Side effects - Intense Paranoia

[Ralf_4]

My first post/thread so be nice
Swim has been smoking weed for around three years now, with it only getting serious in the past year before that he would get high maybe once a month or so.
recently though smoking has become a major concern for him as every time he smokes hes hit with the most intense paranoia. he doesnt know if this paranoia is just paranoia or something a bit more serious.
for example when it first started swim was in amsterdam smokin a few spliffs having fun and then everything his friend said would seem to turn into an insult or taking the piss a bit. he thought that he should just ignore it but as he smoked more and more it happened more often. at this time since it was the first time it had happened he just thought his mate was bein an arsehole so he made it known to him but his friend was a bit shocked so swim apologised and decided to ignore it.
The next day started great no paranoia nothing they smoked some spliffs and took some mushrooms the whole paranoia thing pushed to the back of his mind.
the mushrooms took hold and since they were smoking weed as well so did the weed, the paranoia returned and as a result swim had a nightmare trip in which he went blind (like a kind of white light for a few seconds - it was fucked up!!) and everything got messed up (they were in the zoo as well!).
After this to keep the trust in his friend he stopped smoking but believed that it was his friend being a dick to him.
after returning back to england swim started smoking again believing that it would be ok. Not the case. the thing was though it was exactly the same kind of things happening to him (like sly comments, double meanings and ppl mumbling things under their breath at me). another very strange thing was he believed in one instance that swims friend (not the previous one) had put some kind of chemical on the end of the spliff to drug swim.
In hindsight this seems absolutely ridiculess but he still remembers the taste and the high that it gave him, the other thing that was very strange was at various points swims friend made comments about the spliff tasting bad (this could be just loads of tar on the end of the spliff).
After this swim still believed that it was his friends being assholes.
Every time he has smoked since then repeat instances have happened but the really weird thing about it is it seems so incredibly real and when swim questions them about it, its as if they said it but dont want swim to know they said it - really fake like.
a couple of weeks back swim took some mushrooms with friends and it was a great trip no paranoia and he felt really connected to his friends but when he started smoking straight after it was like a switch flicking on and the paranoia started up again same things exactly.
since that trip he has stopped smoking completely and doesnt plan on smoking again (its really pissd him off as he fucking loves getting high!)
but he has a really hard time as to whether these things are real or made up in swims head. i mean he really hopes to god that they are real and his friends dont like him anymore (sad to say because the 'paranoia' would be so much worse if it turned out to be psychosis or sumthing than if he lost a couple of friends.
people say they crazy ppl dont realise that theyre crazy but im worried that if he thinks hes not crazy then he will be if u get what i mean?
This has been tearing him apart for the last few months so please if u could help thatd be wonderful!!

[Ralf_4]

yeh its been a couple of days now and no replys
this shit has been really worrying swim over the past few months and i know there are countless threads relating to this or similar circumstances but swims circumstances seem different and thats why swim wants to get an accurate diagnosis.
Another really disturbing thing that happened which i think i should mention as its really weird.
swim was at his friends house and they went to get kfc and swims friend on the way there started to mention cops walking round the station, at this very moment swim knew that sumthing would go down. when they got to kfc everything was fine and they were halfway thru the meal and it was almost as if swims friends were waiting for something to happen then a cop started walking up the stairs to where they were eating swim got paranoid as shit threw swims grass to his mate to chuck it over the barrier to the open floor below. instead he acted rationally put it in his pocket and then stared at the cop for what seemed like ages, the cop walked off they got out. the weird thing was tho it was almost as if swims friends had set up the meeting of the cop in order to get swim busted.
Please help me with this shit i dont know what to do!!

[kb13]

Stop tripping!
Weed has a small probability of causing serious paranoia.
Paranoia is caused by delusions. If ya remember this; that is that delusions are causing the paranoia the paranoia will cease to exist. In other words; don't let your mind run away to bad places.
In swims younger days, weed would cause mild paranoia but swim grew out of it, or perhaps learn to laugh at one self for being paranoid...
Swim found paranoia was much more intense with stimulants like coke, crack, or meth because the mind is active.

