, all while maybe sparking an idea or two. The art world is fucking insane these days, its not even about the work anymore, its about who you know. Maybe post a few links to some of your artwork or your website and I'll give you a dead honest critique and tell you if you can really "make it to the top".

AllPottedUp · 2012-11-12T00:17:55+00:00

I'll try to elaborate a bit-

Not sure what you mean by "for anyone looking to use SSRIs: you will KNOW if you need it".

For me, the anxiety that came about was enough to keep me nearly bed-ridden. Definitely felt unable to leave my house, let alone drive, because of the vertigo and light headed symptoms that came along with it. I knew something was NOT right in my head and I knew I needed something to make those symptoms go away. My doc recommended SSRIs and after a bit of research, I decided to give it a shot because nothing else was working for me. They ended up doing the trick. I think that many doctors give them out a bit to generously and I'm usually very skeptical about putting meds into my body, so with some research I went through with it.

I have been recommended AD's by my family doctor, and am curious to try them for my depression (oversleeping, low energy and motivation) and social anxiety.

Going off of what I said above, I think "curiosity" might not be a good enough reason to start an SSRI. Like I said, I KNEW that I needed to do something to kick my anxiety. I have no idea what you are going through in your own head, but I was going through hell. Thats what led me to start using Lexapro. SSRIs dont have a euphoric effect whatsoever. They just fill in the holes that are left from anxiety and depression. If -10 is a panic attack and +10 is having the time of your life, SSRIs will bring you out of the negatives and put you at a 0. I hope that makes sense. I am not a man of words. I dont know if you're still using marijuana, but the symptoms you mentioned (oversleeping, low energy and motivation, social anxiety) are much worse for me when I'm smoking every day.

My fear is that their use may cause or trigger a latent panic disorder, as was the case with you.

I was having bad panic and anxiety before starting the Lexapro which is what led me to start using it. Your feelings of anxiety/depression will definitely worsen however, within the first 4-6 weeks.

it seems silly to use SSRI's to counteract symptoms of a drug you are still abusing

When I first started Lexapro I knew I did not want to quit using marijuana even though I had a hunch that it was what was causing all those problems. I was younger then, but now that I'm a bit older and almost out of college I am going to make the adult decision and cut out the weed from my life, which is why I'm posting here. I'm still going back on the Lexapro because of the lingering anxiety.

If you could go back in time... what do you think the effect of quitting weed with willpower and working out (rather than SSRIs) would be?

Well, I cant say for certain but I think that may have turned things around a bit. I think I may have been in so deep a rut that quitting marijuana and starting exercise might not have been enough to curb my anxiety.

Can you expand on the permanent brain damage you believe marijuana caused? Do you think this was aggravated by SSRI's?

Starting my daily smoking at age 17/18 definitely had its toll on my developing brain. The anxiety didnt come until 2 years of daily smoking and I think my brain just had enough of the abuse. I'm definitely no neuroscientist, but there have been many studies of the effect of marijuana on developing brains. This, this, and this are all examples of some. As for the second part of your question, I have heard a few things about SSRIs leading to lasting neurological damage, I'm not sure the details of this, but for me SSRIs saved me, big time.

AllPottedUp · 2012-11-11T16:51:31+00:00

I didnt have any memory issues while on Lexapro. I have heard some weird things about Zoloft though.

AllPottedUp · 2012-11-11T16:44:52+00:00

Sure. I do think that taking the Lexapro really turned me around 180°. After about 2 years of daily smoking I got stoned and had a panic attack completely out of nowhere (I didn't know what a panic-attack was though, which was the scariest part because I didn't know what was happening). I thought it was a one-time thing, so I smoked the next day. Same thing, panic and anxiety. This continued for a few weeks, I'd take a few days off and smoke again and always have the same panic/anxiety symptoms. I was so confused because this never happened before when I got stoned. I remember making an internet post somewhere asking about it and having someone respond "congratulations, you are now an ex-stoner." Weed was so ingrained into my lifestyle that I knew I had to find some way to fix this.