Swims advice is to; surround oneself with True friends, Smoke a fatty, watch a comedy with a big bag of chips!
If the weed still causes paranoia after that... quit the weed for a while and re-evaluate things.
-------------------------------------------------------------

Here is some technical shit I found that may make sense -

In paranoia the symptoms of delusion appear gradually.
The person can be sentimental, suspicious, irritable, introverted, depressed, obstinate, jealous, selfish, unsocial and bitter

There are different kinds of paranoia -

Persecutory paranoia - This is the most prevalent type of paranoia, and in this patient makes himself believe that all those around him are his enemies, bent on harming him or even taking his life. In this delusion people of an aggressive temperament often turns dangerous killers.
Delusion of Grandeur - In this patient believes himself to be, a great individual, and according to Bleuler, this delusion of grandeur accompanies a persecutory delusion.
Religious paranoia - Here the patients suffer from a permanent delusion of a primarily religious nature. He for example believes, that he is the messenger of God who has been sent to the world to propagate some religion.
Reformatory paranoia - In this the patient turns to considering himself a great reformer. He accordingly looks upon all those around him. As suffering from dangerous disease, and believes that he is their reformer and curator.
Erotic paranoia - Here the patient often tends to believe that some members of the family of the opposite sex, belonging to an illustrious family, want to marry him. Such people even write love letters and there by, cause much botheration to other people.
Litigious paranoia - In this kind the patient takes to feeling meaningless cases against other people and feels that people are linked together to bother him. Sometimes he, even tries to murder.
Hypochondrical paranoia - In this kind the patients believes that he is suffering from all kind of ridiculous diseases, and also that some other people are to blame for his suffering.

[Lou1024]

Well, for starters, swiy should give smoking a break for a few weeks. Swim would say at least a month. Sometimes a break is all that is needed to get to the bottom of the problem and edge it out of swiy's system. Give the weed a break and examine yourself for a bit. If swiy desires to start, start in very low doses and work swiy's way up. If swiy still feels awful, it may not be smart to continue smoking.

Swiy shouldn't worry himself about being "crazy". Remember that Cannabis can be a strange drug at times, and can produce some interesting effects on the mind. Remember that many, many people get into a panic about paranoia caused from Cannabis, you are not alone. Give it a break and see what happens, the issue could even be the people swiy is smoking with. What happens when swiy smokes alone?

[gravripper333]

Swim has to not worry about being paranoid when swim gets high. drugs (for the most part) extend the current mood. So if swim is like oh no the last couple times ive blazed ive gotten really paranoid, swim will get even more paranoid.

So basically just dont think about it when swim gets high. just chill and do what kb13 said Smoke a fatty, watch a comedy with a big bag of chips!

or you have dick head friends

[Fat Cop]

Swim; weed can cause serious anti social behavior. That is exactly what Swim has. Also weed can cause extreme introspection wich is not only anti social, but makes it seem as though one is STUCK IN HIS MIND! GET OUT OF YOUR HEAD!

Swim is responding to delusional thoughts that arent even real. Im am going to try and give Swim some advice. Learn to shut off your brain. Communication and connection with friends and the entire world/universe for that matter is natural and are not a thought process. You have got to learn how to be natural and not to think all the time. You are tottally dissociated.

Check it; "To stand and consider all possibilities is to drown in a tunneling sea of infinite potentiality."
-Xavier

So what does that mean? It means that your own thoughts cant be trusted and they will only confuse you. Follow your heart and not what you think. You have got to ditch your thoughts and let your senses guide you. I have learned to make the outside world my introspection. GET OUT OF YOUR HEAD!

[titans58]

SWIM when smoking weed and was having finiacal problems or just problems in life it tended to bring on that affect of paranoia sometimes. Its like you start out innerally with racing heart and such. Just chill and enjoy SWIY. If this continues maybe its not so much what SWIY is smoking and could be just the individual having chemical imblance issues maybe. Some people just cant smoke weed and have a good exsperience. SWIM has a friend that when smokied for first time got that paranoia but then she started smoking more and it didint happen anymore. Connect the dots.

[Ralf_4]

ok well kb13 if ur right then swim needs to lay off the weed for quite a while (really blunt and scary post to me but thanks!!), swim hasnt smoked in 2 weeks and is not planning on in the near future. however things hav gotten much better for instance he is feeling a lot more alert and once he read that post swim had a conversation with his friend and told him exactly what had been happening for the past few weeks and it was the most in depth conversation he has had with him in months. swim is still getting mild bouts of paranoia but every time they come along he just tells himself its not real and hes being stupid and it seems to be working very well.
also swim soon will be trying some mescaline with a VERY trusted friend (he is the only person i fully completely trust!) so that may either go good or bad but whatever it should show swim something he has not picked up on before as usually happens with mesc!
Swim thinks he is nxt gonna try and smoke in feb just for overkill! see how it is then, also swim is going to nepal mid-feb so hes gotta smoke then!
Thanks for the help but even after it is reducing, swim still thinks that it seemed really real and thats the one thing that has stopped swim from going any further in helping himself. like completely real!!