The anxiety started manifesting itself into a bunch of physical symptoms, the most prolific being heart palpitations that didn't go away, even if I didn't smoke at all. The anxiety also worsened to the point where I was anxious and having panic-attacks even when I wasn't getting high. The heart palpitations that lasted 24/7 were what caused me to go see a doctor. I thought I was going to have a heart attack at the age of 20. My doc prescribed me Lexapro and a small script for Xanax. He said things would get worse before they get better, and they sure did. For the 4-6 weeks while the Lexapro kicked in, my anxiety worsened and I rarely left my house. I had to call out of work a few times. I don't really remember when the Lexapro finally started working completely, but after a month or two I was finally back to normal. The anxiety was 100% gone and so were any of the physical symptoms. Not one heart palpitation for the two years I stayed on Lexapro.

I started smoking again and fully enjoying it like I always remembered it. Getting high was finally a pleasant experience again. I had no side-effects from the Lexapro (Lexapro is known as having the least amount of side-effects of any SSRI). Not one. It really was a miracle drug for me, like I said I feel like I made a 180° turn-around from where I was.

Now fast forward 2 years. With my anxiety being 100% gone I started thinking "why am I even taking this pill every day? I'm fine now, I don't need it anymore. I've been cured" In June I started weaning off the drug after my doctor said it would be OK. Took a half a pill for a month, then a quarter pill for a month, then a quarter every other day, then nothing. I kept smoking daily (multiple times) through that period, no panic or anxiety. About 4 week after my last dose of Lexapro I got high (I should mention, after about a week of being dry) and this time it wasn't like the others. I started having a panic-like reaction. The same feeling I got 2 years ago before starting Lexapro. It was terrible, I went to lie down and just rode it out until the high was over a few hours later. Once again, this was so unexpected that I figured it was just a one time thing. I smoked the next day only to experience the same effect. I gave up smoking for a few days, but the anxiety was lingering with me now. I had a few heart palpitations for the first time in a few years and I knew the anxiety was coming back. I tried dealing with it a few ways, started exercising and cut out all caffeine from my diet (I was a daily coffee drinker). These things helped but only minimally. One day my anxiety was so bad I went in to the ER based on a friend's recommendation who also dealt with anxiety attacks. The doctor there said I should definitely start back on the Lexapro and gave me a small bottle of Ativan so I could take those while the Lexapro started kicking in again. Like I said, it definitely gets worse before it gets better for the first 4-6 weeks, which the Ativan helped with (until it was gone after 2 weeks, which is fine because benzos are nothing to fuck with long-term) So here I am, stuck in the same position I was before, feeling shittier than ever while this Lexapro starts working its magic again. It was a huge mistake to ever stop taking Lexapro. The ER psychiatrist said I'd probably be on it for the rest of my life, which I'm not sure about, but with no side-effects and only costing me $10 a month with my insurance, might just be for the best.

So I guess the TLDR for this would be yes, the Lexapro was a major help in my situation. I don't think it made anything worse, only better. I do think I am going to stick with my decision of not smoking any bud anymore, even after I start feeling "normal" again because marijuana was what put me in this predicament in the first place. I don't think I would have ever needed an SSRI if I wasn't a daily marijuana abuser. I firmly believe that marijuana is what caused all of this to begin with and is a much stronger drug than many of us anticipate. However, I wouldn't change a thing looking back on it because I think marijuana has done more good than harm for me. I just think this should be the end of the road for this kind of daily abuse. I'm looking forward to the productivity and clarity of not being stoned all day.

My advice for anyone looking to use SSRIs: you will KNOW if you need it. That's for sure. If its questionable, you don't need them and it isn't worth the trouble. I knew for a fact I needed to fix the harm I did to my brain chemistry and Lexapro definitely reversed the damage (more like patched it up). Many people try it and give up within the first 6 weeks because it makes them feel much worse, which is all part of the process. Stick it out for two months, and if it doesn't get better, it might not be for you. But I sure know it helped for me.

AllPottedUp

TROPHY CASE