[Boca Bitch]

Paranoia is a serious side-effect of cannabis, and can result in a very uncomfortable experience.

This can occur due to unbalanced neurotransmitter levels. THC works primarily with dopamine (which gives it its euphoria), but is believed to lower GABA levels. GABA is the body's main inhibitory neurotransmitter, and promotes inner tranquility.

A simple remedy for this is just having a beer. Alcohol's main effects are felt through GABA levels being increased, while glutamate is reduced (glutamate is the body's main excitatory neurotransmitter).
Also, there may be health benefits to combining cannabis use with one drink. There is a correlation of higher rates of heart disease with regular smokers, than non. Which makes sense, as there is an increased heart rate during use. Alcohol was proven to be beneficial to coronary health when 1-2 drinks per day are consumed. Alcohol lowers the heart rate, so when consumed with cannabis, there is little change from normal pace in either direction.

This is where the science stands today, but SWIM has personally used alcohol to kill paranoia, and found it damn effective.

[Pavelo]

SWIM finds SWIYs alcohol-related post very interesting..

But he has a silly question - does swim drink before or after toking? Or just during the whole bakeout and trying to even out the paranoia?

[chillout3x]

This same exact thing happened to a friend jane. Jane got high for 5 years and was up to the point she was blazing around 8 times a day... to the point where jane couldn't eat unless she had the munchies. bad stuff... one night after a fat blunt, jane got really paranoid and had intense auditory hallucinations.. intense.. After being a psychology major Jane thought she was schizophrenic, so in her mind she told herself she was hearing voices when she toked. What happened? She started getting extreme auditory hallucinations everytime she smoked, soon to the point where they were affecting her everyday life. Since Jane was a very big pothead it was not easy for her to quit her routine, after all she started believing she was a schizo. Initially when she gave up smoking, she lost an extreme amount of weight because she couldn't eat and suffered from severe insomnia (the sleeping still seems to be a problem). She let her hightimes lead into her real life which gave her an immense amount of depression. If you ask her she would have gave up smoking sooner before that became too late. It took her three months to notice how severe the good reefer that she once embraced totally screwed her up mentally. Jane has been clean now for 6 months and even though its been tough she stills doesn't understand how irrational she got.

your mind works in mysterious ways my friend.... its telling you too take it easy before its too late( rule#1 of smoking: NEVER SELF ANALYZE!). you may not be as big as a stoner as my friend jane but trust her you dont want this to happen to you... if you believe your going to get paranoid than you will! the most irrational thought you can think of is that everyone is thinking of you... because in reality everyone is just thinking of themselves.. don't let your mind control your brain!

sometimes if you believe in something, take psuedopregnancy for example, your mind actually controls the hormones released in your brain... think optimistically and just that will happen! in the wise words of bob marley "emancipate yourselves from mental slavery,none but ourselves can free our minds."

[Pavelo]

Dat's true.. But sometimes is very hard to steer your thoughts away and not to think about what's happening to you and just think positive.

SWIM remembered that sometimes videogames helped him to occupy his mind and also it is one of the greatest things to do when you're blazed up.

But about Jane.. so is she alright now or does she have some permanent damage?

[Jess]

SWIM has had some experiences with a friend who suffered similarly.

Wondering what the experience has been when smoking alone? Panic about what neighbours are up to? Who's that guy in the street, and why does he keep walking past etc. Or is smoking alone a comfortable experience?

SWIM would also like to add that she is a firm believer that the body and mind benefit from a break from all substances at one time or another. SWIM has a particular time of year she fasts and gives up the lot, including alcohol, and feels that this has always been a great benefit.

[Skellyhell]

SWIM has had some bouts of paranoia which where mildly enjoyable
Playing childrens card games while high can be quite stressfull.

But once time, SWIM was just sat on a sofa chilling with a friend, but couldnt shake the feeling that she was talking about him behind his back (despite it being just them 2 in the room)
He sat for about 30 minutes rapidly looking back and forth, from her, to the TV checking that she wasnt bitching.
He says it was a scary feeling, but good to experience it